Lawrence Tomlinson is the founding Chairman of the LNT Group which employs 1700 people across its five diverse core businesses; Ideal Care Homes, LNT Construction, LNT Software, LNT Solutions and Ginetta.

The 47 year old, philanthropic entrepreneur was announced as the 151st richest person in the UK in the annual Sunday Times Rich List in May 2011 with an estimated wealth of £500m.

Lawrence grew up in Batley, West Yorkshire; where he attended the local grammar school before going on to pursue his love of engineering at Huddersfield College. Wellman Bibby spotted his clear potential and sponsored an engineering degree at Bradford University. After graduating in 1987 Lawrence joined Holset Engineering as part of their graduate programme.
Lawrence’s entry into the care sector came after leaving university where he set up a company which purchased a care home from his parents, operating six care homes under the banner of TriCare, Tomlinson saw a gap in the market for a developer who could build bespoke, quality care homes, and two years later set up LNT Construction.
Following the acquisition of an established care home Lawrence saw a gap in the market for a developer who could build quality, turn-of-key care homes and he subsequently established LNT Construction to meet this demand. In the years that followed, Lawrence continued to establish other businesses including LNT Software which develops and sells bespoke software for the care home industry, LNT Solutions which provides climate protection systems for worldwide transport network and Orchard Care Homes which was bought by its management in 2007 for £180m.

Lawrence re-entered the care sector in 2009 when he set up Ideal Care Homes –Ideal Care Homes offers an entirely new approach to elderly care provision and has an established track record in delivering first-class services for older people. They offer the highest quality of personalised care in a contemporary and relaxed setting at an affordable price for all, with a no ‘top-ups’ policy. The residential care homes are designed and developed to be fit-for-purpose and future-proof with every thought given to the well-being of the people who choose to live with them. Their professional staff are dedicated carers who promote independence and personal choice. Ideal Care homes currently have 26 operating homes with plans to open further homes across the North and Midlands in 2012/13.

With a background in engineering, it is no surprise that Lawrence has a real passion for car design and motor-racing – hence in 2005 he acquired the British car marque Ginetta. An accomplished racing driver, in 2006 he won the Le Mans 24 hour race at only his second attempt. He has significantly grown the Ginetta business and the 53 year old marque now employs over 70 people from its state-of-the-art factory in Leeds and exports GT winning race cars all over the globe.


Although one of the wealthiest men in the UK, Lawrence’s passion for business is undiluted, he continues to invest his wealth back into the group and its people where, unusually, each and every employee is also a shareholder. He firmly believes that rewards associated with success need to be re-invested in people and he does just that, whether it is providing apprenticeships or creating driving scholarships for young people. Lawrence is dedicated to building a bright future for the LNT Group, its staff and its customers.

Lawrence’s business, entrepreneurial and engineering achievements were recognised in 2011 when he was awarded two separate honorary doctorates by Yorkshire universities. 2011 also saw Lawrence being announced as Yorkshire Director of the Year, Entrepreneur of the Year and recognised as one of the top 10 most influential leaders within the healthcare industry.

Away from the office Lawrence enjoys spending time with his wife and their four children at their home in Harrogate. He is also a keen sportsman and as well as motorsport also enjoys golf and a variety of water-sports.

Richard qualified as a Chartered Account at Arthur Andersen in the Audit & Business Advisory and Corporate Finance Teams. He went on to instruct the Business Change team at ASDA, which appraised the financial viability of new stores and extensions and carried out post audit assessments of completed schemes. This was followed by a move into the New Business department to lead the General Insurance team.

Richard joined the LNT Group in 2005 and deals with strategic finance options for the group, bank liaison, legal issues and management.

Andrew is a Chartered Surveyor with 20 years experience in the Healthcare sector. Andrew has worked for Lawrence and the LNT Group for 10 years, originally running a healthcare consultancy business that was part of the Group before its sale to Jones Lang Lasalle.

Andrew has overseen a number of large healthcare property transactions including the sales of McCardle Care to Bondcare for £100m and the sale of Bondcare to Southern Cross for £225m, and was instrumental in the sale of Orchard Care Homes on behalf of the LNT Group in 2007 for £180m. Since that time Andrew has concentrated on land acquisition, investment and turn key sales as well as inter group referral business and customer relationship management. Andrew is the Responsible Individual under the CQC Registration for Ideal Care Homes.

