OWNER PROFILE
But the environmentalists we hired questioned every single material we were using. We bought timber from renewable sources. We stopped using hard woods. We had to make choices in so many things. It established a unique position in the house building industry." In 1982, David’s division at Laing built a futuristic, energy efficient house for a BBC television programme called ‘Money’. They used solar panels, a machine that turned manure into heat, and dozens of electronic gadgets. The conservatories were designed as passive solar generators that funneled heat throughout the house. "Most of what we put into that house is still relevant today." Holliday says. "The solar panels are still working 25 years later." No doubt someone at Laing mentioned to Holliday that the company was thinking of starting companies in California and the Washington, D.C. area of the United States, and casually asked if he was interested. David jumped in, of course. Soon he was in the midst of a colossal research project to find out what was needed in those markets. "Our market entry was good," he says. "We had a ton of capital behind us and a clear vision of what we wanted to do. We analysed everyone else’s developments and came up with a set of common features. Then we told the architects the facilities we wanted – fireplaces, the size of rooms, site orientation, dozens of other details. When we opened our first development in Orange County, California, much to our amazement we sold 90 houses in the first 36 hours."
TOP LEFT: Kealoha 8 during the Montpelier Oyster Palma Regatta 2006 Photo: Nico Martinez TOP RIGHT: David, President of the Worshipful Company of Plaisterers BOTTOM: Kealoha 8, during Antigua Sailing Week 2007 Photo: Richard Matthews
Those early developments Holliday spearheaded in the United States established Laing as an important US builder to this day. Since then, Laing has also established a strong foothold as a builder of luxury homes in Denver, Colorado. During the eight years Holliday
was Managing Director/Chairman of Laing Homes Division (1981-1988), sales revenue grew from £25,000,000 to £250,000,000 annually. Profits increased from £2,700,000 to £63,000,000. During his 40th birthday party David found himself in the kitchen of his home having a beer with a good friend. The friend asked what he was going to be doing when he was 60. The friend told him he’d probably be dead at the rate he was working. "I thought about it," David says. "I had a great corporate life, a fantastic corporate life. But I ended up leaving Laing and setting up my own business. It was nice and simple, house construction in the south of England." Admiral Homes might have been simple, but it was big. It was the largest venture capital start-up in the UK at the time of its founding (1989). In six years Admiral was building 700 homes a year with a sales of £70,000,000. Admiral focused on green issues and energy consumption. "We won many awards for our focus on energy conservation," David says. "We led the industry even as a small company. It was very exciting. We were ten years ahead of our time." Along the way, Holliday served a year as president of the House Builders Federation in 1992. He combated financial and political threats to the industry in those days by helping establish an effective lobbying group. He says he enjoyed his work in the political arena, and found himself treated as somewhat of a guru in energy conservation by government ministers who sought his expertise. "It was a bit of a two-edged sword," Holliday says, "because in this area we were industry leaders. The government wanted the whole industry to become more energy conscious. While we wanted to help the government, we didn’t exactly want the whole industry to do it. >
www.oystermarine.com 59