In the newly created role, Sarah will lead on Puma’s latest ESG initiative — the impact lending framework — and will be responsible for the business’s impact lending and ESG strategy moving forward.

The framework has been established to provide direct financial benefits to property developers across the UK who are implementing measures in their vision and designs that deliver meaningful and impactful change.

Sarah joined Puma in 2019 as a manager and was quickly promoted to senior manager before spearheading the business’ ESG initiative.

Paul Frost, managing director at Puma, said: “We take our environmental and social responsibilities very seriously at Puma.

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“We believe that property lenders, particularly those such as us who concentrate on development finance, are uniquely placed to incentivise the adoption of more sustainable and impactful practices within our industry.

“That makes it the perfect time for the appointment of our first head of impact.

“I have no doubt that the experience and passion that Sarah will bring to this role will help us to meet our ambitious goals.”

Sarah added: "Puma is committed to supporting and encouraging the development of more sustainable and socially impactful schemes across the UK as we put a spotlight on the potential impact the property finance sector can have on the built environment.

“I'm very excited to be stepping into this new role to focus on our recently launched impact lending framework and our wider impact strategy and partnerships.

"We have some interesting projects coming up and I'm looking forward to seeing how our framework evolves as we continue to receive lots of positive feedback from clients on this new initiative."