Octopus Real Estate has completed a £64 million loan which will help enable a large section of Swindon’s New Eastern Villages (NEV) development.

The loan, secured on a 216-acre site which has planning consent for the development of 1,550 new homes, will enable Capital Land Property Group to prepare the scheme for delivery.

In addition to homes, the development will include two new schools, a large sports park, a community centre, and employment, retail and leisure spaces. A new cycle network will run through the site, and a park and ride will connect it to Swindon town centre.

Dominic Gibson, investment director, Octopus Real Estate, said: “We’re extremely pleased to have worked with Capital Land to fund this key regional development site. Octopus has always had a strong appetite for sites with planning consents that meet local demand, and this is a prime example.

“The Capital Land team have worked tirelessly to deliver the New Eastern Villages masterplan, which this sizeable loan will support. This phase of the scheme will deliver much-needed housing stock to the area by providing over 230 affordable units alongside 1,320 open market homes. Octopus is committed to supporting borrowers like Capital Land, who intend to deliver assets that positively transform their local areas.

“The loan demonstrates our appetite and ability to provide large facilities and underlines our ongoing support for the UK and Ireland’s regional markets.”

Jeremy Francis, chief executive, Capital Land Property Group, said: “We’ve worked with the local authorities on the New Eastern Villages for over a decade and are incredibly excited to be nearing the scheme’s development phase.

“It’s a hugely important community extension for Swindon, so it’s been great to work with a major lender like Octopus to take it to the next stages of delivery. The relationship was transparent and straightforward from the outset, and it was always clear that the Octopus team had the experience to understand large-scale assets and lending.

“We truly believe that the New Eastern Villages will offer the area much-needed attainable high-quality housing. The combination of green space, connectivity and considerate design will underpin a strong new community and fantastic quality of life for generations to come.”

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