Leicester firm races to beat Brexit deadline to land £100m loan

Leicester social housing provider Stonewater has received approval for a £100m loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) that will see the firm build nearly 5,000 affordable homes over a four-ear period.

Stonewater had previously received £224m funding from Homes England for a new strategic partnership with Guinness to begin building 4,500 high-quality, affordable homes by 2022. The additional funding will see the firm build 4,850 new affordable homes over the four-year period starting March 2019.

The loan is part of around £1bn of UK housing association loans that have been in the EU bank’s official approved pipeline for several years. Concerns had been raised over the future of EIB funding in the UK when it leaves the EU, which had led to a lack of progress on loans in 2018.

John Bruton, executive director of finance at Stonewater, said: “I am pleased that we have been able to continue to progress this loan as it would be a very beneficial component to the funding of our strategic ambition to increase the number of new homes we build for those in need.

“Both the EIB and Stonewater would like to complete the loan documentation by 31 March, so that’s what we are working to achieve.”