Urban Exposure continues Midlands push with £43m loan for development in central Derby

By Bridging Loan Directory 3rd February 2020

Urban Exposure plc (“Urban Exposure” or “the Company”), a specialist real estate financier and asset manager, has provided a loan worth £42.9m to a joint venture vehicle with BBS Capital (“BBS”) and Wavensmere Homes (“Wavensmere”). The loan will help to fund the development of 474 residential units known as Nightingale Quarter at the site of the former Derbyshire Royal Infirmary in Derby City Centre.

BBS has joined forces with James Dickens’ Wavensmere Homes and Grahame Whateley’s Cedar Group to deliver the development. BBS’s investment management business has coinvested in the city centre scheme, supported by the £42.9m development finance facility provided by Urban Exposure. The site was once home to the Derby Royal Infirmary, it will deliver 349 apartments and 125 town houses over 3 phases, work began on-site in mid-December.

The Nightingale Quarter is well located to the southeast of Derby City Centre, fronting on to London Road, Osmaston Road and Bradshaw Way. The site is adjacent to Royal Infirmary Hospital and is a 5-minute walk from the Intu Derby Shopping Centre, and Derby Midland Train Station.

The first phase of sales will launch at the end of February 2020, with the first houses slated for delivery by the end of September 2020.

Commenting, Randeesh Sandhu, pictured, CEO of Urban Exposure, said:

“We are delighted to be supporting a project that will be transformative for central Derby, supporting the delivery of much needed housing for the local population. The site has been disused for several years, which makes it all the more pleasing to provide Derby’s residents with an opportunity to live in a thriving new community in an exceptional location.

We are also pleased to be working with BBS and Wavensmere who have an excellent track record and a clear desire to work on further developments in the midlands, a region where Urban Exposure has significant experience and has now provided £150m of development finance in the past eighteen months.”

Nick Spencer of BBS commented:

“We have worked with James and Grahame for some time in an advisory capacity but are delighted to have agreed this joint venture to deliver an urban regeneration project of this nature. The Nightingale Quarter will offer Derby residents the best of urban living in a carefully designed community which will offer a large proportion of green space and on-site leisure amenity whilst also paying homage to the historic nature of the site.”