The fun factory - Homes and Property

Transcription

Homes&
Property
Wednesday 11 March 2015
Into
the woods
Design trends
Pages 10 and 20
NEW HOMES: ZONE 3 P4 FIRST-TIME BUYERS’ CAMBERWELL P6 WALK-IN WARDROBES P8 SPOTLIGHT ON ACTON P40
The fun
factory
Making the office
your second home
CHARLES HOSEA
Page 28
LAUNCHING 18TH MARCH 2015
THE PENTHOUSE COLLECTION
FETTER LANE EC4
REQUEST YOUR INVITATION TO
THE EVENT BY CALLING JLL ON
PRICES FROM
£2,200,000
0203 675 0677
S T D U N S T A N S C O U R T. C O M
Image is computer generated and indicative only. Prices are correct at time of going to press.
S E L L I N G AG E N TS
2
WEDNESDAY 11 MARCH 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Online
homesandproperty.co.uk with
This week: homesandproperty.co.uk
news:
the
super-rich
dig deep in
Belgravia
Property
search
Trophy buy of the week a
view to take your breath away
ONE of Britain’s richest couples have caused uproar in a
quiet Belgravia mews, with plans to excavate an
extravagant “double-decker” basement. The project
would almost double the size of the London home of
pharmaceuticals magnate Ernesto Bertarelli, 49, whose
family has a fortune estimated at £7 billion, and his wife,
Kirsty, 43, both pictured, a former Miss UK and
would-be pop star who released an album last year.
The couple have three children, and divide their time
between London and homes in Geneva and Gstaad.
The extra space will add a subterranean dining room,
cinema, kitchen and gym.
£7.5 million: this house in Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, is a
spacious, Georgian dream — and just look at that view. In
a row of nine house built beside the Thames between 1759
and 1765, this one overlooks Cadogan Pier and ornate
Albert Bridge. Enter via a high period gate and a
Yorkstone-paved garden to find a five-bedroom,
three-bathroom house set over five floors, with an elegant
music room leading to a broad terrace. There is staff and
guest space, too. Through John D Wood & Co.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/trophy/chels
London buy of the week space to
spread out in Clapham’s green paradise
O Read Ruth Bloomfield’s full story at homesandproperty.co.uk
£499,950: this garden flat, set on a
leafy SW9 road minutes from
Clapham High Street, is big on space
— inside and out. There’s a generous
reception room with wooden floors,
leading into a white gloss kitchen
that opens out to a pretty 25ft
private garden, filled with shrubs
surrounding a decked patio. The
Ten of the best: treat Mum
to tea this Mother’s Day
Unmissable: for
its champagne
and little fancies,
Claridge’s slips
comfortably
into our top 10
venues for
afternoon tea
MUM won’t be able to resist an invite to tea in designer
style this weekend. Choose the right venue, and it’s a
chance to check out fabulous crockery, the new-season
pastel linens, crafted silver and the latest crystal
champagne glasses — and that’s to say nothing of the
must-have of the moment: a cake stand. Join us on a tour
of our top 10 favourite afternoon teas in London.
master bedroom is lit by a big bay
window fitted with wooden shutters.
The second bedroom and bathroom
are equally bright, while storage
needs are wrapped up with a useful
cellar space that runs beneath.
It’s on the market with Foxtons.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/buyclap
Life changer right at home
with stunning original features
£500,000: consider this Grade II-listed charmer in the
oldest quarter of Warminster, Wiltshire, minutes from the
market square. The present owner runs a thriving antiques
business from the ground floor. Original interior treats
include oak and elm floorboards, flagstones, exposed
beams, and lovely open fireplaces. There are five
bedrooms, a library and a courtyard garden. Through
Hamptons International.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/lifechangerwarm
By
Faye
Greenslade
O Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/teatime
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Editor:
Janice
Morley
adorably
soft...
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2,000-ticket giveaway
Don’t miss the Homebuilding & Renovating Show
WHETHER you’re
planning to build your
own house, add a
spacious new
extension, convert
a loft space or create
a stunning landscaped
garden, a visit to the
Homebuilding &
Renovating Show
(March 26-29),
sponsored by Anglian
Home Improvements,
at the NEC in
Birmingham is a must.
From interior design
to landscaping,
roofing to flooring,
restoration to newbuilds, it’s all at the
Homebuilding &
Renovating Show,
along with free one-toone advice sessions,
with celebrity experts
such as Charlie Luxton
and Julia Kendell,
free masterclasses
and the chance to
meet 500 suppliers
offering thousands of
exciting products.
We’ve teamed up with
the Show to offer
1,000 readers a
chance to claim a free
pair of tickets worth
£18 each.
TO CLAIM a free pair of tickets to the Homebuilding & Renovating Show at NEC
Birmingham, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/offers before March 25 (T&Cs apply)
3
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 11 MARCH 2015
News Homes & Property
Old School House
could be class buy
Belsize Park mansion
has star quality to it
By Amira Hashish
Got some gossip?
Tweet @amiranews
Leo’s £6.5m flat
has green appeal
É LEONARDO DiCaprio is letting
his New York apartment for
£16,000 a month. The A-lister bought
the two-bedroom, two-bathroom
property in the Greenwich Village
area for £6.5 million last year.
His tenant is thought to be Jonathan
Orszag, who was an economic policy
adviser for President Clinton during
the Nineties.
Located in the super-luxe Delos
building, the flat is part of an
eco-friendly development that has
vitamin C-infused showers, purified
air and water and posture-supportive
heat reflexology flooring.
DiCaprio, who bills himself as an
actor and environmentalist on his
Twitter profile, also owns another
eco-conscious pad in the nearby
Battery Park City in Manhattan.
Kant’s £1.37m home has original features
that make it a real picture of perfection
ÉART COLLECTOR Peter von Kant
is selling his home-cum-gallery
in Deptford.
Number 25 Tanners Hill was
awarded the RIBA London Regional
Award in 2013 following the
restoration and conversion of a
Grade II-listed 17th century house
by architects Dow Jones.
The ground floor and courtyard has
been used as an art space, with the
further two floors providing
accommodation.
Visitors will have been struck by
the architectural features of the
property itself. The kitchen has a
part-glazed ceiling with sky views
and there is a walk-in larder, which
sits behind original brick walls that
were formerly Victorian stables.
Polished concrete floors and walls
made of exposed original lime
plaster and timber joinery, pictured
left, capture the bones of the
building. Listed with The Modern
House for £1.37 million.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/kant
SPLASH
Homes
gossip
É JAMES Corden is gearing up for
his debut as The Late Late Show
host on America’s CBS network on
March 23. The former Gavin & Stacey
star seems to be settling into
Hollywood life, even enlisting the
help of a personal trainer.
And he has made a smart move
in property terms. Corden is
letting out his £3 million
Belsize Park mansion for
£15,000 a month.
Meanwhile, he
has relocated with
his wife Julia and
their two young
children to an
£18,000-a-month
property in Brentwood,
Los Angeles.
The five-bedroom house is
in the same neighbourhood as
Gwyneth Paltrow, Michael
Douglas and Steven Spielberg.
There are indoor and
outdoor swimming pools
and a separate guesthouse
in the grounds for when
London friends and family
come to stay.
REX
O homesandproperty.co.uk/michelle
GETTY
É HOLLYWOOD actress Michelle
Williams called The Old School
House home when she was in
London filming My Week with
Marilyn. The star rented the Richmond property for several months
during her time here, and is thought
to have become very attached to it.
The four-bedroom, two-bathroom
Victorian freehold totals just more
than 2,800sq ft, and features floor-toceiling windows. Williams, who is set
to begin work on new film Manchester-by-the-Sea, may be interested to
learn that the home is now on the
market with Savills for £2.25 million.
4
Homes & Property New homes
P
Why three is
number one
London is growing fastest in travel Zone 3 —
the city ring boosted by the Olympics,
Crossrail and exciting new neighbourhoods
and business hubs, says David Spittles
RICED out of Zones 1 and 2,
home buyers are searching
for areas in Zone 3 where
they can get more — sometimes much more — for their
money. On average, Zone 3 addresses
are 41 per cent cheaper than Zone 2 — a
whopping £474,569 against £797,410.
London’s population is rising fastest
in this zone, with waves of buyers
looking for properties in the £250,000
to £750,000 price bracket, which
accounts for the bulk of demand in the
capital. In particular, Ealing in the west
and Leyton in the east are tipped for
big changes.
The latest figures come from online
estate agency eMoov, which reports a
“spillover” trend, with more people
hunting for less expensive properties
a couple of Tube stops down the line.
For example, from Balham, a 2014
hotspot where the average price is
£576,622, to Colliers Wood, where the
average price is £364,949.
Zone 3 is an inner ring marked by
Acton and Chiswick in the west, Leyton
and Forest Gate in the east, Hornsey
and Tottenham in the north and Tooting and Streatham in the south.
It is dotted with districts benefiting
from new transport links, high street
makeovers, newly created parks, an
opened-up waterfront, and new shopping and business hubs.
Developers are stepping in to build
more homes, believing that demand
will strengthen during the next decade,
because of London’s booming population. Some are using placemaking skills
to improve neighbourhoods, even to
create an address, as at Brent Cross
Cricklewood, where there are plans for
7,500 homes, three new schools and a
new Thameslink station that will give
locals a 12-minute commute to central
London. This week, revised plans were
unveiled for a 15,000-home new
district at Greenwich Peninsula.
APPEALING EALING
From £599,950: Dickens Yard scheme in Ealing offers cool, town-centre living
Certainly, there is more joined-up
thinking on the regeneration front,
with planners seeking to link these
more affordable areas to new transport
infrastructure. The Overground is
being extended east to Barking, while
the proposed Bakerloo line extension
through South-East London will reach
Beckenham.
Crossrail, on schedule to open in
2018, is already injecting fizz into some
Zone 3 districts. Ealing is tipped as a
big Crossrail winner, because travelling
times to Bond Street, the City and
Canary Wharf will be almost halved to
15, 20 and 29 minutes respectively.
