Editor's note: This brief was summarised by The Property AI Newsroom from a report by Mortgage Solutions. Read the original article for full details.

District and County Investments Appoints Lavelle as BDM for North West

District and County Investments (DCI), a property finance lender, has appointed Ben Lavelle as its business development manager (BDM) for the North West of England. Lavelle previously worked at Hope Capital as a business development executive for over three years and at Barclays in intermediary sales for nearly seven years.

Lavelle's appointment comes as DCI seeks to grow its distribution footprint and expand its proposition to property developers and investors. His first deal with DCI, a £2.95 million case in Liverpool, was announced last week.

Michael Clifford, commercial director at District and County Investments, stated that the North West has always been a strong region for the company. Clifford also noted that the time between planning approval and the start of a project has become longer, more technical, and more capital-intensive for many developers, particularly SME and regional housebuilders.

Clifford highlighted the increasing strategic importance of bridging finance, describing it as a bridge to delivery for developers. He explained that DCI's net lending model sizes facilities around the capital actually being deployed into a project, such as land, build costs, and professional fees, rather than including retained interest.

This appointment and DCI's lending approach may be of interest to UK letting agents and inventory clerks monitoring regional property finance trends and developer activity in the North West.