Poplar HARCA secures additional funding for new estates
02 October 2006
Source: HBOS
Poplar Housing and Regeneration Community Association (HARCA'), a registered social landlord in East London, Tower Hamlets has restructured its lending facilities by securing an additional £50m of funding from the Housing Finance team at Bank of Scotland Corporate. This new loan will increase the Association's total facilities with the Bank to £110m.
Set up in 1997, the Association own and manage over 5,500 homes in Poplar, including 1,250 leasehold units, all transferred from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets between 1999 and 2005. An area of long-standing social and economic deprivation with high levels of social exclusion, their mission is 'making Poplar a better place to live.'
Through its involvement in the current programme of local authority stock transfer in Tower Hamlets (the Housing Choice programme), Poplar HARCA has been selected as the preferred partner for around 2,400 general need units and 850 leasehold units on six estates.
The additional funding is being used to finance a number of estate transfers from Tower Hamlets and their subsequent refurbishments. Poplar HARCA has spent £150m refurbishing homes to the decent homes standard, and plan to spend £308m refurbishing its new and existing stock over the next 40 years.
Tony Oakley, Associate Director, Bank of Scotland Housing Finance said,
'We are delighted to be able to provide this substantial increase in facilities in support of the growth plans of Poplar HARCA who are a dynamic progressive community focused housing provider.'
Steph Begley, Poplar HARCA Finance Director said:
'This highly competitive £50 million loan will enable Poplar HARCA to continue our ambitious regeneration work, improving residents' living standards and quality of life. We are determined that Poplar’s new homes and community facilities be of the highest standard and, thanks to the continued support of the Bank of Scotland, we are attracting leading international architects like Herzog & de Meuron to design the social housing of the future.'
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