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Cobbold Together
Read time: 4 mins Added date: 14/08/2024
Learn how the Clean Growth Financing Initiative helped bring a sustainable property development to life.
Funding the vision for a unique eco property
Lloyds Bank supports a broad range of sustainable business investments through the Clean Growth Financing Initiative (CGFI). One of the more unique projects that has benefitted from discounted lending for green purposes is the development of a disused above-ground reservoir in Knebworth.
Long-standing commercial client Richard Cobbold, Director of Cobbold Together Ltd, approached his Relationship Manager, Dan Mills for help finding a tailored funding solution to meet his sustainable aims. Unlike the majority of development lending, the plan involved building an eco property on the site to provide a new type of hybrid living-working space, aligning the demand for high quality sustainable living with the growing home-working trend.
Drawing on 10 years’ experience designing and building hybrid work environments and experience centres at global martech company, DVSI Ltd. Richard was keen to explore how the same principles could be applied across the living-working realm.
“We wanted to re-imagine the ‘living-above-the-shop’ model for 21st Century entrepreneurs, blending office and home to show how a fast growing business can be run from a modern, tech-enabled, sustainable property,” Richard discloses. “We felt creating this property as a real world example would provide a unique platform to showcase and expand our design and construction business for this exciting new market opportunity.”
The lending mirrored the hybrid property as a structured development loan but with an OpCo/PropCo (Operating Company/Property Company) decision-making process. Stage drawdown interest-only lending helped keep costs to a minimum during the build. On completion of the property, the lending will be termed out into a more conventional product, with property rent covering the loan costs.
“While CGFI funds many sustainable aspects like transport and waste reduction, the flexible way in which it’s structured allowed us to provide a tailored solution for this exciting project.”
Dan Mills – Relationship Manager, Lloyds Bank
Floating the big idea
Having grown up in the local area, Richard got wind of the sale of the nondescript brownfield site. On inspection, he found a 14m diameter bone-dry concrete chamber with Edwardian steel struts holding the floating roof up. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to regenerate something that would complement the surrounding architecture, without negatively impacting the environment.
Because of the positive ongoing relationship, he knew exactly where to turn to discuss his ambitious ideas. “Lloyds Bank has been very supportive over a long time. When this opportunity arose, I went straight to Dan to explore the avenues available. They’re very good at coming up with options and when they commit, they deliver, so it’s a strong partnership,” he states.
With the purchase of the site already secured before Richard’s application, the £553,000 development funding brought his sustainable property vision to life.
Sustainability built-in
Central to Richard’s plan was to use traditional sustainable arts and crafts skills to create a modern building that looks like it’s always been there. Everything on the original site was reused in the new property. For example, the concrete reservoir lid was crushed to clad the property’s exterior. The Edwardian steel struts now support the balcony.
All of the wood in the house was sourced from neighbouring larch, ash and oak trees, harvested and milled less than 1 mile away. The reclaimed build materials, including bricks, clay roof tiles, stone paving, porcelain bathroom fittings and wooden doors were hand carried to site to protect the existing trees.
The attention to detail extends to encouraging pollinators too, with the addition of bee bricks throughout. Richard worked closely with local master builder Ecovril Ltd to co-design the space. There’s been a great sense of pride amongst the team in creating something beautiful on a site that had long been neglected.
The central core of the property consists of a 11-metre 600mm oil pipe bought from a scrapyard. The building suspends from the pipe, which acts as the main chimney and a way to circulate warm air from the biomass boiler and rooftop solar panels.
The property’s sustainability credentials extend to its sweeping uneven shape that enhances rainwater collection from the roof for flushing the toilets; and with a clean water septic tank and wood fired cooking range it is almost entirely off-grid. Careful thought has gone into reducing energy consumption too, with state-of-the-art thermally broken crittal windows and a central lightwell delivering natural sunlight to all 3 floors.
Richard hopes the newly completed unique 4500 sq/ft property will inspire others looking to build bespoke sustainable hybrid developments. “It 100% shows what can be achieved by pushing the boundaries, going above and beyond for quality – and that we as a company are not just talking the talk, but walking the walk too,” he asserts.
What could your business do?
“The Clean Growth Financing Initiative allows customers to borrow money for a variety of sustainable projects without paying an arrangement fee. While Richard’s project is unique, the initiative can fund various sustainable business investments such as electric vehicle charging points, renewable energy and waste reduction. Get in touch with your Relationship Manager if you’re considering any environmentally friendly improvements,” Dan concludes.
All lending is subject to status.