Openwork is planning to surpass £10bn of mortgage lending for 2016.

The network saw mortgage lending soar to £9.1bn in 2015 from £7.4bn in 2014, an increase of 23%. This represents its best lending performance for six years.

Openwork says it expects to surpass £10bn of lending in 2016, partly through organic growth and partly through Just Mortgages, the financial advisory business of Spicerhaart, which is joining the network from L&G next month. Just Mortgages, which will become Openwork’s largest mortgage-focused AR firm with 130 advisers, currently serves Spicerhaart clients across estate agencies including haart, Darlows, Felicity J Lord, Haybrook and Chewton Rose.

Paul Shearman, Openwork’s mortgage and protection proposition director, said: “2015 was a fantastic year for mortgage lending at Openwork and our best annual performance since the crash. To have exceeded £9bn of lending – a substantial year-on-year uplift – is a significant achievement and testament to both our advisers and the quality of our market-leading proposition.

“With this year shaping up to be an even better one, particularly with Just Mortgages about to join the network, we fully expect to have surpassed £10bn of lending by the end of 2016.”