好色先生TV

The receptionist at Heron International goes silent. She lowers her handset and peers over the rim of her glasses.

鈥淚鈥檓 sorry. What did you say?鈥�

鈥淚鈥檓 here to see Gerald Ronson at 10.鈥�

鈥淢r Ronson himself?鈥� she asks. I confirm my meeting for the third time and she, very slowly, punches some numbers into her keypad. A raise of the eyebrow indicates a confirmation and I am shooed through to an upstairs waiting room.

At first, I don鈥檛 notice the figure looming over the sofa I鈥檓 perched on, but then a puff of cigar smoke engulfs me. 鈥淗ello Emily,鈥� booms Ronson through the haze. 鈥淐ome through to the office will you? Coke Zero, is that?鈥� he asks, gesturing at the drink I鈥檇 been given. 鈥淣ever had it myself. You want some vodka in it?鈥� Before I can work out if this question is a joke, he is on to the next.

鈥淲hat鈥檚 your circulation,鈥� he asks as he slams the office door. The question takes me by surprise so I stutter for a moment. When I finally answer, he nods and says: 鈥淔irst mistake 鈥� you didn鈥檛 instantly know everything about your product. Sit down.鈥�

Ronson is one of British construction鈥檚 most important clients, and one of British business鈥� most notorious figures. His company, Heron International, started as a furniture business run by his father. Ronson joined in 1954 aged 14 and became a partner in 1957. Then, by bringing the first self-service petrol stations to the UK in March 1966 and steering the business towards property development, he built it up to be one of Britain鈥檚 largest companies by the eighties.

But the success was short-lived. In August 1990, Ronson was convicted of conspiracy, false accounting and theft for his part in the Guinness share-trading fraud. He was fined 拢5m and spent six months in prison. Not long after, Heron collapsed with debts of 拢1.6bn owed to 82 banks and 15,000 bondholders.

The story of how he rebuilt a business that has developed more than 10 million square feet of commercial and retail property in the UK and Europe, could easily fill an interview. But, over the hour-and-a-half we are together, he also talks about his current developments, including the 拢500m Heron Tower in the City of London, his family and the 鈥渦nfortunate鈥� Guinness affair.

Repairing a broken reputation

鈥淚鈥檝e never found anything easy,鈥� says Ronson as he sits in his silver and mahogany office, puffing on the Cohiba Robustos cigar that smoulders throughout the interview. 鈥淚t just comes down to differing degrees of complicated and difficult. But in life, you鈥檝e still got to get off your arse and make things happen.鈥�

Ronson鈥檚 most difficult period began in August 1990 when, after a 112-day trial, he was sentenced to a year in prison for his part in a conspiracy to drive up the price of shares in Guinness during a 1986 takeover battle for the drinks company, Distillers. Companies in Ronson鈥檚 Heron Group had bought 拢25m of Guinness shares during the bid and stood to receive a 拢5m payout for their support.

Ronson says he prefers to see the incident as a learning experience. 鈥淎 man who makes the same mistake twice is a real fool,鈥� he tells me. 鈥淲hen you have 50 years鈥� experience behind you, you鈥檙e better at protecting yourself 鈥� you don鈥檛 take as many risks.鈥�

At the end of the day, there are greater things in life than building a tower, aren鈥檛 there?

But while he insists he has learned from his past, he prefers not to dwell on it. 鈥淲hen you鈥檝e been through as much shit as I have, nothing keeps you awake at night.鈥� It was this attitude, he says, that allowed him to rebuild his career after his prison sentence and the collapse of his business.

鈥淭here is no point looking back to unfortunate circumstances 鈥� they cloud your vision. You have to have the strength of character to plough on. That鈥檚 what I did. I decided to rebuild my business and my reputation.鈥�

Ronson says that to this day he doesn鈥檛 quite know how he pulled his life back together. Certainly, he was helped by friends in high places. He borrowed money from Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch, communications billionaire Craig McCaw and other wealthy acquaintances to accumulate enough capital to get back into the game.

In the courts

But when it came to his reputation, he says he just took it one step at a time. Along with the other men involved in the Guinness trial, Ronson appealed the 1990 ruling in 1991 and 1994. Both attempts failed. But when they took their case to the European Court of Human Rights in 2000, the judges ruled that the original trial was in breach of the defendants鈥� human rights as the prosecutions relied on DTI interviews that obliged them to incriminate themselves.

However, in 2002 the House of Lords rejected this decision. Five law lords said that at the time the four were on trial, there was no law to make evidence obtained under compulsion void and so the verdict could not be trumped by later decisions.

Regardless of the opinions of the judicial system, in Ronson鈥檚 eyes his reputation is repaired: 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know how much I鈥檇 have to do to revive it. But I knew I would get there. And I have.鈥�

But Ronson鈥檚 rise back to the top has not been without controversy. In 2005 he approached housebuilder Crest Nicholson, in which Heron had a 23.4% stake, about a possible takeover. Crest made it clear that the approach was unwelcome and that the price range of between 345p and 430p a share suggested by Heron was too low. Ronson refused to make a formal bid until Crest opened its books; Crest refused and gave Ronson five weeks to put in a bid. There followed a public battle between Heron and Crest鈥檚 board and when Ronson could not persuade the group to open its books he admitted defeat and walked away.

