Atelier expands lending team as it gears up for aggressive growth
The specialist property lender Atelier has unveiled two high-profile hires as it prepares to dramatically dial up its lending in the New Year.
Atelier has provided well over £200m in development finance since it launched in early 2020, and it now aims to pass the £300m milestone by Spring 2022.
As enquiries continue to surge, Simon Joseph has joined Atelier’s new business development team as origination manager.
Before joining Atelier, Simon worked for six years as a specialist in the mezzanine finance space, where he supported many of the development market’s leading brokers and borrowers. He is an experienced and hands-on relationship builder, highly skilled at helping brokers and their clients progress from first enquiry through to completion.
A further addition to the team is Rav Kudhail, who joins as lending manager having previously worked for Hampshire Trust Bank. Rav is tasked with building Atelier’s developer channel with a particular focus on the Midlands and the Southeast, where he has a large and loyal network in the residential development sector.
Simon and Rav will work alongside director of origination Martin Gilsenan, who has been instrumental in establishing Atelier as the most agile lender in UK development finance. The four-strong origination team prides itself on building enduring relationships with developers, visiting sites in person to assess the viability of proposed schemes and generate a strong pipeline of residential opportunities.
Simon Joseph, origination manager at Atelier, commented: “Atelier’s dynamic approach to lending has comprehensively reshaped the UK’s development finance market. I’m excited to be joining its experienced and committed team as we look to grow our loan book rapidly in the New Year.
“Forging lasting relationships and offering a transparent, personalised service have been key to Atelier’s success. My focus is the ongoing drive to build on our reputation for speed of decision-making and certainty of execution.”
Atelier’s director of origination, Martin Gilsenan, added: “Simon and Rav are both experts in their field and they share our vision of Atelier’s future.
“The origination team has been central to Atelier’s rapid growth, and we look forward to making further additions to our talent roster in 2022 as the brand expands its footprint and ramps up its lending volumes.
“We’re especially keen to lend to progressive developers building for the future and are using our significant financial firepower to drive down borrowing costs for ambitious residential schemes.”
In November, Atelier launched a pioneering green finance initiative to connect institutional investment to forward thinking developers. Atelier’s Carbonlite Challenge offers cheaper loans of up to £10m to qualifying residential developments in England, Scotland and Wales.
The pilot scheme rewards green developers with rebates that can bring the net annual cost of borrowing down as low as 4.99%. A sustainable development of six new family homes in Dulwich, South London, was recently named as the Carbonlite Challenge’s first successful applicant — with the developer set to receive a £200,000 rebate on a loan of £10m.
Atelier is preparing to make a raft of new announcements in the New Year, and is currently finalising plans to significantly scale its operations and assets under management throughout 2022.
