An anniversary update from our regular, monthly site visit to this project. We originally provided funding back in mid-2018 for this site, a former car-garage, allowing the developer to purchase the site and apply for planning permission for 9 flats - 6 duplex flats spanning the basement and ground floors, and three studio apartments on top, all aimed at the Help To Buy market. Once planning permission was granted, this bridging loan was replaced by a development loan for the build, and we are now exactly 12 months on from the start of this loan. Most of that time was spent digging the vast basement level and getting the excavated soil off the site, a complex and time-consuming task given that access to the site is too narrow to get anything larger than a mini-digger in or out. After an epic slog through persistently wet weather, the basement level was completed a couple of months ago and since then progress has been rapid as the blockwork and steels have been going up. The brickwork for the basement and ground floor levels is complete and the top floor and roof will appear over the next couple of weeks. As can be seen in these photos, rainwater management continues to be a challenge, but the basement structures are now waterproof and preparatory work for the tanking is happening at the moment. We look forward to seeing the final shape of the exterior appear over the next few weeks as the roof goes on.
