Read the latest industry news, find practical advice on how to grow your business and smart tips to save for the future, all here on the OakNorth blog.
The UK’s residential development landscape in 2025 is defined by complexity. While appetite remains strong, the journey from site acquisition to delivery is not always straightforward. Developers are operating in a high-cost, high-risk environment, navigating tighter margins, shifting regulations, and slower buyer demand.
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OakNorth recently co-hosted a breakfast event with the Adam Smith Institute, exploring how Urban Development Corporations could help deliver more homes and unlock growth in Britain’s cities. The discussion highlighted the need for better planning, stronger coordination, and long-term investment to solve the UK’s housing crisis.
As businesses scale, performance marketing often takes the lead. But when growth comes at the expense of brand, the long-term impact can quietly derail your momentum. In our recent webinar, The Growth/Brand Balance: Driving performance without losing identity, we spoke with three marketing leaders about how fast-growing teams are navigating this tension, while finding better ways to scale. Here’s what they shared.
The UK hospitality and leisure sector is no stranger to headwinds. But the first half of 2025 has tested even the most agile operators: mounting cost pressures, shifting consumer behaviour, and ongoing workforce challenges in an already trying environment. Still, signs of smart recovery are emerging.
When a hotel owner told us, “My bank has decided they’re not lending to hotels right now. Can you help?” – we didn’t just listen. We acted.
In his latest piece for The Independent, Ben Barbanel, Head of Debt Finance at OakNorth, explores what that moment revealed about the disconnect between banks and growing businesses, and why blending advanced tech with human judgment is essential for delivering truly personalised banking.
We hosted a panel, in partnership with Launch Lab, exploring how scaling businesses can master modern marketing. Featuring insights from SLIP, Wander, and OakNorth, this session covered brand strategy, performance marketing, storytelling, AI, and team-building. Learn what it takes to align your marketing with growth, and why clarity, consistency, and creativity are key to sustainable success.
The UK’s residential development landscape in 2025 is defined by complexity. While appetite remains strong, the journey from site acquisition to delivery is not always straightforward. Developers are operating in a high-cost, high-risk environment, navigating tighter margins, shifting regulations, and slower buyer demand.
Since launching in 2015, we’ve navigated our fair share of volatility – from Brexit, global pandemic, inflation and interest rate spikes, and shifting political landscapes. Each of these events brought fresh challenges for businesses across the UK.
But through every cycle, one thing has remained constant: OakNorth’s commitment to supporting lower mid-market businesses (with £1m-£100m in turnover) with the funding they need to seize opportunity, even in uncertain times.
