Real estate lender and investor Octopus Real Estate has completed a £1.7 million commercial bridge loan secured on 2.19 acres of land with planning permission for a 60-bedroom care home in Odiham, Hampshire.

The planning also includes consent for the construction of 30 residential properties on adjoining land.

The borrower is part of the Aspire Group, and this marks its twelfth loan with Octopus.

The loan has now been redeemed with the sale of the care home site to Barchester Healthcare, with contracts exchanged in June. Barchester is an independent care provider, running more than 250 care homes and seven registered hospitals across the UK.

James Nunn, commercial fund manager at Octopus Real Estate, said: “This exemplifies exactly the kind of loan we specialise in here at Octopus. As a non-bank lender, we were able to provide speedy, bespoke finance for this development, which will have a positive impact on the local community whilst delivering much-needed, fit-for-purpose, quality homes and care beds that go towards helping to solve the housing crisis.

“As an experienced investor in care homes as well as a lender, we were uniquely positioned to support the Aspire team with this loan. It’s been really satisfying to join the dots between the Octopus Real Estate teams and work together to get this one over the line.”

Michael Lucas, managing director at Aspire Group, added: “We know that there’s pent up demand for care homes in this area, so we are very proud to play a significant part in delivering these vital beds for older members of the community. The residential portion of the site will also deliver 14 much needed affordable homes to the area. Aspire have a development pipeline of in excess of 1,000 care beds across the UK and we look forward to working with Octopus across our portfolio.”

Julian Burgess, land buyer at Barchester, commented: “Barchester Healthcare are delighted to be involved with this project, which will deliver a state-of-the-art care home to help service the massive need for care beds in the area.”

More recently, Octopus has completed a further loan to assist Aspire Group on the acquisition of another site in West Malling, Kent. The security comprises a former office building with planning consent for a 78-bedroom care home.