Tributes have been paid to well-known Hull businessman Malcolm Scott who has died in hospital after a short illness.
A chartered surveyor, he initially worked for Hull City Council before joining the Prudential Building Society when it operated an estate agency division. However, after a year he found himself unemployed when the division was closed so he set up his own company in 1990, initially based in a rented room inside Oriel Chambers in High Street.
Scotts Chartered Surveyors soon expanded from a one-man business, taking over the commercial work of long-established estate agents Wells Cundall in 1995 and later opening an office in Grimsby. Over the next three decades he used his experience in both the public and private sectors to forge numerous partnerships between the two in a range of areas, from economic development to the arts and culture.
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In 2011 he launched an audacious £100 million bid to buy the Humber Bridge off the government through a proposed new social enterprise company in exchange for the crossing's remaining debt being wiped off. While ultimately unsuccessful, he claimed his high-profile campaign helped prompt a subsequent government deal with the bridge board which reduced tolls by half.
Lawrence Brown, managing partner at Scotts Property LLP, worked alongside him at the pan-humber firm for eight years. He said: "I remember him coming into a meeting one day and just saying: 'I want to buy the Humber Bridge'. We all just looked at him as if he was crazy.
"The thing was, he actually came with something that would work. His scheme made perfect sense but they were never going to simply adopt his idea so they came up with something else to present as their own which achieved the same thing by reducing the tolls to £1.50 - so he won in the end."
At Scotts,which swelled to five partners, among his notable successes, was persuading construction firm Henry Boot to develop Priory Park in west Hull.
By the time he had the Humber Bridge in his sights, he was already an established figure in the city's business community having been one of the early members of the For Entrepreneurs Only group, an influential member of the Hull & Humber Chamber of Commerce, serving for a year as president, and one of the first chairs of the City Centre Task Force, which led to the creation of Hull Business Improvement District (BID) in 2006.
Mr Brown said: "He was one of the first people to champion the idea of city-centre living. A lot of people were sceptical about that at the time but he was right. He also made the connection between that and the need to have a thriving evening economy in the city centre to complement that."
A keen sports fan and a lifelong Hull City supporter, he also worked behind the scenes as part of a consortium which bought Hull Kingston Rovers' ground Craven Park when the club was struggling to survive financially. He later became a director of the club itself.
In 2012 he stepped back from the day-to-day running of his business and started supporting the arts and culture sector, including investing in a music studio run by his son in a former wholesale fruit warehouse in Humber Street. At the same time, he began planning his own arts venue in the ground floor of the city centre office block in Alfred Gelder Gelder where Scotts was based.
Kardomah 94 would become a popular venue, operating as a versatile creative space hosting live music, theatre, comedy. poetry and cinema alongside a cafe and restaurant. While at the helm, Mr Scott also found time to be an enthusiastic supporter of Hull's City of Culture bid and subsequently served as a board member of the 2017 City of Culture company and its successor Absolutely Cultured.
The venue closed in the summer of 2019 after Mr Scott fell ill. Speaking on its final night, he said: "It's been a bit emotional. I have had it for five years now. We brought the building in 1998 but it has been the way it is for five years now since 2014. I've had an operation on my brain and have lost a kidney after I was diagnosed with a brain tumour last January.
"I actually retired when I was 50, but it all came to a head last year and since then I have been trying to keep this on but it is time to enjoy it. I just want to say a big thank you to everyone who has been involved and helped me along the way, and to my lovely wife Alison."
It has recently been coverted into city centre apartments, with Scotts having moved to the Fruit Market.
Mr Brown said: "When he decided to get more into the arts and culture, I wasn't surprised. He wasn't your standard chartered surveyor. He always said he never really knew what he was going to be when he grew up."
Today former city council leader Carl Minns said: "Hull has lost a great man. Malcolm was an advocate for the city and was involved in many projects that made our city a greater place to live, play and work. He was also an invaluable source of help, advice and support during my time as leader of the council."
Former Hull & Humber Chamber president Phil Ascough added: "Mal did so much for the city of Hull and the people who live here. Business, sport, culture - we will never forget Fruit Trade Music and Kardomah 94 and we will certainly never forget the wonderful, fun gentleman who made so many things happen."
Author Nick Quantrill tweeted: "Such sad news and a loss to Hull. His Kardomah venue was such a game-changer as an arts venue. I am definitely not the only one who benefited from his willingness to say 'yes' when presenting him with ideas he probably should have laughed out of the door. A top, top man."
Mr Scott leaves his wife Alison, two children and two grand-children. Details of his funeral service have yet to be announced.
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