While many London areas have seen
big demographic changes and swings
in fashion and status over recent years,
Ealing has remained largely itself, with
a middle-class old guard, an enviable
Common and tree-lined spacious
streets that appeal to families.
Hoola, a name that was inspired by
the hoop-like architecture of its
rippling glass-clad twin towers, brings
360 flats to Royal Docks. The landscaped hill on which the towers are
built conceals car parking and cycle
spaces. Prices from £423,000. Call
Savills on 020 7531 2500.
From £423,000:
Hoola brings
360 flats to
Royal Docks.
A landscaped
hill conceals car
parking and
cycle spaces
UP-AND-COMING: IN ZONE 3
South: Ladywell, Hither
Green, Streatham,
Catford, Colliers Wood,
Honor Oak, Sydenham,
Crystal Palace, West
Norwood.
East: Canning Town,
Leytonstone, Forest Gate,
post-Olympics sunshine, sharing the
legacy benefits of the 2012 Games.
See for yourself by strolling down
Leyton High Road, where traditional
shopfronts have been revitalised with
a colourful facelift.
The A12 roars through the area, but
Leyton has the Lea Valley for a back
garden and also borders Hackney
Marshes and Wanstead Flats, among the
largest areas of open land in London.
Royal Docks, Manor Park,
Walthamstow.
North: Cricklewood,
Harlesden, Hornsey,
Tottenham, Park Royal.
West: White City, Acton,
Gunnersbury, Brentford,
Ealing.
Investment-wise, it looks a good bet.
The area is jam-packed with Victorian
and Edwardian terraces. Homes are
not always beautiful, but according to
one local estate agent they are “freakishly good value”, with lots in the
£400,000 to £650,000 price bracket.
Developers are targeting the area.
The Exchange, on Leyton High Road,
is a mix of apartments and houses
priced from £249,995. Call Bellway on
LEYTON: ‘FREAKISHLY
GOOD VALUE’
From £420,000: sought-after canalside flats at Ilan Square, Clapton Common
Spillover from Zone 2 East End areas,
such as Bethnal Green, where the average price is £528,608, has reached
Leyton, average price £321,217.
The area has no jazzy new skyscrapers or ritzy shopping centre to match
nearby Stratford, but it is basking in
From £575,000: The Cascades in Golders Green is a new scheme of 18 apartments
5
New homes Homes & Property
Smart move: Adam Connor bought an off-plan flat at Dickens Yard in 2013
‘I feel I’m in the heart of London’
01689 886400. Fine Old Leyton Town
Hall has been acquired, restored and
brought back to life after a period of
disuse by “community developer” Lee
Valley Estates. The listed building is
now a space for local businesses, while
its great hall is an events venue. The
borough’s former technical institute,
part of the building, houses a real ale
pub and 32 homes are being created.
Call 020 8808 4070. Meanwhile
The Wharf, on the banks of the River
Lea, is a development of 124 flats from
£345,000. Call 020 8533 4857.
GOOD-VALUE OPTIONS
Clapton has Ilan Square at Clapton
Common, a tasteful canalside scheme
of 38 homes. Two-bedroom flats cost
from £420,000. Call Savills on 020 7016
3743.
In north London, Golders Green —
average price £744,490 — is a cheaper
Zone 3 alternative to Hampstead and
Belsize Park.
Traditionally it has been a family area,
but with quick Northern line links to
Soho and the City, it is being discovered
by young singles and couples, according to estate agent Greene & Co.
The Cascades, with 18 apartments
priced from £575,000, is the latest
arrival. Call 020 7604 3200.
IN EALING, developers are bringing a
fresh ingredient: cool, town-centre
living, attracting young urbanites
from Fulham and Putney. With 698
flats set around new public squares
and pedestrianised lanes brought to
life with shops, restaurants, markets
and street theatre, Dickens Yard has
become a new town-centre hub. The
scheme integrates well with
surrounding heritage buildings,
including Ealing’s gothic-style town
hall, a Victorian church and a fine
Thirties fire station.
A smart early-bird buyer was Adam
Connor, 24. In 2013, he purchased a
one-bedroom apartment off-plan for
£250,000. Similar flats are now
selling for more than £400,000.
“It’s in Zone 3, but I feel I’m in the
heart of London. It really suits my
lifestyle. There’s a 24-hour concierge,
underground parking, a residentsonly spa and gym. Ealing is buzzing
with new shops and restaurants, and
Crossrail is the icing on the cake.”
Prices from £599,950. Call
St George on 020 8568 1100.
6
Homes & Property First time buyers
Village feel: shared-ownership flats at Camberwell Fields, left, while Camberwell Green, right, offers a lively urban mix
F
REQUENT trains, a growing
café culture and a nice mix of
bars and restaurants mean
that Camberwell can now
compete with its popular
neighbour, Brixton.
Camberwell’s house prices have shot
up 10 per cent in the past 12 months,
to an average of just under £500,000,
putting the south London district out
of the reach of many first-time buyers.
However, a new shared-ownership
scheme from Notting Hill Housing (nottinghillhousing.org.uk) could be a way
into this rapidly improving area.
Camberwell Fields, in Edmund
Street, has almost 100 shared-ownership flats for sale during 2015, with
prices starting at just shy of £100,000.
Wendy Gordon, sales manager at
Notting Hill, said the development’s
big plus point is its proximity to
Burgess Park, one of south London’s
best open spaces.
GOOD CONNECTIONS
Its downside is that to get to a train station means a bus ride or a 20-minute
walk. Once you have reached a station,
train services to central London are
excellent. Oval Tube station is served
by the Northern Line in Zone 2. To save
on fares, walk on to Elephant and
Castle, a one-and-half-mile trek, in Zone
1. Services from Denmark Hill Overground station take 10 minutes to Victoria and you could be at St Pancras in
20 minutes or London Bridge in 24.
Prices start at £95,625 for a 25 per
This gritty, arty area
in Zone 2 is growing
up fast as first-time
buyers bring in the
bistro life, reports
Ruth Bloomfield
But traders claim that gentrification of
the surrounding area is in danger of
driving them out.
Other local institutions include the
Blue Elephant Theatre, the South London Gallery, and — for those of a musical persuasion — the Camberwell Choir
School. Local restaurants run the
gamut from familiar Italian, Spanish
and Greek to Eritrean, west African and
Kyrgyz Kazakh, reflecting the area’s
cosmopolitan feel.
cent share of a one-bedroom flat, or
£143,000 for a 40 per cent share. The
full value of the property is £357,500.
For two-bedroom flats, with a full market value of between £440,000 and
£490,000, buyers can chose between
a 25 per cent share from £113,750 or a
40 per cent share from £139,500. There
are also some three-bedroom homes,
priced at £130,000 for a 25 per cent
share of a home worth £520,000. A
total of 64 homes are on offer, with 32
more due later in the year.
Camberwell has plenty to offer. “There
are lots of shops, including some mainstream supermarket brands, but the
real charm is the individual boutiquey
shops and cafés,” says Gordon. “It has
got a village feel even though it’s so close
to central London.”
East Street market is half a mile away,
and while this ancient market (it dates
from the 16th century) is probably not
the place for designer fashion or chi chi
street food, it’s great for basic clothes,
household goods, fruit and vegetables.
‘LOST OPPORTUNITY’
The jewel is Burgess Park, subject of a
recent £8 million facelift. The park was
established in the 1940s to bring a little
greenery to south London and is a great
success with a BMX track, tennis courts
and cricket pitches. There are community barbecue areas and a café, too.
An issue with Camberwell is its longterm reputation for crime. According
to the Metropolitan Police, its annual
crime rate stands at 8.65 per 1,000
population, around average for Southwark and just above average for London. It is lower than in other parts of
the borough.
While all new housing for young firsttime buyers in London is to be welcomed — and these flats will make great
starter homes — Camberwell Fields has
one notable weak spot, and that is its
design. The homes are laid out in rather
stark brick buildings, which show little
architectural flair or imagination. Gordon blames this on the local planning
authority, Southwark Council, and its
GETTY
Camberwell is full of promise
In the picture: the South London Gallery has become a crowd-pulling institution
desire for the development to blend
into the surrounding area. Inside, however, the flats feel modern and spacious
enough. “I would agree that it is not
our best architecture, but we were a
little bit restricted,” she says. Most buyers will certainly not be able to be too
picky about the external architecture
— but something about Camberwell
Fields feels like a lost opportunity.
7
W
I T H 236 high-rise
buildings planned for
the capital, most of
them residential, at
sites from Canary
Wharf to Blackfriars to Nine Elms,
London faces an ever-changing skyline
over the next few years.
Not even the recent fire at the Torch
skyscraper in Dubai can dent the
enthusiasm of the Mayor’s office, the
boroughs, developers and buyers for
lofty buildings.
This represents a remarkable volteface from the days when only council
blocks were high-rise, and blamed for
breaking up communities, spreading
loneliness, causing crime and stranding
elderly residents on high floors when
the lifts broke. Now, it seems, everyone
wants a high-rise flat to live in, or more
probably, to invest in.
POWERFUL CRITICS
The most high-profile critic of high-rise
has been Prince Charles, who last year
called for an end to the spread of
towers and a return to “human-scaled
streets, squares and parks”, plus midheight buildings the size of mansion
blocks. His intervention was dismissed
by Boris Johnson as “crazy”.
Harder to dismiss is Simon Jenkins,
the columnist and former Evening
Standard editor, who claims that each
new tower is a “blight” on the historic
character and community spirit of
London. Jenkins reserves particular ire
for the high-rise development of the
Royal Mail’s Mount Pleasant site,
approved by the Mayor in the face of
opposition from Islington and Camden
Councils, and in spite of a low-rise
option proposed by Create Streets.
But there are other surprising and
potent voices against the spread of
high-rise. Peter Rees, former chief
planner of the City of London, and now
Professor of Places and City Planning
at UCL, thought the buildings he had
overseen in the Square Mile, such as
the Gherkin, the Cheese Grater,
the Heron and the Walkie Talkie, were
wonderful. He claimed that tall
buildings were best kept in commercial
clusters where — as in Hong Kong or
Manhattan — space is limited and
demand is high.
