Black Book Finance arranges £7.1m of lending with Shawbrook Bank

One transaction worth £5m was secured against a large office block in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, with consent to be converted into 51 apartments.

Due to initial planning being secured for 42 apartments, the facility was agreed to be drawn down over three stages.

The first was for the acquisition of the building, the second for conversion works on 42 apartments; and the final stage available, subject to planning approval, involved the additional nine apartments.

The funding involved tight deadlines, with the situation complicated by legalities and more than £1m of the client’s deposit being at risk.

Short-term bridge

In the other deal, a building in west London was to be converted into eight flats, with six further units to the rear, all above a commercial unit.

Shawbrook stepped in with a short‐term bridge for £2.1m – agreed and completed in four days – to allow for the necessary construction reports, and repayment of existing lender before default.

Once the construction reports have been finalised, the bridge will convert to a development facility.

Michael Clapper, executive chairman at Black Book Finance said: “Development projects are never straightforward, even when they might appear so at first, so our team fully understands the requirement to always be ready to sort out the inevitable curveballs whenever they might appear.

“This level of focus and commitment has allowed Black Book to establish itself as a go‐to source for all types of large and/or complex funding requirements.

“Once again, the team at Shawbrook showed the same level of commitment, and only by working in partnership were we able to get the job done for our clients.”

Terry Woodley, director of development finance at Shawbrook Bank added: “Our partnership with Black Book Finance continues to go from strength to strength, and we’re seeing how their growing reputation for high quality delivery is translating into higher numbers of new business enquiries.

“We’re proud of what we’ve done with Black Book so far and looking forward to working with them again.”