Arch-itecture - Homes and Property

Transcription

Homes&
Property
Wednesday 10 February 2016
Men: style
and passion
Valentine’s Day
Page 14
BEAT THE STAMP DUTY HIKE P8 THE OLYMPIC LEGACY: STRATFORD P10 OUR GREAT BUY P30 SPOTLIGHT ON LEYTON P34
Arch-itecture
A glorious new life for
London’s 10,000
neglected railway arches
REBECCA REID
Page 6
WEDNESDAY 10 FEBRUARY 2016 EVENING STANDARD
4
Homes & Property | News
Cheaper, better trains
— the TfL promise
JEREMY SELWYN
H
UNDREDS of thousands of
London commuters are
being promised cheaper
travel and more frequent
services within two years
as Transport for London grapples to
seize control of privatised train services across the South-East.
The Department for Transport has
backed Mayor Boris Johnson’s plans to
create a more “joined-up” rail network
in and around the capital, which would
include taking control of rail services
operating within Greater London.
This would mean TfL taking over
parts of the South West Trains service
when its franchise comes up for
renewal next year, followed by the
South Eastern service in 2018.
The move comes just when the gap
between property prices in the capital
and the rest of the South-East has
reached its widest on record, forcing
many Londoners to look for homes in
the commuter belt and beyond.
According to the latest Land Registry
Battle for the
driving seat:
overcrowded
South West
Trains could be
the first of the
private services
in London to
come under TfL
control
index, the average London property
price is £514,097, while the average for
the South-East is £261,581.
However, this price difference must
be set against the cost of commuting.
A new study suggests that the average
London commuter will have travelled
141,437 miles by the time they retire,
and spent more than £113,000 on their
journey to and from work.
£16.8 million: take your
conspicuous wealth north to
Totteridge and you’ll find a
spectacular mansion that
can really show it off.
Sitting imposingly in a
private gated plot of about
three acres — bang in the
middle of a conservation
area — Cavendish House
itself covers a whopping
21,630sq ft that includes a
mass of entertaining space
in five reception rooms,
along with a 12-seat private
cinema, a bespoke wine
cellar and a 12-metre indoor
swimming pool.
The obligatory grand spiral
staircase leads to eight plush
bedrooms and seven
bathrooms. There is also a
lift, should you be feeling like
one of the idle rich.
Staff can be kept at a
discreet distance in a
separate two-bedroom
apartment, while there is
ample garaging for your
favourite car... plus a fleet
of others.
It’s on the market with
Statons (020 8012 3395).
including five bedrooms —
three of them en suite — and
a fabulous kitchen-dining
area lit by a wall of bi-fold
doors that peel back on to
the sun terrace and wellpresented gardens. The
property has solid oak doors,
while glass panels in the
original barn openings add
light and space to beamed
reception and dining rooms
that are completed by sleek
Italian floor tiles.
Through John D Wood
(01865 575177).
O Find Ruth Bloomfield’s full story at homesandproperty.co.uk
You be the judge in our New Homes Awards 2016
WE ARE looking for 18 avid
readers of Homes & Property,
each with a passion for
property, who would like to be
part of our judging panel for
the 2016 Evening Standard
New Homes Awards.
You will join industry experts
to choose the very best homes
and developments in London
and the South-East.
A shortlist of schemes will be
prepared by a team of experts,
who will visit each site, but our
reader judges will choose the
winners in each category.
Reader judges do not need any
professional qualifications —
just bags of enthusiasm for
excellent architecture and
design. Your job will be to
recognise both the good and
Trophy
home of
the week
a mansion
that makes
the most of
your millions
bad points of house building
today across all sectors of the
industry, from starter homes
to luxurious mansions.
Judging must be completely
independent, so reader judges
must have no direct connections
to builders or developers, and
they must not have served on
our panel in previous years.
HOW TO APPLY If you would
like to take part, tell us in no
more than 150 words why you
feel qualified for the task,
detailing relevant knowledge,
experience and enthusiasm.
You would need to be free for a
couple of hours on the evening
of Wednesday, March 2, to
attend the selection process in
Kensington (refreshments
Top of the world: view from
Ballymore development The
Penthouse at Wapping Lane,
winner of our 2015 Grand Prix
provided) and all day on
Thursday, April 7, for the final
judging. Please email your
application to avril@
signaturevents.co.uk.
VISIT homesandproperty.co.uk/
rules for details of our usual
promotion rules. When you
respond to promotions, offers or
competitions, the London Evening
Standard and its sister companies
may contact you with relevant
offers and services that may be of
interest. Please give your mobile
number and/or email address if
you would like to receive such
offers by text or email.
Editorial: 020 3615 2524
Advertisement manager:
Jamie McCabe
Advertising: 020 3615 0266
Homes & Property, Northcliffe
House, 2 Derry Street, Kensington,
London W8 5TT.
Facebook:
£1,175,000: Willow Barn, in
the conservation area of
Ducklington, Oxfordshire,
is the perfect Zen package
for a dreamy yoga retreat
or boutique B&B, with its
serene views over the
River Windrush and the open
fields beyond.
The converted barn
provides ample space for
your guests to retreat,
London buy of the week the last one left.
A sleek three-bedroom flat with balcony views
Editor:
Janice
Morley
Lifechanger
of the week
good karma’s
guaranteed in
this perfect
barn retreat
£540,000: tempting buyers
to N11 is Florian House — a
boutique development in
New Southgate, where this
three-bedroom flat is the last
one available.
It has a generous floor
space of 964sq ft across an
open-plan living/dining
room, pictured, with a
balcony. A sleek kitchen has
integrated appliances, glossy
units and granite worktops.
Two of the bedrooms
have balconies, while the
main bathroom, inset, is
very hotel-chic. There are
communal gardens and video
entry, and Arnos Grove Tube
station (Piccadilly line) is
minutes away. Through KFH
— call 020 8012 2773.
