Five Homes is a family-run, mid-market residential property development company with roots in law and a reputation built on delivery. We were founded by former lawyers who spent years acting for some of the UK's most recognised national housebuilders — advising on site acquisitions, development agreements, planning risk, and complex contract structures on schemes with a combined GDV in excess of £250 million.
AT SOME POINT, YOU EITHER KEEP ADVISING OTHERS TO BUILD — OR YOU START BUILDING YOURSELF.
WE
CHOSE TO
BUILD.
That legal background is not incidental to what we do. It shapes every decision we make. When we acquire land, we have already modelled the contractual risk. When we appoint a contractor, we understand the implications of every clause in the building contract. When we approach planning, we do so with the same methodical rigour we applied to advising clients whose livelihoods depended on getting it right. This is not how most developers think. It is how we think, by training and by nature.
Five Homes focuses on mid-market residential development — homes built for families who want quality without excess, in locations where demand is structural and permanent. Our schemes typically comprise between 25 and 150 units, situated in affluent commuter locations and desirable market towns across England. We are selective about where we build. We do not pursue volume for its own sake.
Our approach to specification is deliberate. Having watched national housebuilders deliver homes to a standard that prioritises margin over craft, we made a conscious decision to do the opposite. Every Five Homes development is specified to a high standard — the kitchens, the fittings, the landscaping, the materials — because we believe the people buying our homes deserve to live in them with pride.
We are also an acquisitions business. Through our M&A function, Five Homes acquires mid-market development companies, land banks, and active residential sites from founder-owners who are ready for a structured exit. We bring the same legal and commercial rigour to those transactions that we bring to our own developments — speed, directness, and no re-trading.
Five Homes is not a fund. We are not backed by institutional capital chasing yield. We are a founder-led company that builds homes we are proud of, in places worth building, for people who value quality. That has been our philosophy since the beginning. It will continue to be.
TEAM
MEL KANG
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Mel Kang is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Five Homes. He is a former lawyer who began his career advising national housebuilders on some of the most complex residential development transactions in the UK market — site acquisitions, option agreements, development finance, planning obligations, and contractor appointments across schemes with a combined GDV exceeding £250 million.
That experience gave Mel something most developers do not have: a structural understanding of the full development cycle, from the moment a site is identified through to the last unit sold. He has seen what national developers do well and, more importantly, where they compromise. Five Homes was founded, in part, to do those things differently.
For over twelve years, Mel has operated as a leading property developer in his own right, delivering high-specification residential schemes in affluent mid-market locations across England. His focus has always been on quality — not quantity. The homes Five Homes builds are specified to a standard that reflects a genuine commitment to craftsmanship, not just market positioning.
Mel also leads Five Homes' acquisitions function, working directly with development company founders who are exploring structured exits. His legal background makes him a credible and precise counterpart in complex transactions — he understands the commercial reality of a development business at every level, from balance sheet to building site.
He is known for directness, commercial rigour, and a refusal to accept that quality and efficiency are in conflict. Under his leadership, Five Homes has established itself as a development company that takes its reputation seriously, and earns it, scheme by scheme.
ANDREW HARTSHORN
LEAD ARCHITECT
Andrew Hartshorn brings over four decades of hands-on experience in architecture, property development, and business acquisitions. His career spans the full lifecycle of the built environment from designing and delivering residential and commercial projects to advising company owners on how to scale, restructure, and prepare their businesses for acquisition or exit.
Having founded, grown, and exited multiple businesses himself, Andrew understands both the creative and commercial pressures of running a business in the property and construction sectors.
In recent years, he has focused on helping business owners unlock hidden value, reduce dependency on key individuals, and transition towards investor ready models that appeal to both trade buyers and private equity.
His expertise lies at the intersection of industry insight and strategic growth making him uniquely positioned to guide development companies seeking to scale through acquisitions.
As a Non-Executive Director, Andrew plays a key role in identifying acquisition targets, streamlining operational structures, and supporting leadership teams in building resilient, scalable, and saleable businesses.
SONAL PRASAD
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Sonal Prasad brings an unusual combination to the Five Homes team: a legal background in property law, having advised national housebuilders on residential development matters, and a creative sensibility that now shapes everything from brand identity to interior specification. As Creative Director, Sonal is responsible for the visual language of Five Homes, ensuring that the quality built into every scheme is reflected in how it is presented to the world. She believes that the way a development looks and feels is not separate from the homes inside it. It is part of the same commitment to excellence.
ASHLEY FORSYTH
LAND MANAGER
Ashley Forsyth leads land identification and acquisition for Five Homes, managing the pipeline of sites and development opportunities across our target markets. With deep knowledge of the mid-market residential development sector, Ashley works closely with landowners, agents, and local authorities to secure sites that meet Five Homes' exacting criteria. He is also the first point of contact for M&A enquiries and inbound acquisition opportunities.
DANIELLE HOBSON
EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT
Danielle Hobson provides executive support across the Five Homes leadership team, ensuring the business operates with the efficiency and discretion that our clients, partners, and vendors expect. Danielle manages communications, scheduling, and operational coordination across all Five Homes entities.
GALWYN GATWARD
FACILITIES MANAGER
Galwyn Gatward oversees facilities management across Five Homes' completed and active sites, ensuring that our properties are maintained and presented to the standard our residents and tenants expect. Galwyn brings operational precision to the day-to-day management of Five Homes' portfolio.
LOUISE SMITH
SITE ASSISTANT
Louise Smith provides on-site support across Five Homes' active development schemes. Working closely with the wider delivery team, Louise ensures that site operations run smoothly and that our commitment to quality is maintained at every stage of the build process.
OUR GREEN COMMITMENT
Five Homes came into the green building economy not because regulation demanded it, but because we believe it is the right way to build. When you are constructing homes for families who will live in them for decades, the energy performance of those homes — the running costs, the carbon footprint, the health of the spaces inside — matters as much as the kitchen specification or the landscaping. We did not need a government mandate to understand that.
Our commitment to sustainable development begins at the land acquisition stage. Before a site enters our pipeline, we assess its suitability for low-carbon construction methods, renewable energy integration, and sustainable drainage systems. We do not treat green credentials as an afterthought to be bolted on during planning. They are part of the design brief from day one.
All Five Homes developments are built to achieve strong EPC ratings as a minimum standard. We specify air-source heat pumps as the primary heating technology across our schemes wherever the site configuration allows, removing gas boiler dependency entirely in newer builds. Our homes are insulated beyond building regulation minimums — because we know that a home that is expensive to heat is not a quality home, regardless of how it looks.
We install EV charging infrastructure as standard across all new residential schemes. We believe the transition to electric vehicles is permanent and irreversible, and we think it is the responsibility of developers — not homeowners — to make that transition practical from the moment someone moves in.
Our approach to materials is guided by responsible sourcing. Wherever possible, we use UK-sourced timber, recycled aggregate, and locally manufactured products. This is not simply an environmental position — it is a commercial one. Shorter supply chains mean better quality control and more reliable delivery. The planet and the programme benefit from the same decisions.
Sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) are integrated into every Five Homes scheme, managing surface water through natural infiltration and reducing pressure on local infrastructure. We work with ecologists and landscape architects on every project to ensure that biodiversity net gain is delivered meaningfully, not bureaucratically.