Blackfinch £5.3m development loan supports new Dartmoor nursing home

By Nicky Godding

18 January 2024

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The Business Magazine article image for: Blackfinch £5.3m development loan supports new Dartmoor nursing home

Caption - FUEL_Moorland Care Home marketing images. Copyrighted photo by Paul Slater Images Ltd

Blackfinch Property, the Gloucester-based lender to the UK property market, has announced the official completion and opening of Moorland Garden Nursing Home, formerly Moorland Garden Hotel, Devon, financed by a Blackfinch Property £5.3 million development loan.

The 55-room Moorland Garden Nursing Home will significantly boost local healthcare provision for dementia and nursing care in the region while providing a broader social impact for Dartmoor with the creation of 60 jobs in the local area. Blackfinch Property's investment enabled the company to extend existing buildings, widen corridors and transform rooms and communal areas into high specification and tech-enabled care spaces for residents and staff. The loan-to-value (LTV) ratio for this investment was 69 per cent, with an exit strategy that refinanced the completed and operational care home onto a long-term debt facility.

Ian Ford, Investment Manager at Blackfinch Property, said: “It was a pleasure to work with Moorland Garden Ltd on this development to provide much needed nursing home capacity in this stunning area. It’s a great example of the sustainable and community focus that drives our investments.”

He continued: “The situation in the care sector in the UK is very challenging, and the 2022 figures from CSI Market Intelligence reveal that 247 care homes closed during 2022 and only 123 new ones opened – leaving the sector with a net loss of 124 homes and 230 care beds. Every new care home that opens is significant and a welcome boost to the sector – and we are thrilled we can be part of opening a care home in such a remarkable area, helping boost local healthcare and create local jobs at the same time.”

Yogi Yogendran, Director of Moorland Garden Ltd, said: “We were really attracted to the property since the majority of the rooms have garden views and extended views out to the moor, which is the perfect care environment. We are delighted to complete and officially open, and look forward to welcoming our first residents into our home.”

Plymouth-based Walton Development & Construction has assumed the role of the principal contractors in this project. Moorland Garden Ltd has collaborated with various partners, including ADG (Darlington) for architectural services, Bell Cornwell Planning Consultants for Planning services, Inspired Energy for connectivity solutions, Agile Comms for telephone services, Cutec for IT infrastructure, and Fuel for brand development and website creation.

By Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe.

After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts.

She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.