Development finance continues to gain traction on Knowledge Bank, with West One and Saffron Building Society completing their criteria and going live on the platform for brokers to search.
As demand for development finance grows, brokers increasingly rely on lender-controlled criteria that are accurate and current. Both lenders have finalised and published their information through KB PRO, allowing brokers to include them in searches and view their responses alongside other lenders in real time.
Supporting a growing development market
Development cases often involve multiple layers of complexity. First-time developers, experienced investors, ground-up schemes and heavy refurbishments all come with different risk profiles and requirements, which can vary widely between lenders.
Adding West One and Saffron Building Society to the platform allows brokers to manage this variation more effectively:
Brokers can compare development appetite against other lenders within a single search.
Criteria can be filtered, sorted and evidenced using the ‘Evidence of Research’ PDF.
Updates made by lenders go live immediately or at a scheduled time, ensuring brokers always see the latest position.
Knowledge Bank now hosts more than 165,000 pieces of criteria across eight active lending types, including bridging, development and commercial finance. The platform continues to broaden the range of options available to brokers handling complex cases.
Continued growth in bridging
Expansion is also underway in the bridging market. Central Trust and Charterbank have joined the growing list of bridging lenders whose criteria can be searched on the platform.
Alongside these additions, more lenders are working with the Knowledge Bank team to complete and refine their criteria. The aim is to ensure information is structured clearly and remains practical for daily broker use.
Lenders Live: development finance special
To support brokers and lenders operating in this space, Shane Chawatama, sales director (pictured), will host a special edition of Lenders Live in March focused entirely on development finance.
The session will bring together brokers and lenders to examine the issues affecting investors and specialist finance providers. Discussions will centre on market conditions, operational challenges and opportunities shaping the sector, with a focus on practical insight and real-world experience.
With West One and Saffron Building Society now live and searchable, Knowledge Bank continues to prioritise access to up-to-date, lender-controlled criteria as the development and bridging markets evolve.
“Property development finance is a key area of focus for us, and being live on Knowledge Bank is an important step in making our criteria more accessible to the broker community,” said Tony Hall, head of business development.
“We’ve seen a clear uplift in proposition awareness, and we’re committed to converting this into business growth. This partnership allows us to communicate the strengths of our development finance proposition in a fresh way and ensures brokers can quickly identify how we can support their clients’ projects.”