Rees poured scorn on luxur y
residential developments where flats
are bought as investments. He foresees
Building up Homes & Property
believe high buildings must inevitably
be part of it. We need to develop the
capital more densely.
“This means building high-rise as well
as lower-rise homes,” says Peter
Murray, chairman of New London
Architecture. “London is a city of great
variety — let’s keep it that way, and have
areas of towers with the sort of vibrant
s t re e t l i f e a n d a m e n i t i e s t h a t
high-density can deliver — a touch of
Manhattan; and let’s have streets with
medium-rise buildings that provide
high-density homes like Paris or
Barcelona.”
Jane Duncan, president-elect of RIBA,
says: “Great tall buildings capture the
imagination, interest and affection of
architects and the public equally.”
Talking
TALL
Empty investments
or stylish homes
for Londoners?
High-rise must bring
quality not quantity,
says Nick Curtis
DISTINCT IDENTITY
them causing a new sort of loneliness
— a ghost town of empty lock-and-leave
properties. He is currently living in the
Heron Tower and tried to organise a
residents’ committee, but found that
25 per cent of the Heron’s flat owners
hadn’t picked up their keys 12 months
after buying. There was no need for an
extension of the Northern Line to the
buildings springing up around
Battersea Power Station. He added that
a single-decker bus could easily
accommodate all the people ever likely
to live in them. And Mary Jane Rooney,
director of Architecture at London
South Bank University, says that poor
planning and governance is leading to
a “pepperpotting” of substandard
skyscrapers across London.
“Don’t just leave the skyline to the
market,” she said.
MEET THE DEMAND
London needs densified housing,
particularly if its population rises from
its current record high of 8.3 million to
an anticipated 10 million by 2030.
Density can be achieved without
building high: architect Richard Rogers
has spoken of this, and Sir Terry
Farrell’s plan to redevelop the vast site
around Earls Court Exhibition Centre
for developer Capco is mostly the same
height as the mansion block, the unit
of scale favoured by Prince Charles.
But many interested parties, even
those charged with protecting the past
and future quality of the cityscape,
Sky’s the limit: Arrowhead Quay will soon have new towers of 50 and 55 storeys
Nigel Barker, English Heritage Planning
and Conservation Director for London,
says: “When advising on whether a
proposed tall building is acceptable,
English Heritage considers if it is in the
right location and is of excellent design
quality. We are not against all tall
buildings, we did not object to the
Gherkin or 100 Bishopsgate. Some tall
buildings that contribute positively to
the identity of London are now listed,
for example the BT Tower.”
Champions of tall buildings claim
they can give an area identity and even
improve the public realm.
Although the issue of privatelyowned, but notionally public, space is
a vexed one, both the Walkie Talkie and
the Cheese Grater have provided more
accessible and pleasing areas at their
bases (and at the top of the former)
than were there before.
Graham Stirk, of Rogers Stirk Harbour
+ Partners, says: “The opportunity to
build tall, as with the Leadenhall
Building, brings with it the possibility
to create grand, 21st century public
spaces that could not be achieved with
low-rise developments, in the financial
context of the City of London.”
Glenn Howells, whose practice is
building new towers of 50 and 55 storeys
at Arrowhead Quay in Canary Wharf, as
well as projects at the Royal Docks and
the mouth of the River Lea, says:
“Increasingly, cities are being defined
by taller buildings. Land values are
driving density. Excellent residential
tall buildings can be part of the tapestry
of a city’s identity.”
8
Homes & Property Interiors
Who wouldn’t want a walk-in wardrobe?
You have really made it to the top of the property ladder with a room just for your clothes, says Ruth Bloomfield
F
OR THE woman with too
little space to store all her
shoes, or the man in happy
possession of 50 Armani
suits, the advent of the
walk-in wardrobe-come-dressing
room is the answer to a truly
first world problem. No top-end
developer would market a property
without a dedicated space for
clothes. It’s a trend born in America,
fuelled by Carrie Bradshaw’s
overflowing trophy room in Sex and
the City, which has now firmly
crossed the Atlantic.
When heiress Tamara Ecclestone
was renovating a £47 million house in
Palace Green, Kensington, she
included a dressing room with a
mechanical handbag carousel, a
dedicated evening wear aisle to store
party outfits, and a cabinet lined with
Hermes leather for her sunglasses.
Back in the real world, Tina Mahony,
director of Go Modern (gomodern.
co.uk), recommends budgeting
between £600 and £800 a metre for
an Italian-made wardrobe with doors
that are either wooden, lacquered,
or, best of all, folding glass. This price
does not include fitting. “They are
amazing because you can see the
Personal touch:
Laura Hammett
designed the
luxury Hans
Crescent project,
next to Harrods,
for a private
client. Pictured
is an open
wardrobe
whole contents of your wardrobe at
once, and they are much lighter than
a normal wardrobe,” she says.
Another good point about walk-ins
is that they do not take forever to fit —
Mahony tells clients to allow between
half a day for a small wardrobe to two
days for a full-scale dressing room.
Interior designer Laura Hammett
(laurahammett.com) says that
walk-in wardrobes have become a
vital element of large London
houses; whether they work in smaller
properties, however, is a matter of
personal taste, since you may need to
forsake a bedroom to create an
all-singing, all-dancing number.
Sliding doors:
the Jesse
Plurimo walk-in
wardrobe with
all of the fittings
and doors (but
not including
installation)
is £8,150
“If you are doing up a property with
resale in mind, then I think it is fine to
go from five to four bedrooms. But if
you are at four bedrooms or less, then
it might not be the best way to go,”
says Hammett. “If you’re creating the
best home for you, then it is a matter
of what works best for you.”
The great benefit of going bespoke
is that your wardrobe can precisely
fit your lifestyle. You need to assess
what you need to store and make
sure you get the right balance of
hanging space, drawer space and
cupboards. Decide between hinged
Light fantastic:
shown here in
smooth off-white
synthetic veneer,
Go Modern’s
8emezzo Vanity
walk-in wardrobe
costs from
£7,860
(
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and sliding doors, mirrors can be
inbuilt, and tilted shelves for shoes
and boots are very practical.
At the very top end Joe Burns,
managing director of interior
designer/developer Oliver Burns
(oliverburns.com), says that his
clients are now demanding not one
but two dressing rooms — his and
hers. Despite this excess, Burns feels
that a more pared-down approach
can work well, too. “My own home is
more regular, but I have one in a
spare room,” he says. “It means my
wardrobe is organised and it takes
less time to get ready in the morning.
It is definitely time-efficient.”
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10
Homes & Property Shopping
DESIGN SPY
By Katie Law
IKEA ►
Recharge in style with IKEA’s new
range of wireless charging furniture
and lighting. Products include this
Riggad task lamp, £49, which
features integrated charging pads.
Available in Ikea stores from April 15
(ikea.com).
◄ MADE.COM
Shop for made.com products in the
flesh at its first showroom. There will
still be an online feel with to-scale
projections of pieces on the walls and
CloudTags handheld devices. This
Casa Estudio Memphis wool rug is
£279. Made.com, 100 Charing Cross
Road, WC2 (made.com).
THE PENTHOUSE
COLLECTION
LAUNCHING
18TH MARCH 2015
SCP ►
Richard Wood’s hand-painted
porcelain tree trunk vases, the
pattern resembling a cross between
wood grain and a zebra stripe,
£43 small/£76 large, are the latest
new pieces made by Wrong for Hay at
SCP (scp.co.uk/collections/).
ANTHROPOLOGIE ▲
Meet interior designer Kit Kemp and
see her debut furniture collection for
Anthropologie as part of the Kings
Road shop’s fifth birthday
celebrations. This bright orange
armchair is £898. Q&A (including
cocktails) with Kit takes place on
March 31, 6.30-8.30pm. It will be free
but ticketed by email: community@
anthropologie.eu
11
Shopping Homes & Property
TOM DIXON AT AMARA ▲
Glam up your desktop with copper
king Tom Dixon’s new range of rosy
metal office accessories. This cube
stapler is £42; there is also a pen £38,
tape dispenser £50, and a desk tidy
£50 (amara.com).
LAKELAND ►
Upmarket appliance company
KitchenAid has turned its attention to
coffee-making and come up with the
super-stylish Artisan espresso
machine, which includes a frothing
arm and comes in red, cream, silver
or black. £309 (lakeland.co.uk).
WEGNER ►
THE PENTHOUSE
COLLECTION
This multifunctional,
collapsible
tray table
was originally
designed by
Hans J Wegner
in 1970, but
never went
into proper
production.
Now it has and
is perfect for
London homes.
£469 plus VAT
(carlhansen.
com).
LAUNCHING
18TH MARCH 2015
JOIN US FOR
THE LAUNCH OF
OUR EXQUISITE
COLLECTION
OF PENTHOUSE
APARTMENTS AT
FETTER LANE EC4
PRICES FROM £2,200,000
REQUEST YOUR
INVITATION TO THE
EVENT BY CALLING
JLL ON
0203 675 0677
SELLING AGENTS
NORMANN COPENHAGEN ▲
Is this the perfect chair? According to
Danish design company Normann
Copenhagen, the Form chair
combines everything you need to sit
pretty. The studio has taken three
years to develop the final version
■Twitter: @JKatieLaw
using a moulded plastic shell on a
wooden base. Available as a chair,
armchair, as shown above, or bar
stool from £180-£200 in six colours —
black, white, grey, blue, green, red
(normann-copenhagen.com).
STDUNSTANSCOURT.COM
12
Homes & Property A change of scene
Make it
work
Buy a B&B: Norfolk’s best-known tearoom/B&B, the Church Gate, is in Castle Acre, left, £620,000;
five-bedroom Bealach House, Argyll, £495,000, with eight acres (homesandproperty.co.uk/bandb)
Take bed and
breakfast
upmarket
and make a
profit, says
Cathy Hawker
GODALMING
TANNER HOUSE
An exclusive collection of luxurious 1, 2 & 3 bedroom apartments,
situated in a prime position within Godalming town centre
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Prepared: Julian and Katy, and Callater Lodge, inset
R
UNNING a bed and breakfast
is one way to profit from
property. Using your home
to provide an income could
be a way to jack in the day
job, say goodbye to the commute and
make a new move.
