Silbury provides £97m funding for two residential developments

Silbury Finance has completed two senior development facilities of £96.5m for the delivery of two residential for-sale schemes. The Oaktree Capital Management-backed development lender provided Avanton with a £68m stretch facility for its landmark regeneration project at 520 Old Kent Road, SE15, known as The Ruby.  The loan will fund the redevelopment of the former Carpetright warehouse into 262 mixed-tenure flats, 92 of which will be affordable.  The redevelopment will span two towers and include 23,142 sq ft of commercial space and a community park. The development will open its first homes in H2 2024 and the remainder in the early part of 2025. In Reading, Berkshire, Silbury provided Kings Oak Capital with a £28.5m acquisition and development loan. The 24-month facility, at 69% LTGDV, will fund Kings Oak’s plans to convert the former UK headquarters of telecoms provider Three into 110 flats. The construction phase of the development is expected to be complete in H2 2023.  The 2.6-acre site is located close to Reading Station, where Crossrail services commenced earlier this year. Deepak Khullar, managing director of Kings Oak Capital, said: “The support from Silbury Finance will allow us to deliver 110 apartments in a location where demand has continued to outpace supply.  “The conversion of office buildings continues to be a sustainable way to combat the housing crisis and we are excited to bring this project to fruition.” Following these transactions, Silbury has provided nearly £335m of development finance across the UK residential for-sale and retirement living sectors in less than 18 months.  Gavin Eustace, founding partner at Silbury Finance, said: “Against a backdrop of high inflation and rising interest rates, the UK urban residential sector continues to demonstrate its defensive characteristics and remains one of our conviction calls.  “These schemes have been designed with resident wellbeing at their centre, occupying high-growth urban neighbourhoods with an abundance of green space, and benefiting from excellent infrastructure connectivity.  “As we remain on target to reach £500m of lending by the end of 2022, we will remain highly disciplined, targeting structurally undersupplied sectors and partnering with experienced developers with a track record of delivering successful projects.” To send feedback, e-mail akanksha.soni@eg.co.uk or tweet @asoni7185 or @EGPropertyNews View market analytics for Old Kent Road >> View market analytics for Reading >>