Midland bank helps provide £8.5m loan for dementia care

Birmingham-based Unity Trust Bank has teamed up with Charity Bank to provide an £8.5m loan for dementia care in Yorkshire.

The loans from Unity Trust Bank and Charity Bank will enable charity Abbeyfield The Dales to purchase the award-winning Fern House, a 30-room dementia care home in Bingley in Yorkshire.

Fern House won the residential category at the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Awards in 2018.

“Unity Trust Bank helps organisations to prosper and contribute to economic, community and environmental change,” said Margaret Porter, Relationship Manager at Unity Trust Bank. “We were pleased to be able to assist Abbeyfield The Dales in the purchase of Fern House, which will continue to provide vital care for people living with dementia and alleviate social isolation in the local community.”

Abbeyfield The Dales is dedicated to making the lives of older people easier and more fulfilling.

It was able to complete the purchase thanks to loans of £4.7m from Unity Trust Bank and £3.8m from Charity Bank. The loans also enabled the housing association to consolidate other debts.

“We’ve run Fern House since it opened in 2017 and it has always been our intention to buy it outright, so we’re really pleased to have been able to complete this purchase,” said Philip Birkinshaw, Chief Executive of Abbeyfield The Dales. “Charity Bank and Unity Trust Bank align with our values and understand what we want to achieve as an organisation, so were an obvious choice for finance providers.”

The purchase means they can now cater for up to 100 residents at any one time, across the 30-room care home and 49 flats.