10 August 2016 - Homes and Property

Transcription

Homes&
Property
Wednesday 10 August 2016
Keep cool
in Covent
Garden
Summer design
events Page 16
FABULOUS FOR FAMILIES P4 POSH COMMUTING P6 PARTY ISLAND: IBIZA P11 SPOTLIGHT ON LIMEHOUSE P28
Stamp your style
Rental flats with a designer twist
CHARLES HOSEA
Page 14
London’s best property search news: homesandproperty.co.uk
WEDNESDAY 10 AUGUST 2016 EVENING STANDARD
2
Homes & Property | News
COURTESY MBNA
Trophy
home of
the week
take the lift to
your Mayfair
roof terrace
£19.5 million: buyers with a
boot-load of cash might care
to stop the limo outside this
Mayfair townhouse in
prestigious South Street,
close to the leafy acres of
Hyde Park and the posh
boutiques of Mount Street.
Each of this super-smart
home’s six floors has been
given the luxury treatment,
from bespoke joinery and
underfloor heating to mood
lighting. There’s a plush
master bedroom suite, three
Water way to go: River Bus commuter numbers are growing and the Thames is getting 11 new piers
11 new piers
follow River
Bus success
Wharf East and Providence Wharf will
serve the Isle of Dogs, and Enderby
Wharf, near the O2, is due for one by
2018. “We offer a unique form of transport to people who’d rather not take a
train,” says Collins. “They arrive at work
in a totally relaxed frame of mind.”
GETTY
Ditch the stress:
Londoners are
rejecting packed
Tubes and buses
for a relaxed
journey to work
on the Thames
AFP/GETTY
A
RECORD number of Londoners are getting to work
by boat. Almost a million
now commute by MBNA
Thames Clippers, the biggest London River Bus operator, which
forecasts 4.2 million journeys on its
central to east London services this
year, from 3.3 million three years ago.
To cope with demand, 11 new piers are
planned which will open up the service
to thousands more people as far afield
as Barking, while plans to extend into
Kent are being discussed. Piers at Blackfriars and Embankment are being
extended, and newly extended Westminster Pier opened this month.
Sean Collins, chief executive and cofounder of MBNA Thames Clippers, says
piers will open at Battersea in the next
12 months to serve development around
Battersea Power Station. Piers at Canary
O Find Ruth Bloomfield’s full story at homesandproperty.co.uk
room. Take the glass stairs or
the lift and enjoy views from
the roof terrace over your
refined W1 neighbourhood.
Through Knight Frank (020
8012 3476).
plus two holiday cottages
you can let out, each with
three bedrooms. It’s all set in
17 acres surrounded by the
stunning seascape and some
of the best beaches to be
found in Britain. Fishing,
sailing, horse riding and
cycling are just a few of the
outdoor pursuits your guests
can enjoy.
Through Sotheby’s
International (01932
485110).
Lifechanger
of the week
make your
great escape
to a lighthouse
in Anglesey
£1,375,000: how’s this for
the ultimate escape? The
Lighthouse in Ynys Môn on
the North Wales coast dates
back to 1766, sitting proudly
behind high castellated walls
with breathtaking views
across the Irish Sea and
Anglesey coast.
Along with the automated
lighthouse tower there is a
Head Keeper’s House with
three bedrooms, a kitchen/
breakfast room and lounge,
London buy of the week soak up canal views
from your glassy loft close to trendy Shoreditch
Editor:
Janice
Morley
VISIT homesandproperty.co.uk/
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Advertising: 020 3615 0266
Homes & Property, Northcliffe
House, 2 Derry Street, Kensington,
London W8 5TT.
Facebook:
guest suites, two further
bedrooms, a cinema room,
gym and a choice of three
reception rooms to impress
your guests, along with a
high-spec kitchen-dining
£685,000: there’s nothing
not to love about this lofty
waterside home at Kingsland
Basin, Hackney. The twobedroom, split-level flat on
the fourth floor has been
designed to soak up views
across the water from floorto-ceiling windows.
The open-plan reception/
dining/kitchen space has
double-height ceilings and
doors on to a decked balcony
overlooking the colourful
barges on the canal.
Pale wood floors continue
through to a double bedroom
and up to a fabulous
mezzanine level providing
the perfect live/work space
and second bedroom. Private
parking is included and the
location is handy for
exploring Shoreditch. It’s on
ESHomesAndProperty • Twitter:
the market through Currell
(020 7241 4111).
By Faye Greenslade
@HomesProperty
3
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 10 AUGUST 2016
News | Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk powered by
Estate agents? I’m with Pikachu & Squirtle
ÉTHE Pokémon Go
phenomenon is making its
presence felt in the
property market. A flat in
Clapham’s landmark
Library Building appears
to have been invaded by a
pack of characters from the
augmented reality game — but
it’s all the work of a clever seller
looking to capture the attention of
buyers in the area.
With downloads of Pokémon Go
hitting 15 million worldwide,
Charlotte Williams, inset, a fan of the
game, came up with the idea of
inserting the cute characters into her
sale
sa photos, in a bid to attract
more
potential buyers. “I
m
wanted to make my home
stand out on the market,”
she says.
The characters feature in
the photos of the exterior of
the
th property, left, as well as in
a number of rooms. Squirtle can
be found in the bathtub, Pikachu,
right, perches on the edge of the sofa
in the living room, and Slowpoke pops
up on the dining room table waiting to
be caught by a Poké Ball.
The one-bedroom apartment is on
the market through Settled for
£588,000.
Bake Off star’s sale
is a piece of cake
É THE dough is rising in John
Whaite’s bank account, now that the
2012 Great British Bake Off winner has
found a buyer for his Woolwich flat.
Just over a month after listing the
one-bedroom apartment, above, in
the historic Royal Herbert Pavilions
development, it has been snapped
up for £330,000.
The champion baker, below, has
lived in the flat for three years and
fans will recognise the living room, as
he is pictured in it for the cover of his
latest book, Perfect Plates In 5
Ingredients.
He wrote his second and third
cookbooks in the kitchen, where he
also tested out many of his delicious
recipes.
The plush development includes a
gym, swimming pool, steam room,
sauna, tennis court and private bar
for residents. Whaite is sad to part
ways with the property but he is
leaving London for Lancashire,
where his business is now based.
Homes gossip
Got some gossip? Tweet @amiranews
Tom’s 8 homes
ÉHOLLYWOOD A-listers Tom
O For more celebrity gossip, visit
homesandproperty.co.uk/gossip
Hanks and wife Rita Wilson,
right, are selling their two
side-by-side homes, above, in
upmarket Pacific Palisades,
LA, for a total £14.4 million.
One is a 3,930sq ft fourbedroom, five-bathroom
Spanish-style villa with
views of the Santa Monica
Mountains. The other, an
English country-style property,
spans 7,260sq ft and has seven
bedrooms and seven bathrooms.
The couple, who live nearby in a
£19.9 million home, own three
other LA pads, a Malibu beach
house and an Idaho holiday home.
Imagine a large open plan duplex over 2
storeys with 3 bedrooms and generous
celing height to your living space. A Lumire
duplex is on average 14%* larger by volume
compared to the London Design Guide
standard similar apartment.
REX
of the estate’s owners,
A&P supermarket
heiress Josephine
Huntington Hartford
Bryce and her
husband Ivar, an exBritish intelligence
officer who was at
Eton with Fleming.
Fellow guests
at Fleming’s
“summer home”
included Princess
Margaret and Jackie
Kennedy. The 948-acre
estate has English-style
gardens and 33 miles of
bridleways.
REX
É EVERYONE has
heard of Bond author
Ian Fleming’s
Goldeneye home in
Jamica but Black Hole
Hollow Farm in New
England has an equal
claim to 007 heritage.
With a £3.05 million
price tag through
Christie’s International
Real Estate, the sixbedroom Vermont
ranch, pictured, is
where Fleming wrote
For Your Eyes Only,
Goldfinger — starring
Sean Connery as Bond,
right — and Diamonds
Are Forever, and sits
beside an 18th-century
colonial farmhouse.
The author was a friend
REALTOR.COM
From the
US with love
for £3.05m
• Close to Jubilee & DLR lines
• O2 and Canary Wharf just 6 minutes away**
• Large open plan duplex 1183 sq ft
• Feature ceiling height to ground floor
• Good storage
• Outside terrace
• Parking at extra cost
• Help to buy available on this 3 bedroom duplex.
• Move in by November 2016***
• 3 bedroom duplex to buy from £599,950****
Register your interest at Lumire-London.co.uk/duplex–living or call 020 7758 8481 to book an appointment at the Marketing Suite
Developers:
Marketing Agent:
COMPUTER GENERATED IMAGES FOR ILLUSTRATIVE PURPOSES ONLY
* Calculation based on London Design Guide standard 2 storey, 3 bedroom for 5 people which is 96 square meters. Lumire property has 109.9 square meters - a 13.9% increase.
**Travel time taken from tfl.gov.uk ***Anticipated completion November/December 2016 ****Prices correct at time of going to print
REX
By
Amira Hashish
4
Homes & Property | New homes
FROM
£1,175,000
new-build
contemporary
townhouses sit
alongside loft
houses and
mews homes
carved from
existing
buildings at
Charles Baker
Place, left, in
Wandsworth
Modern styling with a
spacious feel: new houses at
Charles Baker Place, Bellevue
Village, have floor-to-ceiling
glass doors to the patio and
garden studio
ALAMY
Practical
glamour: private
balconies and
roof terraces,
along with
communal open
green spaces, are
designed to
attract families
to Kidbrooke
Village, left, in
Greenwich
High-density launches: a design
C
ITY planners keen to build
to a higher density are pushing London developers to
be ever more creative, with
fresh architectural ideas for
intelligently designed houses that buyers would welcome at the right price.
Skyscraper apartments with gym,
concierge and shared communal
spaces may suit singles and childless
couples — but young families are still
craving “traditional” houses in rooted
communities.
So, is it possible to bring good-looking, space-efficient, environmentally
friendly new homes into the city?
Developer Berkeley believes it has a
solution.
After five years on the drawing board,
a new property type — the “urban
house” — has been launched at
Kidbrooke Village, a 5,000-home
neighbourhood being built close to
Blackheath in south-east London.
