Company History

Shanly Homes began its journey in 1969, when a 23-year-old dyslexic welder and croupier from London, Michael Shanly, who had worked days and nights since he left school at age 14, bought a semi-detached house in Pinner, Middlesex, to refurbish. With the money from the sale, Shanly purchased land on Love Lane, Pinner and built his first property, working out of a tiny office in South Harrow.

“In the early days, I used to work on location - run the sites, unload bricks, dig everything by hand, load the lorries by hand. That was the only way. I couldn’t afford any machinery.” Michael Shanly.

A problem solver by nature, Shanly applied meticulous attention to detail with everything he did. He saw problems as challenges to overcome, high standards were expected, the downside of every proposal assessed, and decisions were made or reversed promptly.

That same year, the then-named Michael Shanly Homes opened its first office in Beaconsfield above a shop with a team of four. A year later, during the 1974 property crash Shanly was doubling up as site manager on a development of flats in Maidenhead when the bank suddenly called in their loan for immediate repayment. There was a large vacant house on the site and Shanly saw an opportunity to rent it out to help pay the bills.

From that day onwards, anything that could be rented out was used to generate extra income, and as the business recovered from the crash, profits began to be spent on buying and holding investment properties to weather future storms.

Over the next few years, the team continued to grow and went from developing one-off homes to building apartment schemes, housing estates and commercial properties for the growing investment side of the business. Each development had its own design and character within carefully selected locations across the Thames Valley.

By the mid-1980s, as they celebrated 15 years in business, Shanly Homes had developed 2,000 new homes and 40 commercial developments.

Shanly had by this time moved home to Marlow in Buckinghamshire, so beginning a lifelong passion for this historic, pretty, riverside town.

In 1994 Sorbon Estates was incorporated to run the commercial property arm of the business, initially called Michael Shanly Investments. Investment properties now included moorings, parking spaces, offices, shops and industrial units, all managed by the in-house Estates team.

After years of ad-hoc donations Shanly Foundation was also founded and a board of trustees established to formalise the process of grant giving.

The Southern housebuilding region launched in 1996 from an office in Cobham in Surrey. The fourth and current ‘Sorbon’ headquarters in Beaconsfield were built in 1997 to include the Thames Valley housebuilding region, as well as group services for finance, architects, planning and more.

In March 2012, Shanly Partnership Homes was established and granted Registered Provider status, to deliver the same attention to detail and high specification as a Shanly home to those needing to go down the shared-ownership route.

The rental portion of the shared-ownership homes are managed through Sorbon Estates, offering consistency between construction handover, sales completion and rental arrangements.

Our second shared-ownership development, award-winning Old Dairy Mews in Reigate included shared-ownership apartments. Since then, many Shanly Homes sites have included shared-ownership homes and continue to be offered to the market across Greater London and the Home Counties.

In 2019, the Shanly Group celebrated 50 years in property having built over 12,000 new homes and built up a portfolio of over 1,300 tenants. Shanly Foundation had by this point contributed over £23 million to worthwhile charities and causes in its areas of operation in Southeast England and sometimes beyond.

Despite the challenging economic environment, Shanly Homes’ clear emphasis on traditional but distinctive designs in great locations, continued to appeal to a wide range of homeowners, including first time buyers, families, and downsizers.

This was acknowledged at the 2021 Thames Valley Property Awards when Shanly Homes was awarded the prestigious Housebuilder of the Year Award.

In 2023, Michael Shanly was presented with the Design Award from Maidenhead Civic Society by former Prime Minister - Baroness Theresa May, for its ‘attractive and exemplary design” of Shanly Homes’ flagship development, Waterside Quarter. The Civic Society’s Design Award was first presented in the 1970s and was last awarded more than a decade previously.

"It is totally appropriate that the Civic Society which encourages the best in building design should reward this development which has completely transformed and enhanced this area of the town centre." Theresa May.

During 2024, Michael Shanly, finalised exciting plans for the Shanly Foundation to own the trading businesses, including Shanly Homes and Sorbon Estates, in the future. In this way, Shanly Homes may continue to design excellent homes, and improve the lives of our team, customers, and communities for many years to come. This Foundation-owned business model is characterised by a long-term view, employee welfare, philanthropic goals, the absence of personal profit motives, and stability.

“All I want is for us to be able to look back and say, ‘we did a great job there’. It’s not about profit, at the end of the day you’re brought into this world with no money, and you go out with no money. It’s about fighting for quality, being conscientious, learning, surviving, enjoying what we do, and giving back - that’s what continues to give me real purpose in life.”