In Profile: Tim Mycock on building, lending and supporting CapitalRise’s ambitions
Tim Mycock recently joined CapitalRise as Lending Director, bringing over 20 years of experience from across the property finance and development sectors. We discussed his career so far, the lessons he has learnt, and his plans for the new role.
Early days
Tim’s first career ambition had nothing to do with property. “I wanted to be a pilot ever since I was a child,” he says. “In fact, I learned to fly and drive in the same week when I was 17.”
Later, he moved from his native Warwickshire to London, believing, as he puts it, that “all the streets were paved with gold, and they were!” It was 2005, and the market was booming when he started work as an intermediary. “I learned a lot in that role,” he says. “I was given a huge amount of exposure from a young age, looked at some magnificent transactions, and got a real passion for development.”
As the downturn bit after the 2008 crash, Tim moved to a private equity firm and was promoted to Head of Real Estate after a short time. There, he worked under an inspiring and entrepreneurial CEO and managed a number of Prime Central London (PCL) transactions.
A developer’s perspective
“Being entrepreneurial, I also did some of my own hotel and residential developments. I even ran a beach club in Cannes for a while,” Tim explains. Those projects taught him a huge amount, not least the challenges of being the borrower when a scheme does not go to plan.
He went on to work in bridging finance, develop a 134-unit PBSA scheme in Leicester as the project’s principal, and take part in numerous joint ventures, including major permitted development (PD) schemes, a hotel in Courchevel, and a co-living development. He later founded his own business, before the fallout from Liz Truss’s mini-Budget took him to a bank’s development finance team, where he became its top performer.
Lessons from a varied career
“It’s not been the traditional sort of lending career,” Tim says. “But I’ve worked in nearly every part of property finance: as an intermediary, originating senior debt and second charge loans, in preferred equity, and even putting a spade in the ground myself.”
“I’ve never known a project go exactly to plan. If you haven’t developed yourself, it’s very difficult to understand what borrowers are going through. When great people are trying their best to sort things out, you need to be flexible and find innovative ways to help them.”
That mix of lending and development insight is rare in an originator, and Tim believes it has shaped how he works with people. “It’s formed the person I am today in terms of being able to build long-lasting relationships, and bring in some really cracking deals,” he explains.
Why CapitalRise
Shared development experience was a key reason Tim chose to join CapitalRise. The business was co-founded by the prime developers behind Valouran and Finchatton, who have delivered over £3bn of luxury real estate. That expertise runs through CapitalRise’s board and credit committee.
“I wanted to join a lender that understood the challenges developers and intermediaries face across the product cycle, and can offer bespoke funding as a result,” he says. “I felt I would fit in well in that environment and could add real value.”
People buy from people
Ultimately, the development finance industry runs on trust. “People buy from people,” Tim says. “It’s very much a relationship-driven business.”
In an age of Teams meetings and AI, that can easily get lost. “AI is a good support tool, but it can’t, for instance, replace meeting at the Guinea Grill on a Friday afternoon. Because, over the years, that’s where many deals have been done!”
Tim also applies a simple measure to anyone he is considering backing. “It’s a bit corny, but I call it the Sunday afternoon test: would I invite this person round for Sunday lunch with my family? If not, why would I do business with them? The deals that have gone well have always been with people I get on with.”
Expanding the lending footprint
Tim knows CapitalRise’s heartland well, having financed projects on “pretty much every street in Mayfair and Chelsea you can think of”, as well as on St George’s Hill and the Wentworth Estate.
CapitalRise is best known for PCL and trophy residential assets. A decade on, and with substantial funding lines in place, it now lends in high-end areas across England and Wales, from the Cotswolds and Cheshire to the Vale of Glamorgan. It also covers a wider variety of asset classes: hotels, serviced apartments, PBSA, mixed-use and multi-unit residential schemes.
“Helping the business continue to branch out into other areas is something I’m keen to do,” Tim adds. His breadth of experience suits CapitalRise’s plans to build on its prime property heritage, while expanding into new regions and sectors. And throughout, one principle holds: back the people as much as the project.
For development finance enquiries, please contact Tim at tm@capitalrise.com
