A former editor of Today on Radio 4 who has written a book on monastic living is joining the board of Berkeley Group, the FTSE 100 builder.
Sarah Sands has been appointed as a non-executive director of the London-focused developer of upmarket homes and will start the role at the end of this month.
Sands, 59, resigned from her role at the BBC breakfast time current affairs programme last year after three years and has since written The Interior Silence, which charts her pilgrimage to ten monasteries around the world. She was previously editor of the London Evening Standard and The Sunday Telegraph.
Glyn Barker, chairman of Berkeley, said that Sands would bring “a valuable perspective to the board on issues central to Berkeley’s vision and values, including the environment, sustainability, community and inclusivity”.
The appointment is part of a refresh of Berkeley’s board after the death of Tony Pidgley, who founded the company in 1976. William Jackson, managing partner of Bridgepoint, the private equity firm, Elizabeth Adekunle, the archdeacon of Hackney who advises the Metropolitan Police on ethical and diversity issues, and Andy Kemp, a senior partner at PwC, joined the board this year.
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Adrian Li, a long-serving director who is co-chief executive of the Bank of East Asia, will step down this year. Baroness Fleet, who as Veronica Wadley was also a previous editor of the Evening Standard, has stepped down from the board.
Non-executive directors were paid a basic fee of £68,000 last year, according to the company’s annual report.
Berkeley operates a collection of brands, principally Berkeley Homes, St George and St James. It said last month that it expects forward sales to be above £1.7 billion at the year-end thanks to pent-up demand and the government’s stamp duty holiday.
The builder promised to return £280 million to shareholders and said that it expected annual pre-tax profit to be at the same levels as last year and in line with its prior guidance of £500 million.
Shares in Berkeley inched 9p lower, or 0.2 per cent, to close at £45.73.
