The Structured Property Finance team was approached to provide the 18-month loan to refinance the borrower’s existing debt and release a further £1m of equity.

The borrower is a long-established business which has been trading from the same South-West London site for over 60 years.

It obtained planning consent in 2019 to extend its premises and develop nine new apartments above and behind the existing building — valued at £10m with this planning consent in place.

But after consulting with an experienced developer who suggested that a new, more ambitious development might be considered by the local planning department, the business is now interested in working up and pursuing the creation of 60 new apartments over eight storeys, while retaining the ground floor commercial space.

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Although the site was a trading commercial asset, UTB’s Structured Property Finance team was happy to look at the planning angle and provide the funds with rolled interest, so that it didn’t impact the cashflow of the underlying business.

The intended exit is a sale to a forward funder or operator, most likely in the later living sector once planning permission is obtained.

Gerard Morgan Jackson, head of structured property finance at UTB (pictured above), commented: “This was an unusual case in that the security property was the home of a long-established trading business.

“However, we had the benefit of knowing that the site had a solid commercial value and as a development opportunity — albeit on a much smaller scale to the new plan the owner wanted to pursue.

“We were delighted to provide the funding the borrower required to put together a fully worked up proposal and we are confident they will be successful in their endeavours to gain approval.”