B&C Awards 2021

B&C Awards 2021: winners announced




The winners of the 2021 Bridging & Commercial Awards have been revealed.

The African Safari-themed event — in association with United Trust Bank — took place at the Hurlingham Club in Fulham yesterday (6th October) with close to 700 guests in attendance.

In total, 27 winners were announced as the bridging, commercial, development and alternative finance industries met to celebrate the success and growth of these sectors over the past 12 months.

Glenhawk took home the coveted Bridging Lender of the Year award, while Albatross Capital was named Best Bridging Lender Newcomer. 

“Yesterday was about as good as it gets for Albatross,” imparted Lewis Casserley, co-founder of Albatross Capital.

“We’ve come so far in such a short period of time and it wouldn’t be possible without the support that so many in the industry have given us. 

“It was such fun to celebrate in style at the Hurlingham Club with you all. Until next year!” 

United Trust Bank (UTB) took home both the Regulated Bridging Lender of the Year and Best Specialist Bank awards.

Harley Kagan, CEO at UTB, commented: “The last 18 months have created unprecedented challenges which makes winning these awards even more gratifying. 

“This is the fourth time we’ve won the Best Specialist Bank award and this, together with the Best Regulated Bridging Lender award, is testament to the hard work, commitment and tenacity shown by everyone at UTB working in the most unusual circumstances. 

“Together they ensured that we continued to provide great products and excellent broker and customer service, despite the odds being stacked against us. 

“The whole team thoroughly deserve the recognition these awards bring.”

Allica Bank was crowned Commercial Lender of the Year, and was also highly commended for Lender Service Excellence.

Nick Baker, managing director of intermediaries, said: “Allica is thrilled to have been recognised by B&C as ‘Commercial Lender of the Year’. 

“We are dedicated to working hand-in-hand with our broker partners to get the finance established SMEs need into their hands as quickly and easily as possible. 

“This year, we’ve focused on our product offerings, taking feedback from our broker partners, and enhancing our commercial lending offerings so they are what SMEs want and need — so it’s great for us to be recognised with this award. A big thanks to B&C for putting on such a fantastic event.” 

Maslow Capital received the Development Lender of the Year £10m-plus gong, which Matt Pigram, head of deal origination, thanked B&C, its clients, introducers, and partners for their continued support.

“We are incredibly proud of the team for their hard work and dedication. 

After last year’s virtual event, celebrating in person with our respected peers, friends and colleagues felt particularly special, and we look forward to doing everything we can to put us in contention for a fourth successive award next year.”

The Best Development Broker award went to Arc & Co, while SPF Private Clients won Best Bridging Broker. 

“As a business we have attended the B&C awards for the past 10 years; it’s always a fantastic event, and yesterday’s was no exception,” commented Edward Horn-Smith, managing director of Structured Finance at Arc & Co.

“There is no better compliment for us than being recognised by our peers, which makes us both proud and honoured to win the Development Finance Broker of the Year award.

“Thank you Medianett for your continued support — we now look forward to the next 10 years!”

“It was not only an honour to be nominated in two of the strongest broker categories in the awards, but also to be invited to participate in the judging process — it made it a really special 2021 for SPF,” stated Amadeus Wilson, director at SPF Short Term Finance.

“On top of all that, to come away with the highly commended recognition of the Regulated award, and to win the main prize of Best Bridging Broker, was an exceptional achievement; a fantastic and deserved recognition of the incredible work the team are doing, looking after our partners, introducers and, most importantly of all, our clients.”

Marc Champ, managing director at Wharf Financial, thanked the team at B&C and everybody that has supported the brokerage throughout its brief history, having won Best Bridging Broker Newcomer. 

“We all had a fantastic day and are truly humbled to received our accolade. 

“Well done to all the winners, highly commended, and those shortlisted. Looking forward to next year already!”

Rob Jupp, Group CEO at The Brightstar Group, who won the Oustanding Achievement award, said: "Thank you to B&C for hosting such a fantastic event. We are really pleased that Brightstar was named as the Best Broker for Regulated Bridging.

"It’s an important part of the market that requires adherence to exceptionally high standards, and to be recognised by our peers for leading the way in this part of the market is testament to the hard work and dedication of all of our team." 

Mike Strange, MD at Funding 365, said: “Hats off to Medianett as always for a fantastic event. It was great to catch up with so many industry friends at long last and winning the Specialist Product of the Year award for our team’s CBILS efforts was the icing on the cake.”

Funding 365’s Allegra Penny added: “I’m thrilled to have received the Lender Relationship Manager of the Year award after being shortlisted with such esteemed industry peers. I’m still on cloud nine today!” 

Nivo was awarded Best Technology Provider, while JMW was presented with the Best Solicitor award.

