Mixed-Use Development
London

A development group was acquiring a mixed-use site in East London — ground floor commercial, upper floors residential. The total funding requirement was £12m across land acquisition, construction, and working capital. The deal was too large for a single lender with a high LTV, and the mixed-use element meant most development funders wouldn't look at it as a single facility. The developer had been trying to arrange funding for three months with no success.

The capital stack needed three separate funding lines: senior debt for the land and core build costs, mezzanine for the gap between senior and the developer's equity, and a separate facility for the commercial fit-out. Each funder needed to understand their position in the stack and agree inter-creditor terms. The planning consent also had a Section 106 obligation that required affordable housing on-site, which complicated the GDV calculation.

We designed the entire capital stack from scratch. We placed the senior debt with a specialist development lender who was comfortable with mixed-use schemes. The mezzanine came from a private fund on our panel who could move quickly and understood the risk profile. The commercial fit-out was funded by a separate short-term bridge secured against the completed commercial units. We coordinated all three funders, their solicitors, and the monitoring surveyor to ensure drawdowns aligned with the build programme.