North West housing developer Breck has signed a multi-million pound finance package with Lloyds to accelerate its social housing delivery across the North.
The agreement will facilitate the delivery of a planned £150m development programme by Breck which is expected to deliver 300 homes a year by 2027 and beyond.
Lloyds has provided the funds through a revolving credit facility which Breck can draw from when needed, providing the flexibility to acquire brownfield sites with development potential at short notice.
Breck’s approach to delivering social homes involves identifying overlooked brownfield and greenfield land with capacity for new homes, securing planning permission and working with a housing association and its supply chain to begin construction.
Breck Homes currently has eight active sites across the North West, ranging from 20 to 250 homes, in locations including Crewe, Preston and Middlewich.
This year it has delivered 170 new homes and is expecting to complete a further 67 by early 2025. Breck’s target is for at least 80 per cent of homes in its portfolio to be classed as affordable.
Andy Garnett, director at Breck, said: “Since our formation four years ago, Breck has developed a strong reputation across the North West for our consistent delivery of high-quality affordable houses in response to the UK’s growing demand.
“We currently have an active development pipeline of around 1300 units which is continuing to grow and we are actively looking for sites in West Yorkshire as we expand geographically across the North of England.
“Access to fast and reliable finance will be critical as part of this growth, helping Breck to secure sites with strong development potential quickly so we can begin construction and the agreement with Lloyds is a perfect fit to support the company over the coming years.”
James Long, growth and structured finance director at Lloyds, said: “There is a clear need for more affordable housing across the UK, including the North West. The UK needs to pull every lever it has to accelerate the rate of housebuilding, and SMEs like Breck Homes are essential drivers of development.
“In particular, brownfield land must be a priority, and Andy and the team have established an exemplary approach to unearthing land for more sustainable development, with a proven track-record for building in the North West.”
Lloyds has invested £18.5bn in the social housing sector since 2018 and in October it partnered with the National Wealth Fund to launch a £1bn fund to support social housing retrofit projects.
