Client Story: Castell Group Ltd

Client Story: Castell Group Ltd

Founded in 2019 by Dorian Payne, Castell Group Ltd is leading property development company that works with housing associations and local authorities to find, secure and develop homes for people in need of affordable social housing.

Dorian began working in property as a teenager and founded Castell Group in his 20s. He has a strong passion for building affordable, disability-adapted homes within the social sector.

Across Wales, more than 100,000 people are on the housing waiting list and 11,000 people are living in temporary accommodation. Castell Group is playing a significant role in tackling this shortage. Dorian believes that building social and affordable housing is an investment in the next generation, giving children a safe place to grow and thrive.

Having started from a small office on an accelerator programme, Castell Group is now building 300 homes with a pipeline of 1,000 across Wales. The business has a team of over 70 people, works directly with local authorities, has won several awards and has raised millions of pounds in funding.

Challenge

Castell Group first approached Bibby Financial Services in 2023 with a need to unlock capital to support their rapidly growing business. They were seeing strong opportunities to take on new local authority projects but rising material costs and large upfront invoices were creating funding pressure. They needed to release funds tied up in existing projects to bring working capital back into the business and invest in future projects 6-9 months ahead, while still scaling at pace.

Solution

Our construction finance team understood the challenges Castell Group were facing and provided a Construction Invoice Finance facility of £500,000. Releasing capital from current contracts allowed the business to move funds into new projects, take on larger developments and manage time gaps.

Up to the start of 2026, BFS supported the Castell Group with a £1.5 million funding line. This backing helped them scale successfully and realise their growth ambitions, positioning them to move away from the facility and self‑fund.

Dorian Payne, Managing Director, Castell Group: “I found Bibby Financial Services to be very pragmatic, proactive, and solution-oriented, especially in a challenging time. It was clear that they had a deep knowledge of the construction industry and took the time to understand our business model. They saw both the challenges we faced and the opportunities, and the funding has been instrumental in allowing us to scale.”

Joe Rayfield, Relationship Manager, said: “The Castell Group were a client with us for three years with a construction invoice finance facility. During this time, their funding limit pretty much tripled. Our deep knowledge of the construction industry makes us ideally positioned to understand the challenges of building houses and to support Dorian and his goals and commitment to strengthen the community.”