Of course, welcoming strangers into
your home is not straightforward.
There are regulations to observe and
new skills to perfect, from marketing
to cooking the Full English. Anyone
who runs a successful B&B will tell you
that it involves hard graft and antisocial hours, all while being endlessly
welcoming and keeping one eye on the
latest TripAdvisor write-up.
Julian and Katy Fennema were well
prepared when they took on Callater
Lodge, an established B&B with six
bedrooms in Braemar in Cairngorms
National Park.
Years of careful planning, including
work experience in hospitality and,
sensibly, a thorough business plan,
meant that the main surprise for them
has been the kindness of their guests.
MAKING IT A SUCCESS
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Beyond your expectations
Train based on quickest journeys from Godalming to Waterloo. Source: nationalrail.co.uk. Distance to Guildford
sourced from Google Maps. Exterior shot is a CGI and interior photography is from a previous Prime Place development.
With design-savvy customers fully
clued up about thread-count, B&B
owners need to aim high. The best
B&Bs have been steadily upping their
game, becoming more like boutique
hotels than the soulless boarding
houses of yesteryear.
Location remains vital. “It is crucial
to consider year-round income and not
just rely on summer tourism,” advises
David King of Winkworth.
“For example, we are selling a successful B&B in Wiltshire. Tourists come
because it is close to Stonehenge and
Salisbury; but nearby Porton Down
means that it also has a regular Ministry
of Defence clientele.”
Knight Frank also reports more buyers looking for homes with an income
stream around Oxford, a city with good
potential for B&B operators.
“Science parks, teaching hospitals
and the university provide plenty of
weekday visitors as well as weekend
tourists to the city,” says Damian Gray
of Knight Frank Oxford.
‘DO YOUR HOMEWORK
AND MITIGATE RISKS’
JULIAN and Katy, 39 and
37, were living outside
Edinburgh, but both eager
for a lifestyle change. He
was a consultant in energy
economics while she was a
professional musician with
the Royal Scottish National
Orchestra.
“We saw the opportunity
to run a small guesthouse
as a way to live among the
hills and mountains we
love,” says Katy.
They considered more
than 100 properties, visited
40, and had meetings with
architects and surveyors
before they found 150year-old Callater Lodge.
“Some options wouldn’t
support our business
model and others had no
room for us,” says Katy.
The day before they
married in June 2014, they
signed on Callater Lodge
and plunged into their
new life. Not afraid to
increase their workload, in
November they closed to
renovate, re-opening for
New Year’s Eve.
Leaving secure jobs and
investing all their money in
the business meant there
was much at stake.
“Any change of job is a
step into the unknown,”
says Julian, who has a
PhD in economics. “You
mitigate the risks and do
your homework. After
detailed planning, it’s
great to embark on
second careers.”
The couple haven’t had a
holiday yet, but however
busy they are, Katy tries to
escape for a daily run in the
hills with Mac and Finnian,
her springer spaniels.
“We are shattered, but
couldn’t be happier,” she
concludes.
“We’re where we want to
be, working together and
hosting wonderful guests.”
O callaterlodge.co.uk;
013397 41275. Rates from
£40 per person per night
B&B MEANS BIG BUSINESS
O There are 25,000 B&Bs
and guesthouses in the UK
with typically between one
and 10 bedrooms.
O The UK’s B&B industry
turns more than £2 billion
each year and Barclays
Bank predicts spending
will increase by 25 per cent
by 2017. The recession and
changing holiday trends
have helped many welllocated B&Bs to thrive as
more of us take short
breaks and opt for a
‘staycation’ holiday closer
to home.
O Practicalities include
informing your local
council, mortgage lender
and insurance provider of
the change of use of your
home. Also, register with
the Environmental Health
Department and arrange a
fire risk assessment.
O More information from
Bed and Breakfast
Academy at bedand
breakfastacademy.co.uk.
13
Abroad Homes & Property
DESIGN DESTINATION:
ISTANBUL
T
HANKS to Istanbul’s
Design Biennial, started
in 2012, Turkey’s largest
city has now become a
must-visit destination for
London’s design junkies on a long
weekend break. New life is being
breathed into the historic centre,
with ancient buildings being
refurbished for a rising generation of
hip young designers opening up
shops and workshops all over the
city. Here are the highlights.
WHAT TO SEE
Get into history at the Hagia Sophia,
the Blue Mosque, the Topkapi Palace
and the Grand Bazaar, which are in
the same area and will give you a
flavour of why Istanbul is so magical.
The Museum of Innocence:
Created by the author Orhan Pamuk,
this attraction is a tiny jewel of a
place inspired by his novel of the
same name. It’s a cabinet of curiosities on an astonishing scale, intimate
and grand at the same time, with
each object displayed in beautiful
vitrine cases directly relating to the
Splendour: a seven-year restoration at the Kilic Ali Pasa
Hamami (spa) has revealed its original magnificence
Find style ideas aplenty in designer Istanbul
Look no further than this gem of a city for cool décor ideas, says Katie Law
characters in the novel, while also
evoking the Istanbul of the second
half of the 20th century. Fascinating.
Entry £7. (masumiyetmuzesi.org).
WHERE TO SHOP
Turkey is not cheap, but it is
affordable. The area of Beyoglu
behind the Galata Tower is the best
hunting ground for home design.
Walk along Serdar-i Ekrem street,
visiting Archive for ceramic and
glassware (around £10-£15);
Aphorm for hand-crafted accessories, marble candlesticks, stationery
and pottery (from £20) and Nyks for
hand-made scented candles (from
£15) in sleek glass and copper
holders. Then round the corner to
The area of
Beyoglu
behind the
Galata
Tower is
the best
hunting
ground for
home
design
Hamm at 71 Bogazkesen street for
marble and wood chopping boards
(£12), brass trays, black and white
ceramics; and finally to Hiç at Luleci
Hendek Sokak 35 (hiccrafts.com)
for gorgeous Iznik-inspired cushions
and cool ceramics.
WHERE TO STAY
The Vault House Hotel: the latest in
the House Hotel chain, Vault Karakoy
is in the up-and-coming financial
district on Bankalar Caddesi.
The former bank has been transformed into a medium-sized hotel.
Ask for a room with a view overlooking the Topkapi Palace. Rooms
from £70 plus eight per cent tax.
(thehousehotel.com).
The Kilic Ali Pasa Hamami: after a
seven-year restoration project, the
original late-16th century building
has been stripped back — just as you
will be — to its original splendour,
with sparkling new marble slabs.
Prepare to be rubbed down,
exfoliated and emerge with skin as
soft as a newborn baby. Women 8am4pm; men 4.30pm-10.30pm. From
£37. (kilicalipasahamami.com).
NEED TO KNOW
Turkish visas can be bought online
for £10 (evisa.gov.tr). HeathrowIstanbul Ataturk from £180 return
with Turkish Airlines. The next
Istanbul Design Biennial takes place
in Autumn 2016.
Stylish: a sofa and Maze table from the new Union furniture
collection by Istanbul-based design practice Autoban
14
Homes & Property Restoration
Family ties:
Horace Walpole,
son of powerful
Sir Robert, in a
1754 portrait,
right, by John
Giles Eccardt
Former glory:
the restored
hall, left, shows
off Walpole’s
extravagant
tastes
A
Final phase:
the end of the
renovation saw
the revival of
three private
rooms, including
Walpole’s
Breakfast Room
All in the detail:
this view of the
Red Bedchamber
shows off the
fireplace, with
its elaborate
carvings
S THE dew dries on
T w i c ke n h a m’s b a c k
gardens, the sun sparkles
on a fairytale Gothic palace
spun out of snowy sugar
that appears to have landed like an
alien in Strawberry Hill, just west of
Richmond. It is so crisp, with towers,
turrets and battlements, that you
expect a medieval jouster to trot round
the corner, lance in hand, or a damsel
in a cone headdress to peer from a
stained glass window.
Which is precisely the effect its owner
wanted. For this was the magical home
on water meadows that once led all the
way to the river, designed and built by
Horace Walpole, son of famous and
powerful Sir Robert, to this day
Britain’s longest-serving prime minister
from 1721 to 1742.
Despite once being the most writtenabout house in the country, Strawberry
Hill fell into disrepair. In the Nineties it
languished on the At Risk register,
riddled with dry rot. Now, after 15 years’
work and more than £10 million
funding, some from the Heritage
Lottery, this extraordinary place has
been restored to its breathtaking former
glory. The final, five-year phase,
restoring the private rooms that were
never open to the public before now,
has just been completed.
A prolific letter writer and novelist
(The Castle of Otranto was the first
Gothic novel), Horace Walpole (17171797) was ahead of his time.
The vividness of his colourful
imagination pre-dated the preRaphaelites: if the Lady of Shalott had
a home, this would be it.
Born with a big silver spoon in his
mouth, aged 22 Horace went on the
Grand Tour, where he revelled in
French medieval architecture. Back in
Our fairytale
Strawberry Hill, the magical home of literary
giant Horace Walpole, has been restored to its
former glory, reports Philippa Stockley
England in 1745, he inherited his
father’s estate, and in 1749 bought
Chopp’d Straw Hall in Twickenham, a
rustic five-acre plot with a couple of
cottages on it. Over the next 30 years
he proceeded to build Strawberry Hill
House which, in his 4,000 letters, he
referred to as his ‘little Gothic castle’.
NEW SPRING
COLLECTIONS
Bet you’d rather be here.
Beds, Furniture, Mattresses, Bedding,
Bed Linen and Accessories
180-182,
Maxwell
Road
Fulham
| Chiswick
| East
Sheen
Beaconsfield,
Bucks,
HP9
1QX
Tottenham Court Road | Hampstead
01494 673999
Kingston |Tel:
Hammersmith
| Chingford
www.featherandblack.com
15
Restoration Homes & Property
Back to life: the
house, left, was
on a register of
buildings
officially at risk,
due to the extent
of its disrepair
housekeeper showed the plebs around.
