We’ve launched Natural Capital funding

Atom bank has launched a new Natural Capital product, giving brokers and their clients access to specialist funding to buy or refinance land for Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) habitat creation.

Unlocking BNG land potential for clients

Most developers in England now need to deliver a mandatory minimum 10% biodiversity uplift for their projects. This uplift is essential for delivering new housing, yet it often cannot be achieved on the development site itself, creating a bottleneck for new homes.

Demand for off-site BNG units in England is growing rapidly to overcome this as a result. By funding the creation of these thriving habitat banks, we support the essential off-site solutions that allow developers to build the houses the country needs. We pair this purpose-led approach with flexible underwriting tailored to the unique cash flow timing of BNG unit sales.

We designed our Natural Capital proposition to solve these challenges and help brokers and their clients access this growing opportunity.

Key criteria for our Natural Capital proposition

Here is an outline of our Natural Capital lending criteria:

Security location: England only. Statutory Biodiversity Net Gain requirements limit our eligible security strictly to English sites (general BNG eligibility and requirements apply).

Borrower types: Limited Companies and LLPs only (Sole Traders and Partnerships are not eligible).

Scheme eligibility: All of our BNG lending must meet Growth Guarantee Scheme (GGS) eligibility criteria, which we will assess upon application.

Experience: Principals must demonstrate relevant experience in land management or environmental projects. No minimum trading history required.

Maximum LTV: Up to 65% of the original security value, subject to credit quality and assessment of your application.

Loan Size: £100,000-£2,000,000.

Loan structure: The loan is available for a term of 1 to 6 years and requires both ongoing interest payments and capital repayments structured as follows:

Interest payments: Interest payable either monthly or quarterly at a variable interest rate.

Capital repayments: Quarterly capital repayments of 25% of the gross income from any BNG unit sales in that quarter.

Final bullet repayment: Any outstanding balance must be repaid in full at the end of the term.

Serviceability: Assessed on historical performance or 5-year cash flow projections supported by a robust business plan and sales pipeline.

If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch with our TBDM team by email at businesssupport@atombank.co.uk or by phone on 0333 399 0060 (9am–5pm, Mon–Fri).