This is a reinvention of the muchloved Victorian terrace. Instead of
land-eating semis and detached
houses, the four-storey urban houses,
22 of them in this phase with many
more to come, are arranged back to
back and have impressive 360-degree
sunlit roof terraces instead of groundlevel gardens.
The homes impressed Dr Jason
Palmer, director of Cambridge Architectural Research, with their handsome
streetscape and efficient use of land.
Palmer is one of the many academics,
Space-efficient,
budget-friendly
family homes are the
innovation London
has been waiting for,
says David Spittles
architects and town planners from
across the globe who have visited the
project.
Remarkably, the design allows for 48
houses per acre of land, double the
density of conventional terrace housing. It is even more land-efficient than
a four-storey apartment block with
communal corridors and the same
number of homes.
Crucially, the urban houses look
good, are built with high-quality, interesting materials and have a flexible
floorplan that can be adapted to a
family’s changing needs. For example,
a self-contained studio flat for a son, a
daughter or an elderly relative can be
created within the house.
THAT PENTHOUSE VIBE
“One of the main design challenges was
getting natural light into properties that
are built back to back,” explains Karl
Whiteman, Berkeley director. “The
solution was to use floor-to-ceiling glass
eration “garden suburb”. Though high
density, it has 136 acres of open space
with walking trails, picnic areas, lakes
and wetlands and is bordered by Sutcliffe Park nature reserve. It also has its
own train station providing a 15-minute
commute to London Bridge.
at the entrance doorways and internal
skylights.” Priced from £800,000, the
houses range up to 1,442sq ft and have
either three or four bedrooms. Each
home has a front drive with an electric
car-charging socket and a concealed
storage area for three bikes and three
rubbish bins.
The ground floor is a higher-thannormal open-plan kitchen and living
space with combined cloakroom and
laundry. The first and second floors
have bedrooms with en suite bathrooms opening on to sun terraces
linked by an external steel staircase to
the 300sq ft open-air roof terrace,
which has service points for electricity
and water and is designed not to be
overlooked.
“People love the house, but it’s the
roof garden that really excites,” says
FROM £800,000:
the “urban house”, a terrace house for
our times, at Kidbrooke Village, SE3
Tamara Simon, sales assistant at the
show home. “It’s practical and glamorous and feels like a penthouse.” And
young families welcome the open
space.
As well as being “green” and lowmaintenance, service charges for these
urban houses are a third of those for
an equivalent-size flat. This is because
house owners do not have to pay for
some communal amenities such as a
gym, but they can still use and enjoy
all the facilities. The service charge they
pay covers the cost of estate management and landscaping.
Spanning 276 acres, Kidbrooke Village might be described as a new- gen-
Though near Blackheath it has shops, a
school and a health centre, while more
bars and eateries are to come. Apartments, priced from £407,500, are also
for sale. Call 020 8150 5151.
Berkeley has advanced plans to roll
out more urban houses at other sites
in London and the home counties. The
next project is in Reading. The company is also moving to “modular” production, with components delivered
direct to sites from a factory in the
Midlands. As well as enhancing quality
control, this cuts the on-site construction time to 10 weeks and, in theory at
least, reduces the price paid by the
home buyer.
FAMILY ROOMS
Forward-thinking developers have
been challenging the traditional idea
of the house as a rigidly defined space.
Modern lifestyles demand versatile
interiors and fresh design solutions,
not least a free-flowing multi-use downstairs family space — for living, dining
and relaxing — that dovetails neatly
with a garden or patio.
A lot of younger families want a house
with the hallmarks of a designer loft:
open, dramatic, exciting and flexible
Find the very best new housing developments in London and
5
New homes | Homes & Property
FROM
£1,475,000
above, The Villas,
Maida Hill, threebedroom houses
with terrace and
private parking;
above right,
Dereham Place
new homes in
Shoreditch are
inspired by
northern
european livework atelier
houses
!#
# '# !
revolution
space, with ample storage, high-quality
finishes and up-to-date cabling, says
veteran developer Colin Serlin, whose
latest project, The Villas, is a mews of
eight freehold houses on a former
builder’s yard off Harrow Road in W9.
Bespoke metal entrance gates are a sign
of the architectural attention to detail
that lies behind, from the tastefully
landscaped courtyard to the handsome
Danish brick frontages, floor-to-ceiling
glass and contemporary interiors.
The three-bedroom houses have
underfloor and solar heating plus a
clean-air ventilation system and a basement with an engine room-cum-utility
area. Each house is cabled for CCTV and
entertainment systems, and also has a
terrace and private parking. Prices from
£1,475,000. Call Aston Chase on 020
7724 4724.
Charles Baker Place is a new
scheme of nine houses in Wandsworth’s Bellevue conservation area, a
neat neighbourhood of pretty cottages
and flat-fronted terrace houses, with a
parade boasting boutiques and Michelin-star restaurant Chez Bruce.
Characterful loft houses have been
created within an original 19th-century
church hall. There are also refurbished
mews cottages and new contemporarydesign houses of up to 3,070sq ft, each
with a light-filled basement and garden
studio. Secure private parking in a
gated courtyard is another bonus.
Prices from £1,175,000 to £2.95 million.
Call estate agent Rymer Irens on 020
8767 2222.
%!" # &!" " ! "
& "
A
NEW terrace of townhouses
offering vertical living over
six storeys brings something fresh to Shoreditch,
known for its lateral lofts.
Inspired by the live-work atelier houses
of Antwerp, the 1,560sq ft homes in
Dereham Place are tall and narrow,
but thoughtfully designed, with a
ground-floor workshop or garage, a
basement cinema room, and bedrooms
and living spaces on the upper floors.
The homes have rooftop terraces and
the interiors feature full-height glass,
natural ventilation and poured white
resin floors. There is an all-singing-anddancing home automation system that
controls lighting, climate, security and
audiovisual entertainment via a handheld or Apple device. Prices from
£1.45 million. Call 020 7600 7000.
around the UK at
FROM
£1,450,000
six-storey
townhouses in
Dereham Place,
Shoreditch have
a ground-floor
workshop or
garage, above
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6
Homes & Property | Commuting
Leaving London?
£1.25 million: a
four-bedroom
family house in
South Road,
Amersham,
overlooking
Chesham Bois
Common and
with a 70ft
south-facing rear
garden. Robsons
(01494 350027)
If you’ve
done well in
the City, this
is where
you live
Easy reach: the
independent
shops, cafés and
restaurants of
Old Amersham
are a 33-minute
commute away
from London, via
Marylebone
station
Park your Chelsea tractor and
pop down to the gastropub.
Ruth Bloomfield finds country
homes for well-heeled families of
London-based breadwinners
AMERSHAM
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE
What it costs: the average property
price is £574,377, with houses at
£674,475 and flats at £301,741. Prices
ALAMY
have increased 19.2 per cent in the
last two years (source: Savills).
Top schools: Chestnut Lane juniors
and Elangeni primary are both “outstanding”, says Ofsted. For seniors, Dr
Challoner’s Grammar School and Dr
Challoner’s High School are among the
UK’s top-performing state schools.
The commute: from 33 minutes to
Marylebone. An annual season ticket
costs £3,368.
Who would it suit? Those who have
a psychological terror of leaving the
Tube behind. Amersham, just beyond
the M25, is at the tip of the Metropolitan
line. Old Amersham is picture-book
pretty, with plenty of boutiques, restaurants and old timbered pubs. Property ranges from brick-and-slate
cottages to period manor houses.
And the downsides? New Amersham,
the area nearest the station, is a lot
more modern and less picturesque,
with streets of Thirties semis. It is,
however, more affordable. Beware the
impact of High Speed 2, which could
slice past Old Amersham, and may
blight some homes.
BERKHAMSTED
HERTFORDSHIRE
What it costs: average
prices stand at £567,252,
with houses typically
selling for
£664,428 and
apartments at £302,666. Prices have
increased 21.8 per cent since 2014
(source: Savills).
Top schools: there are no fewer than
four Ofsted “outstanding” primary
schools to choose from: Westfield Primary School and Nursery, Greenway
Primary and Nursery School, Victoria
Church of England Infant and Nursery
School, and St Thomas More Catholic
Primary School. For seniors, Ashlyns
School gets a “good” report from the
education watchdog.
Euston. An annual season ticket costs
£4,644.
Who would it suit? Families. It has a
superb range of schools — in the private
sector Berkhamsted School is a big
draw. The high street is pretty, and
affluent enough to support a Waitrose
and an M&S as well as some suitably
upscale restaurants and bars.
The countryside around these parts
is for serious walkers, particularly the
National Trust-owned Ashridge Estate.
There’s a range of Victorian homes in
the town centre, and a mix of
period and contemporary
trophy houses on the outskirts.
And the downsides? The
number of London commuters
already living here can give
Berkhamsted a bit of a flat feel
during the day.
Picture-book
pretty: St Mary’s
Church, right, in
Old Amersham.
The town is at
the tip of the
Metropolitan line
ALAMY
ALAMY
A
N AVERAGE home in a topend London commuter
village or town can easily
cost seven figures — but
sometimes a location is
expensive for good reason.
If you fancy yourself with a gleaming
four-wheel drive parked on a turnaround platform on your gravelled drive,
and want to hang out in the kind of
cafés and gastropubs which would not
be out of place in Chelsea, we’ve found
spots you’ll love with convenient London commutes, great schools and
access to lovely countryside.
In this latest instalment of Homes &
Property’s essential guide to leading
London commuter locations, we focus
on “best in class” options.
Anyone for
polo?: if
you’re upping
sticks to
Virginia
Water, the
action at
Smith’s
Lawn
could be
fun
GERRARDS CROSS
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE
What it costs: average prices have
breached the £1 million mark at
£1,034,908, up 13.3 per cent in the last
two years. An average house costs
£1,133,770, while flats sell for an average £449,646 (source: Savills).
Top schools: The Gerrards Cross CofE
School is an “outstanding” primary by
Ofsted standards, and Chalfonts Community College, for seniors, gets a
“good” report from the schools watchdog. Buckinghamshire has an 11-plus
system, and seniors can also try for
one of its grammar schools.
Marylebone. An annual season ticket
costs £3,328.