What’s exciting about this final phase of
restoration is that we can now see
Horace’s private rooms. Here, in three
various bedrooms — plus the purplepainted Holbein Room (once hung with
Holbeins, both real and traced), the
Breakfast Room, and the tiny greenflocked writing room off it (called the
closet, which was hugger-mugger with
more than 100 pictures) — his taste was
very different.
All was done in the craze of the day
— flock wallpaper in searingly strong
blues, golds, greens and crimsons, and
plumply overstuffed sofas. Visually it
looks more 1880 than 1780. But then,
Horace was a trailblazer.
In the Holbein Room, the walls were
not flocked, but painted a pulsing,
ecclesiastical mauve made by mixing
blue verditer with cochineal, while one
bedroom is pure blue verditer, a copper
oxide that imitates costly lapis lazuli.
Teams of restorers, paint analysts,
carvers and painters slaved to recreate
these vibrant colours. Pedro da Costa
Felgueiras, from Lacquer Studios,
mixed sample after sample, until they
matched tiny scrapes of original
colours. The flock wallpapers (which
can’t legally be made in England any
more because of the health risks of
production), were done using handmade Irish paper flocked to the original
strident colour schemes in America.
This magnificent building, as close a
thing to a unicorn as you will ever see
roaming these meadows, is definitely
worth a ride.
Delicate touch:
this bedroom
ceiling, right, is
an apt example
of the ornate
carvings that
are a feature of
the house
Souvenirs: the
Breakfast Room
has windows
adorned with
stained glass,
some of it
collected by
Walpole on his
various travels
Photographs:
Kilian
O’Sullivan
Get the look
palace spun out of snowy sugar
During its loving and lavi sh
construction, it acquired fan vaulting,
decorative fretwork and fabulous
trompe-l’œil faux carving.
For the overall mood, Horace and
his friend, architect John Chute, were
inspired by c athedrals such as
Westminster and Lourdes. Fire
surrounds were ornately carved and
then painted to look like Portland
stone; the ceilings were plastered,
then decorated with complex patterns
of lath and papier-mâché, some with
gilding on top.
The windows were adorned with bits
of stained glass, some of it royal,
collected on Horace’s travels.
B o t h t h e i m p o r t a n t g a l l e r y,
gloriously red and gold, and the
library, are stunning Gothic follies in
their own right. The central staircase
is a masterpiece of original carving,
each newel post topped by an antelope
whose eyes follow you as you mount,
rising up to four clover-leaf clerestories
in the dome at the top.
Outside Horace’s own bedroom
hangs a suite of armour that he
claimed was medieval jousting
armour, but in fact was made up of
LOAFINGLY LOVELY FURNITURE
bits and bobs cobbled together from
the Civil War. This, too, has been
recreated. Into this rich setting, Horace
crammed hundreds of paintings and
furniture, particularly ornately-carved
ebony, and entertained politicians,
poets and royalty. He also allowed four
members of the public to visit each day
(though no children) — often retiring
to a cottage in the grounds while his
O Flock wallpapers by Adelphi Paper
Hangings at adelphipaperhangings.
com (USA)
O Hand-made paper by Griffen Mill
at griffenmillhandmadepaper.com
O Stained glass by the Cathedral
Studios at stained-glass-studio.org.uk
O Architectural carving by Ben
Harms at mastercarvers.co.uk, and
Royal Warrant holder Ray Dudman at
thomasrestorations.com
O Lead paints hand mixed by Pedro
da Costa Felgueiras at Lacquer
Studios, lacquerstudios.com
Strawberry Hill House is at
268 Waldegrave Road, TW1
(strawberryhillhouse.org.uk)
20
Homes & Property Design
From Hampstead Heath to Wimbledon Common, every Londoner
is in easy reach of a walk in the woods. The city’s eight million trees
make it the world’s greatest urban forest with 13,000 species of
wildlife from bats to badgers. No wonder designers are inspired…
By Barbara Chandler
Design trends
goes into the woods
◄ ON WALLS
In the heart of the New Forest at
Ringwood in Hampshire, you’ll find
Linwood Fabrics, a third-generation
firm now headed by twins Barny and
Warrick Gloyn. Their chief designer,
Ella Richards, has taken mature
English trees from the woods and put
them on to a wallpaper in the
parkland setting of an English
country house. The resulting pattern
seems to grow its way up the wall.
Park Life wallpaper, from the Art
House collection, costs £75 for a
10-metre roll. To find a local stockist,
visit linwoodfabric.com
► ON PLATES
Award-winning Finnish artist Klaus
Haapaniemi has set up shop in
Shoreditch (81 Redchurch Street, E2).
Here you will find Tanssi bone china
and accessories (Tanssi means
‘dance’ in Finnish). Made by Iittala,
it’s a fantasy of woodland creatures
inspired by The Cunning Little Vixen,
a Leoš Janácek opera — Haapaniemi
recently designed costumes and sets
for a Helsinki show. Prices start at £13
for a tin. A large mug is £17.50, and a
27cm plate is £28; klaush.com. Also at
Skandium, 245-249 Brompton Road,
SW3; 020 7584 2066; skandium.com
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KING’S CROSS
ON A NEW LEVEL
21
Design Homes & Property
► ON CUSHIONS
Redloh House Fabrics (2 Michael
Road, SW6), a co-operative of 12
textile designers with a quiet
showroom five minutes from Kings
Road, includes Rapture & Wright,
which handprints in Gloucestershire
on linen from Scotland. Its new
project is a woodland “alphabet” of
picture prints. The first is D for deer,
as shown. There’s also W for wolf
with more coming soon. Cushions
are 50cm sq, £65 each, to include a
feather pad. Call 020 7371 7787 or
visit redlohhousefabrics.com
► ON WALLPAPER
All-time forest favourite of decorators
everywhere is this classic ‘woodsy’
wallpaper, in constant production at
Cole & Son since 1958. Now it has
been updated with a sprinkling of
charming stars from a 19th century
block print from Cole’s archives.
Choose one of seven colours, from
cool neutrals and metallic gleams to
midnight blue and inky black. Cost
£78 for a 10-metre roll, see it at
London Design Week at Cole & Son,
10G, Design Centre Chelsea Harbour,
SW10 (until Friday). Call 020 8442
8844 or visit cole-and-son.com
► ON FURNITURE
Young designer Sebastian Cox makes
his strong and light Hewn stool from
ash (for the top) and coppiced
Kentish hazel. The tapered legs are
hand-hewn to a taper to show the
pink-tinged raw wood. Wedges hold
them in place. Price is £190 (40cm
high). Visit the workshop in SE18 by
appointment or call 020 8316 6579;
sebastiancox.co.uk
◄ ON SHELVES
From tiny pine cones do mighty
libraries grow. These resin bookends
are priced at £29.95 (22cm high).
Visit adventino.co.uk
28
Homes & Property Home from home
homesandproperty
Design innovators: Rohan Silva, left, and Sam Aldenton want Second Home to provide a safe haven for small businesses
Business mixed with
PLEASURE
They say no one ever went to their deathbed
wishing they’d spent more time in the office.
Phillipa Stockley visits a revolutionary
new London workplace — that is to die for
Foodie heaven:
the Jago
restaurant is run
by former
Ottolenghi head
chef Louis Solley
T
AKE two young entrepreneurs
— one, Rohan Silva, 34, David
Cameron’s former top technology adviser, the other Sam
Aldenton, 31, with expertise
in making public space work — and get
them on a mission to shake up the look
and feel of working in a small business.
Next, hire José Selgas and Lucía Cano,
the white-hot architecture duo designing
this summer’s Serpentine Pavilion, to
rip apart a boring concrete office
building in east London and refit it with
huge splashes of dazzling orange and
rapeseed yellow. Then throw in 600 different mid-century modern chairs and
lamps, and 1,000 hydroponic plants and
trees, plus a springy pure wool carpet.
Give the place a restaurant with former
Ottolenghi head chef Louis Solley on the
burners and, finally, add superfast
broadband, before leasing space, divided
by transparent, curvaceous plexiglass,
to 31 fledgling companies — and bingo,
you’ve just invented Second Home.
New type of
workspace:
the fledgling
companies are
separated by
transparent
plexiglass, above,
while homely
domestic wool
blue carpet runs
through the
building, left
FUN PLACE TO BE
The minute you see the cigar-shaped café
cantilevered over the pavement on the
front of the once bog-standard Seventies
block, with young saplings all along its
side and a stream of arty people going
in and out of the futuristic doors controlled by a pulley, you know it’ll be fun to
be here. That feeling increases once
inside the airy two-storey space that,
until last summer, was a nondescript
building minding its own business.
Second Home’s design is (as its name
implies) deliberately modern-homey,
even down to the duck egg blue domestic carpet, chosen from a high street
shop, used for the walkways.
From the start, Rohan and Sam had big
plans. They met in 2011, introduced by
Rohan’s wife, Kate, who’d worked with
Sam at Shuffle (which aims to make public
spaces work better). Rohan was still at
Number 10, which he’d leave in 2013, looking for a new challenge. So the pair sat
down and discussed what they could do.
“We all talk about the housing crisis,”
says Rohan, “but there’s an even bigger
crisis for small businesses. The only
place for them to go is the equivalent of
a tatty bedsit, but we’re saying there’s a
better way to go — and in the future we
want to do residential spaces, too.”
Rohan claims this is a golden age for
entrepreneurs: “Last year, more businesses started up than any other year.
Small businesses have gone from
29
Home from home Homes & Property
y.co.uk with
700,000 in the Seventies to 5.1 million
today. Yet, all my friends who run companies were frustrated by what the City
was serving up in terms of offices.”
Sam, who looks after the design side of
things, says that for small start-ups,
working around similar groups of people
is more inspiring. Similarly, spaces with
cultural bolt-ons, such as galleries or
activities and a fun, well-designed environment, also make a big difference.