ESHomesAndProperty • Twitter:
By Faye Greenslade
@HomesProperty
5
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 10 FEBRUARY 2016
News | Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk powered by
Form a
queue
for a
modern
marvel
Healthy extras
at Ricky’s place
By Amira Hashish
O For more celebrity gossip, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/gossip
Got some gossip? Tweet @amiranews
ÉRICKY GERVAIS has reduced the
asking price for his home in
Hampstead. The four-bedroom
Victorian detached house was
originally listed for sale at
£7.7 million last September.
However, it is now on Goldschmidt
and Howland’s books for
£6,999,000.
With a generous 5,263sq ft, there’s
plenty of party space and an
outdoor terrace.
British comedy actor, director, and
writer Gervais, right, who has
hosted America’s Golden Globe
Awards four times, turned the lower
level of the house into a spa area,
above and top right, with an ozone
swimming pool, gym and a golf
drive. But after living there for
nearly 10 years and completing
renovations, the Extras star
decided to start a new chapter.
He recently moved into a £10.5
million mansion nearby with his
long-time partner, the bestselling author Jane Fallon.
GETTY
sixth floors, on the market through
Barnard Marcus at £400,000.
The block was designed by Sir Leslie
Martin and Sir Colin St John Wilson,
architects of the Royal Festival Hall
and the British Library respectively.
Remodelled by RIBA award-winning
White Table architects, the flat
featured in Grand Designs Magazine.
Miley’s home No 3
is a Malibu retreat
REX
É WHILE this south London tower
block might appear austere to many,
to architecture buffs it is one of the
capital’s finest examples of the
modernist movement’s International
Style. Fans are expected to form an
orderly queue at Prospect House in
edgy Elephant and Castle to view a
two-bedroom flat on the fifth and
É MILEY CYRUS, above, has bought
a four-bedroom Malibu mansion. The
£1.74 million residence, below, is the
pop singer’s third house.
It’s near the home of actor Liam
Hemsworth, with whom Cyrus, famed
for her risqué twerking dance moves,
has reportedly reignited her romance.
Her new place stands in more than
two acres of grounds, with connected
outdoor dining space and swish kitchen.
Built in 1958, the bedrooms could do
with an update — but it’s essentially the
perfect summer retreat.
Perrie mixes with Surrey set
Surrey after the breakup, and has spent the
past few months
giving the place a
more feminine look.
Malik, 23, whose
debut solo single
Pillowtalk topped
the US charts this
week, has relocated
to New York and is
reportedly dating
American fashion
model Gigi Hadid.
GETTY
ÉLITTLE MIX singer
Perrie Edwards, inset, has
sold the £5 million north
London home she bought
with her ex-fiancé,
Bradford-born former One
Direction star Zayn Malik.
They bought the sixbedroom property, right,
last summer but split soon
afterwards. Edwards, 22,
invested in a £1 million
four-bedroom bungalow
with a pretty garden in
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6
Homes & Property | New homes
DUKE’S REVAMP
Network Rail owns 10,000 arches in
London and has an active programme
of renovating rows of them rather than
individual units, arguing that this
“encourages better place-making and
more community benefits”.
The Grosvenor Estate, the Duke of
Westminster’s property company, is
looking beyond its heartland of Mayfair
and Belgravia to create a new quarter
in a gritty Bermondsey backwater. Its
11-acre site butts up against the world’s
oldest railway viaduct — the London
to Greenwich, built in the 1830s —
which also has the longest run of arches
in the UK.
The Peek Freans biscuit factory once
stood on the site but for years the land
has been a no-go zone, closed to the
public. Grosvenor’s master plan is for
800-plus new homes, a school and
park. Offices and studio space will open
up the area by creating new pedestrian
links through listed arches and
passageways to Bermondsey’s Jubilee
line station.
DANIEL LYNCH
WALK THE LINE
Graffiti tunnel: Leake Street, beneath the former Eurostar terminal at Waterloo
Railway viaducts radiating out of
London Bridge and Waterloo mainline
stations crisscross this swathe of the
capital, and it’s here that the most
ambitious projects are to be found.
The best way to get to grips with
what’s happening is to put on your hiking boots and follow the rail tracks,
stopping for refreshment at somewhere like Ropewalk food market near
London’s great
10,000 neglected Victorian railway arches
are enjoying a glorious revival as part of new
homes schemes, reports David Spittles
REBECCA REID
T
HE extensive network of
railway viaducts and arches
in the capital is a great legacy
of the Victorian era. Now,
after decades of neglect and
decay, these splendid structures are
being restored and integrated into new
housing schemes, weaving their historic heritage into our redesigned
inner-city spaces to the benefit of community and buyers alike.
Many individual arches have already
turned around their image as leaky,
back-street lock-ups by being transformed into chic offices for start-ups,
boutiques and bistros but, as developers scramble for land, projects are
happening on a much larger scale.
Planners and Network Rail are collaborating to bring rows of railway
arches back into use and to make their
beautiful, bare-brick fabric an architectural showpiece.
Shad Thames. A campaign by Bermondsey Village Action Group saved
rare polychromatic brick arches alongside London Bridge station from the
bulldozer, which have been listed by
English Heritage.
Snowsfields Yard, tucked away
behind the viaduct, is a scheme of 28
flats priced from £765,000. Call Crest
Nicholson on 020 3002 5453.
Borough Market is set to move up
another notch in status with a gamechanging £300 million project, opening up magnificent vaulted Victorian
railway arches which housed the
Vinopolis wine centre.
Redevelopment of the three-acre
complex will create space for up to 50
new shops, an art house cinema and
private members club, plus a new
southern entrance to the market.
Check out Great Suffolk Street,
which runs all the way to Trinity
Church Square, the latter a traffic-free
Georgian conservation area.
