Wheatley Group — Scotland’s biggest social landlord — said on Monday it received the first tranche of new funding from the European Investment Bank (EIB) at a record low interest rate of under 1.5%.

Wheatley, the UK’s largest builder of social-rented homes, has received the first £85 million of £185 million agreed with the EIB last year.

It will support the next phase of Wheatley’s new build programme, providing 1,400 affordable homes as well as improving thousands of existing properties.

Wheatley’s new build programme will see 7,500 homes built from Balloch and Dumbarton through Glasgow, West Lothian and Edinburgh to North Berwick by 2025.

Wheatley chair Alistair MacNish said: “Funding from the EIB represents extraordinarily good value for our customers, enabling us to access finance at a low interest rate.

“We are pleased that the EIB has confidence in Wheatley Group and our ambition to improve homes and lives across Scotland.

“The low interest rate represents a real vote of confidence in our organisation and the sector more widely, and provides us with the means to invest significantly in our housing stock and communities, with projects that will deliver top quality, green homes for the future.”

Over the last decade, the European Investment Bank has provided more than £4 billion for transport, education, social housing, transport, water, energy, urban regeneration and new hospital investment across Scotland, with additional investment from UK wide programmes.