Pooran Desai studied at Oxford and Cambridge Universities before co-founding award-winning environmental organization, BioRegional Development Group in 1994. He initiated the BedZED eco-village in south London, which remains the benchmark for a sustainable community in the UK; for which he received an OBE. In 2005, he co-founded BioRegional Quintain Ltd, a property development company, of which he is sustainability director. The company has a portfolio of over 1000 homes being built in the UK using One Planet Living principles.