LendInvest launches first Property Development Academy to get more houses built

• Responding to UK’s chronic housing deficit
• Non-profit Academy supplies skills and networks to aspiring housebuilders
• Formed in collaboration with University of Reading academics, top property education institution

London, 14 September 2016 – LendInvest, the UK’s leading online mortgage lender, has launched the LendInvest Property Development Academy, a new initiative designed to teach aspiring small-scale developers the skills they need to build more homes.

Context: the UK’s housing deficit

Too few new homes are built in the UK every year and the country is in the grip of a major housing shortage. The House of Lords says we need 300,000 new homes every year to meet demand, but only half this number (170,000) were completed in 2015.

Entrepreneurial, independent and small-scale developers can fill a gap that the government and major housebuilders have yet to bridge.

However, developing new housing isn’t easy. In LendInvest’s experience (since 2008), it is not just access to finance and land that is hard to find, but access to the right skill set. One in four applications for LendInvest development finance cannot be funded because the would-be borrower lacks the necessary knowledge. While a borrower’s proposed project may be sound, their skillset and experience often aren’t sufficient. The LendInvest Property Development Academy was created to address this problem.

The LendInvest Property Development Academy

The Academy was established in collaboration with academics from the University of Reading. This close collaboration between LendInvest and an institution ranked as one of the leading property development schools in the country will ensure the quality and relevance of the Academy’s evolving syllabus.

The Academy Course is a two-day intensive programme that takes 20-25 ‘students’ through seven hands-on, practical modules covering the full development project: from land valuation and acquisition, through to planning permission, supplier contracts, cost management and final sale. Sessions are led by experienced advisers (e.g. solicitors, planners, valuers and surveyors) who know what it takes to get small-scale property developments delivered on time and on budget. On top of education, this network of relevant contacts from their local area will become a vital resource for students to call upon in the future.

The Academy Knowledge Centre is a free-to-join online portal that is updated regularly with the latest background reading, tutorials, videos and guides for any developer that needs help at any stage of their building project. The content is chosen and curated by LendInvest and selected industry partners.

Christian Faes, co-founder and CEO of LendInvest, commented: “It’s time to stop talking about housing quotas, targets, and whose responsibility the housing shortage is. Instead, let’s just get more homes onto British streets that families can afford to live in. Small-scale SME developers can make that happen. As a lender, we have the means to back them, but our Academy lets us support them at a whole new level too, opening the door for them to better access to finance, land and skills.”

Steve Larkin, Director of Development Finance at LendInvest, added: “As well as the knowledge Academy students can expect to gain, there’s the enviable network effect to consider. Developers can’t afford to work in silos. The best developers build networks of advisers, contractors and suppliers around them that they know they can trust and rely on to get the job done.”

The Academy is a non-profit initiative, devised by LendInvest’s team of development finance specialists. While Course applicants are screened for suitability (with preference given to those with proven property experience), successful candidates attend at no cost.

The first Academy Course takes place in central London on 11 & 12 November 2016. Future courses will be hosted nationwide, fulfilling demand from developers outside the M25 for practical housebuilding management education.

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Notes

Visit the Academy website: https://developmentacademy.lendinvest.com/

Applications to join the first Academy Course close on Monday 24 October 2016.

Contact

Carmen Murray, [email protected] / 020 3846 6820 / 07713 110 624