Bespoke funding solutions to support your new build or refurbishment project. Explore our Development Finance & funding options, designed to meet your unique needs and propel your projects to success.

Why Shawbrook?

When investing in a development, you need a development finance lender that takes the time to understand your project in detail and provide finance tailored to your specific circumstances.

Our experienced team will visit your site – new build or refurbishment – and if it’s a project we can support, you can count on us to be with you for the entire journey.

So, if you’re an experienced developer looking for housing development finance, or would like to get funding for your next conversion project, we could be the lender to support you from initial planning through to completion.

Any property used as security, including your home, may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on a mortgage or any other debt secured on it. 

Development Finance highlights

  • Loans size £1m - £30m
  • Maximum gearing 65% Loan to Gross Development Value (LTGDV) for new build and 70% LTGDV for refurbishment
  • Maximum 85% loan to cost
  • Cash/equity contribution to be injected ahead of any Bank funding
  • Development Lender of the Year - NACFB Awards 2021 & 2022

What types of Property Development do we cover?

Our development finance is designed for experienced property developers working on a range of build types: 

  • New build, conversions and refurbishment
  • Residential, commercial and mixed-use developments
  • High value residential projects
  • Student housing, senior living and co-living
  • Care homes
  • Phased development schemes
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Planning Assistance Loan

Our Planning Assistance Loan is a short-term facility to help developers enhance the planning already agreed for a site (max term 12 months). From this loan, you can transfer seamlessly to a development finance loan to build the project. 

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Development Exit Finance

Property development projects sometimes need to be extended beyond their original terms.

If your existing finance is coming to an end, our development exit loans offer short-term flexibility to help you navigate unexpected delays, extend the marketing period or raise funds for a new project. 

Our Development Exit Finance loans are appropriate for loans over £1m. 

For loans under £1m, our Bridging Finance could be the right solution for you. 

Our biggest milestone to date

Reaching the milestone of £2 billion in funding reflects our team's hard work and dedication to providing expert funding solutions for developers throughout the UK.

From small-scale projects to large-scale developments, our development finance team has been instrumental in supporting developers at every stage, from concept to completion.

We're eager to build upon our success, supporting more customers and driving innovation in the property development market.

 

The onward journey

Once the build is complete, don’t forget that doesn’t have to be the end of the journey with us. If you are retaining the development, we offer a series of finance solutions to support you through the next stages. 

New Tenants

Buy-to-Let Mortgages

Award-winning property finance to help you purchase a new investment, refinance an existing portfolio, or raise additional funds to grow your property business.

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Commercial Mortgages

Commercial property finance can be complex, but our specialist team, well-versed in UK finance loans, can help you invest in a new property, refinance your existing portfolio, or raise additional funds for further investment opportunities.

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Healthcare Finance

Shawbrook’s specialist healthcare finance team provide a range of funding solutions tailored to the unique needs of the healthcare sector to help you optimise cashflow, fund growth, support specific events or acquire new diagnostic equipment. 

Broker? We’ve got you covered

If you're a new or existing broker, head for our dedicated site where you'll find everything you need on our extensive property offering, and how to submit your cases to us.

Development Finance case studies

Spotlight on deals we’ve done that support property developers like you.

Case Study

Bespoke £9m investment facility delivered for large multi-unit freehold block

Supporting an experienced investor with a structured investment facility that included a £5m Buy-to-Let mortgage and £3.9m Development Exit loan.

Case Study

Supporting developer with fourth project in four years

Shawbrook supports developer with fourth development project in four years, demonstrating emphasis on building strong relationships with their partners. 

Great Yarmouth Building
Case Study

Innovative funding package to support development and operation of three care homes

LNT Care Developments, a distinguished leader in the field of care home development and operation, has secured funding from Shawbrook Bank to drive the construction of three 66-bed care homes.

What is Development Finance?

Development finance is a specialised funding solution designed to support property developers for the construction and refurbishment of residential, commercial, and mixed-use projects.

At Shawbrook, we offer bespoke property development financing options tailored to meet the unique needs of each project, ensuring flexibility and efficiency throughout the development process.

Our offerings include Planning Assistance Loans, which help developers enhance already agreed planning permissions, and Development Exit Finance, providing a seamless transition from construction to sale.

