Over the past 29 years with Hardwicke, Brian has either led or been a key member of the executive team that has developed 27 projects totaling two million sq.ft. of real estate for Hardwicke‘s own account. These projects comprise commercial office, multi-family residential, retail and hotel real estate.
With the completion of the restructuring in 2014, Hardwicke set about rebuilding it‘s business offering with the executive management team, led by Mr. Owens, taking a significant shareholding in the group. With a modest balance sheet, the Group has started to rebuild value through strategic partnerships in much the same way as it evolved initially.
Following the systemic failure of Irish credit markets and collapse of the economy in 2008, Brian restructured the Group‘s balance sheet which involved disposing of the Group‘s entire asset portfolio and returning available capital to shareholders without defaulting on any of the company‘s borrowing obligations.
Brian's initial responsibility was the financial management of the joint venture vehicle with the Irish Government which was charged with the urban regeneration of Dublin‘s north docklands/IFSC. This IFSC is home to more than 500 companies generating in excess of €2 billion annually in income and employing more than 35,000 people. Development of the IFSC took more than 10 years and during this time Brian was invited to join the Board of Hardwicke as Chief Financial Officer, a position that he held for ten years, before being appointed Chief Executive in 2004.
On completion of his Business Degree at University College Dublin, Brian joined Deloitte Haskins & Sells (now Deloitte) as a graduate trainee where he remained for five years before joining Hardwicke, as Financial Controller. In addition, Mr. Owens is a professionally qualified chartered accountant & chartered surveyor with almost thirty years experience in the Irish real estate industry.