Who would it suit? Gerrards Cross, the
gateway to the Chiltern Hills — an Area
of Outstanding Natural Beauty — has its
own common lands in town. There’s
little notable architecture, but the high
street is well stocked and there’s a huge
Tesco. The cinema has had a revamp
and there are bistros and cafés. Fiona
Lewis-Wall, a partner at Gibbs Gillespie,
said “GX” is cosmopolitan, with low
crime and great schools, while much
networking goes on at the bar of the
Stoke Park country club.
Canalside: The Rising Sun pub in Berkhamsted; right, this four-bedroom home in Gerrards Cross is £1,795,000 (01753 891188)
7
Commuting | Homes & Property
£1.6 million: a
five-bedroom
terrace house in
Cobham, for sale
through Savills
(01932 485068)
! ALAMY
Yummy mummy
country: the
High Street in
Cobham, a “very
glamorous”
village with
brasseries and
boutiques
aplenty
And the downsides? Big houses
dominate. The entry price for a house
in Gerrards Cross is £560,000 to
£580,000, which will buy a two-bedroom cott age. A four-bedroom
detached post-war house would cost
well over £1 million. The giant contemporary houses in Camp Road sell for
up to £5 million.
COBHAM, SURREY
What it costs: this is another sevenfigure village, with average prices
standing at £1,164,565. Prices have
increased 9.2 per cent in the last two
years (source: Savills).
Top schools: St Matthew’s CofE Aided
Infant School gets an “outstanding”
Ofsted report, and there are two
“good” primary schools.
Waterloo. An annual season ticket costs
from £2,604.
Who would it suit? Yummy mummies
will love this well-cared for village, with
its boutiques, Pilates studios and Aveda
spas. It is, says Nick Kimber, area sales
partner at Chewton Rose estate agents,
“a very glamorous village” with plenty
of brasseries and boutiques to cater for
its affluent clientele. It is also pretty,
with the River Mole running past the
end of the high street, and gorgeous
Painshill Park landscape garden, full of
grottos and follies, on the outskirts. Surrounding villages have great pubs.
“It does have a proper village atmosphere,” adds Kimber. “Cobham Heritage Day is coming up, and people turn
out for all sorts of street parties.”
Despite its tag as Britain’s most expensive village there is some relatively reasonably priced period housing to be had
in Cobham: about £700,000 would buy
a three-bedroom terrace house. The rest
of the housing stock is mainly big
detached post-war houses or giant trophy mansions costing millions.
And the downsides? The high street
is regularly jammed with Chelsea tractors. Depending on your personal
prejudices, the presence of both the
American Community School and the
Chelsea FC training ground means
Cobham has a disproportionate
number of football players and transatlantic accents.
VIRGINIA WATER
SURREY
What it costs: the average property
price of £875,475, is up 15 per cent in
two years. Houses sell for an average
of £945,579, and flats for £422,133
(source: Savills).
Top schools: Trumps Green Infant
School is “outstanding”, says Ofsted.
Waterloo. An annual season ticket costs
from £2,896.
Who would it suit? Rich people with
Range Rovers. The local off-licence
stocks Louis Roederer Cristal champagne (£265) and Remy Martin Louis
XIII cognac (£1,195). The general vibe
is quiet, sedate and leafy, with Windsor
Great Park just around the corner for
long walks. The Thirties houses near
the station are moderately affordable.
But within the Wentworth Estate the
original Twenties homes have largely
been replaced by massive trophy mansions beloved of buyers from Russia,
Kazakhstan and Ukraine.
And the downsides? From golf at
Wentworth to polo at Smith’s Lawn,
there is plenty to do — but only if you
have the cash. There’s a very limited
high street and restaurants are unspectacular, given all the money around.
£6.75 million: a
five-bedroom
detached house
in Chestnut
Avenue on the
Wentworth
Estate, Virginia
Water. Through
Barton Wyatt
(01344 588040)
%%% % $
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8
Homes & Property | Commuting
From £235,000:
left, apartments
in refurbished
Union Building
on Hospital Hill.
Call 01252
361550
/
Homes with
character: the
five-bedroom
Arnhem at Maida,
right, by Bellway.
Three-bedroom
homes with front
and back gardens
start at £364,995
Join the Aldershot
commuter army
Military buildings have made
way for 4,000 affordable new
homes just 50 minutes by train
from London. By David Spittles
A
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LDERSHOT, the Hampshire
garrison town that has
been the “Home of the
British Army” since 1854,
has a new mission: to
attract London commuters seeking an
accessible, affordable family home in
green and pleasant surroundings.
Leading the charge is the old barracks
itself, a collection of fine listed buildings, part of the Aldershot Military
Town conservation area. Set in 270
leafy acres, it’s on elevated land 10
minutes’ walk from the train station.
A break-up of the garrison has paved
the way for a 3,850-home new district
called Wellesley. The 20-year project
is spearheaded by property company
Grainger, which is putting in superfast
broadband, converting older buildings
and selling land to other developers to
build homes to a design code. Grainger
will remain as “estate manager” long
after the homes are sold and rented.
The masterplan envisages a new community where houses have “cohesive
architectural variety” and a mix of
tenures. Maida, the first phase of 228
homes, focuses on value for money for
growing families. Three-bedroom
houses with front and back gardens
and garage cost from £364,995. Call
0333 577 3135.
A splendid 19th-century educational
institute, now a marketing suite, will
become a neighbourhood centre for
residents. Wellesley will also have two
new primary schools, shops and
offices, 800 allotments, parks, playing
Want a
home
within
easy
reach of
London?
fields and 10 miles of woodland nature
trails and cycle paths.
The original Aldershot parade ground
will become a central square holding
together the various zones of the new
neighbourhood, defined by wide, treelined roads that are the legacy of having
to accommodate tanks. Sixties-built
dormitories have been bulldozed, but
heritage buildings are being converted
into characterful new homes.
Cambridge Military Hospital, dating
back to 1879 and with a design influenced by Florence Nightingale, is the
jewel in the crown. It closed 20 years
ago and had fallen into dereliction, but
it had an awesome quarter mile-long
ground-floor corridor, and the spacious wards off it had south-facing
balconies to catch sunlight and allow
soldiers to convalesce in fresh air.
Grainger is creating 134 homes,
including a spectacular dwelling within
the hospital clock tower. Elsewhere on
the site, it is building new homes for
private rent.
Listed Union Building on Hospital
Hill is being turned into 17 apartments.
The building pre-dates the barracks,
hailing from the early 17th century. It
survived the skirmishes of the English
Civil War and was ravaged by fire in
1907, before being restored and taken
over by the War Office in 1954. Prices
from £235,000. Call 01252 361550.
O WITH a 50-minute commute to
Waterloo, Aldershot is part of a
regional commercial hub that includes
Farnborough’s hi-tech and aviation
zone. The town centre is earmarked for
an upgrade, with a heritage trail linking
significant monuments and memorials.
A commuting bonus is the new 1.2-mile
Hindhead Tunnel, which has solved the
dire traffic snarl-ups on the A3 while
preserving the Devil’s Punch Bowl, a
dramatic natural amphitheatre.
10
Homes & Property | Renting in London
Starting your first
job? You’ll probably
be looking to rent,
too, but costs can be
a shock. Sara Yates
offers financial
This is a swathe of
advice to newbies
dummy text that can
be used to indicate
UGUST is always a manic
time for London’s rental how many words fit
market as a combination
a particular space.
of UK students, twentysomethings starting their
first job and overseas undergraduates Sara Yates contains
search for their first accommodation.
This rush of exuberance about all [25 words] a couple
New kids on the
block: students
and young
professionals
starting work
could come down
to earth with a
bump when they
add up London
rental costs
things new might give London a summer buzz but there is another group
smiling too — rental agencies. According to SpareRoom.co.uk, the average
cost of moving to London has surpassed £2,000, with a chunk of London
agencies pocketing over £400 in fees.
Finding your first place to live in the
capital can be an expensive shock. For
those moving to London for the first
time, often alone and unfamiliar with
the geography, the logistical challenges
and anxieties are even tougher. It is
essential to find the right location,
which ideally will be close to a fast commuter link to your new place of study
or work.
With so many unknown factors, it is
understandable that 70 per cent of
renters go through a letting agent. Wellrespected agencies can be a godsend
for new renters. They can advise on
areas, often provide transport to viewings and generally help you to secure
your new accommodation quickly. On
the other hand, rogue agencies can
leave you poorer and disillusioned.
FEES FOR EVERYTHING
Unfortunately, using an agent also piles
on the costs. In addition to the nowstandard six weeks’ deposit required
in London, there are admin fees; fees
to draw up the tenancy agreement,
further fees to write an inventory, yet
more fees for credit checks and references and still more to reserve the
property. Added together, fees cost
almost 30 per cent of London renters
GETTY
A
Rent smart: keep fees down
upwards of £300 and 15 per cent pay
in excess of £400.
Many of these fees are often nonrefundable — while the non-refundable
holding deposit required by almost 10
per cent of London agents or landlords
makes no sense to anyone.
London rental agencies can be even
more punitive on the landlord. And
though tenants are not going to feel
sorry for landlords, the buy-to-let tax
changes, and the agency fees landlords
face, are inevitably going to get passed
on to the tenants, which is one of the
reasons rents are so high.
You can cut costs as a tenant if you
are willing to do a bit more of your own
research and transport yourself
between properties. Internet portals
could become your new best friend,
and typically, they either advertise
available rooms, or they focus on whole
flats and houses.
USE THE INTERNET
SpareRoom.co.uk is Britain’s leading
flat and house share website with
almost six million registered users.
Established in 2004, it’s the only flat
share site featured in the Hitwise top
10 UK property sites, currently at
number three. Other well-known
options include moveflat.com and
gumtree.
These sites connect you directly with
the landlord/home owner, letting you
get the measure of the person you need
to ring should the boiler break down
in the middle of winter. And it is
cheaper to cut out the agency. In addition to lower fees and potentially lower
rent, Spareroom also found that only
30 per cent of tenants who dealt
directly with the landlord had to stump
up a six-week deposit.
Matt Hutchinson director of Spareroom.co.uk says: “We always advise
tenants to view the property in person,
and meet the landlord before handing
over the deposit.
“Avoid transactions that can’t be
tracked. Transferring money via bank
transfer is the best way to pay a deposit
as it can be traced to an individual bank
account so, if a landlord requests payment by any other method, alarm bells
should be ringing.”
