- Loan amount: £2.4 million
- Term: 15 years
- Completion time: 25 days
- Internal team: Adam Evans, Mark Foley, Declan Henry
When a commercial development reaches completion, securing the right long-term funding can be just as important as delivering the project itself.
Roma Finance recently completed a £2.4m commercial mortgage for Hermitage Works Business Park in Market Harborough, providing a 15-year facility in just 25 working days. The transaction marked Roma’s first commercial mortgage completion following the launch of its commercial mortgage proposition.
The site comprises four offices, a storage unit and nine light industrial units and is currently 80% let. Roma first supported the borrower in 2024, providing development finance to transform the former farmyard site into a modern, income-generating commercial asset.
With the redevelopment complete and rental income established, the borrower required a longer-term funding solution aligned to the next stage of the investment. Having already supported the project through its development phase, Roma had a detailed understanding of the property, the borrower’s objectives and the wider strategy behind the investment.
This enabled the team to look beyond the immediate funding requirement and deliver a smooth transition from development finance to a commercial mortgage.
Michael Allison, Commercial Director at Roma Finance, said: “It’s a particularly significant transaction for us because it’s our first commercial mortgage completion, coming so soon after we launched the product. We’ve been working hard behind the scenes to build the capability and funding infrastructure to support longer-term commercial lending, so seeing that come through into a completed transaction is fantastic for the team.
“What’s equally important is the journey behind the deal. We originally provided the development finance for this site, and we’ve now been able to support the customer again with longer-term funding as the asset has reached the next stage. Being able to work in collaboration with the broker, with the same customer across different stages of their property journey is exactly the kind of longer-term relationships we want to build at Roma. It shows the benefit of taking a flexible, brokers and customer-focused approach and understanding what the borrower is ultimately trying to achieve, rather than looking only at the immediate funding requirement.
“It’s been a hugely productive few months for Roma, following the announcement of our J.P. Morgan forward-flow agreement in June, the launch of commercial mortgages and now our first completion. Completing this deal in just 25 working days is another great result for the team and demonstrates that longer-term finance doesn’t have to mean losing the speed and responsiveness that customers value from Roma. There is a lot more to come, but this is a great example of what we’re building.”
Our borrower, Seymour Guinness, Director of Alistructures Limited, said: “Roma understood the property and our plans from the outset, having supported us with the development finance. Being able to move onto longer-term funding with the same lender has made the process much more straightforward and gives us certainty over the next stage of the investment.
“The development has transformed the site and it’s now generating a strong rental income, so the commercial mortgage provides the right funding structure for where the property is today. Having Roma involved through both stages has been a real benefit.”
The transaction demonstrates Roma’s Customer for Life approach in action. By supporting the customer through both the development and investment phases, Roma was able to provide a clear funding pathway while continuing to support evolving funding requirements. It also highlights the lender’s growing capability to support property investors and developers across multiple stages of their property journey.
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