Glenhawk has appointed Grant Gibson to the newly created role of head of construction as the lender looks to strengthen its underwriting and due diligence processes for property development finance.

Mr Gibson brings more than 35 years of experience delivering residential and commercial projects across the UK. He was previously construction director at Graven Hill Village Development Company, the country’s largest self and custom build developer, and has also held senior roles at Taylor French Developments, Mears New Homes, Persimmon Homes and Higgins Construction.

His work has ranged from affordable housing schemes to multi-million pound regeneration projects in London and the Home Counties.

Based in London, he will add direct development experience to Glenhawk’s lending and servicing teams, overseeing both the viability assessment of new schemes and the monitoring of projects during their construction phases.

The appointment follows a period of growth at Glenhawk, which secured additional institutional funding earlier this year. The short-term real estate lender has recently launched a structured real estate division to meet demand for larger loans and reduced rates across its prime regulated bridging range to record lows.

Andrew Townsend, chief executive of Glenhawk, said: “Grant’s through the cycle track record and deep understanding of UK housing delivery means he is ideally placed to support the business in managing the growing loan book.

“His expertise will allow us to better tailor our solutions to meet the needs of individual clients and further improve our quality control processes.”

Mr Gibson said: “Having watched from afar as Glenhawk has become a market leader in the UK short term lending space, I am hugely excited by this opportunity to use my experience to facilitate the lending and servicing teams as well as the borrowers to ensure we deliver successful projects.”