If you’re lucky enough to have a group
of friends with whom you plan to rent
a whole flat, internet portals can also
save you money. Primelocation, Rightmove or Zoopla are all popular places
to start, but as you scroll through the
listings you’ll see one very common
phrase: “Fees apply.” To keep these to
a minimum try focusing on online agencies such as OpenRent, the fastest-growing tenant find service in the UK.
N
OT only does this platform
boast 100 per cent guaranteed availability of all the
properties on its site,
agent/admin fees are
banned and tenants are only charged
£20 each for referencing, if required.
Best of all, there are no non-refundable holding deposits. Should you
decide to pay to reserve a property,
your deposit is held securely and either
counts towards your overall deposit
— minus any referencing costs — or is
refunded if your application is unsuccessful.
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11
Homes abroad | Homes & Property
Cool flats
on Ibiza,
top party
island for
Londoners
Year-round daily flights bring the
White Isle’s holiday homes close
for families and the clubbing
crowd, says Cathy Hawker
W
ITH a vibe that ranges
from hippy-dippy casual to coolly sophisticated, Ibiza has
become the part y
island where Londoners want to buy a
home. Year-round accessibility is key.
BA has started flying from Stansted airport, where the White Isle is the number
one destination on the board. This new
service means the airline now operates
up to seven flights a day from four London airports to Ibiza.
It’s a good indicator of how the Balearic Island has extended its season to
become a serious contender to its sister,
Majorca. “There are flights every day of
the year between Ibiza and London
now, and that is a massive change for
us,” says Cathy Ouwehand of Savills.
“It has opened up new opportunities
for the island. Club openings are getting
earlier each year and stretching out for
longer. Ibiza used to be abandoned in
the winter but these flights, along with
high-speed internet and good international schools, have made it much more
liveable.”
SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE
— INCLUDING LEO DICAPRIO
At only 21 miles by 12, Ibiza is one sixth
the size of Majorca, but its charm lies
in its great variety. The north is laidback, while the south offers body-beautiful beach clubs. The youngest party
crowd still head to clubs in San Antonio
but walk around Ibiza Town on a summer’s evening — and most striking are
the restaurant tables filled with multigeneration family groups.
The private jet terminal is being
extended to cope with demand, marina
berths in Ibiza Town are oversubscribed
and you have probably already left it too
late to get a Saturday night table at Lío,
the coolest cabaret ticket in town where
Hollywood A-lister Leonardo DiCaprio
partied last summer.
NEW BUILD IS HOT
The Balearics in general — and Ibiza in
particular — have seen property prices
bounce back since the recession, outperforming the Spanish mainland and
led by demand concentrated at the top
of the market. New-build homes typically account for 30 per cent of the
international market, Savills’ figures
Look
for a
new
home
in the
sun
From £309,000:
resale flats at
Cala Tarida,
below, a small
scheme on a
family-favourite
beach in the west
of the island,
including twobedroom homes
with a garden
(Savills)
From £1 million: three-bedroom flats at The White Angel Talamanca, with views of Ibiza Old Town and across the Mediterranean to Formentera (Savills)
show, but are in short supply. Spanish
developers and hoteliers OD Group
launched The White Angel in 2012, with
67 off-plan flats and a communal pool
plus full concierge service in Ibiza
Town, all now completed and sold. This
summer OD Group launched its next
project, The White Angel Talamanca,
five minutes’ drive east along the coast
close to its new hotel, OD Talamanca.
The White Angel Talamanca will have
54 three-bedroom flats in 10 low-level
blocks, five minutes’ walk from the
beach. The plot is full of pine trees and
has views to Ibiza Old Town and across
the Med to the island of Formentera.
The flats are priced from £1 million to
£1.5 million for 1,940 square feet. Some
have roof terraces and private pools,
many have sea views and all share two
pools, a spa, gym, and kids’ play area.
A full concierge service from the nearby
hotel will make these easy lock up-andleave homes for overseas buyers.
N
OWHERE on Ibiza is more
than 15 minutes from the
sea, says Ouwehand of
Savills, but most international interest still centres
on Ibiza Town and the south coast. At
ABC S’Olivera due north of Ibiza Town
Savills is selling 69 two- or three-bedroom flats from £180,000 to £308,000,
of 721sq ft to 970sq ft.
These have a communal pool and
great views of Ibiza Town. Service
charges are £85 a month and homes
could achieve a monthly rent of £1,255
on a long-term contract.
O Savills: savills.com (020 7016 3740)
14
Homes & Property | Interiors
Get personal.
Sophie stamps
her own style
on her rental flat
Forget trends. Style your rented
apartment with pictures, plants
and your favourite pieces of
furniture, interiors expert Sophie
Ashby tells Philippa Stockley
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%6
ASTELS and pretty are not my
style,” declares interior
designer Sophie Ashby. However, Ashby is the epitome of
pastel and pretty herself, in
the rented Notting Hill flat she shares
with her boyfriend, menswear designer
Charlie Casely-Hayford, son of famous
Joe, who was awarded an OBE for services to the fashion industry in 2007.
But Ashby, whose rise has been stellar
since setting up from her desk less than
three years ago, is clear on the distinction between catwalk and home, saying:
“I don’t go in for trends, either.
“It makes more sense with fashion,
but with your home, as soon as you follow a trend, you’ll soon be out of date.
Just go for what you like. That’s how you
create individuality and personality.”
Studio Ashby, which now has a staff of
nine, is currently working on 12 projects.
They range from a hotel in Robertson,
just outside Cape Town, to a new-build
mews house in St James’s on the Crown
Estate, to Endless Love and new-season
Poldark star Gabriella Wilde’s house in
Somerset (“all roll-top baths”). And
shortly, Ashby will be working on a big
development near Liverpool Street as
part of the architectural design team
doing top-end flats in this increasingly
fashionable part of the City.
It’s a big mix but she’s clear-eyed about
her style: old and new, antiques and
modern, plenty of books, art, and a
strong palette of muted accent colours
— rusts, greens, smoky blues, yellow —
nothing so overwhelming that people
can’t live with it.
Like most Londoners her age, Ashby
rents so she can’t go too wild with colour. She was allowed to paint her apartment so she went for a modulated grey
in the hall, a good foil for numerous
pictures. The rest is white, with a charming living/kitchen space featuring country-style cabinets, a simple bathroom
with pretty pink handmade tiles, and a
white bedroom with a wrought-iron
bed. As a renter she has learnt to accessorise to make it personal with glossy
design books, a few antiques and, in the
bedroom, a big marble-topped burrwalnut chest. She bought mid-century
modern pieces online and re-covered
them in African-inspired fabrics from
posh companies, put down a geometric
Berber rug and scattered beautifully
crafted South-African beadwork mugs,
plus lots of prints and plants.
“Charlie came with only four things,”
she says, “which was lucky.” Having
moved to London, 18 months ago Ashby
met Casely-Hayford on a blind date. “A
friend said he knew two tall designers,
so he introduced us to each other.”
Ashby had just rented her flat, and
Casely-Hayford helped her move in.
Plants and
pictures: interior
designer Sophie
Ashby made her
Notting Hill rental
flat feel like home
Art with heart:
Ashby and her
boyfriend,
menswear
designer Charlie
Casely-Hayford,
left; far right,
plenty of white
works with muted
accent colours in
a bedroom
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Photographs::
Charles Hosea
WHITE CITY ADVENTURE
Ashby moves next year into the flat she
bought off-plan in the former BBC complex at White City, Stanhope’s huge
development of 5,000 apartments —
practically a small new town.
“It’s Grade II, with Crittall windows
and polished floors. The good thing
about buying off-plan is that you pay
in stages, 10 per cent at a time in this
case, so it’s more affordable, and I
bought before the stamp duty rise.”
Born in London to a South African
mother and an English father, Ashby
and three siblings grew up between
South Africa and London.
The family came to England when she
was 12, settling near Totnes in Devon.
“We couldn’t handle London after living on the side of a mountain.” She
wanted to be a shoe designer, so she
HOW TO STYLE
YOUR RENTAL HOME
INSPIRATION is everywhere in
London.
Ashby advises: “Go to visit art
galleries, look in design shops,
visit antiques dealers, read
design books… it’s educational
and helps you get your own look.
“We fell in love with a particular
dirty yellow after visiting the
exhibition by German painter and
sculptor Anselm Kiefer at the
Royal Academy in 2014.
“I love The New Craftsmen shop
in Mayfair (thenewcraftsmen.
co.uk). They make incredibly
beautiful things, in Britain. They
are quite expensive — but go
there to be inspired.”
15
Interiors | Homes & Property
African-inspired
meets country
style: Ashby recovered midcentury modern
furniture in bold
fabric in the
living space, left;
below left, a soft,
cool palette in
the kitchen
studied art, and did history of art at
Leeds. She loved art and architecture
but didn’t want to study for seven
years, or be broke, so she went for
interior design.
She did a term at Parsons design school
in New York, and had two interior
design jobs in London. Then at 25 she
struck out on her own.
“It was a bit ballsy, but I went at
everything with conviction, as I know
what I like. There really isn’t a right or
wrong. People ask me all the time,
‘Sophie, should I buy this?’ I say, ‘If you
really like it, buy it — it will enhance
your life.’”
Straight after moving into her flat she
got a job dressing a townhouse near
Trafalgar Square for a developer — and
the work just keeps coming.
ADD ART
“Everyone is afraid of buying art, and it
can be expensive, but frame posters
from art gallery shops. Or go to Saatchi
Art (saatchiart.com). It’s a great
resource with original works for a few
hundred pounds — we bought a
Michael Lentz drawing. Alternatively,
buy pieces from student art shows. You
can even cut a picture out of a secondhand book and frame it. Allposters.
co.uk has half a million posters and
pictures.”
ADD COLOUR
As long as your landlord agrees you
can change the paint colour — though
you may have to paint it back at the
end of the tenancy. In the hall, Ashby
used paintandpaperlibrary.com which
is relaunching and has a new palette.
RE-COVER ANTIQUES
Ashby covered her chair in Africaninspired linen from Pierre Frey
(pierrefrey.com) and a stool with Tulu
linen from Zak + Fox (zakandfox.com).