So the pair decided on a design-led
office space. Then luck stepped in, for
the aunt and uncle of Sam’s fiancée,
Isabel, just happened to be José Selgas
and Lucía Cano.
SelgasCano is known throughout
Europe for using modern materials,
particularly glass and acrylic and bright
colours. Second Home is their first work
in the UK, and the Serpentine Pavilion
will be their first new-build. But, as Sam
points out, the design they came up with
for Second Home is closer to their own
home than anything they’ve done so far
— and, as he’s almost related to them, he
should know. Sam and Rohan rented the
square building, which was on four
floors with a solid back wall, and Selgas-
Cano came up with the designs early last
year. The designs went to the planners
in May 2014, were passed without a quibble, and went onsite in June. All the work
was done by November.
One amazing room now has a table
shaped like a Scalextric track that lifts
up into the ceiling on mechanised
pulleys. This room is for ‘roaming’ workers. Another smaller room is called the
Hanging Gardens, with a palm tree and
hanging plants. In this calm oasis you
cannot use mobiles or computers.
The architects not only proposed the
bold café cantilevered on the front, but
also knocked out the whole back wall
and replaced it with glass. They also put
in a mezzanine floor, making lots more
studio space.
“The day before we opened,” says Sam,
“we were here with the architects, running about, moving things. We had our
Marigolds on, wiping things down.”
Rohan says he left government to get
his hands dirty — but he didn’t realise
how dirty.
“The architects still come back every
two weeks and move chairs around. It’s
a real family affair.”
Get the look
O Second Home
plans to open
the two top
floors in 2016
and is looking
for more
properties
in London
(secondhome.
io)
Photographs:
Charles Hosea
O Architects: SelgasCano
(selgascano.net)
O Royal pure wool carpet from
Westex Carpets at westexcarpets.co.uk
O 600 chairs and tables from all over
the place, including eBay, Brussels
Design Fair, and the junk shops of
Croydon
O Trees planted outside (all different)
from Barcham tree specialists at
barcham.co.uk
O Poured resin floors from monofloor.
com
O Curtains from Danish textile company
Kvadrat at kvadrat.dk
Eat the look
O Jago restaurant run by third partner,
Hugo Thurston. Find details at
jagorestaurant.com
O Coffee from the Workshop Coffee
Company at workshopcoffee.com
O Handmade artisanal cheeses from
androuet.co.uk
O Bagels from Beigel Bake at 159, Brick
Lane, E1 (020 7729 0616)
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32
Homes & Property Outdoors
Colour sensation
Plant bulbs now
for colour every
month of summer
them in much the same way as begonias, by settling each tuber, which looks
like an ugly cluster of roots, into its own
large plastic pot of multi-purpose compost. Keep it moist, either in a greenhouse or on a sunny windowsill, and
the dead-looking woody stump at soillevel will soon start to shoot.
The choice is dazzling, from enormous dinner plate dahlias, such as
luscious pale peach Café au Lait to
small, neat pompom varieties, such as
burgundy Dark Spirit. Some, like
peony-flowered, cream Classic Swan
Lake, or the scarlet Bishop of Llandaff,
have the bonus of dark bronze and
chocolate foliage.
Pattie
Barron
PINEAPPLE AND PEPPERMINT
Play the tuber: Begonia boliviensis
Red is an ideal choice for a basket
O For outdoor events this month, visit
homesandproperty.co.uk/events
O Garden queries? Email our RHS expert
at [email protected]
At about the same time as the dahlia,
the pineapple plant puts in an appearance, displaying its spectacular two- to
three-foot spikes studded with starry
flowers and topped with a pineapplestyle tuft, to be followed by equally
dramatic seed heads. If you want a
curiosity among your containers, Eucomis is the easy-to-grow bulb for you.
Eucomis bicolor is palest peppermint
green, while Sparkling Burgundy has
deep-pink flowers crowding burgundy
stems and strappy leaves.
Nerines delight in September and
bloom until November. The trick is to
plant the bulbs just below ground level,
in a sunny, well-drained spot, ideally
against a south-facing wall. Little effort,
big dividends.
GAP PHOTOS/VISIONS
It is hard to believe that the small,
rounded tubers of begonias can
produce, in a matter of weeks, possibly
summer’s most prolific container
displays that will keep high-kicking
for months. Just coax them into action
now in pots of moist compost and,
when the tubers start to sprout sturdy
leaves, plant them into pots, hanging
baskets and window boxes, where the
flowers can, and will, cascade.
If begonia’s typically big and blowsy
blooms are too full-on for you, try a
subtler species, such as bertinii, which
will produce literally hundreds of hanging four-petalled scarlet flowers from
just one tuber.
Now that breeders are producing
gladioli in sumptuous shades of velvety
deep reds through to violet, these flamboyant flowers are in high demand,
especially for a cutting patch. Plum
Tart, a deep magenta, is currently the
garden designers’ gladioli of choice,
and looks sensational among the acid
green of euphorbia. Dare to wave a
gladdy or three this summer by planting the corms three-to-four inches deep
in a sunny spot, next month, and keep
planting every few weeks through summer for a succession of stand-out,
stand-up flower spikes.
Dahlias are peerless in injecting
pizzazz by the bucketful to the late
summer lacklustre border or for revving up a jaded container display. Raise
Trumpet fanfare: bulbs of lily Golden Splendour produce fabulous blooms
GAP PHOTOS/FRIEDRICH STRAUSS
BEGIN WITH BEGONIAS
GAP PHOTOS/NEIL HOLMES
B
URY a bulb in the ground
right now and watch it shoot
up to become a star turn this
summer. What could be
easier? Buy three fat lily
bulbs — they should feel damp to the
touch and have plenty of scales on
them — and sink them several inches
deep into a big pot of John Innes No 2
Compost. Top the surface with grit,
keep an eye out for the red lily beetle
(knock it off and crush it underfoot if
you spot one) and, come July, tall stems
of large perfumed flowers will appear.
You won’t be disappointed, especially
if you choose sublime, classic beauties
such as snow-white Casa Blanca, freckled rich pink Star Gazer or yellow
trumpet-flowered Golden Splendour.
Bag a few bulbs of Lilium speciosum
var. rubrum, with speckled pink petals
that are curved back like tiger lilies,
and you can continue the sensational
display through August, too.
Late bloomer: the spider-like flowers of nerines thrive in warm, sunny spots
34
Homes & Property New homes
By David Spittles
Smart
moves
Sail into a
new home
Nothing Common about
Clapham’s Crescent House
WHEREVER you live in
Clapham you are close to
the Tube, one reason why
the area appeals to West
End and City-bound
young professionals.
Another reason is the
22-acre Common, which
offers respite from the
traffic that cuts through
the district.
Crescent House has the
right address — as you
might expect from the
T
WO GIANT reservoirs in
Stoke Newington are a
sporting heaven for the
local community, offering
sailing, canoeing and
other watersports, while the original
filter house is now a café. A nature
reserve with a “trim trail” for joggers
has also been created.
Looming over this watery expanse
is Aqua, comprising two low-rise
blocks with 33 big-windowed flats.
Prices from £425,000. Call Fairview
New Homes on 0808 2716525.
New River runs alongside the
reservoirs, and nearby Clissold Park
has two ornamental lakes. Little
wonder this Zone 2 neighbourhood
former HQ of the Post
Office Workers’ Union.
Moments from Clapham
Common Tube, the grand
crescent-shaped building
dates from the Thirties.
It has an imposing
manor house-style
entrance plus a carriage
driveway and rear
gardens. Galliard is
creating 36 apartments
priced from £699,000.
Call 020 7620 1500.
)
From £450,000:
the Woodberry
Down luxury
development
overlooking the
reservoirs,
above, and the
interior of an
apartment, left
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New homes Homes & Property
Country feel in
leafy Wimbledon
For more fabulous
homes, visit our
new website
HomesAndProperty.co.uk/luxury
is so popular with young families.
Meanwhile, Woodberry Down,
overlooking the reservoirs, is
fast becoming smart. This
redevelopment of a council estate
will eventually have 4,600 new
homes — a mix of private and
rented properties. Apartments in
new phase Skyline, a smart 30-storey
tower offering views across the
water towards the City, cost from
£455,000 to £1.17 million. Call
Berkeley Homes on 020 7078 0509.
Genesis Housing Association is
selling two-bedroom sharedownership flats priced from £103,375
for a 25 per cent share (full price,
£413,500). Call 033 3000 4000.
LEAFY and leisurely, smart and
prosperous, Wimbledon is the
countryside in London, with a
charming village centre and a vast,
wonderful common that stretches to
Putney Vale.
Houses and luxury apartments
bordering this semi-wooded expanse
command the highest prices.
New developments are quite rare
and tend to be small infill schemes or
one-off houses, making Wimbledon
Hill Park, a scheme of 94 homes in
25 acres of grounds, somewhat
special. The walled estate, formerly
Atkinson Morley Hospital, has a mix
of traditional and contemporary
architectural styles. The luxury
interiors would not be out of place in
Chelsea or Kensington, and residents
can make use of concierge services,
gym and residents’ club.
Show homes are open for viewing.
Prices from £1.15 million. Call
Nearby Marryat Place, above,
has six substantial semis, up to
3,534sq ft, with a double-height
entrance atrium and huge open-plan
super-rooms opening onto a garden.
Prices from £2.8 million. Call
PERFECT COMMUTE HORSHAM
IT CAN be quicker getting to your
workplace in central London from a
home counties market town than from
some Zone 3 or 4 addresses in the
capital. And if you don’t mind a onehour train ride each way, you can save
£380,000 on the cost of a property,
according to a new Lloyds Bank study.
Homes in south-east towns that are
a 60-minute commute to central
London typically cost 59 per cent less
than properties in Zones 1 and 2,
where most people work. Horsham in
West Sussex is one such place. Midway
between London and Brighton, it
offers a 55-minute journey to Victoria
and quick access to the countryside
and coast.
St Irvyne’s is part of a new village
settlement called Wickhurst Green,
with homes ranging from cottages
to detached five-bedroom houses.
