News & Insights

It’s tempting to assume that something only exists when there’s a name for it.

The latest official data on the construction industry gives a perfect illustration of how finely balanced things are for property developers right now.

More than money, more than bricks and mortar. Read my take on how to turn a good development deal into a great one.

After a rollercoaster 2021, which started with a national lockdown and then saw a boom in both construction and the demand for development finance, Britain’s real estate market shouldn’t expect a quiet 2022...

You wouldn’t take out a mortgage without checking if the rate was variable or fixed. Why should it be any different for a development loan?

Atelier’s Director of Origination Martin Gilsenan and Head of Credit Alasdair Houghton are two of the most respected dealmakers in UK real estate. Here the veteran pair talk about risk, reward and why spreadsheets only tell you so much.

This month marked an important milestone for the team at Atelier. We’ve now provided more than £200m in bridging and development finance to UK property developers since launching the business at the beginning of 2020.

Two years have passed since the government made its commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. But already the talk among brokers and developers is about whether the revolution might be losing momentum.

With the number of First Time Buyers dwindling, we are now faced with the spectre of a housing market where only the privileged can afford to get on the ladder.

With the Bank of England holding interest rates at their lowest level in centuries, and Britain’s economy still feeling the effects of one of the sharpest contractions on record, global capital’s sudden interest in the UK may seem premature.

So far in 2021 the industry has witnessed the sharpest rise in activity since 2014, with housebuilding, commercial projects and infrastructure all surging as the country emerges from lockdown.

The Government’s plan to overhaul planning rules, announced with only the scantest of details in the Queen’s Speech, could put the Prime Minister on a collision course with Tory backbenchers from the Home Counties.

By any measure, it has been white knuckle, rollercoaster stuff. After coming to a virtual standstill during the first national lockdown, the residential property market has roared back to life.

There has been much backslapping across the construction sector and Whitehall this month over the latest energy ratings for new homes.

Spring has sprung while the British economy endures a brutally hard winter.

After months of stony silence, the ring of shop tills, the chink of glasses in pub gardens and the snip of a thousand hairdressers’ scissors are music to the ears.

If there’s one industry that’s booming in these dark times, it’s economic forecasting.

Last month EVs and hybrids accounted for 13% of all new vehicles sold in the UK, well over double their market share the previous February. Annual EV sales rocketed by 49% during the intervening 12 months; petrol car sales fell by the same amount.

After a truly forgettable year of pandemic, lockdowns and social distancing, things appear to be heading in the right direction for the industry.

A year ago Rishi Sunak’s debut Budget was overtaken by events – the pandemic’s terrifying first wave – almost before he sat back down. Fast-forward 12 months and his follow-up was billed as the most important Budget in a generation.

Tomorrow’s Budget will see a Chancellor juggle the opposing needs of the UK economy like never before.

These are extraordinary, unsettling times. Many of us may one day come to divide our lives into “before” and “after” the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new government, and Housing Minister Robert Jenrick in particular, have a monumental task ahead of them in solving the UK’s deeply entrenched housing crisis.

Britain’s small and medium-sized developers were squeezed more than most by the fallout from the Global Financial Crisis 12 or so years ago.