For many years, this patch was
deemed the wrong side of the tracks,
but architects and design companies
are moving into refurbished arches,
while small plots are being redeveloped into flats.
A scheme in Rushworth Street has
nine flats priced from £710,000. Call
020 7758 8424.
Looming over a railway viaduct at
Union Street is The Music Box, a funky
Peace Quiet
#! ! "
From £737,500: The Music Box in Union Street,
Southwark, has one-, two- and three-bedroom flats
Part of a master plan: the site of the former Peek Freans
biscuit factory in Bermondsey is earmarked for 800 homes
7
New homes | Homes & Property
DAVID YEO
Near Waterloo’s tracks: former hotel
Dover House has been turned into flats
DANIEL LYNCH
Sweet success: E5 Bakehouse in railway arches at London
Fields supplies five-star restaurants with cakes and bread
All change:
Monmouth
Coffee Company
is among firms to
take over arches
in Spa North,
Bermondsey,
above left;
Stoney Street,
above, is at
the centre of a
£300 million
project to
transform arches
at Borough
Market
scheme of 55 flats above new premises
for London Centre of Contemporary
Music. Prices from £737,500. Call 020
3772 7725.
BANKSY TERRITORY
Leake Street used to be a dark and
dangerous alley running below the
disused Eurostar terminal at Waterloo.
Made famous by graffiti artist Banksy,
who organised the first of the Cans
Festivals of street art there in 2008,
Lambeth council has now given
approval for it to be turned into an
avenue of coffee shops and quirky food
outlets.
Most of all it will increase the allure
of the neighbourhood around Lower
From £765,000: Snowsfields Yard, just off Bermondsey
Street and close to the Shard, features 28 apartments
Marsh, a 160-year-old street market
that had suffered property blight following the Eurostar terminal closure,
but is now gentrifying.
From here, viaducts run parallel with
Albert Embankment and pass through
fast-changing Nine Elms to the Wandsworth hinterland. The railway line used
to act as a buffer, blocking access to the
river, but arches are being punched
through.
Damien Hirst’s vast Newport Street
Gallery has opened alongside the rumbling Vauxhall viaduct. Next door,
developer St James is renovating arches
as part of a wedge of elite new riverside
housing. A new public space will unite
the arches with 433 luxury apartments
in three separate schemes called The
Corniche, The Dumont and Merano
Residences. Prices start at £3.35 million. Call 020 8246 4190.
Battersea Exchange, between
Battersea Park and Queenstown Road
stations, similarly makes a virtue out
of listed railway arches.
Taylor Wimpey, the developer, is
creating a new car-free street lined with
shops and cafés facing 10 buildings
with 290 homes. Prices from £790,000.
Call 020 3053 0745.
Meanwhile, architects are turning
their attention to a new challenge — that
of creating homes within railway
arches. An amazing prototype home
and studio for a photographer has been
resourcefully squeezed into an arch in
Southwark.
Designed by Undercurrent Architects
and clad in rusty Corten steel with a
highly insulated inner skin, the
1,600sq ft space is acoustically protected from the noise of the trains that
go rattling past during the day.
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8
Homes & Property | Buy to let
£600,000: a
two-bedroom
flat in Hackford
Road, Oval, SW9.
Through Ludlow
Thompson (020
8212 2211)
Big potential:
capital growth
prospects are
strong in King’s
Cross, where the
UK’s first natural
bathing pond,
right, opened
last summer
JEREMY SELWYN
,
Learn the rules of
good rental returns
T
LAUNCHING
HERE is nothing like a tight
deadline to focus the mind,
and the announcement that
stamp duty on buy-to-let
property or on a second
home will rise by three per cent on each
band from April has prompted a scramble by investors desperate to avoid paying thousands of pounds extra.
However, this important buy, which
could be your pension pot, needs careful thought if it is going to bring a constant return and increase in value in
the long term.
Exclusive new research from Rightmove reveals the top 10 locations
where you can expect the best rental
return, both in London and in the commuter belt, and with a price range to
suit all pockets. This research is supported by expert advice on how to
make the best buy.
Leading the way in central London is
Oval where, according to the research,
investors could see a 31.3 per cent
return on investment — calculated by
looking at the average price of twobedroom flats across London, their
annual price change and their annual
rental income. The return on each
Move quickly to avoid April’s hike
in stamp duty. Here’s our guide
to the 10 best rental areas to
search. By Ruth Bloomfield
investment does not take into account
management costs or the possibility
that the property will be empty for
some of the year. Nonetheless, the
financial gains are impressive.
An average two-bedroom property
in Oval costs £571,551 — up from about
£450,000 a year ago — and rents for
about £1,700 a month. However,
Karelia Scott-Daniels, managing director at Manse & Garret Property Search,
says investors could get into the area
from about £350,000 by buying an excouncil flat, which would rent for about
£1,600 a month. “These flats are
cheaper than private flats, but there is
not as much of a difference in the rents
they command,” she says.
She adds that renters on the upper
floors of a block like lifts, all of them
want security and most prefer small
blocks to sprawling estates.
‘WE’LL SAVE £13,500 IF WE COMPLETE BEFORE APRIL 1’
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LIZZIE RIVERA, 30, an online
editor, and her partner, Joe
McGuire, 32, who works for
a tech start-up, are buying a
one-bedroom flat in north
London for £450,000.
Lizzie’s share of the deposit
is coming from equity released
from a flat she bought in
Enfield for £115,000 in 2013.
She converted the studio
into a one-bedroom flat and
has since rented it out to a
professional couple.
“I never intended to become
a landlord, but property prices
are rising so quickly in the area
Investment: Joe and Lizzie are
buying a flat in north London
that it makes more sense to
keep the flat as a long-term
investment than to sell,” she
says. “Even though the rental
yield isn’t huge, I’m getting
more than I would from having
savings in a bank.”
Lizzie revealed that stamp
duty on their new flat will
cost £12,500 if they complete
before April 1, but £26,000
afterwards.
