Assetz Capital offers CBILS lifeline to specialist residential childcare development and creates 80 jobs in Warwickshire
Assetz Capital has provided a £5m development loan through the government-backed Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) to Forge Care, enabling the childrens’ residential care home operators to overcome the prospect of losing its funding due to the coronavirus pandemic and fund construction of its new residential care facility in Nuneaton, Warwickshire.
With funding initially agreed for the ground-breaking childcare facility after a lengthy design and planning process, Forge Care was forced to close the site and had to stand down all construction workers, with an unknown return date. The £5m development loan provided by Assetz Capital has ensured that the business can keep the site and restart building work after a significant absence. Contractors resumed work on the development in November, laying brickwork and timber frames.
The innovative care facility is set to be fully complete in December 2021 and will provide 4 purpose built residential homes for 20 children, with 5 bedrooms each, in what is known as a therapeutic community (a collection of homes as one). The exciting space will incorporate therapy and access to development opportunities, revolutionising the way children’s care is provided in the UK. The project will also create 80 jobs in the region, a welcome stimulus to the local economy.
Assetz Capital are specialist lenders for SMEs working in care and have funded 40 loans totalling £46m to businesses working in the sector, along with supporting struggling SMEs with almost £100m through the CBILS scheme. CBILS was created in association with British Business Bank to support the continued provision of UK Finance to smaller businesses (SMEs) during the Covid-19 pandemic. The scheme has already provided 87,529 loans worth £20.8bn to UK businesses.
Owner and director of Forge Care, Gavin Miller, said: ‘Without Assetz and the CBILS scheme this project would not be happening, it’s as simple as that. The scheme is a lifeline for SMEs like us. Without it we wouldn’t be creating this essential economic growth for the region. The facility is going to create numerous jobs in the area, and it’ll make a massive difference for young people.’
Neil Roper, regional director, UK Central at Assetz Capital, added: ‘The project has long been in the planning stages, with significant twists and turns, so it is a credit to the management team that through their vision, passion and energy that they have brought the project to the next phase of the journey, the actual construction phase. Assetz Capital are naturally delighted to be playing a part in this journey and look forward to working with the Miller Family as we move through the construction and bring, what is such an important children’s care facility, into reality.’