Shawbrook’s commercial mortgages team has delivered a 24-month long permitted development bridging loan within six weeks.

The short term team was approached by its broker partner, West Rock Capital, and a long-established client who specialises in permitted developments. The client was looking for a two-year bridging loan to purchase a commercial premises on Milton Keynes train station.

Worth £16m, the client required a £11.5m facility for the acquisition of this unusual property with the aim to sell in 18 to 24 months and with the potential of redeveloping into residential units. There were a few hurdles to navigate with this bridge, including the key risk that the premises is located on a train station. However, the valuer saw no issue with the purchase or potential planning issues regarding converting into residential units so the team proceeded with the application.

Using Shawbrook’s STL3 product, providing the ability to service the interest, the short term team were able to fund this purchase at 70% LTV across a 24 month term, allowing additional time in case of any refurbishment or planning delays.

Westley Richards, director at West Rock Capital, said: “I am delighted to have successfully enabled our client to secure this exciting opportunity. Our extensive experience in property finance and long-term relationship with Shawbrook ensured our client was able to complete this complicated acquisition on time.

“This was a great team effort with Shawbrook and I am looking forward to working on more opportunities going forward.”

Shrena Patel, business development manager at Shawbrook, added: “There were some hurdles and moving parts that we had to overcome on our way to completing in the deal. However, both West Rock Capital and our sales and underwriting teams worked brilliantly together to ensure that we provided a solution for the client so that their purchase could go ahead as scheduled.”