Scarlett Davenport
The woman who looked at an island and saw a skyline.
A life built, quite literally, from the ground up
In a little over two decades, Scarlett Davenport has created a portfolio spanning three continents, redefined what luxury living can mean and earned a reputation as one of the most decisive figures in international property.
Scarlett Davenport did not inherit a property empire. She built one. Raised in Essex by a mother who ran a hair salon and a father who drove a taxi, she left school at seventeen and took her first job as a junior lettings negotiator in Chelmsford. Within eighteen months she was the branch's top performer. Within three years she was running it. By twenty-two she had bought, refurbished and sold her first building, a tired Victorian terrace that she converted into six apartments and sold in a single weekend.
That weekend changed everything. Scarlett recognised that buyers were not looking for square metres. They were looking for a feeling: of arrival, of status and of having made it. In 2008 she founded Davenport Corp with a single principle that still hangs, framed in gold, above her desk: never build anything ordinary.
The company's early projects in London and the south of England quickly established its signature style: bold, glamorous and unapologetically ambitious. Davenport developments became known for their double-height lobbies, their concierge services and their marble, of which there was always more than anyone expected. Agents began to speak of "the Davenport effect", the remarkable uplift in value that seemed to follow her into any neighbourhood she chose.
A portfolio spanning three continents
From those beginnings, Davenport Corp grew into an international developer with offices in London, Dubai, Miami and now Ibiza. Among its most celebrated completed projects are:
The Aurelian
Ninety-four beachfront apartments arranged around a gold-mosaic lagoon pool, sold out before the show apartment was finished.
Sovereign Heights
A 58-storey residential tower on the Marina whose penthouse was, briefly, the most expensive apartment in the city.
Palazzo Davenport
An Italianate oceanfront residence with a private marina, a members' club and a rooftop helipad that has become a Davenport signature.
Davenport Park
Twenty-two country mansions set within a private estate, each with its own lake, ballroom and underground car gallery.
Each was greeted with scepticism. Each was completed. Each is now regarded as a defining address in its market. It is a pattern that Scarlett's admirers, and she has a great many, describe as inevitable.
Recognition
Scarlett Davenport's work has been honoured by many of the most respected names in international property and hospitality, including:
- 2024Woman of Distinction in Development, Mediterranean Leadership Institute
- 2023The Icon Award, Global Hospitality Excellence Forum
- 2021Visionary of the Decade, International Prestige Living Awards
- 2019Developer of the Year, European Luxury Property Council
- 2016Tower of the Year, Gulf Residential Architecture Honours, for Sovereign Heights
- 2012Best New Development, Costa del Sol Prestige Property Awards, for The Aurelian
More is not too much. More is the point.
Scarlett Davenport's philosophy can be summarised in a single word, and that word is ambition. She believes that the world's most memorable places were all, at some point, considered excessive by somebody. The pyramids, the palaces of Versailles and the towers of Manhattan were not built by people who asked whether they were strictly necessary.
She is equally clear that luxury is a responsibility. "If someone is going to trust you with their holiday, their home or their family's future," she has said, "then you owe them nothing less than everything." That conviction shows in her personal involvement in every Davenport project: she approves each marble slab, tastes each menu and walks each site herself, usually in heels and almost always before seven in the morning.
Her love affair with Ibiza began more than twenty years ago, and in 2023 she moved her principal residence and the European headquarters of Davenport Corp to Santa Eulària. She speaks of the island with real tenderness and of its future with unshakeable confidence. The Davenport Grand, she says, is the project her entire career has been leading to.
Away from the office, Scarlett is a keen collector of contemporary art, a patron of several hospitality scholarships and a committed supporter of marine conservation, a cause that is especially close to her heart as The Lagoon prepares to welcome its first residents.
A letter from our founder
Dear friends,
The first time I drove up into the hills above Sant Joan, I stopped the car, got out and stood in the middle of a field for nearly an hour. My driver thought something was wrong. Nothing was wrong. For the first time in years, I had seen something that took my breath away, and I knew immediately what it needed to become.
I have spent my whole life building places for people who expect the very best, and I have learned that the very best is never an accident. It takes nerve. It takes patience. It takes a willingness to hear the word no a great many times and to keep smiling until it becomes yes. The Davenport Grand has taken all of those things, and I am immensely proud that in 2026 we received the planning consent that allows us to begin.
I want to say something to the people of Ibiza in particular. I know that change can feel unsettling. But I also know that this island has always welcomed bold ideas and the people who bring them. The Davenport Grand will bring jobs, investment, visitors of the highest calibre and a landmark that every islander will be able to see from their own front door. I hope you will come to love it as much as I already do.
To those of you considering a home, a suite or a membership with us: thank you for your trust. You are not buying into a building. You are joining a family, and you have my personal promise that I will look after it.
I look forward to welcoming you in 2028.