Property type: Office
Office Property Bridging Loans Dorset
We arrange bridging finance against office property across the Bournemouth town centre and Lansdowne employer cluster, the Poole BH15 commercial belt, Ferndown business park, the Holton Heath and Hurn fringe, and the wider Dorset office market. 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 Class MA conversion rather than vanilla investment hold.
- Decisions in hours
- Completion in days
- £100k to £25m
- Dorset specialists
Dorset · Dorset
Bridge to your next move.
The asset class
What office property looks like in Dorset.
Office stock across the BCP conurbation and the wider county of Dorset ranges from Grade A floors around the Lansdowne employer cluster and the Bournemouth town centre core, through to secondary 1960s and 1970s blocks around Bournemouth Square, through to converted Victorian and Edwardian terraced offices around Westbourne and the older Poole town centre. The market is bifurcated. Well-located, well-specced floors with parking and air-conditioning let well, often to financial-services occupiers from the J.P. Morgan, Vitality, RIAS and Nationwide payrolls. Secondary blocks have struggled with hybrid working and many are candidates for residential or hotel conversion under Class MA 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 in this market clusters around six use cases. The first is repositioning of secondary stock, where a buyer takes a half-empty 1970s block around Bournemouth Square or the Lansdowne fringe, refurbishes the common parts and the floors, and re-lets at a higher tone. The second is change-of-use to residential under Class MA permitted development, which has driven a large share of the office bridging book across Bournemouth and Poole since the regulations expanded the qualifying floorplate. 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 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.
Dorset context
The Bournemouth Office Market: Financial Services, Poole Marine and Class MA Conversion
Bournemouth office demand sits on top of an economy that is weighted heavily toward financial services in a way that few comparable South Coast towns can match. J.P. Morgan operates one of its largest UK technology and operations centres in the town with several thousand staff, Vitality has its head office presence, RIAS (Saga Group) anchors the insurance employer base, and Nationwide Building Society holds a major operations centre. Wessex Water has its headquarters in the wider catchment. AFC Bournemouth, the universities and the wider professional-services base sit alongside that payroll core. Around Poole the office demand picture is different, weighted toward marine and manufacturing occupiers, with the BH15 portside trade fringe carrying back-office stock for Sunseeker, Poole Harbour Commissioners suppliers, and the marine engineering and components supply chain. Then there is the Class MA conversion pipeline. The expanded permitted development rights have triggered a steady run of office-to-residential conversion cases along Bournemouth Square, the Lansdowne fringe, Old Christchurch Road and the side streets running off them. Secondary office blocks that lost ground to hybrid working are being bought, converted to flats, and exited to BTL refinance or open-market sale. For a bridging case, the relevant point is that office demand in Bournemouth is driven by financial services, public-sector administration, Poole-based marine and manufacturing, and the Class MA conversion arbitrage. Lenders who understand this price the asset correctly. Lenders who do not, price as if it were any other South Coast secondary market, and 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. MT Finance, Octane Capital, United Trust Bank, Hope Capital and Together all run office bridging, 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 Bournemouth 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. Class MA 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, the underwriting takes longer and the rate moves up.
FAQs
Office bridging questions
Can we bridge an office to residential conversion in Bournemouth?
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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 Bournemouth bridging book since the rules expanded. 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 apply in parts of the BCP area, so we check the planning position before going to lender, and we work with planning consultants who know the BCP Council position on these conversions.
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 financial-services tenants?
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Yes, and the named bridging lenders are comfortable with the Bournemouth occupier profile. Tier-one financial-services employers and their supply-chain suppliers, insurance back-office operators, and the broader professional-services tenant base are all recognised covenants. Lenders price for unexpired lease term, break clauses and any group-covenant dependency, with the strongest cases sitting at 65 to 70% LTV and the lower end at 60%. The presence of the J.P. Morgan, Vitality and Nationwide payrolls and the supporting employer base is generally seen as a stabilising factor for office demand across the town.
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 Dorset or across Dorset.
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 Dorset office bridging specialist.
We arrange short-term finance on office property across Dorset, the Dorset Council and BCP Council unitary areas and the wider Dorset market. Indicative terms in 24 hours.