Karl Hick is not your ordinary CEO. He is embracing new opportunities focusing on the areas that are close to his heart: designing houses and implementing sustainable technologies that will equip us to face the challenges of the future, from changes in lifestyle to climate.

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As somebody who always looks ahead, he believes it is important to understand the housing needs of tomorrow, encompassing electrical vehicle charging points, cycle storage and bike lanes, home offices and superfast broadband. He is also exploring Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), or smart construction, which involves building “flat-pack” homes in factories and then assembling them on site.

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Karl’s focus is entirely on innovation. “I am interested in research and development and have a good grounding in numbers and my entrepreneurialism allowing me to take advantage of both aspects,” he says. “I am always involved in new things, whether it’s products or sustainability. I want to trial things like electric vehicles and superfast broadband so I can anticipate what people will need from their homes in the future.

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 “As a housebuilder, I embraced challenges and problems …I saw it as an opportunity to do something better than anybody else.”

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The ability to stay ahead of current trends has seen Karl move into sustainability and affordable housing long before they were fashionable. His work with houses that can be built on flood plains is similarly innovative, as well as providing a much-needed solution to a problem that will get increasingly worse in the coming years. “My focus is looking at the opportunities that will make a difference to the world, but are also commercially sound.”