OakNorth completes £11.4m loan to Ocea for major new residential development in Redhill, Surrey

25-07-2019

• Ocea has extensive experience in converting commercial properties to residential units, primarily focussing on developing office buildings into apartments;
• The finance will be used to convert Furness House in Redhill, Surrey into 71 one and two bed-room flats;
• Ocea has successfully completed several developments in the past in Hemel Hempstead, Southampton, and Basingstoke amongst others, but this is their largest project to date;
• Redhill Train Station is located less than a five-minute walk from the property, providing fast services to London Victoria (30 minutes) and London Bridge (33 minutes).

OakNorth Bank – the UK bank powered by OakNorth – has provided an £11.4m property development finance facility to Ocea, one of the UK’s leading developers which specialises in commercial to residential property conversions. The finance will be used to convert Furness House, a four-storey office block with 74 accompanying car parking spaces, into 71 residential units, compromising of 66 one bedroom and five two bedroom flats. The site, situated just 500 meters away from Redhill town centre, is also a short walk to Redhill train station, offering regular trains to both London Victoria and London Bridge in less than 35 minutes, with Gatwick Airport being only a 20 minute drive away. Founded in April 2017 and situated in Southampton, Ocea has an extensive track record in converting commercial properties to residential units, led by experienced Directors, Justine Curtis and Glenn Delve. Previous projects include converting Normandy House in Hemel Hempstead into a five-storey apartment building, consisting of 39 one and two-bedroom units, as well as converting Hampton House in Southampton into 30 apartments, split between city-pads, one-bed and two-bedroomed flats. However, this is Ocea’s largest project to date. Glenn Delve, Director at Ocea, said: “With plenty of local amenities on offer, as well as excellent transport links to and from London, the Surrey town of Redhill is extremely popular amongst families, young professionals and downsizers. Furthermore, the majority of units on offer in Furness House will qualify for the help to buy scheme, making them ideal for the first-time buyer market. “We’re delighted to be partnering with OakNorth on what is our largest project to date – the team are extremely well-versed in the property sector and were able to structure a facility that suits our needs.” Damien Hughes, Senior Director, Property Finance at OakNorth, commented: “This development will bring some much needed new homes to a highly popular commuter town. Given Justine’s and Glenn’s vast experience in the property development sector and their speciality of developing commercial sites to residential units, Ocea is the perfect developer to take on the project. We look forward to working with them and the wider team at Ocea on additional schemes in the future.”

Back to Press Releases