Property type: Office
Office Property Bridging Loans Somerset
We arrange bridging finance against office property across Somerset, from the Bath professional-services core through the Taunton county administrative centre out to the Yeovil aviation cluster, the Bridgwater Hinkley Point C admin offices, the Mulberry Group HQ at Chilcompton and the Frome creative-and-design quarter. Loan sizes run £200,000 to £15 million, terms from 1 to 24 months, with completions in 7 to 21 days. Most office bridges price between 0.75% and 1.35% per month depending on covenant, vacancy and the credibility of the exit. The book skews toward repositioning, refurbishment and change-of-use rather than vanilla investment hold.
- Decisions in hours
- Completion in days
- £100k to £25m
- Somerset specialists
Somerset · Somerset
Bridge to your next move.
The asset class
What office property looks like in Somerset.
Office stock across Somerset ranges from Georgian townhouse offices in central Bath used by law firms, accountants and the Roman Baths heritage and University of Bath spin-out cluster, through to purpose-built office space at the Taunton county admin centre and the Bath Quays regeneration, through to the larger industrial-and-office configurations around Leonardo Helicopters in Yeovil and the Hinkley Point C admin offices in Bridgwater. The market is bifurcated. Well-located, well-specced floors near the Bath core or close to the aviation and nuclear employment anchors let well to professional and supply-chain occupiers. Secondary blocks in older market-town centres have struggled with hybrid working and many are candidates for residential or hotel conversion under permitted development or full planning. Each of those positions reads differently to a bridging lender and the underwriting follows.
Use cases
Bridging use cases for office assets.
Office bridging across the county clusters around six use cases. The first is repositioning of secondary stock, where a buyer takes a half-empty 1970s block, refurbishes the common parts and the floors, and re-lets at a higher tone. The second is change-of-use to residential under permitted development, which has driven a meaningful share of the office bridging book across Taunton, Yeovil and Bridgwater for the last seven years. The third is purchase of single-let investments with short unexpired terms, where the buyer expects either a re-gear or a vacant possession play. The fourth is development-exit where an office-to-resi conversion has reached practical completion and the units are marketing; bridging refinances the development facility while the sales close out. The fifth is capital raise against a low-LTV owner-occupied office, often by a Bath professional services firm wanting to fund the next deposit or works elsewhere. The sixth is auction purchase of small office buildings, typically below £1 million, where the 28-day clock and the vacant possession risk push the deal into bridging rather than term debt.
Somerset context
Somerset Office Demand: Leonardo Yeovil, Hinkley Point C and the Bath Professional Core
Somerset office demand sits on top of an economy that is materially different from many comparable regions. Leonardo Helicopters has its UK headquarters in Yeovil, the successor to the AgustaWestland and Westland Helicopters production line, and anchors a Tier 1 and Tier 2 aviation supply chain that requires office space across Houndstone, Lufton and the wider Yeovil industrial estates. The Hinkley Point C admin offices in Bridgwater carry one of the largest single concentrations of construction-project office demand in the UK, with EDF, the EPR consortium contractors, the security operation and the wider supply chain occupying significant footprint across central Bridgwater, the Express Park development and the Bridgwater Gateway scheme. The Mulberry Group has its corporate HQ at the Rookery in Chilcompton near Shepton Mallet, with a substantial design, manufacturing and back-office presence across the Mendip belt. Bath supports a deep professional-services office market, with law firms, accountants, architects and consultancies clustered around Queen Square, the Circus and the Manvers Street and Bath Quays corridors, alongside the University of Bath spin-out and tech-and-research cluster that has grown out of the Claverton Down campus. Taunton is the county administrative centre with Somerset Council, the Avon and Somerset Police HQ and the wider public-sector office footprint. Frome carries a smaller but distinctive creative-and-design cluster, with publishing, branding and small media businesses occupying converted-mill and infill office space along Cheap Street and Catherine Hill. For a bridging case, the relevant point is that office demand in Somerset is driven by aviation manufacturing, nuclear construction, luxury goods manufacturing, professional services, public-sector administration and creative-and-design, rather than the speculative tech-and-creative demand that drives Bristol or Reading. Lenders who understand this price the asset correctly. Generalist lenders who do not, miss the deal.
