Commercial Property Development

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Stoford Wins £10 million in Bank of Scotland Funding Competition

Stoford has been announced as the winner for the Midlands and East Anglia territory final of the Bank of Scotland Corporate £30 million Search for property entrepreneurs. The company, which develops and invests in a diverse portfolio of commercial and mixed-use developments, has secured a once in a lifetime funding package of up to £10 million, free of interest and charges for 3 years. The funds will be employed within a £75 million flagship office and mixed-use regeneration project at All Saints in West Bromwich.

The other four finalists were Barwood Developments Ltd, Birmingham Development Company, City & Country Group and The Duncan Group.

Chris Lea, Chairman of Stoford Group said: "We are delighted to have won as we recognised from the short list that we were up against formidable competition and would have to be at the top of our game. We were fully prepared about what we had to say to the judges and confident that we had put forward a scheme worthy of investment.

“The £10 million funding package will bring one of the Midlands’ biggest regeneration projects to fruition and help create over 1,000 jobs. Having already secured a pre-let to BT, the All Saints development will transform the skyline of West Bromwich and create an exciting new business quarter for the town centre. It really is a tremendous boost to the area and to Stoford.”

Chris added: “In our first ten years, we have evolved from a small office to a prime headquarters in Birmingham city centre with more than 20 highly skilled staff – and it is the excellence of our people that has enabled us to become one of the Midlands’ leading commercial property developers.

“We have now completed more than £550 million worth of projects that have helped regenerate 5 million square feet of the Midlands and this interest-free funding will ensure that we can continue to grow and to be a prime mover in regenerating disadvantaged areas.”

Stoford Group now goes through to the national final in December where they will compete against the winners from two other territories across the UK for the chance to be named 'Property Entrepreneur of the Year' and the opportunity to benefit from four days mentoring from Nick Leslau, one of Britain's most successful property entrepreneurs.

Stoford Group was chosen as the winner after Chris Lea and his senior team presented their business case to a judging panel featuring two well known and successful property entrepreneurs, Kevin McCabe, Chairman of Scarborough Property group and John Cutts, Chairman and founder of Parkridge Holdings. They were joined on the panel by senior representatives from Bank of Scotland Corporate and Deloitte. Kevin, John and the other judges questioned Chris and the team, who displayed impressive business awareness coupled with a strong vision of the future and the determination needed to be top property entrepreneurs. The judging was followed by dinner and an award ceremony at Stoneleigh Abbey in Kenilworth.

John Cutts commented:

"All the presentations were of a very high quality and as judges we had a very difficult decision to make. With Stoford Group, Chris Lea has built a sustainable business that has been punching above its weight and more importantly it demonstrated that it has big plans for the future that we could see and back. He is not only a property entrepreneur in his own right but he has put in place a team of young professionals who are clearly going to be entrepreneurs in the future. Winning this £10 million funding package will catapult Stoford into the next stage of their urban renewal development which is vital for the region and for the next generation of talent."

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