Chairman of sinking Thames Water has beach pad with pool and penthouse apartment

02 July 2023 , 08:19

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Ian Marchant

An outgoing boss at sinking, debt-ridden Thames Water is awash with luxury and can look forward to lapping it up at his £1.5m seaside pad with pool.

Ian Marchant earns a fortune as chairman of the company that is leaking hundreds of millions of litres of water every day and is in up to its neck in £14bn worth of debt.

This week the firm, which has 15m customers, was hit by the resignation of its chief executive Sarah Bentley and had crisis talks with the Government over its funding.

But Mr Marchant, 62, who is being replaced as chair after more than five years with the water supplier, should have no trouble making ends meet after he makes his exit this month.

Marchant has a seaside property in Bognor Regis

We can reveal he and his wife enjoy a luxury property portfolio which – as well as the flash beachside home – includes a luxury £1m penthouse apartment in Edinburgh.

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They bought the seaside property with heated pool in Bognor Regis, West Sussex, for £925,000 in 2010.

And they splashed out £975,000 in 2015 for their three-bedroom penthouse with four terraces, in a block of eight apartments in Edinburgh.

A brochure for the gated development says the “elegant and private retreat provides outstanding modern architecture immersed in green natural surroundings”.

Thames Water paid Mr Marchant £325,000 in 2021/2 and £460,000 in 2020/1. On Thursday it said Sir Adrian Montague will become its new director and chairman on July 10 .

The firm thanked its old chair for “the leadership [he] has demonstrated in guiding Thames Water through a challenging period for the water industry”. Mr Marchant said he was “delighted to be handing the chair reins to Adrian”.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “That the Thames Water chairman is paid hundreds of thousands of pounds to oversee a failing company while hard working families struggle with rising bills is a shocking indictment of the privatised water industry.”

A Thames Water spokesman said: “Finding and fixing leaks is a top priority... We’re repairing over 1,300 per week.”

The company did not comment on Ian Marchant’s properties.

Simon Murphy