Housing development secures £8.4m funding injection
A Black Country housing development has received an £8.4m funding injection in what is the biggest Midlands deal to date for the Home Building Fund.
The Homes and Communities Agency’s Investments team is loaning the money through the £3bn Home Building Fund.
The funding will ensure that the first part of a two-phase development at Crocketts Lane in Smethwick can progress.
The loan will fund 102 homes, which in turn will unlock the second phase of the development, which mainstream lenders found challenging.
Joint developers BJD and Cedar Invest are building their third and largest scheme in a portfolio set to deliver 250 new homes in the next two years.
Demand for quality homes in the area is increasing due to the construction of the new Midland Metropolitan Hospital nearby.
In announcing the funding, the HCA said the new homes would help to attract and retain the skilled health sector workers likely to staff the new super-hospital.
The brownfield site has been vacant since Sandwell College closed its campus there in 2012. The new project has added significance to the local community because it will protect three listed buildings that were previously at risk following arson attacks. The new apartments are designed to retain the best of the Victorian features.
James Dickens, BJD’s Commercial Director, said: “BJD and Cedar Invest’s business continues to expand. Whilst this is a different location to our previous projects, the principles of providing high quality design are the same. Through the Home Building Fund, the HCA have demonstrated a high level of enthusiasm to work with us and tackle a site that others have found challenging.”
Ian Martin, Head of Investment for Midlands at the HCA, added: “Supporting the development to radically change this unloved and derelict site is great news for us. It is the largest single scheme we have supported with development finance in the Midlands since we launch the fund in October 2016.
“We are inundated with requests for loan finance from SMEs so I suspect that it won’t hold the record for long.”
The new homes are already under construction with the first ones to be completed in early 2018.
