OakNorth Bank provides £4.4m CBILS loan to complete care home development

By Bridging Loan Directory 25th February 2021

OakNorth Bank – the UK bank powered by OakNorth – has completed a £4.4m Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) loan to complete the development of Beulah Vista Caring Home, a 60-bed purpose-built care home in Upper Norwood, London.

The project is being led by the experienced team behind the Chestnut Lodge in Tonbridge, a similarly sized property which achieved a CQC Rating of “good” early last year.

Once built, the c.38,000 sq.ft. new development will offer dementia, residential and nursing care and include a bistro-style café bar, a hair salon with nail bar, spacious lounges and dining rooms, a family room for events, a cinema and a quiet meditation room.

The property is situated at the most elevated point on Beulah Hill, providing residents with views of the London Skyline (The Shard, The Gherkin and Canary Wharf) to the north, as well as the rolling Surrey Hills to the south.

According to Knight Frank’s annual UK Healthcare Development Opportunities 2020 research report, the number of care home beds per 100 people over the age of 85 has fallen from 33.7 to 28.7 since 2010.

If the same rate of growth in beds is applied to the next decade, bed provision will continue to decline unless new developments come to market to keep up with the UK’s ageing population.

Commenting on the transaction, Rakesh Wadhwa, Owner of Beulah Vista Caring Home, said:

“This capital from OakNorth Bank will provide us with enough liquidity to complete construction, including a luxurious fit out of fixtures, furniture and equipment – something which had been otherwise delayed due to the pandemic.

It’s been a pleasure working with the OakNorth Bank team – they moved quickly and demonstrated in-depth knowledge of the sector throughout the process.”

Sammy Bajaj, Associate at OakNorth Bank, added:

“The fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic has marred the care home sector. Over the past year, small independent care homes have been significantly impacted, as most care home operators and owners lacked the liquidity, infrastructure and scale to cope with the virus.

We are therefore pleased to support the final stages of this development and bring a new care home to market.

Rakesh and his team have a strong track record in this space, having successfully operated another care home for the last eight years which is experiencing high occupancy and has a good CQC rating.”

James Mole, Director at London Belgravia Specialist Finance, commented:

“It’s great to see developers addressing the need for more purpose-built care facilities.

We are happy to have helped our client with their growth plans and push ahead with the Beulah Hill home scheme – for which there’s already been significant interest received.

We approached OakNorth Bank because of their in-depth knowledge of the sector and the speed with which they operate.”