GB Bank has provided a £20.5m structured funding facility to support a specialist funding partner in the acquisition of a 214-unit residential portfolio in the North West. Working closely with the funding partner, GB Bank established a bespoke structure designed to support the transaction while meeting the commercial objectives of all parties. The facility was structured at 75% LTV with an agreed exit strategy involving the division of the portfolio across four SPVs to facilitate a flexible refinance, while supporting the ongoing management of the portfolio. The transaction also involved a detailed assessment of the portfolio’s rental income, with all 214 properties fully occupied at completion and generating immediate income. Alongside this, GB Bank considered the borrower’s wider financial position, including personal liquidity and surplus rental income, as part of its underwriting process. The transaction highlights GB Bank’s ability to work alongside partners by providing tailored solutions that support larger and more complex property transactions. Working in partnership with the funding partner, GB Bank structured a funding solution that supported the underlying bridging facility whilst ensuring valuation, credit and completion requirements were met. Hardik Gogia, Relationship Manager at GB Bank commented: “As specialist lending continues to evolve, lenders increasingly require funding partners that can provide flexible capital solutions for larger and more complex transactions. “This transaction demonstrates our ability to work alongside specialist lenders, providing tailored funding solutions that enable them to deliver complex bridging transactions with confidence. By combining commercial thinking with responsive decision-making, we’re able to support lending partners on opportunities that require a more bespoke approach. “Our structured funding capability is designed to complement the expertise of specialist lenders, giving them confidence that they have a responsive funding partner capable of supporting complex transactions without compromising on speed or service.” Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals

Poor project data is becoming a significant productivity challenge for UK construction, with teams losing the equivalent of more than eight working weeks a year searching for fragmented information.1 New data from a survey of construction professionals by Procore and Dodge Construction Network found that alongside searching for information, 28% of project time on average is lost to rework – partly down to a lack of real-time visibility and teams working from outdated documentation and drawings, leading to issues further down the project lifecycle. Often, financial and project data is spread across multiple unlinked systems, such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platforms, Building Information Modelling (BIM) platforms, function-specific software solutions, email chains, spreadsheets, site records, and outdated drawings. As a result of these productivity drains, as much as a quarter of project value (25%) is lost through disconnected delivery. Recent reporting from RICS also identifies documentation, scheduling and coordination, and changes and variations as some of the biggest barriers to productivity across the UK construction sector – all of which are impacted by project data. “Construction is under constant pressure to deliver more with fewer people, tighter programmes and increasing complexity. Yet too much time is still spent searching for information instead of making decisions,” said Brett King, Director of Industry Transformation, EMEA, Procore. “The real opportunity is to connect everyone involved in a project, from the boardroom to the site, through the same live project information. When leaders and project teams have the same visibility, communication improves, decisions are made faster and issues can be addressed before they become costly problems. It’s not just about connecting data. It’s about connecting people.” The research suggests that tackling fragmented project information can significantly reduce many of these issues. Respondents using a Connected Data Environment (CDE), which brings project information together in a single system, reported better collaboration between office and site teams. As a result, 92% of construction teams reported improved data accuracy, while the same proportion said miscommunication errors had fallen. The findings suggest that the biggest gains come not just from digitising information, but from giving every project team access to the same reliable data and a more consistent way of working. Nearly half (49%) of construction teams said they reduced the cost of additional work that couldn’t be billed because of poor documentation or delayed approvals by between 21% and 30% after implementing a CDE. Respondents also reported improvements in day-to-day project delivery. Nearly all (97%) said project data was more visible and actionable, while 92% reported spending less time on manual administration and data reconciliation, enabling faster decision making and reducing the need for duplicate work. Those efficiencies also led to additional capacity being made available. More than half (57%) of respondents said they were able to manage between 21% and 30% more construction work without increasing headcount. About the research This report is based on survey data commissioned by Procore and collected by Dodge Data & Analytics from 688 construction professionals across the UK and Ireland – including Main Contractors, owners, and subcontractors. The study was conducted to investigate the return on investment that clients and contractors experience from their use of construction management software. 1 – Construction professionals surveyed by Procore and Dodge estimated that 18% of project time is lost searching for data. Assuming an average of 240 days per year are spent working, and a five-day working week, this is the equivalent to 43 working days, or 8.6 working weeks per year. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals

