This announcement follows LendInvest’s call for the government to support SME developers.
In collaboration with University of Reading, the academy course consists of a two-day intensive programme covering the whole development process, including land valuation, planning permission and final sale.
Sessions will be led by experienced property professionals, including solicitors, planners, valuers and surveyors.
This panel will also serve as a network that students may come to draw from in the future.
In tandem with the course, LendInvest has also launched the ‘Academy Knowledge Centre’, a free online portal that will provide tutorials, videos and reading material to help with any stage of the development process.
Christian Faes, co-founder and CEO of LendInvest, commented: “It’s time to stop talking about housing quotas, targets and whose responsibility the housing shortage is.
“Instead, let’s just get more homes on to British streets that families can afford to live in.
“Small-scale SME developers can make that happen.
“As a lender, we have the means to back them, but our academy lets us support them at a whole new level too, opening the door for them to better access to finance, land and skills.”
Steve Larkin, director of development finance at LendInvest, added: “As well as the knowledge academy students can expect to gain, there’s the enviable network effect to consider.
“Developers can’t afford to work in silos.
“The best developers build networks of advisers, contractors and suppliers around them that they know they can trust and rely on to get the job done.”
The academy is a non-profit initiative, devised by LendInvest’s team of development finance specialists.
While course applicants are screened for suitability (with preference given to those with proven property experience), successful candidates attend at no cost.
The first academy course takes place in central London on 11 and 12 November 2016.
Future courses will be hosted nationwide, fulfilling demand from developers outside the M25 for practical housebuilding management education.
For more information, visit the academy website at https://developmentacademy.lendinvest.com.
Applications to join the first academy course close on Monday 24th October 2016.
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