With Shawbrook's development finance, you can manage cash flow effectively and only pay interest on the funds released.

What are the types of Property Development Finance?

Ground-up development finance is designed for projects that involve constructing new buildings from scratch. This type of financing is ideal for developers looking to build residential, commercial, or mixed-use properties on vacant land. Examples of specific purposes for ground-up development loans include constructing new housing estates or apartment buildings.

Refurbishment finance caters to projects that involve significant structural changes or extensive renovations to existing properties. This type of financing is suitable for developers undertaking large scale refurbishments, such as converting commercial buildings into residential units or carrying out major structural repairs.

How Shawbrook's Development Finance works

Once a development finance loan is approved, the funds are released in stages as the development progresses. This staged release ensures that you only accrue interest on the funds that have been drawn down.

Our team will schedule visits and request updates on the progress of the development throughout the build. This helps us ensure everything is going to plan, or where it isn’t allows us to work with developers on revising those plans. 

Development finance loans typically have terms ranging from 6 to 24 months, whereas Shawbrook’s Development Finance loans have terms up to 36 months, depending on the project’s complexity and scope. The loan term will include an appropriate period of time for sale or refinance of the completed development.

The size and type of development can affect the agreed terms regarding repayments, with larger or more complex projects potentially requiring more flexible repayment schedules.

The interest on Shawbrook Development Finance is calculated based on the funds that have been released by us at different stages of the development process.

This means that interest is only accrued on the amount of money that has been drawn down, rather than the total loan amount, and accrued interest is applied to the loan account on a quarterly basis. This balance, including the accrued interest, is typically repaid from the sale or refinance of the completed properties. 

Development Finance and Bridging Loans at Shawbrook serve different purposes and have distinct terms and repayment structures.

Typically, a Development Finance loan will involve staged drawdowns and is assessed against the future value of the development, whereas a bridging loan is assessed against the current value of the property and is paid out in full on completion of the loan.

With Shawbrook's development finance, you can borrow between £1 million and £30 million, depending on your project's needs. For new builds, the maximum loan-to-gross development value (LTGDV) is 65%, while for refurbishments it is 70%. This is subject to loan to cost not exceeding 85%. 

Useful information

Useful links to more information in case you’ve not quite found what you’re looking for.

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Contact us

If you have any questions about our products and services, you’ll find the right person to contact here.

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Help with our products

If you’re an existing customer, or need more information on our products, visit our help centre for support.

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News & case studies

News from across the property landscape and spotlights on deals we’ve done.

Insights hub

The home of insights and trends in the property market, guides on how to build and diversify your portfolio, and information on planning and tax implications for professional landlords.

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Insights

Property developers ready to unleash capital

Property developers have been withholding capital to remain flexible in the face of economic uncertainty, but since the new government the outlook looks positive and developers should have more opportunities to unleash their capital.

Insights

New council targets are the key to improving planning issues

Three-quarters of property developers believe the government setting targets for councils would unlock planning issues

Insights

The challenges property developers are facing and how they are overcoming them

Research from Shawbrook identifies the major challenges faced by property developers, and reveals 99% of developers have made changes to their business strategy in the past year to overcome these.

Explore Property Finance

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Commercial Mortgages

Commercial property finance can be complex, but our specialist team, well-versed in UK finance loans, can help you invest in a new property, refinance your existing portfolio, or raise additional funds for further investment opportunities.

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Bridging Loans

Fast funding for when investment opportunities come knocking. Seen a property at auction to add to your portfolio, replace your existing development finance, or looking to renovate a property? A bridging loan could be the answer. 

New Tenants

Buy-to-Let Mortgages

Award-winning property finance to help you purchase a new investment, refinance an existing portfolio, or raise additional funds to grow your property business.

Our business

About Shawbrook

Shawbrook provides finance to a wide range of customers who value the premium experience, flexibility and certainty we deliver.  We are a purpose-led organisation, with a focus on delivering long-term sustainable value for all our stakeholders.

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Sustainability

Our sustainability strategy is designed to create value for our customers, colleagues, communities, suppliers and shareholders, while having a positive impact on society and the wider environment. 

Saracens sponsorship

As official banking partner of Saracens Rugby Club, we are proud to champion elite women’s sport by supporting the growth of both women’s rugby and netball as lead sponsor of the Mavericks.