ADD LOTS OF PLANTS
“Orchids are beautiful but overplayed.”
Ashby gets plants from Early Hours
(earlyhours.co.uk) and Columbia Road
Market (columbiaroad.info).
Antiques from Brownrigg Antiques
(brownrigg-interiors.co.uk); Kempton
Park Racecourse (sunburyantiques.
com); The Peanut Vendor in E3
(thepeanutvendor.co.uk), and 1st Dibs
(1stdibs.com).
O Get the total Sophie Ashby look at
studioashby.com
16
Homes & Property | Events
From Friday until August 21, Mall
Galleries, The Mall, SW1 (020
7930 6844; mallgalleries.org.uk)
THIS show, organised by the
Society of Designer Craftsmen
— which was founded in 1887
with William Morris and Walter
Crane as early members —
features the work of 130
modern members, all designermakers of high-quality
ceramics, furniture, glass,
jewellery, metalwork, textiles
and woodwork.
Notable glass-makers include
Peter Layton and Adam
Aaronson. Also see Edward
Johnson’s furniture, Christine
Meyer-Eaglestone’s marquetry
and hand-woven textile
hangings by Arliyah Hussain and
Mayumi Kaneko.
Prices from £75,
1
but there’s also a
super shop with
items from £1 to
£250.
We like glass
artist Cathryn
Shilling’s Sea
Foam blown glass
piece with copper
leaf, right, £375.
Admission £5; £3
concessions;
children go free.
3
2
ESTER SEGARRA
CRAFTS
1DESIGNER
ON THE MALL 2016
5 things to do in August
By Barbara Chandler
2THE CASS: HANDS ON
Open now until September 3
Aram Gallery, 110 Drury Lane, WC2
(thearamgallery.org; 020 7557 7526)
buttonhole, and help stencil “Seven
Dials” in giant letters. There’s also
music on the stage, hobby-horse
racing, giant garden games, free “live
art”, and much more.
ARAM, pictured, with four floors in
Covent Garden, is a big, cutting-edge
design store with a dedicated gallery
space, where founder Zeev Aram has
supported new talent on countless
occasions. This summer the spotlight
is on The Cass art college,
“nicknamed the Aldgate Bauhaus
because of its gifted graduates”, says
Riya Patel, show curator.
Patel is revealing how new and
experimental design gets made,
using as examples the inspirations
and making processes of Cass
alumni. Explore the stories behind
silversmithing, jewellery and
furniture making, upholstery and
musical instrument making, set
against a display of hand tools and a
wall of experimental ceramics.
CELEBRATION OF
CRAFTSMANSHIP AND
4
DESIGN
August 20-29, Thirlestaine Long
Gallery, Cheltenham College, Bath
Road, Cheltenham, Glos (02392 160 761;
celebrationofcraftsmanship.com)
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Saturday August 13
Seven Dials, Covent Garden, WC2
(sevendials.co.uk/events)
THE historic circle of Seven Dials will
be closed to traffic for this free event,
a madcap shout-out for art, craft,
food, theatre and music. Fake grass
will line the roads, with deckchairs
galore.
Enjoy discounts, plus fun and
frolics in abundant niche boutiques.
Eight alfresco restaurants will serve a
choice of eight cuisines — register
online for a free glass of prosecco.
Interactive workshops and
demonstrations include cheese
tastings, wine and antipasti
pairing, “salad styling”, pizzamaking, and olive oil blending.
Pictured is David Bez, owner and
founder of SaladPride in Neal’s
Yard. Create a flower crown or
4
A MUST-SEE for all lovers of fine
furniture, this show makes a fantastic
day out in the Cotswolds, with a
journey time of about two hours
from London by train or car.
It’s the UK’S largest exhibition of
contemporary bespoke furniture —
plus some smaller handmade pieces
— with everything for sale or available
to commission.
Meet enthusiastic, highly skilled
designer-makers from more than 75
workshops, and inspect up to 300
exhibits, from little boxes and bowls
to imposing beds and capacious
cupboards, simply styled in solid
wood or decorated with ornate
veneers, curves and carving.
Newer materials include plastics
and metals, and contemporary
techniques embrace laser cutting,
CNC machines and complicated
moulds. Prices range from £100 to
£40,000, and you can commission a
treasure for your
home, a gift, or a
commemorative
piece. We love Alun
Heslop’s Dragon Kre
Chair, pictured,
from chaircreative.
com. Admission £8,
catalogue £5.
$$$
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5BUST SUMMER CRAFTACULAR
Sunday August 21, 11am-5pm
York Hall, 5-15 Old Ford Road, E2 (bust.com/london)
MAKE-IT-YOURSELF is big in America, reports Debbie
Stoller, founder/editor of cult US craft magazine
BUST, which is in London for a one-day summer
shindig. Find handmade bargains, seconds and
one-offs from the likes of popular illustrator Rob
Ryan, and all-day workshops by trendy jewellers
Tatty Devine.
You can also paint a plant pot, cut out a word
banner and blend your own hair oil. Socialise at a
pop-up café from Drink, Shop & Do of King’s Cross,
or cool down with Mexican-inspired ice lollies, left,
from the Paleta Girls. Entrance is £3 on the door with
goody bags for the first 100 visitors.
18
Homes & Property | Reader promotion
Alison
Cork
Pretty parasols
ON OFFER at £79.99 for a
limited period, the Lotus and
Geisha parasols from One
Regent Place come in a
variety of vibrant colours.
The Lotus features a double
canopy, while the Geisha,
left, has an eye-catching
multifaceted design.
With a crank handle and a
push-button tilt, they are
perfect for creating shade.
Visit oneregentplace.co.
uk/east10 or call 020 3455
7730 to claim this offer by
August 18.
Bargain
Barg
rga
gain ne
ga
new
news
e s
ew
Tier-on-tier shutters deal
THOMAS SANDERSON tailor-made tier-on-tier shutters give
you the flexibility to close the bottom half to maintain privacy,
and fold back the top half to let in the light. Choose from more
than 70 beautiful finishes.
Receive three shutters for the price of two and an additional
10 per cent off* when quoting T7976 before August 26. For a
free brochure or to book a free design consultation, call 0800
051 7711 or visit ts-sale.co.uk (*T&Cs apply).
Giant beanbags now half price
POUF DADDY is offering 50 per cent off its fantastic, extralarge beanbags, The Jubbly and The Daddy, reducing them
from £159 to only £79 each. Whether you’re enjoying a
Netflix movie marathon, tuning into the Olympics, or
partying with friends in the garden, these comfy poufs are
perfect for relaxing indoors or out. Choose from a variety
of fabrics, including linen and velvet. To claim your
discount, visit poufdaddy.co.uk or call 0845 544 3055 and
use code ESAUG50 by 31 August.
No-fuss new-look kitchen
KITCHEN MAGIC is offering up to 30 per cent off all orders, so
grab the chance now to renovate your kitchen for less. The
company will replace your kitchen doors, drawer fronts and
worktops, completely updating your space.
Take your pick from more than 400 colours and styles, as
well as a large range of sinks, taps and kitchen appliances to
complete your new look.
For a free brochure or no-obligation quote, visit kitchenmagic.com or call 0800 169 4748. To claim, use code ES/
BH/11/08 before September 8.
Super shoe
storage unit
is a bench
to boot
CLEAR the clutter in
your hallway. Within
Home’s shoe storage
unit is perfect for the
job, and also makes a
handy bench seat.
Priced at just £245,
this solid mango wood
piece arrives
assembled and offers
style and function,
with space for six pairs
of shoes and two pairs
of wellies.
Quote SHOE10 at
withinhome.com/
shoe10 or when calling
020 3455 7731 to
receive a £45 discount.
Offer ends August 24.
O The companies listed here are wholly independent of the Evening Standard. Care is taken to establish that they are bona fide but we recommend that you carry out your own checks prior to purchases and use a credit card
where possible. To offer feedback on any of these companies, email [email protected] with “Bargain News” in the subject line. For more bargains, visit alisonathome.com or homesandproperty.co.uk/offers
20
Homes & Property | My home
homesandproperty.co.uk
The most
fabulous
house in
Hackney,
by the boy
from Brazil
The dream ticket came when the
flat below became available. Then
the real work began. Designer
João Botelho went for glam grey,
he tells Philippa Stockley
Shades of grey: the look is eclectic, romantic, yet with an industrial edge, both in
the huge, knocked-through drawing-living area, above, and in a bathroom, below
B
RAZILIAN interior designer
João Botelho, 45, was working
in fashion in his early twenties
and wanted to move to the
US, but after two applications
failed, he said to himself: “Well, if you
don’t want me, I’ll go to Europe.” Aged
23, he arrived in London.
After an immersive English course he
started out as a waiter in Harvey Nichols’s
swanky Fifth Floor restaurant, but soon
got a job with Nicole Farhi, then in 2001
with Donna Karan, where he stayed 15
years and ended up as MD, running both
fashion and homewares. This year he
launched his own interior design company, Casa Botelho, which brings out its
second collection this month.
Back in 2001, renting in Hampstead,
Botelho met Laurent Colinmaire, now
38, who works in finance. Since married,
they started out together in a flat in
Shoreditch and saved for three years —
then the search to buy a home together
was on. They concentrated their efforts
around Dalston, which not only had
many big houses in bad repair, but also
lots of creative people.
In 2004 they were shown a flat on the
top two floors of a huge Victorian mansion in Hackney. “It was yellow, blue and
green, pretty disgusting bathroom, but
the ceilings were high and the rooms
big,” says Botelho. “The minute I saw it,
I knew I could make something of it.”
They bought the 900sqft flat and did
it up, but their real hope was to buy the
bottom half of the house. In 2008 the
couple downstairs marketed their flat
on the basement and ground floor. It
was in a bad state but it had a big garden. Botelho and his husband bought
it. They decided to make the basement
floor a self-contained, rentable flat.
The top three floors, they decided, would
become “the most fabulous house in
Hackney”. They wanted to open up everything and extend out at the back, with
a landscaped garden, and a garden room
for utilities.
They found their architect, Phil Waind,
through personal recommendation.
Botelho wanted glamour and a look he
terms “masculine-luxe”, with elements
of a French château. So instead of sliding
glass doors, the extension has three dramatic floor-to-ceiling French windows
with exposed brick pillars between, leading to the elegant York stone-paved
garden set with trim olive trees. “Crittall
only does doors 2.8 metres high,”
Botelho explains, “and we wanted three
metres, so I had them made.”
