John Burns FRICS

Born in London in 1944 and educated at St Paul’s School. John started his career at Hillier Parker (now CBRE) in the early 1960s before moving on to become a partner at Barnet Baker (estate agents). In 1973 he acquired Pilcher Hershman & Partners. A decade later John acquired control of the Derwent Valley Light Railway Company (capitalised at £1.5m), restructuring it as Derwent Valley Holdings plc which - following the merger with London Merchant Securities plc in 2007 - became Derwent London plc.