20. Paul Sykes
£550m
Highstone Group
2008: £550m (No change)
Paul Sykes has been moving out of property into sustainable forestry investments, the conservation of rainforests and the preservation of wildlife habitats, through his newly formed Highstone Foundation Charity.
Sykes, 66, was the second developer in London Docklands, put up the first out-of-town cinema in Britain at Salford Quays, and developed business parks in Wakefield, Leeds and Rotherham. But it is the development of the Meadowhall Centre outside Sheffield that brought him national acclaim.
Some 1,500 acres of a redundant steelwork site adjacent to the M1 in the Don Valley were turned into a new out-of-town centre by Sykes and his partner, Eddie Healey. They sold Meadowhall in 1999 for £1.2bn. His redevelopment work was carried out by his Harrogate-based Highstone Group. It is in fine fettle, with £250m net assets in 2007-08. In all, after tax and hefty charitable donations, we put Sykes at £550m this year.