The business was established by the Dickinson family in 1912 as the Grainger Trust to acquire tenanted residential properties in Newcastle upon Tyne.

[2] From 1987 to 2002, Quentin Wallop, 10th Earl of Portsmouth, was a non-executive director,[3] and as of 1999 he owned 16.55% of the equity, making him the firm's largest shareholder of the company.

In 2008 a consortium of Helical Bar and Grainger was named as the preferred developer for the King Street regeneration scheme in Hammersmith.

[6] In 2010, Grainger acquired AIM-listed Sovereign Reversions, an equity release provider, and subsequently formed a 50:50 joint venture with Moorfield, a UK real estate investor, developer and private equity fund manager.

[8] In 2019, Grainger was announced as the build-to-rent partner of Transport for London (TfL), which will build new homes on land in TfL's ownership, potentially delivering in excess of 3,000 homes across London.