LendInvest has revealed that its development finance team has travelled over 2,500 miles in the ten months since it was officially launched, visiting the developers it backs on their construction sites.

The team has been to sites in places including Birmingham, Bristol, Cheshire and Sussex, which the online mortgage lender has calculated covers enough miles to get to Timbuktu.

Last month LendInvest launched the Property Development Academy, a new initiative aimed at helping developers learn the skills they need in order to build more homes. The Academy is a non-profit initiative, with subjects covered by the course including how to evaluate prospective development sites, applying for the right planning permissions and how to market the finished properties.

Steve Larkin, director of Development Finance at LendInvest, said: “Our development finance team takes a real interest in the developers we work with and their ambitious projects. They aren’t just a name on a spreadsheet to us – they are partners, and we strive to support them every step of the way until the development is finished.

“If that means taking time out to visit them on site, then that’s what we do.”