OakNorth completes £9m development loan to Hayfield Homes

By Bridging Loan Directory 12th September 2017

OakNorth – the bank for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs – has completed a £9m loan to Hayfield Homes – a new property development company established by former Directors of the Banner Homes Midlands team.

The capital will be used for the acquisition and development of two new residential sites; the first is a site located at Main Street, Tiddington (Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire CV37 7AY). The three acres of developable site area will be transformed into 32 units (26 houses and six flats) and a new Home Guards Club which is currently occupying the site. Due to the size of the project, it will be completed in two phases: phase one will be 21 homes and the Home Guards Club; phase two will be the remaining 11 homes, of which six will be discounted market flats. The houses will range from 1-4 bedrooms and vary in size between 535 and 1,982 sq. ft. The site is located within two miles from Stratford-upon-Avon train station which provides a commute into London Marylebone in two hours, and Birmingham within one hour.

The second is a site to the west of Garner’s House (Great Bourton, OX17 1QU) which will be developed into 43 new two-five bedroom apartments, ranging from 667 – 1,952 sq.ft. with a total GDV of over £13m. Planning permission was secured from Cherwell City Council last month. The site is located within a 40-minute drive from the University of Oxford with good road links providing access to Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and London. There are also fast train services that run every 30 minutes from London Marylebone to Banbury, taking less than one hour with one stop between.

Hayfield Homes’ co-founder, Mark Booth, commented:

“These are our first projects since founding Hayfield in 2016, so it’s very exciting to have obtained planning permission and secured the capital needed to support the developments. Our investors, Castlelake, who have over twenty years’ experience and a portfolio of almost $9bn, put their faith in us just like OakNorth and Reality Wealth have done. Their support has been invaluable and we are already speaking to them about another project in Worcestershire.”

Commenting on the Stratford-upon-Avon development, Priya Chauhan, Debt Finance Director at OakNorth said:

“Stratford-upon-Avon is home to several major employers, including: NFU Mutual Insurance Company (and Avon Insurance), AMEC, Sitel, and Tesco, as well as three theatres run by the Royal Shakespeare Company. It’s therefore no surprise that it’s an extremely popular tourist destination and a desirable place to live.”

Commenting on the Oxfordshire development, Ben Barbanel, pictured, Head of Debt Finance at OakNorth, said:

“With the average property in Banbury costing almost £300,000, and Oxfordshire’s population having increased by 50 percent over the last 30 years, the county is in desperate need of new homes.

“Hayfield’s experienced management team have the expertise and ambition to take both projects forward bringing some much-needed new homes to the regions and generating strong returns for their investors. We’re delighted to have been selected as the debt provider for these landmark developments and are grateful to Dan and the team at Reality Wealth for introducing the deal to us.”