Recognise Bank has finalised a £644,000 commercial bridging loan for a parcel of green amenity land in East Anglia earmarked for housing development.
The funding enables a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to repay an existing bridging facility on the site, where planning approval is being sought for at least 44 affordable homes. The borrower was in the final stages of securing planning consent, which had taken longer than anticipated. Although a decision was expected shortly, the existing lender declined to renew or extend its facility. The site had previously held planning approval under different ownership, but that permission had lapsed.
Recognise Bank’s credit team provided a flexible solution despite several challenges, including flood risk assessments and an active planning application. The team evaluated the low planning risk and the borrower’s strong track record in construction, allowing the loan-to-value (LTV) requirement to be met.
The borrower, a long-established building contractor, had decided to sell the site rather than complete the development. The new loan gives the client time to conclude the planning process and finalise the sale.
Introduced by Imran Raja, head of origination and relationships at First Wealth Management Ltd, the facility was completed at 60% LTV on a nine-month term.
Heather Mitchell (pictured), lending manager at Recognise Bank, said, “This case was introduced by a new broker to the Bank and was a deal where the clients needed a lender who could respond quickly and who could grasp and understand the risks attached,” said Mitchell. “Working closely with the broker and the borrower allowed us to fund quickly and efficiently.”
Imran Raja, head of origination and relationships at First Wealth Management Ltd, commented,
“I’ve been extremely impressed by the team at Recognise Bank and their ability to make a swift commercial decision, backed by prompt funding, and I will definitely be using them again on our more complex bridging finance enquiries.”