“We do need to complete the
purchase of our new home
before the end of March
because the extra stamp duty
would wipe out our deposit.”
9
Buy to let | Homes & Property
Top spot: Oval,
left, central
London’s best
buy-to-let area,
and its Kia Oval
cricket ground
CORBIS
£480,000: twobedroom flat in
The Galleries,
Brentwood,
right. Through
Next Chapter
(01277 567077)
LOOK FOR CONNECTIONS
Transport links are key, so look at areas
near new developments such as Crossrail. Proximity to the Tube is a big factor for commuting tenants.
Oval’s prospects for capital growth
look promising because the area is still
better value than much of the rest of
central London. Being sandwiched
between regeneration zones at Nine
Elms and Elephant & Castle should help
raise prices, too.
Regeneration areas are attractive to
renters with their uplifting vibe. King’s
Cross scores almost as strongly as Oval
in today’s research, with a total return
on investment of 30.3 per cent —
though high property prices (the average asking price is currently pushing
£940,000) might make the area too
expensive.
SCHOOLS ARE A BIG DRAW
Almost as lucrative, but a fraction of
the price, is East Ham, with average
prices standing at just more than
£261,000 and a total return on investment calculated at a healthy 29.4 per
cent. Sheeba Kumar, director of
Swayam Estates, says the property
stock in the area tends to be three-bedroom terraces, selling at £350,000 to
£380,000, which landlords are snapping up to rent to fortysomethings with
children, who typically pay £1,600 to
£1,750 a month. If you are investing in
a family house, try to buy one that’s
near good schools as this will be a big
draw for parents.
Demand is fierce, both from investors
and renters, near East Ham Tube
station in Zone 3 — served by the Hammersmith & City and District lines —
and close to one of the area’s three
Ofsted “outstanding” primary schools
(Cleves, St Stephen’s and Brampton),
or its two top-performing secondaries
(Brampton Manor Academy and Plashet School).
Kumar says: “East Ham is still below
market price compared to Stratford.
People can’t even dream of living in
central London any more, and we are
only 20 minutes away.”
TOP 10 BUY-TO-LET AREAS
Average asking price Total rent Total
Q4 2014 Q4 2015 collected return
London
Oval
King’s Cross
East Ham
Cricklewood
Wembley
Silvertown
Barnsbury
Brent
Lee
Forest Gate
£450,918
£742,421
£212,933
£458,682
£283,041
£388,123
£639,768
£284,745
£280,012
£261,027
£571,551
£938,154
£261,328
£569,210
£346,570
£477,045
£787,609
£345,370
£339,657
£314,277
£20,447
£28,865
£14,195
£19,380
£16,269
£19,674
£26,540
£16,125
£14,490
£14,577
31.3%
30.3%
29.4%
28.3%
28.2%
28.0%
27.3%
27.0%
26.5%
26.0%
Outside London
Brentwood, Essex
Luton, Beds
Grays, Essex
Slough, Berks
Stevenage, Herts
Hemel Hempstead, Herts
Windsor, Berks
Dartford, Kent
Margate, Kent
High Wycombe, Bucks
£255,624
£148,295
£168,358
£212,150
£189,624
£222,857
£353,298
£191,568
£123,152
£202,273
£315,442
£178,620
£200,656
£252,488
£225,326
£264,011
£419,788
£223,008
£143,202
£235,367
£12,434
£8,633
£10,114
£11,931
£10,002
£11,284
£15,736
£10,558
£6,671
£10,585
28.3%
26.3%
25.2%
24.6%
24.1%
23.5%
23.3%
21.9%
21.7%
21.6%
Source: Rightmove
THE CROSSRAIL FACTOR
Outside London, buy-to-let returns are
slightly lower. Brentwood in Essex is
the best performer. An investment of
an average of just over £315,000 could
see a return of more than 28 per cent.
Perry Binyon, of Country Places
estate agents, puts Brentwood’s success down to its proximity to the new
Crossrail station at nearby Shenfield,
which has seen investors rushing to
snap up two-bedroom flats near the
station, paying about £300,000.
Binyon says renters, mostly London
commuters, will pay between £1,100
and £1,300 a month for a property,
providing it is in smart condition.
He believes that the Crossrail factor
means prices will increase by 10 to
12 per cent by 2018, when the line is
due to open.
10
Homes & Property | Regeneration
Stone’s throw:
homes at
Glasshouse
Gardens, left, are
close to the
area’s amenities
Getting there:
Stratford station
right, is now in
Zone 2, meaning
travel has
become cheaper
The pacesetter
Stratford’s Olympic homes boost shows no
signs of slowing, says Ruth Bloomfield
T
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HE biggest winner at the 2012
Olympics was Stratford. It turned
into property gold and has never
looked back. Developers piled into
the formerly drab east London
district, sending new-build prices storming
ahead.
However, young buyers who were unable to
pay the high price tags at new apartment blocks
did not miss out. They searched among
Stratford’s older housing stock and were able to
benefit from regeneration, while often enjoying
more space.
Exclusive research from data analysts LonRes
shows average values near the Olympic Park
have grown from £171,081 in 2005 to £293,105
today, a 71 per cent rise. The wider Olympic
borough of Newham is up 47 per cent in the
same period to an average £370,000.
Over the past five years, both Stratford and
Newham have begun significantly to outperform
the rest of the capital. Since 2010, their average
house prices have risen 60 and 43 per cent
respectively, compared with 36 per cent across
Greater London.
Nick Parr, a partner at Knight Frank, says: “The
Olympic Park and the billions the Government
has spent on transport improvements have
focused the buying public’s attention on this
area as a good-value residential district.”
Bernard Cully, head of sales at JLL City & East
London, agrees: “The average price per square
foot in prime Stratford — within a five-minute
walk of the station and Westfield Stratford City —
is about £800 to £850 a square foot, compared
with £1,000 per square foot in Canary Wharf
and £2,000 in the Liverpool Street area.”
not huge. The average price of a two-bedroom
house in one of the streets just off Broadway is
about £450,000.
