The specialist lender aims to support SME developers, self-builders, and those extending their homes, by providing ground-up development finance for new-build sites and light development finance to fund conversions, change of use, incomplete sites, and home extension projects.

The business recently recruited Emmanuel Johnson as underwriting manager for development finance, having previously worked at high-street banks and specialist lenders.

Emmanuel will be working alongside Claire Newman, director of bridging and development finance at Spring, to further build the development finance team.

“Emmanuel is a great addition to the team and, with him on board, we look forward to growing the development side of the business over the coming months,” said Claire.

Emmanuel added: “Spring Finance puts its clients at the centre of all it does; the launch of this product is yet another example of this.

“I am very excited to be part of the team and look forward to adding value to the business and seeing it grow.”

Over the past year, Spring has been inviting development loans from key partners.

With property market conditions improving and build costs stabilising, the lender feels that now is the time to fully introduce the product to the market.

Key features of Spring’s development finance products include:

• day-one funding is available up to 60% GDV on ground-up projects, and up to 65% GDV on light development cases
• both products fund 100% of the cost of works
• no exit charges
• loans available from £100,000-£2m

Claire commented: “Spring has grown significantly since the launch of the bridging division two years ago and this is an exciting time in the journey.

•   Whitehall launches mezzanine and equity offering
•   Assetz Capital launches planning assistance loan scheme
•   New platform launches to revolutionise how brokers place specialist finance

“Our development product will enable us to support our brokers, and their clients in particular, with regulated self-build schemes which are underserved in the market.”

Jim Baker, sales director at Spring, said: “We have very ambitious growth plans at Spring, with the broker and customer experience at the heart of what we deliver.

“A key to our growth plans is to offer a full suite of products to service the diverse need of our brokers and their clients.

“I am delighted to add this solution for development projects to our comprehensive offering of specialist lending products.”

Brokers react to Spring’s new development offering

Aaron Noone, director at Master Finance Specialist Brokers, said: “I recently completed an unregulated ground-up development with Spring, choosing them for their attractive no-exit fee proposition – this reflected lower cost than other lenders for my client.

“This was for an experienced developer with a total facility in excess of £1m; the build was a luxury four-bed detached property in a great location.

“I expect the highest level of service from the lenders I work with, and the team at Spring delivered this loan way above my expectations.

“As any broker will say, my client is central to my process and it’s evident, it is with Spring too.

“I am delighted to see Spring now offering development to the wider market and I have no doubt it will be a great success.”

Michael Cartwright, short-term funding specialist at Buildloan, commented: “We have been happy to support Spring since the beginning due to their flexible approach, access to decision makers, and an overall first-class team.

“It’s great to see Spring move into development finance and support both unregulated and regulated developments.

“Their background and deep understanding of development projects, coupled with a first-class team, will allow us to place business with confidence.

“This is a very welcomed product and we are very happy to have this added to the options we can offer our clients’.”

The news follows Spring expanding into Scotland and the introduction of its unregulated proposition.

Spring entered the bridging market two years ago and was recently awarded Highly Commended in the Regulated Bridging Lender of the Year category at the B&C Awards.