The Intermediary – October 2025 - Flipbook - Page 51
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
to blueprints
the right place. Grenfell was a dreadful disaster,
clearly there were failings there.
“Unfortunately, as is often the case with
Government policy, the ramifications for the
private sector are often not thought through in
terms of how it works mechanically.
“It has added almost a stranglehold on a market
that is already doused in regulation and red tape.”
F U N DI NG C ON U N DR U M S
Highly competent teams are needed to
navigate an increasingly complex, multistage funding environment.
If the Gateway process has redrawn the design
playbook for architects, it has completely
rewritten the rulebook for lenders.
Charles Jabre, associate director at DLA
Architecture, says: “We are seeing a new funding
tier to get schemes not only through the planning
application but also another one for the Gateway
application itself – because of the awful lot of risk
attributed to the application.”
Indeed, backing a project that might fail at
Gateway 2 can leave lenders holding the proverbial
baby, with unrecoverable costs and no tangible
asset to refinance.
Dieter Kerschbaumer, debt and equity adviser
at Arc & Co., notes that a handful of lenders are
adapting rather than retreating.
He says: “A select few development finance
lenders are beginning to recognise the current
market challenges. In some cases, if a developer
can take a parcel of land to the point of obtaining
outline planning, these lenders are stepping in
with initial funding through a bridge facility to
release equity. The intention is then to refinance
themselves into a development loan once full
planning consent is secured.”
These interim ‘pre-Gateway’ facilities, typically
secured at conservative loan-to-values (LTVs),
are now a lifeline for borrowers. Still, only a small
handful of lenders have the appetite or flexibility.
According to Jack Heath, managing director
at PHINOM Consultancy, these lenders are →
October 2025 | The Intermediary
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