Despite needing complete renovation,
rewiring, re-piping and re-roofing, the
house still had some Victorian detail and
original plasterwork, which they kept,
and matched.
W
A chap needs his rest: Oscar makes himself perfectly at home on a four-poster bed
HILE wide-ranging, the
plans were not structurally radical — basically,
the intention was to
open up the house and
modernise the staircase. So since the
property is not listed, the plans passed
without problem. Work started in March
2013 and took 14 months, while the
couple lived round the corner.
“I’m obsessed with detail,” says
Botelho — and it shows. From the elegant front door he designed to the
drama of the massive knocked-through
drawing-living area, this once muchdivided house is now stunning. Modulations of grey are used throughout — using
one tone on skirting, walls and ceiling.
The ground floor features luminous pale
21
My home | Homes & Property
powered by
grey, perfect with the wide reclaimed
floorboards, the modern sofas offset by
enormous chandeliers and the svelte
black kitchen that Botelho designed with
a black cast-concrete top. This contrasts
with exposed brick spine walls, and
more chandeliers.
The middle floor is magnificent.
Opened up front to back, the quieter
back half holds a dramatic master bedroom with new decorative plasterwork
above a modern four-poster, while the
front half is a bathroom with walk-in
black polished-plaster shower, an eggshaped free standing bath, and double
sinks. Two spectacular chandeliers, like
gyroscopes, add even more drama.
Dividing bedroom and bathroom is a
vast, glazed sliding door. This bedroom
was once the tatty kitchen.
Masculine-luxe:
above left, João
Botelho with pet
Cocker Spaniels
Prince and Oscar
in the svelte black
kitchen; above,
this home is
super-smart and
spectacular — yet
comfortable
Drama: left, floorto-ceiling French
windows, exposed
brick and the York
stone-paved
garden with trim
olive trees
Tucked neatly behind the shower is a walkin dressing room. Jackets hang in rows.
Divided drawers swish out holding every
imaginable accessory. Shoes line up on
parade. The top floor holds two glam
guest bedrooms with four-posters, and
a black-and-white bathroom.
Botelho’s attention to detail extends to
bronze fittings everywhere and neatly
traced shadow gaps, while unseen detail
such as underfloor heating and a sophisticated Loxone integrated home entertainment system that is movement
sensitive, add a further dimension of
luxury to daily life. “Who knew I’d end
up doing this for a living?” Botelho says.
“If you have a dream and your heart is
in it, follow it.”
MY TOP tip? Do your budget
for lighting, then double it
because lighting is vital.
From uplighters (in the
drawing room), to
chandeliers, to beautiful
LED light bulbs.
You must use dimmers,
too, to create mood, to
seduce the eye. And use
LED bulbs, they last much
longer and cost less. You
can get elegant ones now.
Make the floors and walls
beautiful. Furniture doesn’t
have to be expensive, and
it’s a layer you can change.
If you can afford a home
entertainment system, it’s
worth it.
Top places for
inspiration: Chelsea
Harbour Design Centre;
Clerkenwell Design Week;
Pinterest.
GET THE LOOK
O See João’s Martini
collection of tables, and his
interior design, at
casabotelho.com
O Architect Phil Waind:
Waind, Gohill + Potter
Architects (wgpa.co.uk)
O Flooring: from reclaimed
flooringco.com
O Decorative plaster
specialist: London
Plastercraft (londonplaster
craft.com)
O York stone paving: from
London Stone (londonstone.
co.uk)
O Chandeliers on ground
floor and giant convex
O WHAT IT COST
Top flat in 2004: £240,000
Lower flat in 2008: £380,000
Money spent: £800,000
Value of top three floors now:
£2.05 million
Photographs::
Juliet Murphy
JOÃO BOTELHO’S TIPS
The middle-floor master bedroom: new plasterwork, modern four-poster and “gyroscope” chandelier
Lighting’s vital: do your
budget — then double it
mirrors: from Abigail Ahern
(abigailahern.com)
O Kitchen table: bespoke
from Lombok (lombok.co.
uk)
O Loxone home
entertainment system:
(loxone.com)
O Handles and hinges:
from Fulham Brass
(fulhambrassonline.com)
O Sofas: by Natuzzi
(natuzzi.co.uk)
O French Grey paint in
drawing room: from Papers
and Paints (papersandpaints.
co.uk)
O Downpipe paint in hall:
from Farrow and Ball
(farrow-ball.com)
O LED lamp bulbs: from
Buster + Punch
(busterandpunch.com)
O Electric blinds: by
Silent Gliss (silentgliss.
co.uk)
26
Homes & Property | Outdoors
Shop ’til you drop —
then relax with yoga
or a botanical cocktail
amid herbs, veg and
flowers in John Lewis’s
new rooftop garden
Green growth:
fake grass and
windbreak
hedging of
Portuguese
laurel make
practical
landscape
choices
Pattie
Barron
H
IGH in the sky, slap-bang
in the centre of Oxford
Circus, is a rather spectacular garden. Formerly
a concrete wasteland, the
rooftop of John Lewis is now a flowery,
free-to-enter oasis with a kitchen garden, herbarium, a pop-up restaurant,
botanical cocktail bar, planting and
propagating workshops, benches and
arbours for relaxing and even early
morning yoga classes on the lawn.
What sets this space apart — all 600
square yards of it — is the wealth of detail
that makes the difference between a
prescriptive corporate venture and a
characterful, real-life garden with any
amount of take-home ideas and inspiration. For instance, just beyond the
ramped entrance that teasingly veils the
garden from visitors with a row of native
silver birches, is a building that started
life as a small, plain shed. Given a lick of
Celestial Blue Little Greene paint and a
beautifully tricked-out interior, it’s now
a des-res den that would be an asset to
any urban garden.
In front of the garden shop, and typical
of the imaginative container planting
throughout the plot, hydrangea blooms
billow from a pair of old grey chimneypots, like clouds of pink smoke.
The plan, the planting and the detail,
right down to the den’s vintage books
and weathered barometer, are down to
Vauxhall-based garden designer Tony
Woods and his 10-strong Garden Club
London team that specialises in urban
roof gardens.
“I’m finding that Londoners are trying
to get away from that minimalist look
because they’re realising that once you
strip everything out of a garden, it
doesn’t look bigger, but just feels characterless,” says Woods. “So this garden
has a lot of atmosphere and different
areas that each have a different feeling.”
The thriving kitchen garden has raised
beds fronted with handsome hazel hurdles, and holds wigwams of runner
Crated blooms: dahlias make a splash
Photographs::
Marianne
Majerus
Oasis above busy Oxford Street
beans, purple podded peas, tomatoes
and artichokes as well as edible flowers
for the restaurant’s salads and cocktails:
cornflowers, borage, marigolds. John
Lewis’s Longstock Nurseries, on the
Partnership’s Leckford Estate, supplied
many of the young plants, and more can
be bought from the on-site shop.
An urban meadow has swathes of
Achillea Terracotta, catmint, valerian
and swishy deschampsia grass, while a
“dead” corner that visitors can’t access
is a wildlife-friendly patch of marguerites, lychnis, cornflowers and ladybird
poppies, all constantly worked by bees
and hoverflies.
The landscaping is practical and effective: 6ft-high hedging windbreaks of
glossy Portuguese laurel, brought in as
one-metre blocks; artificial Easigrass
lawn that withstands a heavy footfall
and just needs mechanical brushing
every three weeks; decking and boundary wall of no-maintenance resin timber
in simulated oak.
The garden is designed to be educational, too. The herbarium — a bank of
herbs against the wall overlooking
Oxford Street — has labels identifying
each one that visitors can pick and toss
into their botanical cocktails: lemon
balm, chocolate mint, tarragon, and
sun off the roots. Aside from using small
“bulletproof” succulents as decoration,
such as pots on every rung of a double
ladder, he favours large planters,
because, he says, they have much more
impact than several small pots. “They’re
the best use of space on a small balcony.
And the greater soil depth means they
won’t dry out so quickly and will have
more nutrients.”
Plant-packed: a signpost directs visitors to the different areas of the garden
blackcurrant sage which, says Woods,
tastes just like Ribena. Herbs feature
heavily in this garden because, he
believes, they make ideal plants for
London gardens. His favourites are
prostrate rosemary, here tumbling
charmingly over the edges of reclaimed
timber planters, and green sage, which
Woods often uses as foliage in planting
schemes. “They’re great value, they
deal with neglect pretty well and can
be resuscitated. It’s important to keep
Upcycled shed: the den’s cosily furnished interior belies its humble beginnings
using them and clipping them or they’ll
get leggy.”
Shrubby thyme grows from the
mouth of a metal milk churn and textural tapestries of thymes, garlic chives,
oregano and dwarf lavender, along
with Mexican daisy and trails of wild
strawberries, froth around the bases
of mature olive, apple and pear trees,
obscuring every inch of compost. Hessian sacking makes a handsome mulch
for the silver birch trees and keeps the
Thus a standard grapevine set into an
old dolly tub and underplanted with
white dahlias, rosemary and white
bacopa looks the business in front of
the restaurant, while shocking pink
dahlias are given their glorious head in
a vintage wooden crate. The visual
merchandisers in the store fancied a
benchful of flowers, so Woods and his
team installed a trough beneath a garden bench, painted it sage green and
planted it with pelargoniums and petunias in rich plums, magentas and purples to make a lush, velvety seat cushion.
Proof positive that, for a knockout garden, a creative eye is every bit as important as green fingers.
O For opening times and details of
workshops and yoga classes, visit
johnlewis.com/our-shops/oxfordstreet/roof-garden
Smart ideas: hurdles hold edibles; plants surround a grapevine in a dolly tub
28
Homes & Property | Property searching
Aspirational:
apartments
overlooking
Limehouse Basin
Marina, right,
are so handy for
financial types
who can walk or
cycle to work in
the City or
Canary Wharf
Photographs:
Daniel Lynch
Spotlight on
Limehouse
Events chief: Daniel Smith of Troxy, the Art Deco music and conference venue
Young professionals love the elegant, modern homes in this famed east
London riverside haunt with a wicked past, says Anthea Masey
T
Artists in residence: with George the dog are upholstery and soft furnishings
specialists Tom and Anna Clayton, of St Katharine’s Precinct community project
HE riverside neighbourhood
of Limehouse has really gone
up in the world. It’s now a
well-established, clean, residential quarter of east London, but its past tells a different story.
