Mr O’Brien previously worked at Assetz Capital in 2021, also as a relationship director. He rejoins the lender from Together, and brings over 20 years’ experience of business development and specialist lending support.

The lender has already provided £138 million of property lending in the region and now looks to reach over £200m in property lending in Scotland over the coming years. Mr O’Brien will head up the lenders growth strategy to continue supporting Scottish SME housebuilders and drive property development in the region.

Mr O’Brien said: “There’s a huge opportunity to fill the gap in the Scottish market with a diverse range of development and commercial mortgage products.

“Housebuilding continues to be a priority across the region, and we recognise the importance of funding SME developers to meet this demand and drive growth.

“I look forward to settling back into the role with old and new colleagues, and to attending a series of broker engagement events coming shortly.”

Andrew Fraser, chief commercial officer at Assetz Capital, said: “Scotland continues to be a good market for our traditional housebuilder and PBSA developer customers.

“We have funded over £138m of lending, including 565 houses in the region, and now wish to push towards that £200m milestone.

“Our focus remains on providing SME developers access to affordable and flexible development funding up to 70% loan to value.”