Prices from £340,000. Call developer
Countryside on 01403 242142.
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40
Homes & Property Property searching
A
£3.2 MILLION
An open-plan, five-bedroom
loft-style penthouse at Chiswick
Green Studios (John D Wood).
O homesandproperty.co.uk/chisstu
C T O N i s s a n dw i c h e d
between its more affluent
neighbours, Chiswick and
Ealing, and gets its name
from the Anglo-Saxon
words for oak and town. In the 19th
century the area became famous for
its laundries and was known as Soapsuds Island. Later in the 20th century
it was dubbed Motor Town because of
the automotive factories built in Acton
Vale and Park Royal. In 1932 it was
estimated that Acton’s motor businesses employed 5,400 people.
Today Acton is a largely residential
area in west London with a busy town
centre along Uxbridge Road.
SPARKING A REVIVAL
£895,000
This three-bedroom, semi-detached
house in Bollo Lane, W4, with a loft
ripe for conversion (Barnard Marcus).
O homesandproperty.co.uk/bollo
£700,000
A newly-built four-bedroom house
in King Edwards Place, W3, with a
patio terrace (Orchards of London).
O homesandproperty.co.uk/kep
£369,950
This intriguing one-bedroom
townhouse with an open-plan living
room/kitchen is in Burlington
Mews, W3 (Aston Rowe).
O homesandproperty.co.uk/burl
Long overlooked, Acton is on the up.
The sprawling South Acton estate,
home to more than 5,000 people, is
being rebuilt; Acton’s shabby town
centre has a new leisure centre; the old
library is about to get a new Curzon
cinema; the empty Edwardian town
hall will be converted into flats; and the
Oaks Shopping Centre will soon be
redeveloped, while away from the town
centre Churchfield Road has become
a place where independent shops and
cafés are flourishing.
Estate agent Joseph Murphy, from
Orchards, says he’s seen big changes
over the past few years, especially
along Churchfield Road, which now
offers new cafés, two pubs serving
good food, a florist and a new wine bar.
There is even a rumour that Starbucks
is looking for premises.
The area attracts: families looking for
a home, who a few years ago would not
have considered moving to Acton, are
seeing the changes and are swapping
flats in more expensive districts for
houses in the area.
Who stays: families tend to stay in the
area while their children are at school,
but often downsize once their offspring
have left for university.
Postcodes: W3 is the Acton postcode.
The Acton Green area bet ween
South Acton train station and Chiswick
Park Tube station is in the W4 Chiswick
postcode.
Spotlight Acton
Motor Town
slips into gear
This corner of west London, once home to
car building, is now a Crossrail beneficiary
and family hotspot, says Anthea Masey
HAVE YOUR SAY ACTON
@MarvicTextiles
We like #sushi from Yo Yo Kitchen
opposite West Acton Tube station.
@shepbushbabe
Laveli’s Bakery for coffee and delish
pastries. Churchfield Road.
@Ginytonic
Fields coffee shop in Churchfield Road
has the best coffee in addition to
freshly made home cooked food daily
@gravesendalex
In no particular order: Park+Bridge,
Vindinista, Aeronaut, Dragonfly
Brewery, W3 Gallery, plus Everyone
Active swimming pool.
Best roads: Rosemont Road, off Horn
Lane, where there are some large
detached Victorian houses, and Birch
Grove in West Acton, where there are
large semi-detached Edwardian
houses.
Up-and-coming: Orchards says that
Acton’s two-bedroom flats are still
undervalued.
OPEN SPACES
NEXT WEEK: Canning Town.
Do you live there? Tell us what
you think @HomesProperty
Close to East Acton Tube, near Wormwood Scrubs prison and Hammersmith
Hospital in the Old Oak and Wormholt
conservation area, there is a small garden suburb built by the London County
To find a home in Acton, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/acton
For more about Acton, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/spotlightacton
F
41
Property searching Homes & Property
CHECK THE STATS
■WHAT HOMES COST:
BUYING IN ACTON
(Average prices)
One-bedroom flat £333,000
Two-bedroom flat £478,000
Two-bedroom house £652,000
Three-bedroom house £813,000
Four-bedroom house £1.038 million
Source: Zoopla
RENTING IN ACTON
(Average rates)
One-bedroom flat £1,285 a month
Two-bedroom flat £1,863 a month
Two-bedroom house £1,659 a month
Three-bedroom house £2,522 a month
Four-bedroom house £2,932 a month
Source: Zoopla
GO ONLINE FOR MORE
O The best schools in and around
Acton
O The best shops and restaurants
O The lowdown on the local rental
scene
O The latest housing developments
in the area
O How this area compares with the
rest of the UK
O Smart maps to plot your
property search
Photographs Daniel Lynch
Council before the First World War.
Acton Park is the town centre park
overlooked by the historic Goldsmith’s
Almshouses; it has a bowling green,
playground, tennis courts and a café.
Gunnersbury Park is the largest local
park. A listed amenity with 186 acres
including a large mansion, an orangery,
a bath house, a temple, stables and
gothic ruins, it has recently been
awarded Lottery funding for an
ambitious restoration plan that starts
this year.
Leisure and the arts: The Park Club
on East Acton Lane is a private health
and sports club with a family focus.
There are tennis courts, indoor and
outdoor swimming pools, a gym and
restaurant. The council- owned
swimming pool is at the Acton Centre,
the new leisure centre on the High
Street managed in partnership with
Clockwise from above: Gunnersbury
Park covers 186 acres; the Laveli
bakery in Churchfield Road; and its
neighbour The Artistic Glass
Everyone Active. The nearest multiplex
cinema is the nine-screen Vue Acton
in Western Avenue in Park Royal.
Travel: Acton is served by Acton Town
on the Piccadilly and District lines;
West Acton, North Acton and East
Acton on the Central Line. South Acton
a n d Ac t o n C e n t r a l a re o n t h e
Overground; Acton Mainline has trains
to Paddington that take nine minutes.
All stations are in Zone 3 (annual travel
card to Zone 1 is £1,472) except North
Acton and East Acton that are in Zone
2 (annual travel card £1,256).
Council: Ealing (Labour-controlled);
Band D council tax for the 2014/2015
year: £1,358.93.
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE
Why would this caped crusader and
his sidekick be no strangers to Acton?
Find the answer online at
homesandproperty.co.uk/spotlightacton
1, 2 AND 3 BEDROOM APARTMENTS AND PENTHOUSES
FROM £829,950 TO £4,749,950*
DISCOVER MORE | WWW.LONDONDOCK.CO.UK | 020 3773 3679
Computer generated image is indicative only. *Prices correct at time of going to press.
46
Homes & Property Letting on
A
S A TIGHT-FISTED
Yorkshire lass, I’m pretty
gutted that I’ve spent
£126.50 getting an annual
gas safety check, which
usually costs me only £50, plus I lost
several hours’ work and ended up so
stressed that I needed someone to
iron me out at the end of the process.
By law, all gas appliances in rental
properties have to be checked by a
Gas Safe (previously Corgi) engineer
at least once a year, so I arranged for
my usual plumber to carry out the
check two weeks before the current
certificate expired, just to make sure
I didn’t miss the deadline. Then I
congratulated myself on how
organised I was.
However, the gas engineer, who has
always been 100 per cent reliable,
called the day before his visit to
rearrange the appointment for the
following week as he’d been held up
on another job, and the day of the
rearranged visit he texted to say he’d
had a nasty accident and ended up in
hospital. By that time, the gas safety
certificate was about to run out, so
I had hurriedly booked another gas
engineer for the next day.
I took the afternoon off work and
went to meet the engineer at the flat,
but when I put my latch key in the
building’s street door it wouldn’t
turn. That’s odd, I thought, and
checked that I hadn’t accidentally
picked up the key to a different flat.
No, I definitely had the right one, so
I tried the key again, but the lock
wouldn’t budge. Then I noticed that
Race to have
my gas check
cost me dearly
Victoria Whitlock learns a harsh lesson
when her bid to get a gas certificate issued
in time sparked a mad dash around the city
The
accidental
landlord
the lock was unusually shiny — in
fact, it looked new. Damn it,
someone had changed the lock
without telling me.
Bewildered, I rang my sister-in-law,
who lives in the same building, to be
told that yes, she had changed the
lock because her key had broken,
but, oops, she hadn’t got round to
sending me a new one. Bloody
brilliant. Feeling a bit of a muppet,
I asked the heating engineer to wait
on the doorstep while I went to meet
my sister-in-law to pick up the key,
promising I wouldn’t be long.
“You’ve got 20 minutes,” he sighed,
“then I’m off.”
I ran back to my car before realising
that I was without an A to Z or a
satnav and hadn’t the faintest idea
how to get to the south London
college where my sister-in-law was
studying. So I called my husband in a
panic and persuaded him to direct
me, which, quite frankly, was a
disastrous idea.
At one point he said I should be
passing the Imperial War Museum on
my right, but in fact I was heading
north over Waterloo Bridge. “What
£595 a week: in Warriner Gardens, Battersea, SW11, John D Wood has this threebedroom flat with a private terrace available to rent (homesandproperty.co.uk/warr)
are you doing on there?” he asked in
amazement. “Get off the bridge!”
“Your directions are all wrong,” I
yelled. Then, realising there was no
way I’d be able to track down the key
in time, I gave up and went home.
Quite understandably, the heating
engineer charged me £65 for the
aborted visit, I paid another £50 for
my regular plumber to get off his sick
bed and finally complete the safety
check the next day, plus I had to
pay £11.50 for accidentally driving
into the Congestion Charge Zone due
to my husband’s dire navigational
skills (or my inability to follow
directions, depending on whose side
you’re on).
Never mind. It’s all sorted out now,
but the moral of this tale is to give
yourself plenty of time to arrange
your annual gas safety check.
If you think you might forget,
register with staygassafe.co.uk and
they’ll text or email you a reminder.
