The 24.5-acre scheme is a new residential and commercial neighbourhood at the western gateway to Manchester's central business district and is expected to provide 2,215 new homes.

A total of £25.5m of the facility is residential development finance to enable fast-track delivery of phase two of the project.

This phase will provide 546 new, one- to three-bed homes across four buildings, totalling 360,129 sq ft on two plots.

FairBriar International is a joint venture comprising Scarborough International Properties (50%) with Metro Holdings of Singapore (25%) and Hualing Group of China (25%).

Simon Marshall, joint chief executive of Scarborough International Properties, said: “We are very appreciative of the HCA’s support, which will enable us to accelerate the delivery of much-needed homes for local people.

“Major sites, such as Middlewood Locks, are key to meeting housing demand in areas of strong economic and demographic growth such as Greater Manchester.

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“We look forward to working in partnership with the HCA through to the completion of this very important development.”

The balance of £9.2m will be used to fund infrastructure and enabling works across the development.

The overall funding will be for an initial three-year period and is subordinate to the senior lenders to the first two phases of the development.

The Middlewood Locks scheme will provide a new waterside neighbourhood around three large basins of the Manchester, Bolton and Bury canals.

The first phase of the development will provide 571 one-, two- and three-bed apartments and is scheduled for completion in spring 2018.

Nick Walkley, HCA chief executive, added: “This loan is a great example of how we can help developers create new communities which will provide more of the homes that people need, and do so quickly – completing almost 600 homes by this time next year.

“As the wider site is set to deliver more than 2,200 homes, a key part of the funding was to support the infrastructure works as this will enable the future residential phases to be brought forward faster.”