Profile: Peter Armitage

IT was a Yorkshire Post article from 1969 that persuaded Yorkshireman Peter Armitage to pack up his lucrative career in global portfolio management to run a non-profit making venture to help out troubled teenagers.

“I read an article when I was 21 about someone who was given a gold watch after 50 years of service. I thought I don’t ever want to do that, I don’t want to do half of that.”

So after 24 and a half years at global fund manager Capital International, Armitage handed in his notice, deciding that he had more money than he and his family would spend in their lifetimes and it was time for a more altruistic path.

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“I’d worked in financial services all my life, so there was a strong urge to do something completely different,” he says.

“In 2006, I took the plunge, resigning from Capital International, one of the most highly respected fund management companies in the world and quitting a job I loved.”

Armitage, who left Leeds Grammar aged 16 with a handful of ‘O’ levels to join his father’s firm as an articled clerk, joined Capital International in 1982, just before the start of a global bull market.

His departure in 2006 meant he had minimal exposure to the steep share price declines that followed the 2008 banking crisis.

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“This fortuitous timing resulted in an accumulation of more wealth than my family needed and, because I find the teachings of Buddha and Christ more attractive than conspicuous consumption, I resolved to give some of it back,” he says.

He decided to open an exclusive corporate conference venue that would use the profits made from paying clients to run week-long courses for young people who are going through difficult periods.

“I wanted to locate it in my native Yorkshire,” says Morley-born Armitage, who had spent most of his working life in Switzerland.

But he then received a call from Norman Drummond, a friend and the founder of Columba 1400, a charity that has helped more than 4,000 young people and adults.

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Drummond urged him to venture north and inspect a property overlooking Loch Lomond.

“I travelled north, more as a courtesy than anything else because my heart was set on Yorkshire which is where I spent my formative years, but the moment I saw Ardoch and its inspirational setting I knew I’d found the right place,” says Armitage.

Ardoch is an estate overlooking Loch Lomond, into which Armitage has invested several million pounds.

Built around a traditional farmhouse, set in 133 acres, Ardoch has fused traditional and modern architecture. Using environmentally friendly methods he has created a state-of-the-art, multi-purpose facility for business and charity use.

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For 42 weeks of the year its 18 bedrooms, restaurant and complex of conference and event space are used by corporate clients to host day and residential meetings, seminars and training events.

Clients include Devro, Edinburgh University, Honda, the Institute of Directors and PwC.

Its principal target market is companies with a turnover of more than £100m, but Armitage says that SMEs also find it an attractive and affordable venue.

The money raised through this commercial operation helps to finance the centre’s other use as a resource for child-focused charities.

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The facility was conceived, planned and developed by Armitage who transferred its ownership into the not-for-profit Ardoch Foundation for Charitable and Social Purposes.

It operates as the Loch Lomond base for the Columba 1400 charity, which at the moment gets a 25 per cent discount.

The plan is to increase this to 40 or 50 per cent once Ardoch reaches an annual turnover of £400,000.

All the food served in the centre’s dedicated restaurant is fresh and locally sourced and the building is partly powered by renewable energy. Its pond has been stocked with trout and more than 1,000 trees have been planted on the estate.

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Armitage persuaded former schoolmate and lifelong friend Robert Cockill to leave Yorkshire and move north with his wife Penny, to run the estate.

“It was very important for me to find the right couple as resident managers because I’m away from Ardoch most of the time,” he says.

“Robert and Penny have many years of experience in hotel management.

“I had been at Leeds Grammar School with Robert in the 1960s and was his best man when he married Penny in the early 1970s so I know them both extremely well.

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“They have done a remarkable job, from supervising Ardoch over the first three years, when it was a muddy, noisy building site, to the present time when the focus is on customer satisfaction and growth.”

Armitage says the project has given him the opportunity of meeting a range of interesting people, including The Princess Royal, patron of Columba 1400, who officially opened Columba 1400 at Loch Lomond in June 2010.

Now he is keen to boost business so that he can offer charities that work with young people at Ardoch a better rate.

“Some of the growth will come from new customers with a similar profile to those we have already,” he says.

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“Some will come from repeat visits from satisfied customers and the balance from new prospects such as product/book launches, golfing, yoga and interfaith groups and family reunions.”

He is also keen to target visitors from North America, Japan and other countries where Scotland is marketed and known as an attractive destination.

“Homecoming Scotland 2014 and the Commonwealth Games should provide Ardoch with good opportunities too.

“When we reach the revenue targets the primary measure of success will be on the return on human rather than financial capital, in other words how successful is Ardoch in positively impacting the lives of young people,” he says.

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Ardoch is situated very near a children’s hospice and Armitage is keen to set up a programme for the mothers and siblings of terminally ill children.

One success story has been a programme for teenagers from two schools merging in Glasgow, one Protestant and the other Catholic.

“We brought some young people here to look at how they could be role models in the new school, how to eliminate the ‘I’m protestant, you’re Catholic, I don’t like you’ attitude’,” says Armitage.

At the moment the venture is loss-making, which Armitage is funding. Break even is expected in 2014.

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“I’ve had such good fortune with my own life and it’s people I’ve met along the journey who have helped me,” he says.

“Ardoch is a great way to close the circle, to help other people along their journey.”

Peter Armitage factfile

Title: Founder

Date of birth: February 1, 1948

Education: Leeds Grammar School

First job: 1964, articled clerk in my father’s accountancy practice in Leeds

Favourite song: Feeling Good (Nina Simone)

Car driven: Red VW Golf

Favourite film: Richard III (1995, Ian McKellan)

Favourite holiday destination: Bhutan

Last book read: Leaving Alexandria (Richard Holloway)

What I’m most proud of: My wife and children