Commercial bridging finance
Commercial Bridging Loans Middlesbrough
Short-term lending against retail, office, industrial, leisure and mixed-use property. Teesside Freeport corporate offices, Teesworks regeneration supply chain, Cleveland Industrial Estate units and town-centre commercial across Middlesbrough and North Yorkshire.
- Decisions in hours
- Completion in days
- £100k to £25m
- North Yorkshire specialists
Middlesbrough · North Yorkshire
Bridge to your next move.
About commercial bridging
Short-term property finance across Portsea Island and Hampshire.
Commercial bridging is short-term lending secured against commercial property. The asset can be retail, office, industrial, leisure, healthcare or mixed-use. The use case is typically a purchase pre-refinance, a refurbishment or change-of-use project, a capital raise against an unencumbered or low-LTV commercial asset, or a stop-gap while a long-term commercial term loan is arranged. For Middlesbrough business owners and commercial investors operating around Teesport and PD Ports, the Teesside Freeport zone, the Teesworks regeneration site, the Wilton International chemical park and the Cleveland Industrial Estate supply chain, commercial bridging is the product that unblocks deals on a timeline a high-street commercial lender cannot match. We are not directly authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority; we work with FCA-authorised partners for regulated lending.
Commercial bridging suits commercial property investors, owner-managed businesses, limited company SPVs and small developers buying, refurbishing or raising capital against commercial premises. Typical Middlesbrough borrowers include logistics operators acquiring warehousing along the A66 corridor into Cargo Fleet and South Bank, energy-transition and engineering suppliers buying or releasing equity against industrial units in the Teesside Freeport zone and at Wilton International, retail and leisure operators on Linthorpe Road, Albert Road and at Captain Cook Square, and small developers buying tired commercial stock around Middlehaven with a residential conversion plan. The product also fits owner-occupiers raising capital against their own trading premises pre-refinance. It does not suit owner-occupier residential security; that work is regulated and sits under our regulated bridging route.
A typical case
How a commercial bridging case runs in Middlesbrough.
An engineering services operator running a supply contract into the Net Zero Teesside carbon capture project at Wilton wants to buy the freehold of the workshop and yard they currently lease, off the Cleveland Industrial Estate edge in TS6. Purchase price £950,000, against an open market value of £1.05 million on a recent independent valuation. The vendor needs to complete in six weeks for tax reasons. The operator's long-term commercial term loan application is sitting with their high-street relationship bank, but the bank's underwriting timeline runs to 12 weeks minimum. We package a commercial bridge against the workshop at 65% loan to value, total £617,000. Rate 0.95% per month, term 12 months, serviced interest, exit to the bank's commercial investment loan once it completes in around three months. Indicative terms back in 48 hours, valuation in 10 working days, completion 21 working days after instruction. The operator completes inside the vendor's window, the high-street commercial facility completes 11 weeks later, and the bridge redeems on schedule. Similar mechanics work for retail acquisitions on Linthorpe Road, mixed-use blocks above the high street in Cleveland Centre and Captain Cook Square, and the port-side warehousing that anchors the PD Ports and Teesport supply chain. **Octane Capital** and **Roma Finance** are both active on Middlesbrough commercial bridging cases.
Rates and fees
What this product costs.
Commercial bridging prices between 0.75% and 1.4% per month. The wide range reflects the heterogeneity of commercial security: a vacant office block on a secondary street prices very differently from a let warehouse on a 10-year lease to an investment-grade tenant in the Teesside Freeport zone. Cases at 60% to 65% loan to value with a strong tenant or owner-occupier covenant and a clear refinance exit sit at the lower end. Cases with vacant possession, short-leased tenants, or speculative asset positioning sit higher. Arrangement fees run 1.5% to 2.5% of the loan. Valuation fees on commercial property are typically £1,500 to £7,000 depending on asset complexity. Legal fees both sides £2,500 to £8,000 per side, more for complex mixed-use or part-let cases. No exit fee on most products.
Loan size and term
LTV ceiling and how long you borrow for.
Commercial bridging typically tops out at 70% loan to value against open market value for clean commercial security, with most cases settling at 60% to 65%. Vacant commercial properties sit lower, often 55% to 60%. Investment-grade let commercial can reach 70%. Terms run 1 to 24 months, with most cases using 9 to 12 months.
Exit options
How the loan redeems.
Commercial bridging has three main exit routes. First, refinance to a long-term commercial term loan with a high-street challenger or specialist commercial lender. Second, sale of the property, particularly where the borrower's plan is acquire, reposition, sell. Third, refinance to a portfolio commercial investment facility for borrowers with multiple let commercial assets. Lenders want a clear primary exit at the offer stage, with realistic timing and a credible counterparty. A borrower whose only exit is a refinance with one named challenger bank on contingent terms looks weaker than a borrower with the term loan already in process plus a saleable backup.
What makes a deal work
The clean cases.
Commercial cases run cleanly when the asset is straightforward (let to a real tenant on a real lease, vacant possession with a real owner-occupier plan, or refurb-and-let with a clear leasing strategy), when the borrower has commercial property experience, and when the exit is clear. Cases also strengthen where the property is in a liquid Middlesbrough commercial micro-market: along the A66 corridor into Cargo Fleet and South Bank, around the Boho Zone digital cluster at Middlehaven, on the Linthorpe Road and Albert Road retail spines, or in the established industrial estates around Cleveland Industrial Estate and the Wilton International chemical park fringe.
What doesn't
Where cases break.
Cases break where the commercial asset is in a thin sub-market with poor comparables, where the tenant covenant is weak or short, where the borrower has no commercial track record, or where the exit relies on a single named lender with no backup. Vacant commercial buildings in declining locations are also difficult; lenders price them at low loan to value and steep rates, and many will not lend at all.
Our process
From first call to drawdown.
Step one, a triage call. Bring the property, the tenant or owner-occupier position, the use case, the exit, and the timeline. Step two, we package the case and put it to three or four commercial bridging lenders depending on the asset class. Indicative terms back inside 48 hours for a standard commercial case. Step three, valuation instructed by a surveyor with commercial expertise, legals running in parallel. Step four, full credit at the lender, typically 7 to 14 working days for commercial cases. Step five, drawdown. Standard timeline from triage to drawdown is 21 to 28 working days, longer than residential because of commercial valuation timelines. Commercial bridging on commercial property is not FCA-regulated. We are not directly authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Talk to us
Tell us about the deal.
A quick triage call, then indicative lender terms inside 24 hours. We work Middlesbrough and across North Yorkshire.
FAQs
Frequently asked questions on commercial bridging
Can commercial bridging fund a mixed-use property in Middlesbrough?
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Yes. Mixed-use is one of the most common asset classes we bridge across Middlesbrough, particularly retail-with-flats above on the Linthorpe Road and Albert Road corridors and around Captain Cook Square. The lender values the residential and commercial elements separately and the loan to value sits against the combined open market value. Expect a slightly more involved valuation than a pure commercial property and a slightly longer legal process.
How is a vacant commercial property treated for bridging?
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Vacant commercial property is harder to bridge than let commercial property because the lender has no rental income covenant to support the loan. Most lenders cap vacant commercial bridging at 55% to 60% loan to value and price it at the higher end of the commercial range. Where the borrower has a clear lease-up plan, a real owner-occupier intention, or a change-of-use to residential, the case looks better. Where the asset is vacant with no plan, lenders typically decline.
Can a Teesside Freeport supply-chain business raise capital against its warehouse?
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Yes. Capital raise against an unencumbered or low-LTV commercial property is a common bridging use case among the Teesside Freeport supply chain and the energy-transition operators working across the Teesworks site and the Wilton International chemical park. The bridge releases short-term capital, typically for working capital, equipment, or a separate property acquisition, with the exit usually a commercial term loan refinance against the same property a few months later. Loan to value sits at 60% to 65% for clean owner-occupier commercial security.
Next step
Talk to a Middlesbrough bridging specialist about commercial bridging.
Indicative terms in 24 hours. We work commercial bridging cases across Middlesbrough and the wider North Yorkshire market on a same-day enquiry response.