Octopus Property strengthens development team

Paul Watson, Martyn Pollock and Matt Foley have been appointed to the roles of development origination manager, refurbishment origination manager and credit underwriter, respectively.

Watson started his career at Jones Lang La Salle, then joined Royal Bank of Scotland’s asset management team and most recently managed a number of family office real estate portfolios. Pollock is a former corporate lawyer, who previously ran a boutique residential development business, focused on schemes with a £2-£5m gross development value. Foley joins from Lloyds Banking Group, where he spent five years in restructuring before working as the bank’s hotel and retail analyst.

Grow loan book

These hires are intended to strengthen its team as it continues to grow the loan book and expand its footprint across the UK. Since May 2017, Octopus has lent £94m to professional developers looking for bespoke financing solutions, funding 21 schemes.

Emma Burke, head of development origination at Octopus Property, (pictured) said: “The breadth of our lending in 2017, combined with demand for our new product suite illustrates that we are getting it right in terms of delivering flexible products for our developers. Our loan book continues to build at record pace, through lending on liquid sensibly priced schemes in strong locations and partnering with experienced developers.”

Burke added: “The appointments of Paul, Martyn and Matt will further complement the skills of our existing experienced team, as we continue to differentiate ourselves from the peer group by swiftly assessing and completing loans for a range of borrowers in the mainstream development finance market, while retaining our first-class customer service.”

The wider Octopus Property business has doubled its origination volumes over the past 24 months. It expects to grow its new lending to £1bn a year in the next 12 months and double the size of its loan book to £1.5bn over the next two years.