Gagan Manak, Director, Manak HomesGagan Manak
Gagan Manak is Director of Manak Homes, a family-run house builder that creates design-led, characterful residential communities fit for the needs of today’s customer.
Recognising the significance of buying a new home, Gagan takes a customer-centric approach to house building and seeks to drive up standards of customer service within the industry.
An advocate of enterprise and family business, he is passionate about creating long-term job opportunities, providing employees with a safe and happy workplace, and adding value to the local economy.
Manak Homes
Operating in London and the South East, Manak Homes creates high-quality, modern developments that blend both premium design and practicality.
Gagan launched Manak Homes, the development arm of his family’s business, in 2019 after discovering space in the market for a small, family-owned developer that puts the needs of customers at the heart of the house building process, from land acquisition through to sales.
He believes homeowners deserve and expect homes that are nothing short of perfect, and it is this principle that sits at the core of the business. Gagan has set a customer-centric culture through all aspects and divisions of the company and puts a strong emphasis on building positive relationships with landowners, local communities, and customers.
Gagan is a firm believer and practitioner in responsible developing, a value instilled from an early age working in the family business. Manak Homes acquires land where it believes its developments can have a positive and long-lasting impact on the local community and economy.
Manak Homes’ developments are distinctive, bespoke, and practical. By investing resource and time into creating unique, purpose-built designs that maximise space in an innovative way, Manak Homes are able to create living spaces that are bright, spacious, and that promote wellbeing – even in inner city areas where space is at a premium.
It is this approach that resulted in Manak Homes receiving industry acclaim for its first development, Woodside Place in Chelsfield, Kent. In 2019. Gagan led the team to win Bronze in the Best Luxury Home category in the annual What House Awards for Best New Homes in Britain. In 2020, Woodside Place went on to receive the Highly Commended prize for Best Family Home in the Evening Standard’s New Homes Awards.
Gagan is also a Director of Stanmore, one of the well-known specialist contractors in the UK, providing Manak Homes with an in-house expertise in dry lining, facades, electrical and mechanical services. Stanmore is widely engaged on many prestigious developments across the UK through its nationwide offices.
It is this unique capability that enables Manak Homes to ensure its developments are designed, built, and finished to the highest quality and reliably delivered on time.
Career
Having grown up working in the family business, Gagan started his career in construction and property development at an early age. His experience in land acquisition, the planning process, site management, and sales, has helped to build a broad knowledge in all aspects of the house building process.
Gagan’s astuteness for delivering exceptional levels of customer service in the property industry became embedded after spending three years working for a large London property developer. It was during his time in the customer services team that he became sensitive to the needs of home buyers and the importance of delivering high-quality homes to create a faultless, perfect experience for customers, particularly first-time buyers and young families.
He believes the customer is often forgotten during the lifespan of house building and that by building with the homeowner in mind from start to finish, developers can create homes that exceed customer expectations.
He also spent time in the company’s land and development department, working as part of a team to source and secure planning permission for new sites, as well as coordinating teams of external consultants including architects and structural engineers.
As well as being exposed to the front end of the industry dealing with customers, Gagan understands what it takes to deliver reliable developments to tight timescales. A year before founding Manak Homes, he spent two years as a construction manager for Stanmore, responsible for the day-to-day management of operations and relationships with suppliers as well as ensuring consistent and impeccable standards of build from end to end.
Education
Gagan grew up in London and spent time on multiple construction sites across the city through the family business, which has equipped him with an intimate understanding of Greater London when acquiring potential land for development.
In 2011, Gagan enrolled at the University of Warwick and graduated three years later with a degree in Civil Engineering. He went on to complete his Masters in International Real Estate and Planning at University College London in 2015.