If you have deeper pockets and are determined
to buy a new build this year, you will have to be
quick off the mark. The first phase of homes at
Chobham Manor, within the Olympic Park
itself, sold out fast, but work has started on the
next tranche of 207 houses, flats and
maisonettes. Prices have not been unveiled — the
homes go on sale later this year. Visit
chobhammanor.co.uk for details.
They will be followed by the first homes at two
other Olympic Park neighbourhoods, East Wick
and Sweetwater, by developers Balfour Beatty
and Places for People (placesforpeople.co.uk).
The first residents should move in next year.
Glasshouse Gardens (ghgstratford.com) is
well under way and the first residents are due to
move in this year. Prices start at £433,000 for a
one-bedroom flat.
This development is part of a wider £2 billion
scheme, the International Quarter, which
will also have offices, shops and restaurants.
Annual travel is now cheaper, as Stratford,
Stratford International and Stratford High Street
stations have become part of Zone 2. But fewer
people will have to commute long distances, as
many more job opportunities are created locally.
GET IN QUICK
A VICTORIAN TERRACE IS
STILL A GREAT-VALUE BUY
The Financial Conduct Authority and Transport
for London — among others — are moving into
the area, bringing an active market for homes
and jobs. Partly on that basis, Knight Frank
predicts that prices will increase from current
levels of £700 to £800 per square foot to £1,000
to £1,200 a square foot by 2018, when the
opening of Crossrail should give east London’s
premier regeneration zone another boost.
According to LonRes, new flats sold in the last
year have had an average price of £456,870 —
well over 50 per cent more than the £293,105 for
older properties in streets surrounding the main
regeneration zone.
Yet the capital growth of new and second-hand
homes in the area is very similar. New-build
prices have increased by 78 per cent in the past
decade, while second-hand homes have
increased by 71 per cent. Look for value in the
Victorian terraces. Stratford has streets and
streets of homes like these, and many of them
will have potential for added value if they are
given makeovers and their lofts are turned into
extra rooms. At 900sq ft to 1,000sq ft, they are
Up for grabs: second-phase apartments at
Chobham Manor go on sale later this year
AVERAGE
PRICE OF
A FLAT
Where
2005
Postcodes around Stratford’s
regeneration zone
Newham (borough)
Greater London
£171,081
£182,662
£253,091
£246,016
£260,213
£338,573
2010
5-year
change
%
10-year
change
%
£293,105
60
71
£370,822
£459,804
43
36
47
87
2015
Source: LonRes/ Land Registry (surrounding postcodes include E151, E152)
12
Homes & Property | Holiday homes
T
HE “northern powerhouse”
concept is nothing new to
York. Founded about AD 71,
the city has experienced
plenty of boom times down
the ages. The arrival of railways in the
mid-19th century saw the UK’s largest
train station of the day built there in
1877 — and the connection brought
tourism, industry and wealth.
Today, the train link from York to
King’s Cross is a tolerable two hours or
so. Catch the 6.30am service and you
can be at your London desk by 9.15am,
says Ben Pridden, of Savills York.
“One in every 10 of our buyers still
works in London,” he says. “They
might not commute every day, but they
appreciate the easy journey times.
Londoners are buying into York’s good
schools and quality of life.”
York is surrounded by glorious countryside — the North York Moors
National Park is 45 minutes to the
north — yet it is the city itself that
entices families. “There is a clear flight
to the city,” explains Pridden. “Prices
in York are seven per cent above those
in 2007, while the countryside remains
15 per cent lower.”
Figures from Jackson-Stops & Staff
confirm York’s popularity. It was the
agent’s third best-performing county
town for family homes price growth
last year out of 41 contenders, behind
only Exeter and Bristol and showing a
near-20 per cent price increase.
The average house price in York is
£240,000 — less than half the average
in London. Savills’ average sale price
GETTY
PRICE GROWTH POTENTIAL
From £285,000: for one- to threebedroom flats or £1.55 million for
townhouses at St Leonard’s Place
Take several steps back in time: visitors flock to York’s historic heart, with cobbled streets and quaint independent shops
York powers ahead in popularity
This elegant Roman city has cheap homes and nearby wild moorland
that tempt holiday and permanent owners, says Cathy Hawker
‘YORK HAS A GREAT SENSE OF
COMMUNITY AND HISTORY’
LONDONERS Steve and Jane Cain
moved from the capital to York in
1995. They bought a Georgian
townhouse to double as their home
and as Steve’s orthodontic practice —
and fell at once for the local life.
“York has a village atmosphere,”
says Jane, 52. “It’s a pedestrian city
where everyone walks and that
provides a great sense of community.
It has a great sense of history, too,
yet it is relaxed and full of charming,
independent shops.” In 2009, with
Welcome: Steve and Jane Cain run an
award-winning York holiday let, right
their children Maisie, 12, and Christian,
14, they moved to a village in North
York Moors National Park, 25 miles
north of the city. Four years later, they
#)
bought a house in Precentor’s Court
in the shadow of York Minster as a
holiday let. They refurbished it from
top to bottom and now rent it out for
up to eight people.
“We love York and this gives us the
opportunity to have a place in the
city,” says Jane. “It had been owned
by the Minster and we have added
a few ecclesiastical touches to it,
such as a small church noticeboard
and folding chapel chairs in the
bedrooms.
“Guests tell us they love lying in bed
on a Sunday morning and hearing the
Minster bells ring out.” The beautiful
four-bedroom townhouse is one of
York’s best city rentals, winning Visit
England and Alastair Sawday’s awards.
for an apartment in York is just less
than £300,000, with a prime four-bedroom Victorian townhouse with a garden in the centre costing about
£500,000.
