After leaving the role of managing director of the development finance team at Paragon in 2022, Robert took up his new role in June 2024 and has outlined areas of opportunity he and the company’s senior management team saw for Atelier - with aspirations to grow the company’s origination team and develop opportunities in the residential development sector, including the care sector.

 “We will always predominantly work in residential development space, but we also have a particular specialism in funding PBSA and care homes.”

Robert added that the care sector was presenting opportunities due to the limited number of active lenders’: “It’s viewed more cautiously than say PBSA because of the perceived higher risk of filling the properties. People may decide to stay in their homes, but given the demographics of the country and the need for more care home beds, will believe there be an ongoing demand.”

Elsewhere, Robert applauded the government’s plan to deliver 1.5 million homes over the current parliament, but said the focus now needed to “turn words into action” and follow through with these policies.

“Generally at the moment the mood in the housing market is more optimistic,” said Robert. “The only cloud on the horizon is the economy feels slightly fragile. Therefore that may challenge the view of investors.

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“What would really help is if there was another help to buy type scheme because you need first time buyers in the market, and you can’t always rely on the bank of mum and dad, and maybe a kinder approach to the BTL market, which has taken a hit quite badly over the last couple of years from increased legislation. I understand the need to protect renters, but you don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater.”

Robert also saw that there was a sense of optimism in the SME developer market as 2025 rolled in, but again, this sentiment turning to reality was still dependent on policies going from paper to practice.

“If the government can deliver on its promises around speeding up planning permissions and easing some of the environmental assessments which have stalled various schemes it will help, as will a more realistic approach to issues such as Affordable Housing Contributions and the Community Infrastructure Levy on the smaller schemes. Some trade-offs need to be made to get private housing starts increasing.”

He noted that the past few years have seen plenty of market disruption for both developers and funders to navigate, such as Brexit, Covid and increased funding costs, with economic uncertainty lingering with debates around government borrowing costs and the subsequent impact on mortgage rates and the housing market.

In this environment, Robert hopes lenders will remain grounded, “with development finance for SME developers, you are dealing with a market which has plenty of capital and funders keen to deploy.

“You hope that all funders will keep in the mind the need to balance volume with the appropriate risk and return as it’s always a challenge to compete with lenders issuing, what seem, like outside market terms just to drive their growth.”