Head of Knight Frank's Central London retail agency team Josh Braid has returned from an expedition to the South Pole, where he climbed a circa 5,000-metre mountain and skied across the Antarctic wilderness, to raise funds for Rockinghorse Children’s Charity and Kidscape.

Braid, who has worked for the real estate agency for more than a decade, took around 10 years to plan the challenge after being inspired by a similar trip his great-uncle made to the South Pole in the 1960s, as well as wanting to raise money for two charities close to his heart.

Two years ago, Braid and his wife welcomed twin boys, one who was cared for in a special care baby unit and the other who underwent an operation. It was during this time that he first came into contact with Rockinghorse, the fundraising arm of the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital in Brighton, Sussex, which supports babies, children and young people, along their families.

Kidscape is another charity that is close to Braid's heart after being bullied at school, something which he buried for over 25 years. Over the past few years, the Knight Frank partner has felt more confident being able to talk about his experience and help others.

Braid left the UK on 12 December last year, aiming to climb Mount Vinson, the highest peak in Antarctica, measuring 4,892 metres, and then pull a specially-made rocking horse the last degree to the South Pole. The challenge, sponsored by Knight Frank, Dynamic Climate and London Metric, involved Baird arriving in Chile on 15 December, where hetook a four-hour flight across Drake’s Passage, landing at the main base camp at Union Glacier.

To get to Mount Vinson, his first challenge, Baird took another 40-minute flight to base camp in the Ellsworth mountain range, with views of ice flows over the mountains. After a couple of rest days, the group left the base camp, pulling their 20 kilogram sledges up to 2,900 metres and arriving at Low Camp nine hours later.

A day later, the group reduced their kit to 15 kilograms-ucksacks and ascended the 1,000 metre roped section up to High Camp. This part of the climb normally takes between four to six hours, but due to some severe altitude sickness, it ended up taking more than 10 hours. Despite temperatures of negative 38 degrees Celsius, the group finally arrived at the summit of Mount Vinson after climbing to the peak at 7.03pm on Christmas Eve.

Braid described the views from the top of the summit "like standing on another planet miles from any permanent human settlement". He also told CoStar News that having to be prepared in his day job was a trait which stood him in good stead for the challenge.

"For the challenge you had to be pretty well prepared, getting all the equipment and doing all the training, and you have to be resilient,",Braid said. "It is a bit like in development, it can take a long time [to see through to the end], so there are some synergies there. You can have all the best preparation but you don't know quite literally what the headwinds will be", he added.

The challenge continued with Braid and the group climbing down the mountain, where they spend a day repacking and sorting equipment before a gap in the weather allowed planes to arrive and take them back to Union Glacier. They then began skiing to the South Pole for the second part of the challenge.

After flying to 89 degrees south of the Pole and preparing all their kit, the group made a start, skiing around 5 kilometres on the first day at an altitude of around 3,000 metres. Pulling his Rockinghorse-branded rocking horse behind him, Braid and his team gradually worked their way up to skiing around 20 kilometres a day and on day seven, they were 25 kilometres away from the South Pole.

On the final day, they woke up at 4am, ready to finally reach the Geographical South Pole which they did, after stopping at the ALE South Pole camp, just 500 metres away from their destination, for a cooked breakfast.

"It is such an incredible feeling to have realised a dream that started when I became fascinated with photos of my Norwegian great-uncle over 10 years ago," Braid said in a statement. "To stand at a point on Earth where every direction is North and a location stepped in history from the early polar explorers of Amundsen and Scott having stood there 113 years earlier, was such a privilege."

Speaking to CoStar News, he added that his colleagues and employer backed him all the way, helping him to realise a dream and become a "role model for the younger generation".

"Knight Frank were incredibly supportive from the start. It was a 10-year process, but there were four years of actively building up to it, and the great thing is that they've seen the benefit from allowing their employees to fulfil their dreams while continuing to excel at work.

"[The support] also motivates you to work for a company like Knight Frank and I've paid them paid with loyalty. I've been at the firm for 12 years, which shows I'm willing to work hard for them when they've helped me to live out a dream."

Braid, now home with his wife and four young children, hopes to continue his fundraising and is auctioning off Rocky, the rocking horse, to the highest bidder to raise extra funds for his charities. He adds that he is "keen to try the North Pole" after a few years' break.

To make a donation, head over to his charity donation platform link Givestar here to help support these two charities and help Braid reach his fundraising goal.

To find out more about Rockinghorse, take a look at their website at www.rockinghorse.org.uk and for more information on Kidscape, visit www.kidscape.org.uk.