In his new role, Neil will be based in Bristol and supporting housebuilders and developers across the South West of England.

Meanwhile, Tim will work alongside director Hardeep Thandi to help housebuilders across Yorkshire, Humberside and the North East, while Ross will collaborate with director Luke Benton Drury to help clients in London, the South, and South East of England.

Neil has over 30 years of experience in banking, 17 of which he spent specialising in providing development finance.

Throughout his career, he held numerous roles at Bank of Ireland, Bristol & West, RBS and, most recently, Assetz Capital.

Tim brings 15 years of corporate and real estate banking experience to the role, and joins UTB from Bank of London & Middle East (BLME).

Prior to this, he worked at ABC International Bank and Barclays.

Meanwhile, Ross has been promoted after working at UTB as a case manager for two years.

Before joining the bank, he held roles at AIB and Arbuthnot Latham.

The appointments are part of UTB’s plans to expand and improve its property development division, which now has 24 directors and managers.

The lender also aims to implement technology to accelerate and simplify the funding application process, and explore opportunities to develop its offering and establish further strategic alliances.

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Adam Bovingdon, head of property development at UTB, said: “We’re continuing to attract experienced real estate finance professionals to support growing numbers of housebuilders and developers across England and Wales. 

“Neil and Tim are excellent additions to the UTB team and they are already out in their regions talking to housebuilders and brokers, increasing awareness of UTB’s development finance offering and discussing a variety of schemes we are keen to fund. 

“Ross has had two good years with the bank, supporting clients in our case management team, and we look forward to seeing his career progress with the bank.

“Having topped off a record 2021 by increasing our development loan book to more than £1bn, we are looking to sustain that strong momentum and help housebuilders overcome the challenges of running their businesses in a high-inflation environment. 

“Our loan commitments now support the delivery of in excess of 6000 new homes across England and Wales at any one time and we have the capability and appetite to increase that further. 

“Our partnerships with government agencies, such as Homes England, have also enabled us to boost lending of higher geared funding to qualifying housebuilders and developers, giving them the flexibility to retain more of their cash to seize and invest in other opportunities. 

“This year we are expanding our regional coverage, further improving our compelling offering and assisting the resurgence of the SME housebuilding sector.”