Coming together to celebrate success stories across the sector was a great opportunity to let our hair down and catch up with a few old friends – as well as say hello to some new faces.

But aside from the vino, the jolly japes and the fun and the frolics, what did this year’s B&C Awards tell us about this fantastic industry we’re all part of? 

Bridging is on the up and up

Who can pack out a swish London private members’ club with more than 600 people? The bridging and commercial sector, that’s who. If a sign were needed that short-term lending is buoyant, all you needed to do was take a look around the Hurlingham Club last Thursday night (7^th June).

The 10^th birthday event was a real celebration of all things bridging, commercial and development and, as the awards were announced, a sure sign that the industry is only set to go from strength to strength.

Don’t just take my word for it either – recent figures from the Association of Short Term Lenders (ASTL) show that annual bridging completions are now close to £3.8bn. What’s more, sentiment across the industry is extremely positive, with 63% of ASTL members expecting the bridging finance sector to grow.

This year’s awards showed we’re in great shape, becoming increasingly well established – and ready to take it to the next level.

Debate is healthy

The judging process for the B&C Awards sees two panels – one comprising brokers, the other lenders – gather to choose who should win what, poring over supporting documentation and sharing anecdotes and expertise.

•   B&C Awards 2018: the photos
•   B&C Awards 2018: the video
•   Masthaven makes Bridging Plus available to all intermediaries

Getting first-hand experience of this process at the London Marriott in Marble Arch last month was a real eye-opener. I was on the lender judging panel, so myself and the wider team were heavily involved in this year’s event.

I greatly enjoyed taking part in the honest, robust debate – never personal, always professional – that saw key industry figures sit down and battle it out.

The roundtable-style discussions were perfect for getting a broad spectrum of views across the market, throwing up interesting viewpoints – and more than a few surprises. It was good to see that we’re not an industry that will resort to backslapping or doing each other ‘favours’.

This was real, healthy, fair debate – not manufactured – and is to be commended.

We’re doing important work

Do you mind if I get a little plug in as I close? It’s for good reason, I promise. As part of our sponsorship of the 2018 awards, we staged a raffle in support of Depaul, a homelessness charity we’re partnering with this year. (Congratulations to whoever bagged that ‘80s vintage Merlot by the way – I had my eye on that.)

We met with the charity earlier this year and were extremely impressed with them – they have a specific focus on youth homelessness, supporting people aged 16-25 in the UK and further afield who are either homeless or at risk of being made homeless.

We wanted to use the opportunity to maximise awareness of the charity and raise some much-needed money for it, and we’re really pleased we managed to do that. For me, it served as a gentle reminder that not everyone has a house they can call a home.

See you next year.