ONSIDE / FEATURE
PROPERTY FINANCING
Since Seneca’s bridging finance company was formed in 2012 they have made over 200 loans
totalling over £50m. The majority of those loans were to developers for the refurbishment or
conversion of residential properties. More recently, they have also extended their reach by funding
some high quality commercial projects alongside their growing portfolio of lending to businesses
involved in residential developments. Michael Taylor talks to Seneca Director, Steve Charnock.
T
here may be more cranes on the skylines of city centres
and there may be much more noise about funding
for large infrastructure projects. But for property
developers it remains an ongoing struggle to raise suitable
finance for projects which add value, or contribute to major
public services.
This was exactly the situation facing Larkstoke, a property
development business formed in 2012 by Tim Hurdiss, a
chartered surveyor and former chairman of the Midlands
30
based, Investment Property Forum. The business was already
involved in several major projects, notably an industrial
scheme in Birmingham, a housing development in Bicester,
working with Miller Homes in Telford and advising councils
in Mole Valley and Coventry on land holdings.
Larkstoke sought a short-term finance facility to build and
deliver a new Reception Centre at John Radcliffe Hospital
in Oxford, the main hospital in Oxfordshire and the major
trauma centre in the Thames Valley.