Jodi Lund, partner and head of real estate finance, said the company was delighted to win at the event. 

“It’s testament to years of hard work of our talented team of specialist lawyers with the support of our trusted industry partners.  

“The awards ceremony itself was an absolute credit to the organisers, and you could feel the buzz in the room from everyone eager to catch up in person after the past 18 months.”

David Smith chief revenue officer at Nivo, said: “It has been an extraordinary year for Nivo and we are delighted to have won this award. 

“We are committed to developing intuitive technological solutions which help brokers and lenders offer smoother, simpler, faster and more secure customer journeys, and never has this application of technology been more important or transformative than in the last 18 months.”

VAS Panel triumphed in the Best Valuation Partner category for the second year running.

Stephen Todd, chief commercial officer and co-founder of VAS Group, commented: “We want to express our heartfelt thanks to everyone who initially voted for us and the judges on both the lender and broker panels.

“To win Best Valuation Partner for the second-year running is a real honour. But, most importantly, I want to thank all our customers and staff who drive and strive to make us better on a day-to-day basis; we’ll aim to keep setting the standards in the valuations industry and, who knows, next year we will hopefully be celebrating a hattrick!”

MFS received the Editor’s Choice Award from B&C editor Beth Fisher.

“We were delighted to walk away with the Editor’s Choice trophy on the night,” said Tiba Raja, director at MFS.

“MFS prides itself on its use of independent research and data analysis to unpick interesting trends in the property market and financial services sector, so we were delighted to see the quality of our contributions recognised. 

“The 2021 B&C Awards were brilliant — it was great to have the industry back together and to speak with some new and old faces in person. For the MFS team, it was also really enjoyable to be able to celebrate our own successes during the pandemic at such a lovely event.

“It can be easy for lenders to focus solely on the promotion of their own products, but it is crucial that as an industry we provide engaging, insightful content to help clients and brokers understand the specifics of bridging loans and the situations in which they are best used. 

B&C is the perfect platform to share such content, and we look forward to working closely with their team in the months and years to come.”

The winners were chosen by two judging panels, who met earlier this year to decide who deserved the sought-after titles.

Full list of winners of the B&C Awards 2021:

Best Valuation Partner

Winner: VAS Panel
Highly commended: Anderson Wilde & Harris

Best Solicitor

Winner: JMW
Highly commended: Lightfoots

Specialist Product of the Year

Winner: Funding 365 – CBILS 
Highly commended: Avamore Capital

Best Specialist Recruitment Partner

Winner: City & Capital
Highly commended: Valorem Partners

Best Technology Partner

Winner: Nivo
Highly commended: Magiclick 

Best Bridging Broker Newcomer

Winner: Wharf Financial 
Highly commended: Tapton Capital 

Best Commercial Broker

Winner: Synergy Commercial Finance
Highly commended: Pilot Fish

Best Bridging Broker

Winner: SPF Private Clients
Highly commended: Adapt Finance

Regulated Bridging Broker of the Year

Winner: Brightstar
Highly commended: SPF Private Clients

Best Development Broker

Winner: Arc & Co
Highly commended: Sirius Property Finance

Service Excellence — Brokers

Winner: LDNfinance 
Highly commended: VIBE Finance

Best Specialist Distributor

Winner: Connect for Intermediaries 
Highly commended: Positive Lending

Best Bridging Lender Newcomer

Winner: Albatross Capital
Highly commended: Lendwell 

Development Lender of the Year — £10m-plus

Winner: Maslow Capital
Highly commended: Shawbrook

Development Lender of the Year — Up to £10m

Winner: Shawbrook Bank
Highly commended: Roma Finance

Mezzanine Lender of the Year

Winner: Beaufort Capital
Highly commended: Crowd with Us

Bridging Funding Partner of the Year

Winner: Toorak Capital
Highly commended: Shawbrook

Underwriter of the Year

Winner: Lenka Pajkosova, MT Finance
Highly commended: Samantha Williamson, Roma Finance

Lender Relationship Manager of the Year

Winner: Allegra Penny, Funding 365
Highly commended: Jamie Russell, Ortus Secured Finance

Best Specialist Bank

Winner: United Trust Bank
Highly commended: Shawbrook

Commercial Lender of the Year

Winner: Allica Bank
Highly commended: Shawbrook

Regulated Bridging Lender of the Year

Winner: United Trust Bank
Highly commended: Masthaven Bank 

Service Excellence — Lenders

Winner: MT Finance
Highly commended: Allica Bank

Bridging Lender of the Year

Winner: Glenhawk
Highly commended: MT Finance

Editor’s Choice Award

Winner: MFS

Outstanding Contribution Award

Winner: Rob Jupp

Lifetime Achievement Award

Winner: Alan Cleary

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