Warrington apartments backed in £40m funding deal

The 362-home development on John Street, due to complete in June 2021, has been backed by Barclays Bank as part of a £40m debt funding deal.

Cording Real Estate has secured funding as part of a wider debt facility deal with Barclays, which also includes backing for a PRS project in Leicester.

Developer High Street Residential secured planning permission for the scheme in May last year before agreeing a deal with Cording. Construction of the £50mscheme begun earlier this year after a £3m land deal was completed with Ram Properties in December 2018.

Designed by Triangle Architects with Lichfields as planner, the scheme features a mix of one and two-bed apartments, as well as a multi-storey car park with nearly 800 spaces. All of these are being marketed for private rent. Liverpool-based Nobles is the contractor.

The project was given planning permission after a decision was deferred by the council in April. To be compliant with Warrington’s planning policy, the scheme would need to class 20% of its homes as affordable, and the developer would have to provide a £279,000 contribution towards healthcare as well as more than £230,000 towards sport facilities.

However, following an independently-reviewed viability assessment, the developer has argued the scheme would not be viable with this level of contribution and has instead offered to pay £75,000 towards a travel plan for the site.

The scheme is among the largest PRS projects coming forward in Warrington, which has seen an increasing number of developments in recent months.