Victoria Whitlock lets three properties
in south London. To contact
Victoria with your ideas and views,
tweet @vicwhitlock
Find many more homes to rent at
homesandproperty.co.uk/lettings
47
Exhibition Homes & Property
Architecture from a woman’s point of view
Flexible spaces, lots of light, cycle stores and
family-friendly landscaping. Enjoy the ideas
of women architects at a new exhibition
Community orientated: architect
Alison Brooks is reworking the garden
suburb with homes set around squares
at Dollis Valley Estate in Barnet,
north London
W
£1 million grant from the Mayor to
improve 10 areas, particularly the
Eastern Curve Garden, built on a
section of abandoned railway.
In its previous life, Altab Ali Park
had been taken over by drug dealers.
The park is now used by school
children, and picnicked on by locals.
This green lung opposite Aldgate East
Tube has been reclaimed.
In Dalston, the Eastern Curve
Garden started out as an overgrown,
bleak bit of railway with deserted
platforms and fly-tipping. Out of this
eyesore, Muf teamed up with
landscape designer Johanna Gibbons
and created a family-friendly
environment beloved by the locals.
Fior says: “This is a place for all
ages. Make a space for the child and
you make a space for adults, too.”
She is adamant that places like this
get squeezed out of development
plans. “Masterplans tend to be made
long-distance, so beloved local assets
get lost with a penstroke from miles
away.” But, she says, developers are
now queuing up to see how they can
incorporate some of Muf’s ideas here
into their own developments.
HAT women bring to
the design of our
cities, including
homes and public
spaces, is only now
being assessed, mainly because the
majority of working architects are still
men (though now architecture
schools have equal numbers of female
and male students).
But, writes Philippa Stockley,
Roca London Gallery’s new show,
Urbanistas, takes a look at the work
of women innovators in the UK.
Alison Brooks is a thoughtful and
increasingly influential architect
whose award-winning practice
completed 84 homes at Newhall Be in
Harlow, Essex in 2013.
The courtyard houses have a
prefabricated timber construction,
lapped timber exteriors and
distinctive angled rooftops that echo
the roofs of Essex’s rural buildings.
They also all have Juliette balconies,
roof terraces or courtyards, and an
extra room that can be used as a
home-office — a radical idea that
Brooks considers essential to the way
we live today. Brooks also did the
masterplan for a huge regeneration
at Dollis Valley Estate in Barnet,
whose first phase will be ready in
September, through Countryside.
Dollis Valley Estate, which has 671
homes built over 15 years, shows
remarkably efficient land use, is
linked to the local transport network
and has three garden squares.
“It’s all about bringing familiar and
reassuring types of houses to streets
and squares,” Brooks says.
INCREASING VALUE OF SPACE
All the homes at Dollis Valley Estate
exceed the Mayor’s housing design
guides, with more windows, space
and ceiling height.
Brooks is no fan of tired old estates
with slab blocks marooned in empty
green spaces. “So we replaced them
with houses that all have cycle stores
and recycling storage built in. These
houses work really hard.”
Brooks was frustrated that at Dollis
Valley she could not add the extra
room for home workers that she did
at Newhall Be, because of the way
surveyors assess value (ie by
counting the number of bedrooms).
She wants urgent change in this
system. “Value should be based on
square metres, not the number of
bedrooms,” she says passionately,
“and that space must be efficient, so
it delivers long-term, adaptable value.”
SPEARHEADING CHANGE
Liza Fior is a co-founder of Muf
Architecture/Art, which designs in
the public realm. Two of its awardwinning successes are Altab Ali Park
in Whitechapel, part of the Olympics
regeneration, and the Making Space
project in Dalston, which used a tiny
URBANISTAS runs until June 27
at the Roca London Gallery, SW6
(www.rocalondongallery.com/;
020 7610 9503).
Architects on show are Irena
Bauman of Bauman Lyons in Leeds;
Alison Brooks of Alison Brooks
Architects in London; Alessandra
Cianchetta of AWP in Paris; Johanna
Gibbons of J & L Gibbons in London,
and Liza Fior and Katherine Clarke,
co-founders of Muf Architecture/Art
in London.
48
Homes & Property Ask the expert
Can he sell a house without the garage?
Q
Q
A
Fiona
McNulty
MY BROTHER is separating from his wife
and they have sold their house and split the
proceeds equally. She is going to rent a flat
and he has put an offer in on another
property. If she divorces him, will she then be
entitled to have half of his new house and his
business?
OUR LAWYER ANSWERS
YOUR QUESTIONS
WE RECENTLY bought a
house that doesn’t have a
garage. However, now
that the title has been
registered at the Land Registry, we
have discovered that the house did
once have a garage, though it was
about 100 metres from the house.
How can the man who sold us the
house have done so without
including the garage?
A
THE seller can decide the
extent of the property to be
sold. Some properties do have
garages that are not annexed
to the property but, for example, may
be in a block of garages some distance
from the dwelling.
Think about when you first looked
at the property — you may have been
told then by the seller or the estate
agent whether a garage was available
by separate negotiation.
Sometimes, when a garage is
located in a different area to the
dwelling, it is possible to sell it
separately depending on whether
there are any restrictions on the title
preventing the garage from being
sold off as a separate entity. In your
case, the seller may have decided to
keep the garage for personal use or to
sell it to someone else, perhaps in the
hope that a higher price would be
achieved by selling the garage
separately. If you are interested in
buying it, you should contact the
seller or estate agent to see if the
seller does own the garage, if it is
for sale and at what price.
More legal
Q&As
Visit: homesand
property.co.uk
SHE may be entitled to make a claim in relation to
any property that your brother owns and in
relation to his business until matters are resolved
by divorce.
If she decides to divorce your brother, the court would
take into account all the circumstances of the case and,
in particular, would consider the welfare of any
children that your brother and his wife have who are
under the age of 18.
The court has to have regard to matters such as the
income, earning capacity, property and financial
resources that each party has or is likely to have in the
foreseeable future.
The court will also consider their financial needs and
obligations; the contributions each of them has made to
the welfare of the family (and is likely to make in the
foreseeable future); the standard of living your brother
and his wife enjoyed before their marriage broke down,
and how old they are.
Your brother and his wife should try to agree a financial
settlement that can be approved by the court as a consent
order and would be legally binding on them, and so
would provide each of them with certainty.
WHAT’S YOUR PROBLEM?
IF YOU have a question for Fiona McNulty, please email [email protected] or write to Legal
Solutions, Homes & Property, London Evening Standard, 2 Derry Street, W8 5EE.
We regret that questions cannot be answered individually, but we will try to feature them here.
Fiona McNulty is legal director in the real estate team of Foot Anstey LLP (footanstey.com)
O These answers can only be a very brief commentary on
the issues raised and should not be relied on as legal advice.
No liability is accepted for such reliance. If you have similar
issues, you should obtain advice from a solicitor
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50
Homes & Property Inside story
Dealing with an
unruly dog just
takes the biscuit
MONDAY
After a lively team meeting first thing,
I head off to see a Victorian house in
Jericho, Oxford, where the owner is
moving back to London after several
years. Understandably, she is shocked
at what a two-bedroom flat in Fulham
close to her sister is going to cost after
being out of the city for a few years. She
is, however, pleasantly surprised when
I tell her that her own two-bedroom
house has gone up from £550,000 in
2011 to just more than £800,000 now.
I put her in touch with our Fulham
branch to see if they can help.
Back to the office for a few moments
before I am out on viewings again —
there’s no rest for the wicked.
TUESDAY
My first appointment today is at a
converted Methodist chapel where we
are having photos and a floor plan done
for a launch next week.
The sun keeps hiding behind the
clouds, so the photographer and I
spend an hour or so dashing in and out
to get the perfect exterior shot of the
house for the brochure.
In the afternoon I receive a phone call
from a London couple in their forties
looking to move out to Oxford.
The husband is quite happy to do the
commute, which is only 45 minutes to
the City, enabling his young family to
have a bit more space to grow and
access to excellent schooling. I suggest
a few stand-out villages including
Murcott and Noke, and a morning of
viewings is booked in for next week.
In the past six months our London
applicants have risen by 20 per cent;
it appears the lure of ‘more bang for
your buck’ will see the trend continue
for this year.
WEDNESDAY
With three sales close to exchange, this
morning is spent on various phone
calls to ensure all parties are happy.
A quick sandwich on the run is needed
for a busy afternoon of appointments.
First stop, two viewings at a property in
a North Oxfordshire village. It’s a joy to
show a house that’s in such good condition. To finish the day, I have an appointment with an elderly couple who are
looking to downsize and want some
advice. A reassuring conversation leaves
them feeling more positive, but I suspect
Diary of
an estate
agent
it will take them a while to make the final
decision. When I return to the office, I
hear some good news — one of the three
properties has finally exchanged. Just
two more to go.
THURSDAY
I have to go straight to a viewing this
morning and try to be cheerful despite
the early hour. I get to the house
15 minutes before the viewing and an
unruly Labrador is running amok.
I try to get the dog back inside without
success and rip my trousers on a
kitchen cupboard — clearly he hasn’t
been trained. I find a tin of biscuits on
the work surface and spend the next
five minutes and five biscuits safely
locking the dog away, which is a good
job as the family arrive and have a little
girl who is very nervous of dogs.
The viewing seems to go well and
they book another visit, so I decide to
stock up on biscuits.
FRIDAY
Seven people have booked in to an
open morning on Saturday for a house
we are launching on a very popular
road, so there’s plenty to do.
Then there is a very tricky conversation with a buyer of one of the sales that
is close to exchange of contracts. Their
solicitor has come across a restrictive
covenant that stops the buyer developing anything in the garden without the
payment of a percentage of the uplift
in value to a university college that
previously owned the property. They
are planning to extend the house and
are worried this will stop them. I
explain these covenants are normally
to cover other houses being built in the
grounds, not to stop an owner extending, but I will need to check.
We have come to the end of another
busy week. It’s brought some wins and
some losses, but it’s always interesting.
O Greg Thomson is a senior negotiator
in Strutt & Parker’s Oxford office
(01865 366660)

The fun factory - Homes and Property

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