honey announces Leeds office and managing director hire to drive continued expansion

honey has announced the opening of a 5,000 sq ft office in Leeds this June and the immediate hire of a managing director to deliver its expansion plans in Yorkshire and the Midlands.

honey has recruited former Avant Homes Central managing director, Chris Coley , to lead two newly created operating regions, honey Yorkshire and honey Central.

The honey Yorkshire team will be based in the new Leeds office which has been taken on a seven-year lease and is located on the Thorpe Park Leeds development just off junction 46 of the M1.

Prior to joining the business, Chris worked at Avant Homes for almost 19 years where he was a colleague of honey founder and former Avant Homes chief executive officer, Mark Mitchell .

Since being launched in October 2022, honey has secured 14 sites across Yorkshire and the Midlands that will deliver 1,781 homes and a combined gross development value of ￡530m. The average selling price of a honey home is ￡300,000.

The company is backed by private equity firm Alchemy Partners and its Alchemy Special Opportunities Fund IV which has ￡937m of fully committed capital.

Commenting on his appointment, Chris Coley, said: “honey is a business with a clear purpose and a huge amount of ambition so it’s exciting to be able to lead the company’s expansion throughout Yorkshire and the Midlands.

“I’ve been tasked with maintaining honey’s momentum as we simultaneously build and sell our homes whilst finding and securing further residential development opportunities.”

honey currently employs 52 people across both office and site-based roles and, once the Leeds office opens, will have capacity for 84 office-based people.

Chief executive, Mark Mitchell, said: “Chris joins us at a time when we want to accelerate our growth plans and, along with our senior management team, he has overall responsibility for their delivery.

“Now we have two operating regions, and will soon have offices in both Leeds and Sheffield, we have the platform required to deliver ongoing sustainable profitable growth.

“We have launched our first three sites, and opened our first showhome. The market’s response to what we are doing in terms of having a refreshing approach to housebuilding, and that of prospective buyers to our homes, have both been very pleasing.

“Our product has been thoughtfully designed to combine style, substance and sustainability to deliver high specification homes which we believe are unmatched at their price point.

“We now want to be in a position to provide more people with the opportunity to own a honey home by securing additional sites throughout Yorkshire and the Midlands.”

honey has analysed consumer insights and trends to inform its house type designs to ensure they meet the needs and wants of today’s new home buyers, including the flexible use of all living spaces.

Standard features in every honey home include bi fold doors; individually designed fully integrated kitchens; and boutique style bathrooms with a signature free standing bath and full height tiling. All properties have an electric vehicle charging point.

In addition, the house types accommodate the Future Homes Standard which requires all new homes being built from 2025 onwards to produce 75-80 per cent less carbon emissions.

For further information on honey visit www.homesbyhoney.co.uk.