
Specialist lender Shawbrook has hired Philip Kirkwood, Greg Pescott and Tom Edmunds to its development finance team.
Kirkwood will take on the role of senior relationship director in its development finance team. In this role, he will oversee the origination of new deals and the building of a portfolio of developers and housebuilders in the South East of England, which includes London.
He joins from United Trust Bank (UTB), where he worked for around five years, initially as a director for property development and then as a senior director for property development.
Before that, Kirkwood was a senior relationship manager of development funding for around three years at Shawbrook, and was initially one of the founding members of the development finance team.
Before that, he held roles at Bank Leumi, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Natwest.
Pescott and Edmunds will become relationship directors overseeing the South West and Wales and the Midlands respectively.
In their roles, they will deliver bespoke funding packages to support developers from the planning stage to the sale of their projects.
Pescott joins from Hodge, where he was a senior development finance manager for around four years. Before that, he was a property development manager at Aldermore Bank for around six years.
Edmunds previously worked at CrowdProperty for more than six years, initially as a senior property manager and then as a business development manager (BDM). Prior to that, he was a director at Birch and Bay.
Terry Woodley, managing director of development finance at Shawbrook, said: “We recently surpassed £2bn in lending, which makes it an exciting time for the development finance team. We’re delighted to be expanding the team with some fantastic new hires; it’s great to see Philip return to Shawbrook to be part of the journey, and I look forward to working alongside Greg and Tom as we continue to expand our regional teams across the UK.
“The diverse experience of all our new hires will be fundamental in growing our exposure and strengthening our support for developers, with bespoke funding for their projects.”
Anna is currently the deputy editor for Mortgage Solutions and editor for Specialist Lending Solutions. She has worked as a journalist since 2019, having secured her Gold Standard NCTJ diploma from News Associates in a fast-track six-month course.
She started her career as a report at specialist publication The Insurance Insider covering a wide range of areas before joining Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions in 2021.
In her role, she helps put together and structure the news agenda for the day and writes up press releases, reports, interviews, analyses and exclusives across both titles. She also commissions blogs for Specialist Lending Solutions and hosts online masterclasses and in-person events across the business.
She has been shortlisted for three journalism awards, which include BIBA Journalist and Media Awards Scoop of Year Award in 2020, Headline Money Mortgage Journalist of the Year Award (B2B) in 2022 and 2023.
Prior to being a journalist, Anna worked in ecommerce across Snow + Rock, Cycle Surgery and Runners Need websites, and before that worked at specialist financial PR firm Rostrum.
In her spare time, Anna enjoys reading, seeing live music, and cooking for friends and family. When she gets a chance, she also enjoys hiking, skiing and indoor rock climbing.