With very few new builds in the historic city centre, the renovation of an
entire Grade II*-listed Regency crescent opposite York Minster is a story of
note. St Leonard’s Place dates from
the 1830s. Built for the landed gentry,
150 years later it became council offices,
until developer Rushbond stepped in
to restore the crescent. After extensive
work, St Leonard’s Place now offers
five townhouses and 29 apartments.
“Buyers include business people and
those looking to downsize while keeping generous proportions in their
homes,” says Mark Finch, of Rushbond.
“They tell us they want contemporary
elegance in a traditional house.”
Prices start from £285,000 for one- to
three-bedroom apartments from
553sq ft. Entire five-bedroom townhouses of 4,420sq ft are £1.55 million.
Rushbond will manage the homes, with
annual service charges from £1,000.
A LONG, SWEET STORY
O No 2 Precentor’s Court:
fivestaryork.com
York has a long, proud history as the
home of chocolate. Flats in the building
where the first Terry’s Chocolate
Orange was made go on sale this spring.
The Grade II-listed Art Deco building,
The Residence, has 170 one- to threebedroom flats from £185,000, with
duplex penthouses from £500,000.
O St Leonard’s Place:
stleonardsplace.co.uk
O Savills: savills.com
O The Residence: pjlivesey-group.
co.uk/the-residence-york
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13
Design | Homes & Property
T
MY HOME
Colour trends:
latest Farrow &
Ball colours
include the
romantic
Peignoir, right,
and moody
Inchyra Blue,
far right
I have lived with my husband
Andrew, a commercials director, and
our two children, Cosmo and Nancy,
in the same house for 22 years and I
imagine I may live there forever. The
red-brick exterior is not very
beautiful, but the interior is big and
the rooms run across the building
rather than from front to back, which
means a brilliant relationship with
the garden.
Just the place for
hanging out:
new designer
Rufus Martin’s
Roomoon tent,
left, can be
hoisted into the
trees with the
help of a chain
HE creative colour
consultant for paintmaker
Farrow & Ball, Joa
Studholme loves nothing
better than mixing new
paint colours and trying them out at
her North Kensington home.
By Katie Law
My de
My
desi
d
des
esi
e
es
si
si
JOA STUDHOLME
COLOUR CONSULTANT,
FARROW & BALL
MY TOP STYLE TIP
Use a strong colour in your hall so
that you create ultimate impact on
arrival. It also means that all the
rooms off the hall look bigger and
lighter as well as giving you licence to
be more neutral in the rest of the
house. Over the past 20 years, it has
been Mouse’s Back, Claydon Blue,
Downpipe, Railings and London
Clay, but at the moment I am really
thrilled with moody Inchyra Blue —
one of the new colours for 2016.
WHAT LUXURY MEANS
Luxury to me is having the best
decorator in town on speed-dial.
Hooper Interiors have the most
courteous, reliable and professional
painters you could ever find. They
admitted recently that they have
made a tiny mark on the interior of
one of my cupboards every time they
have painted that room. There are
11 of them.
FAVOURITE SHOP
The revered designer Jasper
Morrison was one of my best friends
at school and I still love all the
products in his diminutive shop in
Kingsland Road, including his own
designs, from simple sticky tape to
his iconic cork tables.
MOST TALENTED
NEW DESIGNER
I was lucky enough to go to a
school with a huge design
ethic (Bryanston School in
Dorset), which has produced
CLIVE NICHOLS/GAPINTERIORS
MY HOME STYLE
We have a very eclectic style — no
minimalism here, however hard we
have tried. We initially bought two
flats and joined them together and
we are still slowly expanding into the
rest of the building. Every wall is
double- or triple-hung with a variety
of styles of art and an equal amount
of objects on every surface. And, of
course, there is a kaleidoscope of
Farrow & Ball colours in every room
— all of which are changed constantly.
At the moment, we are all loving
having the new colours throughout
the house, particularly romantic
Peignoir in the sitting room.
Dear diary:
Joa Studholme,
above, can’t get
through a year
without her
Smythson
Portobello diary,
£180 but worth
every penny
Firm favourite:
Joa loves Jasper
Morrison’s shop
in Kingsland
Road, E2, and his
cork furniture
some amazingly talented people,
among them Terence and Jasper
Conran. I still follow the young
designers the school produces and I
am particularly struck by the
beautifully crafted hanging tents
made by Rufus Martin.
SECRET ESCAPE
On Sunday mornings I love to walk
from Camden to Ladbroke Grove
along the canal, a route that covers so
many aspects of London, from rundown urban estates to proud stucco
mansions, and having lunch in the
beautifully designed Dock Kitchen
followed by a browse in Tom Dixon’s
shop at the Wharf Building,
Portobello Dock.
I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT
Every year I get a Smythson
Portobello diary — a huge
extravagance, but worth every penny
to me, because I write all my clients’
details in it. I have 14 now in fabulous
colours piled decoratively in my
office. Every night, I pack my diary
and a sharpened wooden pencil
into one of my Jack Spade bags
ready for work. Three beautifully
designed items which together
enhance my life.
14
Homes & Property | Design
Here’s my heart:
Alessi heart
coffee spoons,
set of four,
£19.99 (alessi.
com)
Love, actually:
neon sign from
Daniel Poole, The
Old Hardware
Store, Regent’s
Park Road, NW1
(danielpoole.com)
Toast the host:
Lalique
champagne
coupes, £95
each, and
Ganymede ice
bucket £3,100
(lalique.com)
Hello mellow:
the space-saving
music system by
Tivoli, £499 (tivoli
audio.co.uk)
Style is so seductive
W
ITH Valentine’s Day
approaching, it’s
worth noting how
big an impression a
man’s home can
make on a prospective partner — and
how it can potentially cement an
already budding relationship.
If a man’s interest in his home wows
the object of his affection, it’s bound
to bring them closer — while the way
he decorates the place is a form of
seduction in itself.