Limehouse’s history was always interlinked with the sea, as a thriving docklands community of the good, the bad
and some very dodgy dealers who made
their money in imaginative ways. When
the docks closed it suffered, and was
viewed as a remote, alien place where
you roamed at your peril.
With the rise of Canary Wharf came
the chance of resurrection and within
20 years Limehouse was transformed
into a posh enclave of riverside homes
for bankers and City types. The old east
enders cashed in and left long ago.
This was London’s first Chinatown and
for many years was home to the capital’s
best Chinese restaurants, all bearing the
£1.6 MILLION
£575,000
£825,000
A FOUR-BEDROOM canalside home with a shared
garden, cellar and heated swimming pool in
Newell Street. Call Knight Frank (020 8012 3469).
A TWO-BEDROOM apartment on the fifth floor of the
Scotia Building, Jardine Road, a short walk from
Limehouse DLR. Urban Spaces (020 8012 3725).
A TWO-BEDROOM house in Matlock Street with
underfloor heating, open-plan kitchen/dining area
and south-facing garden. Keatons (020 8012 3876).
name Friends, the most famous being
the Good Friends, frequented in the
Sixties by the likes of Bond star Sean
Connery and singer Barbra Streisand.
Chinatown has now shifted to Soho but
in Salmon Lane, E14, Local Friends,
reputedly Britain’s first takeaway, still
does a busy trade.
Four miles from central London and
conveniently located between the City
and Canary Wharf, most of the people
who live in Limehouse’s elegant riverside and canalside flats do so because it
suits the long working hours common
in the financial world.
Estate agent Lee O’Neill, of Knight
Frank, says Limehouse — in the borough
of Tower Hamlets and on the north side
of the Thames — has the advantage of
being cheaper than Wapping. It is also
much quieter than Canary Wharf just
across the water, and has no big new
building projects in the pipeline.
£680,000
To find a home in Limehouse, visit rightmove.co.uk
For more about Limehouse, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/limehouse
ON THE third floor of a Limehouse scheme in
Horseferry Road, this two-bedroom apartment
offers fine marina views from its private corner
balcony. Through Fine & Country (020 7987 8777).
29
Property searching | Homes & Property
STATS CHECK
WHAT HOMES COST
BUYING IN LIMEHOUSE
(Average prices)
One-bedroom flat £423,000
Two-bedroom flat £581,000
Two-bedroom house £555,000
Three-bedroom house £934,000
Four-bedroom house £1.02million
Source: Rightmove
RENTING IN LIMEHOUSE
(Average rates)
One-bedroom flat £1,508 a month
Two-bedroom flat £2,020 a month
Two-bedroom house £1,984 a month
Three-bedroom house £2,509 a month
Four-bedroom house £3,413 a month
Source: Rightmove
THE PROPERTY
SCENE
TRAVEL
FOR MORE, VISIT
homesandproperty.co.uk
L
IMEHOUSE has a handful of fine
Georgian houses, most especially
in Narrow Street where in January
1981 the Gang of Four — Labour defectors David Owen, Shirley Williams, Roy
Jenkins and Bill Rodgers — issued the
Limehouse Declaration at Owen’s
house, marking the break from their
political party and the setting up of the
SDP.
The York Square conservation area
north of Commercial Road has streets
of pretty, flat-fronted, early Victorian
cottages. There are characterful warehouse conversions and many newbuild flats clustered around Limehouse
Basin and overlooking Limehouse Cut,
London’s oldest canal. The area also
has many estates of social housing.
■ NEW BUILD
The regeneration of the Ocean Estate,
a joint venture between Tower Hamlets
council and the East Thames Consortium in nearby Stepney, is the largest
local development. Between 2010 and
2014, 1,200 estate homes were refurbished and 819 new homes were built
on five separate sites.
The last phase involves the demolition of three tower blocks in Aston
Street, on the south-east corner of the
O Use our School Checker to find
catchment areas and inspection
reports for local schools
O The best shops and restaurants in
and around Limehouse
O Local arts, leisure and sport
O Limehouse’s best streets — and
up-and-coming areas to watch
ON THE Docklands Light Railway,
Limehouse station is in Zone 2,
halfway between Bank and Canary
Wharf, and there are also trains to
Fenchurch Street. An annual
travelcard to Zone 1 costs £1,296.
Political plot: Narrow Street, where the Gang of Four launched the SDP in 1981
estate at the edge of Limehouse, where
120 homes will be replaced by 225 new
homes, due to be ready early in 2018.
Call East Thames on 0300 303 7333.
Canary Gateway in St Anne’s Row,
overlooking Limehouse Cut, will have
160 one-, two- and three- bedroom flats
in Artisan Place and Bywater Square,
two six-storey blocks with communal
roof terraces. The latter is arranged
around a landscaped courtyard. The
masterplan for the area also involves
the conversion of an adjacent listed
warehouse into offices with bars and
restaurants on the ground floor. Call
City & Docklands Property Group on
020 8896 4479.
Three flats remain at Royal Quay, an
office-to-residential conversion in Dod
Street overlooking Limehouse Cut.
They are move-in ready and prices start
at £399,000 for a one-bedroom flat and
£475,000 for a two-bedroom flat. Call
Regal Homes (020 7328 7171).
■ AFFORDABLE HOMES
One Housing Group has four two-bedroom shared-ownership flats left at
Burdett Wharf in Thomas Street, also
overlooking Limehouse Cut. Prices from
Community
counts: left,
development
manager Seb
Slater of The
Royal Foundation
of St Katharine,
the charity
behind St
Katharine’s
Precinct
community and
artists’ space
Limehouse Cut:
London’s oldest
navigable canal,
right, first used
in 1769, links the
Thames to the
River Lee
£208,000 for a minimum 40 per cent
of a flat with a market value of £520,000.
Call site sales (0300 303 7333).
■ WHO RENTS HERE?
Knight Frank lettings manager Gary Hall
says most Limehouse renters are singletons or couples working for overseas
banks in Canary Wharf and the City,
who can walk or cycle to work. “This is
not an area where many families rent.”
Quality of rental stock is high. Many
landlords bought 10-15 years ago and
moved away, keeping their flats as a
rental investment.
HAVE YOUR SAY:
LOCALS TWEET THEIR TIPS
@RakSingh1 Best Italian takeaway:
Sapore Italiano. Not much to look at,
but authentic Italian food at a
reasonable price
@CameronPrimrose the Yurt Café is
a lovely little lunchtime spot for coffee
and a toastie. @YurtCafeLondon
@E14propertyblog It’s all about
@TheGrapesLondon for the
@Landmark_E14 team. Best in
#Limehouse
30
Homes & Property | Ask the expert
I have never heard of peer to peer lending
Fiona
McNulty
WHAT’S
YOUR
PROBLEM?
OUR LAWYER ANSWERS
YOUR QUESTIONS
Q
AS WELL as the property
I live in, I own an
investment property
which I use for holiday
lets — it is mortgage free. A house
that I have always wanted will be
coming up for auction soon. As I
don’t have any cash I would like to
borrow money to buy it, do it up
and then sell my current holiday
let to pay off the money I have
borrowed.
As I am retired with no regular
income other than my pension and
my holiday lets, I have been told
that getting a traditional mortgage
may be difficult. A friend has
suggested I try peer to peer
lending. She says she has looked
into it and feels it would work for
me. I have never heard of peer to
peer lending — what is it please ?
A
PEER to peer lending — often
shortened to “P2P” — is when
someone borrows money
from an individual, or group
of individuals, rather than through a
financial institution such as a bank. It
can be more flexible than traditional
lending. For example, a borrower’s
age is usually irrelevant and
applications are often processed
quickly. Peer to peer lenders try to
understand the requirements of the
borrowers and match them with
suitable lenders.
Borrower and lender will agree the
terms of the loan such as the interest
rate payable; whether the loan is for a
fixed term; if it can be terminated on
either side giving three months’
notice, or whether the loan is to be
secured on an investment property,
etc. If you go down this route, do use a
reputable peer to peer company that
invests in buy to lets. The industry
association is called The Peer-to-Peer
Finance Association and the company
you use should be Financial Conduct
Authority authorised. Read the loan
documentation carefully. Consider
seeking financial and legal advice on
the terms of the loan agreement, so
you know what you are signing up to.
IF YOU have a
question for
Fiona McNulty,
please email
legalsolutions@
standard.co.uk
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 a
legal director
in the private
wealth group of
Foot Anstey
(footanstey.com).
More legal
Q&As
Visit: homesand
property.co.uk
Q
MY FATHER passed away in January and my
brother and I are the executors in his will. We
have recently sorted out all of the probate
forms and received the grant back. In his will
he left his house to his partner, but they were not
married. We are looking to sell the house but first we
need to get her name on the deeds. Does this happen
automatically, as we applied for probate? Does she
need to see a solicitor, or is there a way we can get her
name on the deeds without doing that?
A
THE issue of a grant of probate does not transfer
property. It is evidence of the appointment of the
executors, in this case you and your brother, and
means that you are entitled to deal with the
administration of the estate, of which your father’s
partner will be a beneficiary.
Presumably, your desire to sell the house means she also
wants to do this. If she is currently living there, she may
simply want it transferred into her name. Then she can
sell it at any time she chooses and you will not need to be
involved in the sale. A transfer of property by executors to
a beneficiary is called an assent.
If the property is registered, you do not need a lawyer to
prepare the assent and you can complete a Land Registry
AS1 form. However, if your father had a mortgage which is
secured against the house, the lender will probably
require the assent to be prepared by a lawyer.
If your father’s partner just wants the property sold as
quickly as possible, you could do that as executors and
simply pass the proceeds of sale to her.
Do make sure you seek tax advice regarding the
distribution of the estate.
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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32
Homes & Property | Inside story
On parade at the
school fair, where
it’s cool to be a
Chelsea Pensioner
MONDAY
Well, what an interesting time to be
starting a brand-new role at Strutt &
Parker, so soon after Brexit. Is “interesting” the right word? It’s definitely been
full steam ahead, Brexit or no Brexit.