He is philosophical about this setback, as well. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not something I see as being frustrating. If we could have bought Crest at a price we wanted, then we would have, but the price wasn鈥檛 right in the end.鈥�

He admits that the company would have been a great asset to the Heron empire. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a good group and it would have been an ideal fit with us. I was interested in buying a business that owned a large landbank. But it didn鈥檛 work out. You move on.鈥�

Back on top

Now that Heron has 拢650m under investment and has 150 buildings in nine European capitals behind it, Ronson is focused on ensuring his company stays at the top this time around. Aged 67, he shows no sign of slowing down.

鈥淚t is no secret that I enjoy what I do,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 do a 12-14 hour day, six days a week and 20% of that time is spent focusing on the charities I support.鈥�

I don鈥檛 want people telling me what they think I want to hear. If there鈥檚 a problem I want it on the table, I want to sort it, I want to know about it. Trust me, it doesn鈥檛 take me long to work out when someone鈥檚 bullshitting

His enthusiasm is matched by his confidence that Heron is leading the pack, particularly with the 鈥渟ix star鈥� 44-storey Heron Tower in the City of London (pictured right). 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to be rude to my competitors but I think there are only four or five in this country that could rival us. The others simply don鈥檛 get involved in the detail like us. The product is very important and most developers overlook that. It鈥檚 about working out what people want out of a building and delivering it with detailed quality. Heron has a reputation of delivering what it says it will.鈥�

And with increasing numbers of young executives earning ever larger amounts of money, what prospective office tenants want above all is an easier life. 鈥淭hey want services supplied for them,鈥� he says. 鈥淧eople have busy lives. An office building like the Heron Tower won鈥檛 be just an office block 鈥� it will offer a conci猫rge service, drivers, a dry-cleaning service, a facility for booking theatre tickets, and all of the highest quality in the best location.鈥� By this point Ronson is on his feet, striding around his office, gesticulating wildly and counting on his fingers the list of added extras his development will supply.

What do those who鈥檝e worked with Ronson make of his business methods? David Connolly, a partner at Davis Langdon, has helped him on a number of projects, including the Heron Tower. 鈥淗e does have a reputation of being aggressive, but he鈥檚 not actually. He is funny 鈥� in a dry way.鈥�

Ronson is one of the most loyal people he has worked for, he says. 鈥淗e is very clear in his instructions. If you don鈥檛 deliver, then that鈥檚 it really, but if you do, you can guarantee he鈥檒l use you again.鈥�

Ronson bears this out. 鈥淎t the end of the day, people will do the job required of them or not. If they don鈥檛, I don鈥檛 want to know. It鈥檚 not difficult working for me, but I know what I want and the standard of finish I expect.

鈥淎s long as we鈥檙e all on the same page and the product is to my standards, great. I鈥檝e always believed in leading from the front.鈥�

Working for him doesn鈥檛 suit everyone, he warns, because of his hard-nosed attitude. And there is one thing in particular that rubs him up the wrong way. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want people telling me what they think I want to hear. If there鈥檚 a problem I want it on the table, I want to sort it, I want to know about it. Trust me, it doesn鈥檛 take me long to work out when someone鈥檚 bullshitting.鈥�

The family man

Ronson says he鈥檚 begun to think about how the company will continue once he is no longer at the helm. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 plan on going anywhere soon, but you do have to consider what you are still capable of when you get to my age. Someone will obviously take all of this on eventually but I鈥檓 not thinking too much about that at the moment. It鈥檚 hard enough to keep up to date with what鈥檚 going on now 鈥� it鈥檚 Friday today and I can鈥檛 remember what I was doing on Monday.鈥�

Looking back on his life, Ronson insists that he hasn鈥檛 been a great achiever. 鈥淣o, no, no. I like challenges and I do my best but I wouldn鈥檛 say I鈥檇 done great things.鈥�

I don鈥檛 believe him, and say so. He smiles and says: 鈥淲ell, yes, I鈥檝e rebuilt a business, repaired a broken reputation, created a thriving company, but at the end of the day, there are greater things in life than building a tower, aren鈥檛 there?鈥�

Photos of Gail, his wife of 40 years, and his four daughters crowd his office. He has been peppering the interview with information about them, but now he has free rein to be the proud father. He takes me over to the largest table of photos and points his girls out. He is meeting one of them for lunch later that day and says he is pleased she will be there without her husband. 鈥淚t鈥檚 nice to see them one-on-one,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important to spend time alone, just the two of us, once in a while. I like to do that with all my girls.鈥�

As time鈥檚 up, Ronson leads me round his office, pointing out awards, old photographs and certificates. He has changed out of his hard-nosed persona into a man in his late sixties, proud of what he鈥檚 achieved. As we leave the last certificate, Ronson says: 鈥淣ot bad for a boy who left school at 14, eh?鈥� He strolls over to one of his many ashtrays and finally stubs out the cigar. The message is clear. The interview is over.