Marden Homes Limited has secured a £17 million loan from Shawbrook Bank to help complete a ‘unique’, luxury lakeside scheme at The Channels development in Chelmsford, Essex.

The Essex house builder turned to Shawbrook Bank midway through construction at The Lakes to secure the development finance required to help take the project through its final stages.

Construction at the £28 million scheme is split into two phases, with the seven houses now on track to complete by December 2021 and the 20 apartments to complete a year later.

Its development comes as the pandemic encourages house buyers to seek properties with more surrounding space, with luxury finishes and the ability to work from home. The Lakes is said to benefit from all of these as well as providing the usual amenities on the edge of Chelmsford City.

The scheme has been well received with secured sales early on for the houses, with the company seeing strong interest in its remaining properties. The homes feature four double bedroom en-suites, open-plan living spaces and balconies that open out onto a private lake.

Electricity will be generated by roof-mounted solar panels with each of the homes equipped with electric vehicle charging points.

The scheme’s 20 waterside apartments and penthouse suites have already seen high demand with three already sold off-plan.

Mr Tappenden, director at Marden Homes, comments: “Priorities have shifted across the housing market in the last year, with more buyers looking outside of London for the highest standard of housing and for destinations that better connect them with the outdoors. This trend, coupled with an active housing market, is underpinning demand at The Lakes.”

“The team at Shawbrook Bank showed an excellent understanding of the current market, how House Builders operate and of the specialist finance required behind a project like this. Their quick decision-making and appetite to fund the scheme part-way through has been crucial.”

Stewart Budge, relationship director for development finance at Shawbrook Bank, adds: “Marden Homes has earned itself a reputation for developing quality homes in the region. Together with the scheme’s sustainability attributes, that made this an attractive project to back, where traditional lenders wouldn’t typically support a part-complete scheme.”

“We worked closely with its team to identify specialist funding to meet their requirements, providing 65% loan-to-value helping the company to refinance existing borrowing and to finish off the build.”

The Lakes is the latest phase forming part of Marden Homes, ‘Homes at Channels’ developments. Also under construction and already selling off-plan is their Wimbush Waters development consisting of 89 luxury homes and 11 apartments continuing the waterside theme.

Both these luxury developments are located on the Northside of Chelmsford, approximately 2 miles from the City Centre with direct links to London, Canary Wharf as well as the A12 and M25 road networks.

Shawbrook Bank recently passed £1 billion in total lending to property developers, comprising of affordable to high-end luxury schemes. As it targets its next £1 billion, the bank aims to support more developers that are innovating to deliver sustainable properties.