I now realise that geography is the absolute kernel of inspiration; it’s helped me to see the bigger picture, to look at things in the context of the wider world and also to see the micro details. Different aspects of geography influence everything I do, every day.”
- Richard Walker
Alumnus Richard Walker OBE (Geography, St Aidan’s, 1998-2001) and Executive Chairman of Iceland Foods and Bywater Properties visited Durham recently to deliver a lecture to our students. He describes himself as being ‘environmentally conscious’ and explained how his studies and university experiences have helped shape his career and his life. The lecture was attended by current Geography students and introduced by Head of Geography, Professor Colm O’Cofaigh. Richard fondly recalled his days at Durham, telling the students that Durham was ‘the making of him’. He credited this partly to the collegiate system, which meant there were countless ways to get involved in many activities. He also spoke highly of his degree, reflecting that everything he has done in his career comes back to Geography.
Students heard how Richard considers Geography to be even more relevant now than it was when he graduated in 2001, adding that he is delighted to see Durham forging a reputation as a world leader in climate adaptation and hazard, risk and resilience studies. Over the past decade, climate change has earned a place on everyone’s agenda, with every major organisation having an Environmental, Social and Governance department. This approach requires specialist management expertise, which can only augur well for the employment prospects of graduates with a Geography degree from Durham. Richard feels confident that this transparency and accountability become more important, with sustainability becoming an increasing focus for business.
Richard’s family business is the British supermarket chain, Iceland, but he didn’t plan on going into the business. After graduation, Richard continued his studies to qualify as a chartered surveyor, eventually setting up Bywater Properties, of which he remains Chairman. His environmental conscience is also evident here: in 2023, Bywater signed a £1b joint venture agreement with a Japanese Forestry Corporation to promote mass timber development and construction of commercial property throughout Europe.
In 2011, Richard finally joined the business founded by his parents in 1970, frozen food retailer Iceland. The decision was driven partly by his desire to be near his family but also by his concern over the environment. He took great pride in the Iceland strapline his father had created years before: ‘Doing it right.’ They had already led the way for British retailers by banning artificial additives and colourings.
“My dad led the charge against genetically modified foods in the UK, he coined the phrase ‘Frankenstein foods’.”
The frozen food retailer already had a track record of making a real difference through disruptive change, so he set out to ‘do it right’ in his own way – by taking the challenges of climate change right to the heart of the communities served by many of the 1,000 Iceland stores. He advocates that wanting to create a better and more sustainable world should not be the responsibility of those with the privilege of wealth, and as Iceland stores are located in some of the most deprived communities in the UK, his customers could make a difference too.
“It’s easy to assume that someone struggling to feed their family on as little as £25 a week, can’t afford to care about plastic in the ocean – or the loss of the orangutan. That’s a lazy assumption – and it’s wrong.”
As a keen advocate of social and environmental change, Richard saw an opportunity to make a real difference, to support the five million customers shopping in Iceland stores each week, and to use the powerful platform to introduce sustainability programmes such as banning plastic and palm oil from Iceland’s own brand products. Iceland has also signed the climate pledge to reach net zero by 2040.
Richard is passionate about improving the lives of his customers and giving them cost-effective options while recognising the importance of sustainability. Sometimes, this can be a challenge, but his belief is that consumers and retailers must work together to address this growing issue.
“It’s my core belief that we’ll never meet the challenges posed by climate change if they remain the concern of the comfortably-off middle classes. We need to democratise environmentalism.”
Ultimately, Iceland is about helping people, Richard shared with the students. They offer 10% off for the over 60s on Tuesdays and run the Iceland Food Club, which provides micro-loans to families during the school holidays. Iceland is also the largest recruiter of ex-offenders in the UK and its charitable foundation has given out more than £37m in grants.
It was a pretty special feeling: a month’s expedition, six months in training, but really ten years in the making, since I was last there with Dad.”
- Richard Walker
Following his mother’s dementia diagnosis, Richard’s father planned an expedition in 2011 to climb Mount Everest with the target of raising £1m for dementia research and to help build the world’s first rare dementia support centre. Richard joined his father on the three-month trip, but unfortunately, ill heath meant that the pair didn’t quite make it to the summit. Some members of the expedition did, however, and the £1m target was reached.
In 2023, following the loss of his mother in 2021, Richard pledged to return to Everest and complete the challenge. This time his trip was to last just one month, and he was accompanied by two experienced climbers. The climb was challenging and fraught with danger, the level of difficulty increasing with each of the four camps en route to the top. Camp Four is known as the Death Camp, where 18 climbers had perished during 2023, including a Canadian climber that had befriended Richard at Base Camp.
After triumphing over sickness, sunburn and retinal haemorrhage, the trio finally made it to the summit and raised another £1m for The National Brain Appeal to fund the building of a dementia research centre. Building starts this year. Richard admitted to the students that there were many times on Everest that he had wanted to give up and go home, but he acknowledged that quitting was the easy way out. He shared five personal learnings from the experience that apply equally to business, family, life – but also to studying and careers: