Funding secured for seafront housing development
United Trust Bank (UTB) is funding a development of 22 new homes in a sea-front location in Bridlington.
The £10.29m project will be completed by Ashcourt (Bridlington) Ltd, part of the family-owned Ashcourt Group Ltd.
Barry Dillon, of specialist funding advisory service Newable Finance, acting on behalf of Ashcourt (Bridlington) Ltd, approached United Trust Bank property development director Hardeep Thandi at the end of December 2020 with a proposal for UTB to refinance Ashcourt’s existing loan and provide the additional funding required to complete the construction of the scheme.
Thandi worked with all parties over the Christmas period and despite Ashcourt Group being a new UTB customer, by mid January this year he confirmed that the bank would provide the £6.03m facility Ashcourt required.
The new development is on land formerly belonging to Bridlington Golf Club and the 22 new homes will comprise detached four and five bedroomed houses.
Ashcourt Group worked with Bridlington Golf Club to achieve planning consent for the new homes and to provide a new clubhouse, including hotel accommodation and function rooms, which were completed in October 2019.
Construction of the new homes is now underway, with a total of nine units reserved to date.
Kurt Bousfield, director of Ashcourt Group, said: “We approached Barry to look at increasing our choice of potential development finance partners and UTB were one of the lenders he suggested.
“We were impressed with Hardeep’s enthusiasm and efficiency and UTB’s appetite and willingness to support our development in Bridlington with a sizeable £6m facility.
“We are looking to grow our residential development business over the next few years with several exciting projects in the pipeline.
“I’m sure there will be several opportunities for Ashcourt and UTB to work together again and build upon this successful start.”
Dillon said: “Hardeep and the UTB team were brought into the project when it was already quite advanced and I was impressed at how quickly Hardeep got out to the site and got to grips with what was needed.
“In a short time he developed an understanding of Ashcourt’s business, the detail of the scheme and what Ashcourt required to ensure continuity of the construction programme.
“This, combined with excellent communication throughout the process, proved UTB were the right funding partner to assist Ashcourt Group with this development scheme.”
Thandi added: “UTB is keen to build strong, long term relationships with housebuilders and developers across the Midlands and the North of England and I’m delighted we’re funding this development occupying a truly unique seafront location.
“Although at times we were working to tight timescales, it has been a pleasure working with Barry Dillon of Newable, Kurt and his team at Ashcourt and Manjit Virdee and the team at lawyers Schofield Sweeney who pulled out all the stops to ensure the transaction was able to complete on time.
“I look forward to helping Ashcourt Group build more desirable homes in the future and to assist them in achieving their long term growth plans.”
