Member Article

Reward Capital backs County Durham property developers with six-figure loan

Business lender Reward Capital has supported the team behind a new housing scheme in County Durham after its future looked uncertain due to a lack of financial support.

Reward has backed David Fisher and his business partner Aidan Tait; the duo behind a seven property development in Sherburn, Durham.

However, Dave Jones, partner at Reward Capital, said the project was a further example of independent construction firms struggling to get money from the leading banks and having to turn to lenders like Reward that can make quick funding decisions.

Mr Fisher and Mr Tait’s dream of completing the project was looking bleak after their bank refused to lend them enough money to complete the properties despite there being no concerns about the viability of the project.

However, Reward has stepped in to assist and has lent the duo £300,000, with the option of further advances, to enable the completion of the set of three-bedroom townhouses on the site of a former chapel.

Dave Jones said the small business lender had been delighted to step in and assist the developers, who are also trained accountants, he explained: “Reward has lent more than £10m in short term funding to the housebuilding and construction sectors over recent months given that overdrafts are a thing of the past within the banking sector,”

“Recent analysis by the Federation of Master Builders found that we need to build 240,000 homes a year just to keep pace with demand and to do this we need to empower small house builders.

“Access to finance for small firms in the construction industry, especially when speed is of the essence, is critical to our economy. Reward is here to support business and to help create jobs. We will support small businesses wherever we can and adopt the same criteria regardless of the sector.”

Mr Fisher said: “We are indebted to Reward for its support to help make our vision a reality. New homes are urgently needed in the north in places such as Durham and we are excited about bringing this development to the market.”

The new development is set to be launched in October and, with individual houses priced from £175,000, the site is already generating a lot of interest in the local community.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .