Hope Capital & Brightstar

Hope Capital and Brightstar return to full office occupancy




Hope Capital and the Brightstar Group — comprising of Brightstar Financial and Sirius Property Finance — have returned to full office occupancy.

Hope Capital

Hope Capital has announced that all its employees are now back in the office full time.

The short-term lender has been working closely with its team in recent months to create a plan which allows the company to safely return to its full business operation model.

The firm has been implementing a phased return to office working since January 2021, while also ensuring each member of staff’s individual circumstances have been addressed from a mental and physical health perspective.

Following government advice, Hope Capital has set up a variety of new measures to ensure it can create and maintain a safe workplace, including routine testing before entering the office premises, the distribution of mental health surveys for staff to complete regularly and the set-up of screens and safe workstations in the office.

“The health and safety of our employees is always our top priority, which is why we have taken a measured approach to reopening our office,” said Jonathan Sealey, CEO at Hope Capital.

“Despite a tough year, we have remained resilient and adapted to a new way of working when required, which enabled us to continue to lend and deliver the same innovative, flexible and tailored solutions to brokers and their clients.

“However, with restrictions easing and a roadmap out of lockdown, we believe now is the time to return to some normality while ensuring we provide a Covid-safe workspace. 

“We feel fully confident we are now in an even greater position to continue to assist brokers and their clients with their bridging finance enquiries and are delighted to return to a sense of normality, albeit at a safe social distance.”

Brightstar Group

The offices of Brightstar Financial and Sirius Property Finance returned to full occupancy on 12th April and will welcome visitors from lenders and key partners from 4th May.

The Brightstar Group has been implementing a phased return to office working since the beginning of the year, when it consulted all staff about their preferences and concerns. 

From February, the offices were ready for those who wanted to return, subject to a maximum occupancy of 25%. 

Then, from March, everyone was asked to work at least one day per week from the office, with staff split into two teams working on separate days.

In order to ensure a safe working environment, the group will conduct twice-weekly Covid testing for all staff.

It will also implement testing for all visitors, as well as a track and trace system. 

A one-way system will be in operation around the offices, which will be regularly deep cleaned.

Every employee will be allocated a dedicated desk and there will be strict guidelines around the use of meeting rooms. 

The Brightstar Group has also continued to support the team throughout the pandemic via a people development programme, running additional sessions for those team members experiencing anxiety about returning to the office, as well as introducing a team of nine fully trained mental health first aiders across the group to support people back to work.

William Lloyd, director of operations at The Brightstar Group, said: “Everybody wants a return to normal as quickly as possible, but it’s important to be cautious and take a phased, safety-first approach. 

“We’ve been planning this return to full occupancy since the start of the year, which means we are fully confident in welcoming everyone back to a safe working environment. 

“It also means we’ll soon be able to welcome underwriters and BDMs from our lender partners, and this onsite interaction is a key element in successfully placing specialist cases."

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