Grainger Trust chair passed away last month
Colin Sherriff, an experienced social housing leader and chair of Grainger Trust, has died.
Sherriff, who had chaired Grainger’s for-profit subsidiary since 2021, passed away peacefully with his family on 29 August.
A statement from his family said: “He devoted his career to social housing and care, driven by a belief that housing could make a real difference to people’s lives.
“He always said that he worked in housing because he believed “a person needs a roof over their head to thrive in life.” That belief was at the heart of so much of what Colin did.”
Sherriff, in a career spanning 50 years, worked for a wide range of housing organisations, serving as a director for Circle and Thames Valley Housing in the 1980s and early 1990s, before becoming chief executive of Parkside Group in 1995, a role he held for 11 years.
He served on a National Housing Federation committee and held interim chief executive roles at Raglan Housing and Watford Community Housing Trust before becoming a consultant and coach.
In more recent years he has chaired Broadway Living, Heyford Regeneration and Origin Housing among other non-executive roles.
For the past five years he chaired Grainger Trust, a for-profit registered provider subsidiary of Grainger PLC.
Housing figures have in the past few hours paid tribute to Sherriff by leaving posts on LinkedIn.
Richard Petty, former head of UK residential valuation at JLL, said: “I’m terribly sorry to see this sad news - Colin was clearly an inspirational figure in the housing sector and, in my experience of working with him as a client in various roles, he always brought a challenging and thoughtful perspective, balanced with warmth, compassion and good humour. What an impact he had.”
Mike De’ath, partner at HTA Design, said: “Colin embraced life with a almost gleeful grasp of the joy of making housing happen with an astute understanding of the sector and its challenges. Fun and adventure ruled and it was a privilege to be a NED when he was chair of Origin. Condolences to family and all that knew him.”
Kate Davies, former chief executive of Notting Hill Genesis, said: “I’m very sorry to read this tragic news. Colin was such a super man, so committed, able and such good fun.”
Aileeen Evans, project director at Church Housing and former president of the Chartered Institute of Housing, said: “Very sad to hear this news. I am thinking of his family and friends.”
No comments yet