Men reputedly loathe shopping, yet
there’s growing evidence that they
relish the finer things in life, be it
craft beer, organic food or grooming
products. Not surprisingly, the
hipster demographic is driving up
sales in all these areas.
What’s more, a study by market
research firm Verdict Retail revealed
that 40 per cent of all consumers
who bought homewares in the
preceding year were men, with most
of their spending in the kitchen and
dining areas.
What home owners buy reveals a
lot about their personality and taste
Throw out the black leather, fellas. Girls love
warm, tactile fabrics and are seduced by your
sofa-sensitive style, says Dominic Lutyens
to their guests. After all, a man’s
appreciation of home interiors and
the thought he puts into them implies
sensitivity, a creative streak and
originality.
Moyses Stevens, says: “Flowers add
colour, strong design and wonderful
smells. We recommend the classic
Red Naomi rose, which looks
GOODBYE MACHO STYLING
A wider choice of interior styles
means men no longer cling to dated,
bachelor pad clichés, such as
“masculine” black leather and
chrome furniture. Much better to opt
for warmer, organic materials such as
wood and tactile fabrics, which not
only suggest a softer side to a man’s
character, but are bang on-trend.
The same goes for daringly vibrant
colours, which promote passion,
warmth and a sense of fun. Creating a
comfortable ambience is crucial.
Gentle lighting, music and flowers all
enhance this atmosphere. Spale
Marcinko, director of Harrods florist
amazingly romantic simply arranged
in a tall vase with fragrant
eucalyptus. Always make sure vases
are right for the flowers. A domed
arrangement matches a round
goldfish bowl better than a tall square
vase. Tall delphiniums suit a tall,
square vase.”
LIGHT OF YOUR LIFE
Sally Storey, design director of
lighting specialist John Cullen,
advises: “Create the correct
impression right from the front door
with a dimmed light, which sets the
mood. For a more intimate effect,
light flowers or objects in the centre
of a coffee table with a narrow beam
of light. Candles are also unbeatably
romantic.”
Particularly covetable is L’Objet’s
amber and lemon-scented candle,
Thé Russe (No 75), while Tom Dixon’s
semi-translucent Etch tea-light
Lucky numbers: L’Objet candles, £66;
number 6 is Jasmine D’Inde, number
75 is romantic Thé Russe (l-objet.com)
London Evening Standard
New Homes Awards For more information and to request an entry form email [email protected] or call 01568 708 163.
Closing date for entries: Friday 12th February 2016 www.homesandproperty.co.uk/nha #nha2016
holders in silver, gold and copper,
from Selfridges, cast an inviting glow.
Habitat’s Tessellate wall light —
designed by Aaron Probyn for
evening use with all other lights
turned off — emits an even more
dramatic glow. Meanwhile, Gods
Own Junkyard’s reclaimed
fairground signs and neon slogans
provide a truly theatrical effect. More
informal is the portable UMA Sound
Lantern (nest.co.uk), which doubles
as a wireless speaker. Similarly spacesaving and stylish is Tivoli’s audio
music system, encased in wood.
Also made of wood are the Do
South Shop’s Osso table and
matching stools — perfect for two —
Skandium’s chopping boards by
Skagerak, and Ercol’s Love Seat,
partially coated with a red dip-dye
finish for Valentine’s Day. More
comfortable, however, are Finn Juhl’s
Poet sofa (my-furniture.co.uk) and
Amy Somerville’s mohair-covered
Dyad sofa. For a cosier feel still, add
colourful throws from SCP.
Once perched, toast romance with
Lalique crystal champagne coupes,
15
Design | Homes & Property
Baby, it’s cold outside: so snuggle
up by a rooftop fireplace and set the
mood with lighting, right, from
John Cullen (King’s Road, SW6;
johncullenlighting.co.uk)
Tea for two: retrostyle bone china,
£32 per cup and
saucer (melody
rose.co.uk)
Show your sweet
side: Moomin
Love Bowl, left,
with cuddling
Moominmamma
and pappa,
£22.95 (ariashop.
co.uk)
Get cosy:
curl up on a
mohair-covered
Dyad sofa, right,
(amysomerville.
com; call 020
7586 2211 for
price list)
Wedgwood Arris wineglasses or SCP’s
jewel-bright Pols Potten wine goblets.
Humorous touches are winners,
too. Melody Rose has Victorian-retro
teacups adorned with embracing
couples, while Aria’s Moomin Love
Bowl, with cuddling Moominmamma
and Moominpappa, is endearing.
Alessi’s witty homeware includes
coffee spoons by Miriam Mirri that
morph at one end into hearts.
Ensconced in an imaginatively
decorated love nest of his own
making, how can a man fail in his
quest to make a fledgling romance
blossom into love?
MORTGAGES
OPEN THE
DOOR TO
YOUR NEW
HOME WITH
£500 ON US
Buying a home can be an exciting time, but it
can also be expensive.
That’s why we’ll give you £500 when you
complete on a mortgage with us.
• Offer available to first time buyers and home
movers who apply for a qualifying mortgage
between 4th January and 28th February 2016.
• £500 will be paid through your conveyancer
on completion of your mortgage.
Offer excludes: Shared Equity (including
Help to Buy Equity Loan), Shared Ownership,
and applications through Halifax Intermediaries.
Offer can be withdrawn at any time.
YOUR HOME MAY BE REPOSSESSED IF YOU DO NOT
KEEP UP REPAYMENTS ON YOUR MORTGAGE
Pop into your local branch
Call 03451 23 84 01
Visit halifax.co.uk/cashback500
Lines are open: Monday to Friday 8am-8pm and Saturday 8am-4pm. Telephone calls may be monitored or recorded. Halifax is a division of Bank of Scotland plc. Registered in Scotland No. SC327000. Registered Office: The Mound, Edinburgh EH1 1YZ. Bank of Scotland plc is
thorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority under registration number 169628. All information correct as at December 2015. Compliance No 15/08280.