I start the week on a high note, attending the Christie’s 250th anniversary
party at the auction house in King
Street, St James’s. This is my first foray
into the esteemed world that comes
with Strutt & Parker’s exclusive UK
affiliation with Christie’s International
Real Estate.
We enjoy a private tour ahead of the
landmark anniversary celebration
showcasing the best of British art. It is
a fantastic opportunity to meet some
highly influential people in the art
world and invite our own clients.
TUESDAY
A landlord who owns a total of 150 buyto-let properties across Kensington and
Chelsea has asked to meet me today,
as he is currently unhappy with the
agency he is using to manage his sig-
Diary of
an estate
agent
nificant portfolio. I feel like we can
really make a difference here and
involve all seven of our offices in this
area — a bit of internal competition is
always good for results.
WEDNESDAY
This afternoon I’m hosting a meeting
with all of the sales heads in London to
discuss current stock levels, and which
clients will be interested in meeting the
lettings teams to learn more about the
market. We are definitely seeing more
stock coming on to the lettings market
as a result of people wanting to see how
the markets play out in the current
climate. In addition to this, we are seeing landlords being a lot more flexible
on the rents they ask. We have just
agreed an offer of £5,500 per week on
a property in Chelsea that we started
marketing in late May at £7,950 per
week.
capital. Research by PwC has shown
that 60 per cent of Londoners will be
renting in nine years’ time. It’s time to
embrace Generation Rent and for
developers to start building high-spec
products for long-term rental.
THURSDAY
A fun community event finishes the
week. Strutt & Parker is the platinum
sponsor for the summer fair of the
Garden House School, one of the most
prestigious schools in Chelsea. I look
on in awe as more than 500 families
swarm through the gates, buzzing with
end-of-term excitement. This particu-
FRIDAY
The morning starts with a pitch for a
private rented sector developer who is
building regeneration projects for rent
in Zones 3 and 4 in west London. Innovation is key and I think it will be really
good to get involved in this new type
of product coming to the market in the
lar fair, held annually in Burton Court,
leaves little to the imagination when it
comes to throwing luxury children’s
parties, and puts my fond memories
of strawberries and cream at the end
of term quite to shame.
All of this is watched over by a benevolent gaggle of Chelsea Pensioners. In
their splendid red and gold-buttoned
uniforms, they offer encouragement
on the dunking stand while happily
tucking into their ice creams.
O Kate Eales is national head of
lettings at Strutt & Parker (020 7629
7282).
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34
Homes & Property | Letting on
You know when you’re
kind, it usually pays off
From the opera hopeful who washed dishes to the engineer-turned-waiter,
Victoria Whitlock lists the waifs and strays who have rented her rooms
O
NE of my tenants has
emailed to say she is
leaving to take up a new
job in another city, and
while I am very sorry to
see her go, I am pleased that she has
managed to turn her life around.
When I met her a year ago, she was
homeless, broke and down in the
dumps due to a number of
“emotional issues” she was working
through, so she’d decided to move to
London to make a fresh start.
She had a job, but she was still in
her probationary period so the
referencing agency suggested I asked
her for a guarantor. Unfortunately,
she didn’t have one. Then I found out
she was so skint she was planning to
go to friends with a begging bowl to
collect enough cash for her deposit.
She wasn’t what you would call an
ideal tenant, at least on paper, but I
liked her. Also, I am pretty lazy and I
didn’t want the hassle of looking for
another tenant when I had already
found one who seemed all right.
Giving her a room was a bit of risk,
The
accidental
landlord
but it paid off. She has never missed a
rent payment or caused any
problems and now she is back on her
feet and about to start a better-paid
job in a new city.
I have taken a few chances with
other tenants who have come to
London in the hope of finding fame
or fortune. They haven’t all been
successful. There was the Spanish
would-be opera singer who ended up
washing dishes in a restaurant; the
Greek engineer who waited on
tables, and the Italian architect who
served coffee to commuters.
They might not have found what
they were looking for in London, but
they all paid their rent on time and
looked after the flat and none of
them made me regret my decision to
give them a room. It isn’t an
approach I would recommend to
others, but I don’t mind taking the
odd risky tenant because if things
don’t work out I know I won’t be
stuck with them for very long. I only
give them six-month tenancy
agreements. When the six months
are up, I can get rid of them by
serving a Section 21 notice, which
gives them two months to leave.
Landlords don’t have to give a
reason for ending a tenancy with an
S21 and it’s much easier than going
through the trauma of a Section 8
eviction, which, I get the impression,
only succeeds if the tenant has been
very, very bad.
Some tenants’ campaign groups are
now trying to persuade the
Government to ban “no fault” S21
evictions, arguing that it isn’t fair for
good tenants to be thrown out of
their homes at short notice when
they have done nothing wrong.
While I can see where they’re
coming from, in that I wouldn’t like
£461 a week: this modern, top-floor flat with lift access in Lawn Lane, SW8 comes
fully furnished and is available to rent through John D Wood (020 8012 2444).
Vauxhall, Oval and Stockwell Tube stations are all less than half a mile away.
the thought hanging over my head
that I could be turfed out of my home
with just two months’ notice, in my
experience landlords rarely kick out
tenants without good reason.
Some will end tenancies because
they want to sell their properties,
while in other cases, tenants might
be turfed out because the landlord
wants to move back into their home.
Nevertheless, most tenancies end at
the tenant’s request.
If you make it harder for landlords
to evict tenants they will only ever
take on those who are rock solid with
secure jobs and high salaries — and
fewer will take a chance on those
waifs and strays who might just need
a break to get back on their feet.
O Victoria Whitlock lets four
properties in south London.
To contact Victoria with your ideas
and views, tweet @vicwhitlock
EXCLUSIVE 2 & 3 BEDROOM
APARTMENTS, WANDSWORTH, SW18
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36
Homes & Property | New homes
By David Spittles
Foodie flats
with Nobu on
the doorstep
in Shoreditch
SHOREDITCH foodies
await the opening of the
UK’s first Nobu hotel and
restaurant next year — and
they are in for an
architectural treat.
The low-rise building will
have a jagged exterior and
angular concrete
balconies, while its façade
is made of printed layered
glass that is highly
reflective to ensure
privacy. It will have a
private garden and face on
to a small park, overlooked
by warehouses, offices and
apartments.
Among the apartments
are new homes carved
from the upper floors of a
Smart
Sma
Sm
mar
art
rt mov
mo
mov
ov
Boutique Battersea
listed pub in Ravey Street,
part of a quiet
conservation area behind
busy Great Eastern Street.
The flats, above and below,
have dual-aspect living
spaces with floor-to-ceiling
sash windows and exposed
roof beams and girders.
Prices from £1.15 million.
Call Hurford Salvi Carr on
020 7250 1012.
O
Want
to buy
your
first
home?
LD Battersea is
a welcoming
alternative to
the shiny new
district being
built around the power
station. Lying back from the
river, the village is just
discernible around pretty
Battersea Square, a cobbled
hub at the top of the high
street that butts up against a
typical London mix of highrise council estates and
conservation areas.
Among the latter is the “Little India”
enclave, with Cabul, Afghan, Khyber
and Candahar Roads, while
Shaftsbury Estate, built in the 1870s as
housing for the working classes, has
neat cottages now popular with young
lawyers and bankers.
Battersea Square Mews, above
and right, is a boutique scheme of
new homes set around a cobbled
courtyard tucked away from the
traffic. Architecturally, the emphasis
is on clean, crisp lines, and light
spaces. Townhouses extend to more
than 3,000sq ft and feature glazed
rooftop rooms that open on to
terracing, while two- and threebedroom flats have an internal glasswalled atrium and roof terrace. All
homes have underfloor heating and
comfort cooling, and there is offstreet gated parking. Prices from
£2.55 million to £3,375,000. Call
Savills on 020 3430 6926.
Royal College of Art’s new campus
on this patch has given momentum
to a “creative quarter” that includes a
Vivienne Westwood design outlet,
while the opening of a River Bus pier
at Plantation Wharf, on the Putney to
Blackfriars route, is another reason
to buy into this improving
neighbourhood.
37
New homes | Homes & Property
Three-bedroom houses for £500k
in Slough the Crossrail boom town
SLOUGH registered the UK’s biggest
house price increase — 19 per cent —
over the last year, according to the
Land Registry. Crossrail is proving to
be a game changer for this big,
sprawling Berkshire M4 corridor
town, dominated by industrial
estates.
A new station is being built and
when the Elizabeth line starts
operating in 2018, the journey to
central London will take just 34
minutes.
The town centre is getting a very
much-needed makeover with
improvements spearheaded by
Slough Urban Renewal, a
regeneration partnership between
the local council and developers. It
has not been a desirable destination,
so property prices are still relatively
low. At least six new housing
developments are under way,
including Milestone, being built on
land next to the old town hall site.
This scheme, right, has 73 homes
ranging from one-bedroom flats to
three-bedroom houses. Prices from
£230,000 to £500,000. Help to Buy
is available. Launching this autumn is
Wrexham Green, with 104 homes
on the site of a former garden
nursery bordering the green belt.
Call 01753 326 106.
NEW AT KEW LIVE IN SNIFFING DISTANCE
A NEW summer highlight for London
is the 350-yard Broad Walk, just
reopened after a redesign, at the
Royal Botanic Gardens. Kew’s biggest
horticultural project in more than 30
years has created the country’s most
spectacular pair of floral borders,
with 30,000 plants .
Kew visitors can also check out
local property developments,
including Fuchsia House and Rose
House, the latest phase of
apartments at Emerald Gardens,
right, a 170-home scheme alongside
Kew Village and the Thames. Prices
from £440,000. Call 020 3667 5572.
Kew Gardens’ Sackler Crossing, a
splendid, sinuous bridge made of
granite and bronze that straddles the
arboretum’s main lake, is the
inspiration for landscaping and
interiors at Heritage Walk, near Kew
Bridge, which has apartments facing
on to courtyard gardens and a linear
park. Prices from £425,000. Call St
James on 020 3740 1397.
The scheme sits next to another
visitor attraction — the listed
Victorian London Museum of Water &
Steam.
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10 August 2016 - Homes and Property

Transcription

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