Valuation and lenders
Valuation and lender considerations.
Office valuations come back on yield-and-rent for income-producing assets, vacant possession for empty floors, and residual or GDV for conversion plays. Bridging lenders generally lend on the lower of the relevant figures. LTV caps sit at 60 to 65% on vacant secondary office, 65 to 70% on tenanted investments with a recognisable covenant, and 60 to 65% on as-is value where the case is a conversion play with day-one drawdown plus a refurbishment tranche. Octane Capital, United Trust Bank, Hope Capital and Together all run office bridging across Somerset, with Avamore Capital, ASK Partners, OakNorth and Shawbrook stronger at the larger end. Lenders care about planning position, covenant strength and the realism of the exit. Vague exits kill office cases harder than any other asset class.
What we arrange
What we typically arrange.
A typical Somerset office bridge sits at £500,000 to £4 million, 60 to 70% LTV, 9 to 15 months term, 0.75 to 1.25% per month, arrangement fee 1.5 to 2%. We package the planning position, the covenant evidence and the exit plan up front so the lender sees the case the way the underwriter needs to see it. Conversion cases include a monitored works tranche; investment-purchase cases focus on the lease and the refinance route. Completion in 14 to 21 days is normal where the title and planning are clean. Where there is a contested planning position or listed-building constraint in central Bath, the underwriting takes longer and the rate moves up.
FAQs
Office bridging questions
Can we bridge an office to residential conversion in Somerset?
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Yes. Office-to-residential conversions under Class MA permitted development and under full planning have been a steady part of the Somerset bridging book since 2017. We arrange the day-one purchase tranche against the as-is office value, a works tranche released against monitoring sign-off, and exit to BTL refinance for held units or open-market sale for disposals. Article 4 directions and listed-building constraints apply in parts of Bath, so we check the planning position before going to lender, and we work with planning consultants who know the Somerset Council and Bath and North East Somerset Council positions.
What LTV is realistic on a vacant office block?
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Most lenders cap at 60 to 65% LTV against vacant possession value on a secondary office. Where the buyer has a credible repositioning plan, a strong track record, and a realistic refinance exit on a refurbished and re-let basis, 65% is achievable. Day-one LTV against purchase price can sit higher where the property is materially below market value, with the gap closed by an independent valuation. The exit drives the LTV more than the entry, so a clear refinance route opens the door to better terms.
Do bridging lenders take office cases backed by Leonardo or Hinkley Point C tenants?
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Yes, and the named-bridging lenders are comfortable with the Somerset occupier profile. Leonardo Helicopters and its Tier 1 and Tier 2 aviation suppliers, the Hinkley Point C contractor base, the Mulberry Group corporate footprint and the Bath professional-services covenants are all recognised. Lenders price for unexpired lease term, break clauses and any government-contract or major-project dependency, with the strongest cases sitting at 65 to 70% LTV and the lower end at 60%. The Hinkley Point C construction window through to project commissioning is generally seen as a stabilising factor for Bridgwater office demand.
Tell us about the deal
Indicative terms within 24 hours.
A short triage call, then a sized indicative offer against a named lender for your office property in Somerset or across Somerset.
Regulated bridging on owner-occupied residential property falls under FCA regulation. Unregulated bridging on commercial and investment property does not. We are not directly regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, and we introduce regulated cases to authorised partners who carry out the regulated activity.
Next step
Talk to a Somerset office bridging specialist.
We arrange short-term finance on office property across Somerset and the wider Somerset market, from Bath and the Mendip through to Taunton, Bridgwater, Yeovil and the north-Somerset coast. Indicative terms in 24 hours.