£600,000 funding deal enables Essex property developer to complete acquisition

Photograph: (Left to Right) Simon Adcock, Jonathan Rainbird and Shami Sharma

An Essex-based property developer has secured planning approval and a £600,000 funding deal to complete the acquisition of a commercial property in Brentwood that will form the cornerstone to a major new apartment development.

Rainbird Group already owns 6-8 Warescot Road in Brentwood, and the finance solution from the alternative finance provider Reward Funding now enables the company to purchase the adjacent property, providing a prime residential development opportunity comprising nine apartments.

The family-owned business has been in existence for over one hundred years having been founded by Thomas Rainbird, the great grandfather of Peter Rainbird CBE. Rainbird Group was formed in 1972 and run by Peter before his son Jonathan took over as Managing Director in 2008 and became equal shareholder with his sister, Jennifer Rainbird.

Peter Rainbird was awarded a CBE in the 1999 New Year’s honours list for his work in the construction industry having served as chairman of the Building Employers Confederation as well as his keen interest in education and training, serving as deputy chairman of the Construction Industry Training Board, a member of the National Skills Task Force and as Director of the Thames Gateway South Essex Partnership.

The business is now in its third generation of ownership and boasts an impressive repertoire of residential property development projects. It recently completed the construction and refurbishment of another small property scheme in Brentwood that sold for a combined gross development value of £2m.

Rainbird is now speaking with developers to complete the purchase of the Warescot Road development and transform the existing commercial and residential site into a large apartment complex in the highly sought after Brentwood area of Essex.

Rainbird Group turned to Reward as it needed a lender that could offer the funding required to quickly secure the purchase of Warescot Road. Reward specialises in providing entrepreneurs, opportunists and investors from across various sectors with flexible, high-performance, asset-secured funding solutions of up to £5m and has supported over 2,000 companies with over £1bn in funding to date.

Jonathan Rainbird, Director of Rainbird Group, said: “The fast-paced and unpredictable nature of property development means that we always need to secure finance within a tight timeframe, so that we can capitalise on market opportunities such as the one at Warescot Road.

“Reward has been extremely responsive, working closely to understand our business aims and put us in a financial position to complete the acquisition at speed. Having also secured planning approval on both buildings, we’re now receiving several offers from developers that we hope can realise our vision of transforming the scheme into a highly desirable apartment development in a much sought after area of Essex.”

Shami Sharma, Business Development Director for Reward Funding in the South East, said: “Rainbird Group has an impressive portfolio of successful build projects across Essex and a proven track record of unlocking residential development opportunities to meet market demand.

“Helping this latest acquisition in Brentwood is a great example of our flexibility and speed of lending and our ability to provide an alternative finance solution that fills the increasing void left by traditional funding. It’s hugely satisfying to see Rainbird thrive and also be in a position as a lender to offer a lifeline to the vast number of businesses that are unfortunately missing out on growth opportunities due to a lack of working capital.”

The deal between Rainbird Group and Reward was brokered by Steve Beck of SJB Commercial Consulting Limited via Empire Finance.