Meet the people behind our success

Nick Sellman

Nick is the founder and CEO of Urban Village Group, assuming overall responsibility for our business planning and strategic direction. With over 15 years’ experience in the industry, Nick is highly skilled in deal structuring and acquisitions and has been at the forefront of a number of complex projects in the Private Rented sector, Student and Healthcare markets.

Before incorporating Urban Village group, he was instrumental in developing a portfolio of privately held real estate investments, which were the precursor to the ‘Private Rented Sector’ in the UK. Here, he assembled and led strategic design and procurement teams to facilitate development contracts with terminal values in excess of £500M. Nick’s leadership skills, comprehensive industry knowledge and passion for property has helped  build Urban Village Group’s reputation as leaders in our field, and we look forward to continued success.

Adam Faulkner

Adam is a highly experienced finance professional with a background in investment banking. For over 10 years, he has assisted in the execution of many successful fundraising and capital transactions, including IPOs and M&A. Prior to joining the group, Adam acted as a business consultant to SMEs working in the property and technology sectors. This included researching, identifying and qualifying new investment opportunities based on the market and investment criteria, as well as project management and assisting in the execution of transactions.

Adam’s extensive experience in real estate fund and investment management, along with his vast industry networks, has empowered Urban Village Group to source the most effective and appropriate funding partners.

Jamie Sellman

Jamie’s extensive experience encompasses building services, master planning and large-scale infrastructure projects. During the past 15+ years he has been responsible for a vast range of multi-disciplined projects in the university, residential and healthcare sectors; managing every stage from concept through to design, construction and completion.

Along with his comprehensive knowledge of design and implementation processes, Jamie also has a wealth of experience in financials and market analysis, which has led to him playing a pivotal role in our development of over 2,000 residential units across PRS, build-to-sell and student schemes.

Martin Cooper

Martin is a fellow chartered accountant with over 20 years’ experience of Board level appointments in the healthcare, construction and financial services space.

An entrepreneurial, commercially focused strategic and tactical finance expert, he has a wealth of knowledge in building financial reporting frameworks, mergers and acquisitions, raising funding and implementing corporate structures to enable growth.  After qualifying with HSBC Bank, Martin spent five years in senior roles managing finance professionals in the commercial and investment banking divisions. He then moved into a finance director role managing over £100m of construction works around the UK.

In 2016 he joined Runwood Homes as Chief Financial Officer, managing a large team responsible for finance, procurement, payroll and legal matters for a group with over 75 Care Homes and 6,000 members of staff. With Martin’s knowledge and advice, the company was able to secure multiple rounds of funding which supported its growth, from over £140 of debt. It then went on to win the 2019 Laing Buisson award for Property Investors and the 2021 Knight Frank Luxury Care Home award.

Peter Steer

Peter is a chartered accountant and former management consultant. His vast experience and knowledge has been gained through senior roles in finance, organisational development, strategic planning, business planning, risk management, process re-engineering and general management.

Peter formed his own niche consultancy, PS Consulting, combining the role with a director position with at estate consultancy Invigour before joining niche London-based developer Generator Group as Finance Director in 2014.  Over the next five years he had overall responsibility for all finance, contract, legal, HR and administrative functions, as well as supporting major structural advances and securing equity and debt funding for a range of property development projects totalling over £60 million. In addition, he has reorganised and expanded the finance team to incorporate new roles and functions.

David Choules

David is responsible for the Development Management function of the business, overseeing the contractual administration, time schedules and quality of our build processes. As a professional Project Manager with a master’s degree in Construction Project Management, he brings over 30 years construction and development experience in the residential, student, hospitality, retail, senior and commercial sectors and has previously delivered on several PRS, Senior and PBSA schemes with a GDC of over £900m. a master’s degree in Construction Project Management.

David’s career has covered contracting, cost management, professional project management and development management. He set up and ran a project management consultancy between 1997 and 2010, before establishing and leading student operating company Urban Student Life. When the company was sold to Valeo Management in 2018 he then took up the position of Construction and Development Director at Valeo, prior to joining Urban Village Group.

Graham Haydon-White

Graham is a highly experienced property developer, having spent his career working client-side in a variety of property sectors including offices, retail, residential, hotels and, more recently, over 10,000 units of student accommodation.

Graham’s expertise includes working as a chartered surveyor and Director for a diverse range of companies including Taylor Woodrow Developments, Tesco Spenhill, Ballymore Residential and Tiger Developments. This has given him the opportunity to enjoy leading multiple award-winning developments in prime locations around the UK and Ireland and build an extensive knowledge of the complete development process. He continues to enjoy the everchanging dynamics of both financial and development aspects of the property industry.

Liz Foley

Liz has extensive experience in Operations Management, actively contributing to the overall planning, operation and management of multiple developments across the UK. Since starting her career as a marketing and business development professional, Liz has gained a wealth of experience in supporting new businesses from planning through to completion.

Working closely alongside the Group’s Directors, she is involved in property acquisition, investor relations and manages the overall marketing of the Company and its entities. Liz also provides operational support to ensure the efficient running of managed schemes post completion.

Stacey Lunnon

Stacey is known for taking care of all our administrative tasks and providing a professional, friendly and highly efficient first point of contact for our clients. She is renowned for her exceptional organisational skills and attention to detail, having spent over 17 years providing executive level support. Stacey is unflappable and proactive, working in harmony with the rest of the team to ensure deadlines are met and all work is delivered to the highest possible standards. 

Alex Yakovlev

Alex is an accomplished business development professional, with over 8 years’ experience managing his own property investment portfolio. Before joining Urban Village Group, he was responsible for the management of over £450m in assets for his clients in the tax-efficient investment space. At Urban Village Group, Alex oversees investor relations in addition to raising capital for the company’s property developments.