Gatehouse expands real estate team with Santander hire

Kenny Orpin has joined Gatehouse Bank to lead on the company’s growth in commercial real estate financing in the North West.

Orpin, who will be based remotely in the North West, will aim to expand Gatehouse’s lending operations in the region. Gatehouse currently does not have any customers in the North West.

He joins Gatehouse from Santander, where he managed a number of real estate clients based in the region. Before this he was part of Barclays Corporate’s structured property finance team, based in Manchester.

Paul Stockwell, Gatehouse Bank’s chief commercial officer said: “Kenny brings significant experience that will complement an already strong team and he will play a major part in helping the bank grow commercial real estate financing in the regions.”

Gatehouse formed a joint venture with Sigma Capital in 2014 to develop private rented sector properties in the UK, with new homes to be built on land procured from Sigma’s existing local authority partners in the region, Liverpool City Council and Salford City Council.

The JV, which has a proposed portfolio worth around £700m, plans to build 6,600 rented homes across the UK.

The first phase of the joint venture plans to deliver 927 new homes across 14 sites in Greater Manchester and Merseyside, with a total development cost of around £106m.