Posts tagged: The Developers Network

After taking a two month break over the summer it was great to be back with The Developers Network Manchester family. The room was packed in anticipation of the fantastic panel of experts we had contributing to the evening.

Before the experts did their thing, Shane and Jonathan brought everyone up to speed on their development of 16 luxury apartments in Urmston. The strip out and demolition progressed well, and the underpinning is well underway.

As a taster to the main event the expert panel answered the most common questions put to them about the field of expertise.

Stuart Vendy of Veritas Planning answered: “How long will it take to get my planning decision through from the council?”

Scott Marshall of Roma Finance answered : “What’s your view on what interest rates will do over the next few months/years?”

John Shevlane of Pilot Fish answered: “how does my experience affect my lending opportunities in terms of rates, leverage, deal size?

Andi Cooke of White Box Property Solutions & Red Box Construction answered: “How can you become a property developer with little or no construction experience?”

Lloyd Girardi of White Box Property Solutions answered the question: “How can I fund a development with none of my own money?”

After a networking session where great connections were made and drinks were enjoyed at the bar, the expert panel returned to the front to answer questions from the audience.

On Thursday the 19th of May The Developers Network Manchester event was a huge success, with lots of networking and great connections made.

The topic for the evening was – ‘how to get developments funded’. Shane and Jonathan talked about their experiences of using different ways of funding projects; such as joint ventures, private investors, and development finance.

In addition, finance experts from Pilot Fish and Roma Finance gave us their insider knowledge on how best to fund different types of development. Alice Williams and John Shevlane, from Pilot Fish, described how using a broker to access bespokely structured finance products can help developers get the projects funded. Scott Marshall and Sam Williamson described some of the deals Roma Finance had funded. They highlighted the benefits of really getting to know your finance provider to ensure they understand your circumstances and can provide the support needed throughout the project. 

Towards the end of the evening Alice, John, Scott and Sam participated in a Question & Answer with the audience asking some challenging questions and the panel giving insightful answers.

The evening was rounded off with more networking and drinks at the bar.

We are looking forward to seeing everyone at our next event with more networking and education. Updates and talking you through more of our plans for our Crofts Bank development with a 360 Virtual Tour. The remainder of the evening will focus on getting planning for your developments.

Join us on the 23rd of June 2022

On Thursday the 14th April we held the second Developers Network Manchester. Although the event was held on the evening before Good Friday, we had a fantastic turn out. Many of those attending had also attended the launch event, together with a good number of new faces, with many enjoying a drink at the bar to get the bank holiday weekend off to a good start.

In addition to giving an overview of how we got into property development, we presented a 360 Virtual Reality tour of the ground floor of our Crofts Bank development to convert a large Victorian building into 16 luxury apartments. In this initial VR tour, we presented the grounds and ground floor of the property. We will continue with the VR tours at future events to show and update everyone on the progression of the development. In addition, we have plans to offer opportunities to visit the site during the development, to see in the flesh how the development is progressing.

We then went on to discuss various methods of finding potential development opportunities, through online portals; agents; councils; auctions; sourcers; professional teams; whilst out and about and utilising online tools. 

The facilitated networking session was a huge success, helping everyone to make valuable connections. Followed by a demonstration to enable them to quickly connect on LinkedIn using its QR scan feature.

After the break, we introduced our sponsors: Roma Finance and Dunore Utility Connections, along with our most recent sponsor SearchLand, and we were delighted to have Hugh Gibbs as our guest speaker for the evening to demonstrate this fantastic online tool which helps you quickly identify and secure potential development sites. Hugh took us through the various ways to use the many facilities on SearchLand, and demonstrated how effective and efficient it can be. 

After announcing the winner of our prize draw for a free place at a Whitebox Discovery Day, we rounded off the evening with more informal networking and drinks at the bar.

We are looking forward to seeing everyone at our next event with more networking and education. Updates and talking you through more of our plans for our Crofts Bank development with 360 VR visuals. The remainder of the evening wiil focus funding developments.

On Thursday the 17th of March we held the first Developers Network Manchester at the Worsley Park Marriott Hotel & Country Club. We had a packed room with a great mix of over 60 people, from those who wanted to learn more about property development through to experienced developers as well as many other property professionals including surveyors, cost control consultants, utility consultants and finance providers all looking to create and build on their connections and network throughout the evening. The buzz in the room during our planned networking introduction session was fantastic to see.

The introductions made by our sponsors, Roma Finance – Samantha Williamson and Dunore Utility Connections – Jon Newsham added additional value to the evening describing how they could help the developers in the room.
Samantha delighted everyone when she announced that Roma Finance have lots of money available to lend and are keen to help fund their developments.

Our guest speaker for the evening Lloyd Girardi provided valuable insight, education and inspiration from his vast experience of property development. Describing his journey on how he got into property development with nothing and has now undertaken more than £30,000,000 worth of development as well as helping many others progress on their property development journeys.

We have had some fantastic feedback, thanks – Jon Newsham – Edward Agwazia – Samantha Williamson – James Adams. We are looking forward to seeing everyone at our next event  with more networking and education. Taking a first look and talking you through plans for our ‘Crofts Bank’ development with 360° VR visuals. Then looking at various methods of finding potential development opportunities.

We are thrilled to announce new support and sponsorship from SearchLand and our guest speaker for the evening will be Hugh Gibbs with a demonstration of the all-in-one property and planning data platform to help you streamline your workflow and maximise your portfolio. The only off-market site sourcing tool that allows you to contact landowners directly from the platform. 

Join us on the 14th of April 2022.