Scarborough International Properties, the UK and international real estate developer and investor, announces that its joint venture company FairBriar International has received a £34.7 million funding facility from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), for its 24.5 acre Middlewood Locks development, a new residential and commercial neighbourhood at the western gateway to Manchester's central business district. On completion, the development will provide a total of 2,215 new homes.
£25.5 million of the facility is residential development finance [provided from the HCA’s £3 billion Home Building Fund which is dedicated to accelerating the delivery of new housing in the UK], enabling the fast-track delivery of phase 2 of Middlewood Locks. This phase will provide 546 new, one to three bed] homes, across four buildings, totalling 360,129 sq ft on two plots. The balance of £9.2 million of the facility will help fund infrastructure and enabling works across the development, which will kick-start further phases. The overall facility is for an initial three-year period and is subordinate to the senior lenders to the first two phases of the development.
Announcing the funding, Joint Chief Executive of Scarborough International Properties, Simon Marshall, said:
“We are very appreciative of the HCA’s support which will enable us to accelerate the delivery of much-needed homes for local people. Major sites, such as Middlewood Locks, are key to meeting housing demand in areas of strong economic and demographic growth such as Greater Manchester.
We look forward to working in partnership with the HCA through to the completion of this very important development”.
HCA Chief Executive, Nick Walkley, added:
“This loan is a great example of how we can help developers create new communities which will provide more of the homes that people need, and do so quickly - completing almost 600 homes by this time next year. As the wider site is set to deliver more than 2,200 homes, a key part of the funding was to support the infrastructure works as this will enable the future residential phases to be brought forward faster”.
Middlewood Locks is a 25-acre landmark development, which will provide a new waterside neighbourhood around three large basins of the Manchester, Bolton and Bury canals, connecting to the River Irwell and a short distance from the central business district and shops of Manchester city centre. It will provide a total of 2,215 new homes, 900,000 sq ft of commercial space, including a hotel, together with all the amenities of a new urban neighbourhood.
Currently under construction, the first phase of Middlewood Locks will provide 571 one, two and three- bed apartments, with the first wave ready to occupy in spring next year, at prices starting at £155,000.
Middlewood Locks is being developed by FairBriar International, a joint venture led by Scarborough International Properties (50%) with Metro Holdings of Singapore (25%) and Hualing Group of China (25%).
Further information about Middlewood Locks is available at www.middlewood-locks.co.uk.