The United Infrastructure Group are pleased to announce the financial results for United Infrastructure Group for the year ended 31 March 2026. The United Infrastructure Group operates in the support services sector, providing essential services to the owners and operators of UK critical utility and social infrastructure assets. The audited consolidated financial statements reflect the performance of the Group for the period to 31 March 2026, with comparative information presented for the year ended 31 March 2025. Financial Highlights Operational Highlights The Group was selected by Liverpool Bay CCS Limited (LBCCS), part of global energy‑tech company Eni, as a key delivery partner for the onshore pipeline element of the UK’s first large‑scale carbon capture and storage programme, with a value of £250m. The Group’s largest project to date is underway in the Scottish Highlands in partnership with SSEN, supporting major upgrades to grid capability with combined value of £236m+ and a particularly strong order book in the Scotland region. The Water business continued to grow, with a client portfolio now including Yorkshire Water, Northumbrian Water Group, Affinity Water, Thames Water, Southern Water, United Utilities, among others with combined contract values of £171m+. The Connected business (Telecoms) secured a nationwide maintenance contract with Cornerstone, across 16,000 sites nationwide, including Northern Ireland, Scottish Highlands and Islands alongside projects with Telefonica, Cellnex and Virgin Media with combined contract value of £391m+. The Social Infrastructure division of the business secured a multi-year Major Works contract, worth £364m, with The Guinness Partnership to renew and maintain 20,000 homes across the Northwest. This part of the business saw a secured order book of £800m+ with additional substantial wins with Haringey and Havering councils. The business continues to maintain long-standing relationships with public sector clients across London, Midlands and the North, with especially large programmes of work in Wolverhampton through a major regeneration scheme. Acquisitions New Homes (MBO) In March 2026, the management buy-out (MBO) of the Group’s New Homes business was completed. This followed the announcement, made early in the financial year, that the Group was winding down the New Homes business and would no longer be taking on new work in this space. The decision was part of the Group’s strategic shift towards the rapidly growing opportunities in decarbonisation, energy transition, digitalisation, and the wider UK utility and social infrastructure sectors. Neil Armstrong, CEO at United Infrastructure comments: “We’re thrilled to report a record year of performance for United Infrastructure, with a robust cash position and a growing secured order book that reflects the confidence our clients place in us. “The long-term drivers across our markets – decarbonisation, resilience, digital connectivity and modernisation of essential infrastructure, continue to accelerate, creating sustained demand for the services we are built to deliver. “Our recent strategic acquisitions have further strengthened our capabilities across power, water, engineering and emerging sectors such as data centres, enhancing the value we bring to clients navigating the UK’s energy transition.” Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals

Jonathan Samuels, CEO of specialist lender, Octane Capital, believes that continued economic uncertainty has further weakened confidence across the UK development sector during the second quarter of 2026, with developers becoming increasingly reliant on specialist finance to help navigate a more challenging market. The quarterly survey, commissioned by Octane Capital, tracks how developer sentiment, project appetite and reliance on specialist finance are shifting as market conditions evolve. The latest research shows that just 23% of developers now believe UK property market conditions will improve during 2026, down from 35% in the previous quarter, with more than three quarters (77%) now expecting conditions to remain challenging. As confidence has deteriorated, reliance on specialist finance has continued to strengthen. More than four in five developers (83%) now say they expect to utilise specialist finance to help navigate current market conditions, up from 72% in Q1. Bridging finance remains the most widely expected specialist lending product, with expected usage increasing from 40% to 44% quarter-on-quarter. Development finance has also seen an increase in demand, rising from 24% to 29%. The survey also suggests that developers are becoming increasingly cautious when it comes to progressing new projects. Whilst the proportion more likely to break ground on development or investment projects remained unchanged at 20%, the number stating they are less likely to proceed has climbed sharply from 37% to 57%. At the same time, the proportion expecting activity levels to remain broadly unchanged has almost halved, falling from 43% to 23%. This more cautious outlook reflects the continued challenges facing the sector, with almost all developers surveyed (97%) stating that obstacles remain within the current market. High build and labour costs remain the most significant challenge, cited by 35% of respondents, whilst concern around planning delays and uncertainty has increased notably to 29%, making it the second biggest barrier to development activity. Despite the weakening outlook, developers continue to believe that improvements to the lending environment could help unlock activity. Falling interest rates were identified as the single biggest factor that could improve market conditions (23%), followed by improved lender confidence (20%) and greater availability of finance (16%). The findings suggest that whilst confidence has weakened further, developers remain focused on progressing opportunities where possible, increasingly looking towards specialist lenders capable of providing the speed, flexibility and certainty required to navigate today’s more complex market. Jonathan Samuels, CEO of Octane Capital, commented: “The second quarter has seen confidence soften further, with developers clearly becoming more cautious about both current market conditions and the prospects for the remainder of the year. Build costs remain stubbornly high, planning delays continue to frustrate development activity, and wider economic uncertainty is making it increasingly difficult for developers to commit to new projects with confidence. At the same time, we’re seeing specialist finance become more important than ever. The continued increase in demand reflects the fact that developers still want to transact, but they’re increasingly looking for lenders that can provide the speed, flexibility and certainty needed to navigate a far more complex market. Whilst sentiment has undoubtedly weakened, opportunities still exist for those able to move decisively, and that’s exactly where specialist finance continues to play such an important role.” Data Tables and Sources Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals