Ground-Up Development Funded with Digital Monitoring.

The Requirement:

Our client owned an unencumbered parcel of land and needed fast access to development funding in order to move forward with a ground-up build. With planning permission due to expire in March, there was very limited time to complete the transaction and start works, making speed absolutely critical. A traditional funding route, involving site inspections, asset managers and quantity surveyors, risked slowing the process down and potentially jeopardising the project.

The Interesting Stuff:

Given the tight timeframe, we identified a lender able to take a more modern, digital-first approach. This included relying on a desktop (digital) survey rather than a full site-based valuation, and monitoring the build remotely through scheduled video call inspections instead of appointing a physical asset manager or quantity surveyor. The lender was also able to provide funding for the full development cost, with drawdowns released in arrears.

Because the land was owned outright, the lender was comfortable funding 100% of the build costs, subject to the agreed staged drawdowns. During the process, a minor complication arose due to an unclaimed strip of land running through the proposed driveway access. This was resolved quickly through an indemnity policy, allowing the transaction to proceed without disruption or delay.

How we helped:

We started by assessing the client’s time constraints and the risk posed by the impending planning expiry. From there, we sourced a lender whose digital-first process removed the need for traditional site-based monitoring and significantly reduced friction in the approval process. We then structured the facility to align closely with the client’s cashflow requirements and build schedule, ensuring the funding worked in practice as well as on paper.

By matching the client with a lender comfortable using desktop surveys and remote monitoring, we secured a swift and streamlined approval and funding process, enabling the development to commence in time and before the planning permission expired.