Martyn has over 30 years experience in business to business and retail management. He was managing director for Squadron Batteries and marketing director for Exide UK, and divisions of Pirelli and Quinton Hazell.

Specialising in Marketing and operations management, he has successfully developed 'set-up' companies attaining rapid growth with a view to selling or gaining external investment.

Simon caught the racing bug at the tender age of 11 when his parents moved close to top Cheshire Circuit Oulton Park. Having spent 5 years following the thrills and spills track-side, the 16 year old began a City and Guilds apprenticeship as a motor vehicle technician in a local Renault dealership and when he wasn't studying could be found helping out local racing teams all over the region.

On finishing his studies, a 20 year old Simon set up John Holmes Racing Team before moving to Norfolk to take up the role of race mechanic and then engineer at the prestigious Van Diemen Racing. Here the newly qualified engineer worked alongside some of the biggest names in driving including Eddie Irvine, Paul Tracey and Allan McNish in Formula Fords and later Darren Turner in Formula Renault. Simon also gained extensive International Formula 3 and 3000 experience during this period.

In 1999, having made a real name for himself in the world of motorsport, Simon moved to top Sheffield team Manor Motorsport where he would spend the next 8 years running top level drivers such as Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Raikonnen, Paul Di Resta, Rob Austin and Oliver Jarvis.

He joined Ginetta in 2006, joining Team LNT off the back of their historic GT2 win at Le Mans, having already run Rob Bell and Warren Hughes to class victory in the Le Mans Series in the same year. Simon now heads up the entire Ginetta operation as General Manager.

Yorkshireman David Haigh has over 33 years in the mechanical, electrical and construction industry. He started his career as an apprentice with local Ossett firm Hall Electrical in 1976, progressing to Swaine Electrical in his home town of Batley just two years later.

In 1982 having become a fully qualified electrician David established his own firm and later that year Haigh Electrical was born, employing just 2 staff.

Undergoing rapid expansion Haigh Electrical won a variety of contracts across the UK including Victoria Wine, Ring Lighting and various shop fitters across the country - thus increasing its workforce to around 30.

In 1992, the company began a long term partnership with Lawrence Tomlinson, then owner of Orchard Care Homes, which saw Haigh Electrical implementing all electrical installations across Orchard's homes in the North of England.

In 2008, following a successful partnership with Tomlinson, David decided to join his group of businesses under the banner of the LNT Group whereby Haigh Electrical also expanded its operation to include a complete mechanical installation. Haigh Mechanical and Electrical is now wholly integrated into LNT Construction and David has remained with the team as Managing Director of the Mechanical & Engineering departments within LNT Construction reporting to Lawrence Tomlinson.

Working with Lawrence on multiple projects over a 15 year period Mark was an obvious choice to join LNT Group.

With over 25 years' experience working in social care in a range of roles, including Director of Adult Social Services with Kirklees Metropolitan Council, Mark has worked for the Audit Commission/Social Services Inspectorate's Joint Review Team to evaluate the performance of other Social Services Departments.

Mark has also worked as a private consultant advising other care providers on ways to develop their performance, service, planning and partnership arrangements.

Mark holds an MBA based on the strategic management of residential care services for older people.

Tony was trained by Microsoft in Reading and learnt his craft at The Royal Military College of Science in Shrivenham and the Royal School of Signals in Blandford. Tony put these skills into practice operationally across the world. In 2002 Tony was recommended for a Queens commission and in 2004 he left the British Army.

His first role was one as a technical specialist for the Weetabix Food Company ensuring that the top level systems kept the group going. After this he obtained a role with IBM in Brussels which then took him to the Dominican Republic, here he designed a cost effective Satellite Internet platform for the populous to use for internet telephony and communication.

On his return to the UK Tony ran a successful consultancy specialising in IT Security, "Ethical Hacking" and Technical Surveillance Counter Measures. Using the contacts made in the forces Tony worked for many private agencies and on behalf of the government also. His cliental ranged from premiership football teams to Swiss Bankers. In 2008 Tony sold this company and became the Head of IT for a Telecommunications company before taking up the position of Managing Director of LNT Software in Apr 2010.

On joining the group Tony worked closely with Lawrence to put in place Lawrence's cloud vision for their Flagship Care Home Management product Coolcare2. The success of the product is testament to the groups principles of Quality Value and Innovation.