He’s organised mortgages for thousands of Wearside families and businesses, but where does Paul Hampton’s company call home? We take a tour of ‘The Penthouse’ with Approved Mortgage Solutions.
Tell us a little about your business Paul
Approved Mortgage Solutions has been trading for 12 years. We are whole-of-market mortgage advisors – which means we have access to every mortgage provider when it comes to finding residential and commercial mortgages for customers.
As mortgage advisors, place is clearly important to you. Where are you based?
We are at the North East Business and Innovation Centre (BIC) in Sunderland. We started in an incubator unit and when we outgrew that we moved to a suite. Now we’ve expanded into a building called the Slipway Centre which is right on the banks of the River Wear. It’s a big, bright, open plan space that’s always buzzing with energy from our team of advisors and administrators.
What makes it a special place to work?
Our office is at the very tip of an arrow-shaped building, with incredible views of the river and the Northern Spire Bridge. We call it The Penthouse. We watched every day as engineers put the pieces of the new bridge in place and floated equipment up the river. It’s an amazing position to watch the changing skies and weather, rowers on the water and we even have a resident seal who keeps us entertained. We know how lucky we are to have a view like this and it certainly keeps us inspired and uplifted. Sunderland is beginning to make the most of its river again with all of the regeneration that’s going on and we’re already benefiting from that.
How has business been going?
We’ve been growing steadily year-on-year and we’re now a team of 11. There has been a phenomenal increase in demand since the pandemic. Many people have spent time rethinking where they’d like to live and the reduction of stamp duty introduced by the Government to stimulate the market has had our phones ringing off the hook!
For more information visit approvedmortgagesolutions.co.uk
Find out more about the office space available at the North East BIC.