18
Homes & Property | Design
1
T
HE three-day Surface Design Show
focusing on floors, walls and ceilings
opened yesterday at Business Design
Centre in Islington. It’s normally
restricted to the trade — but this year
it is giving an exclusive welcome to readers of
Homes & Property. It is your chance to quiz the
experts, pick up samples and discover the latest
ideas and trends for the home.
Just show this page on arrival and entry is free.
You can browse the stands of 55 flooring and
wallcovering specialists, and view more than 20
companies that create bespoke specialist finishes
for interiors. Stone is a key material this year, with
a dedicated gallery showing examples from
around the world.
One focus will be on texture, says trends expert
Sally Angharad. Leather, plaster, wood and metal
will all play a part, whether delivered by craft
techniques or hi-tech methods. The event showcases innovative designers, such as Anna Glasbrook, who has brought her neon ribbon-threaded
acrylic blocks, and Lisa Alcock, whose acrylic
“dichroic light sheets”, back-lit by LEDs, pulse
with colour as you alter your angle of view.
Tonight, the show is open until 9pm, with a
popular “PechaKucha” session — the name comes
from the Japanese for chitchat — starting at 6pm.
A succession of designers and architects are each
showing 20 images of favourite surfaces for
20 seconds, with a description that must be
similarly brief.
Tomorrow, the show closes at 5pm, with a presentation of the Surface Design Awards at 1pm.
More information at surfacedesignshow.com.
Meanwhile, here are our top five firms to visit.
Barbara Chandler
Cover
Cov
ov
ove
ver story
sto
st
tor
ory
2
1
RUG-MAKER is bringing its
samples from St Albans, where it
has a large showroom/shop. Richard
Mathias and Julian Blair, who have
been trading since 1989, have built
up a close relationship with skilled
weavers in India, who make a variety
of contemporary and traditional
designs/textures to order. Clever
software on the company’s website
allows you to customise a rug,
choosing different colours, and then
visualise it in a room setting, pictured
(stand 476; rug-maker.com).
2
3
THE Original Floorboard Company
supplies wonderful nine-inchwide boards, salvaged from the
construction industry, then cleaned,
sanded and waxed in a choice of
finishes. Dan Carr, now working with
son Aaron, has been restoring barns,
chapels, churches and industrial
buildings for nearly 30 years. His
wooden floors, pictured, cost £49 a
square metre. Laying the floors costs
about £20 a square metre (stand
348; originalfloorboardco.com).
3
4
Computer Generated Image
WALLPAPERS made from waferthin slices of patinated bronze,
wood veneer and even solid slate are
available at Altfield. Glinting with
gold is a wallcovering, pictured,
made from painted strips of paper
from the Himalayas, hand-woven
into a metallic Lurex warp. Equally
exotic are wallcoverings fashioned
with a mix of glass beads and motherof-pearl (stand 344; altfield.com).
4
5
Sales agent
Developer
RUPERT BEVAN is an expert in
luxury bespoke finishes for
furniture and walls and he will be at
the show in person. His spellbinding
antiqued mirror glass, pictured, can
be made as worn-looking or smoky as
you choose. Romantic alternatives
include gilded gesso, polished plaster
and patinated metals such as zinc,
copper and bronze. Inlay, marquetry,
vellum, leather and hand-painted
panels are also on offer (stand 336;
rupertbevan.com).
5
GLARTIQUE is a new venture for
artist Ashley Phillips, who offers
custom-made glass splash-backs, wall
panels and shower screens, which
can be back-lit with LEDs. “London
with a twist”, pictured, has quirky
details added to a city skyscape. Art
can also be printed on to ceramic,
mirror and more. Designs on glass
can become opaque at the flick of a
switch (stand 598; glartique.com).
22
Homes & Property | Reader promotion
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ADD an extra layer of comfort to
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Cork
Bargain news
Classic leather Chesterfield for only £699
FEW furniture items are as iconic as a
leather Chesterfield sofa.
Wallace Sacks’s tan Chesterfield,
above, stays true to the original, with
its nail head trim, bun-style feet
and soft, distressed leather. Normally
£2,495, it is now available at £699,
plus delivery. Readers can also save a
further £30 by entering code
ABN10FEB16 at the checkout.
To order, visit wallacesacks.com or
call 0800 011 4642 before March 2.
There’s free delivery on all orders of
more than £1,000.
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.
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24
Homes & Property | Outdoors
Vintage roses
full of perfume
will steal hearts
Ditch the Valentine’s Day dozen of boring,
scentless roses. You can do much better
Pattie
Barron
essence of spring. You need at least one
hundred stems to make an impact, in
either all white or daffodil shades of
citron to butter yellow.”
As the rose is the classic flower of
love, Londoners still request them, but
in vintage shades. “The dusky pinks
(),3,*5
MARIANNE MAJERUS
A
VOID the clichés for Valentine’s Day. Top of the list is
a dozen red roses with no
perfume, grown overseas
and under glass, and found
in every supermarket, corner shop and
garage forecourt, too.
Instead of the uninspired bouquet of
choice, go British. Kally Ellis, at top
florist McQueens, favours a big bunch
of fragrant narcissi. “Either creamy,
double-flowered Cheerfulness or other
dainty, double-headed varieties that
carry the perfume evoking the very
# +
*1 2 Gardener’s
choice: clockwise
from above right,
Viburnum
bodnantense
Dawn; vintage
shades from
McQueens; a
highly scented
Valentine’s
bouquet from
The Real Flower
Company
" *,4,)(, 1, ,20 . ,
*1 + 15 , (, ..,20
+, 5(+, ) -1 ,)(
, %!$' (44 - 22 15 / , (+# + !$& & ",1(5 (,# *1 +# + -
Gardening
problems?
Email our RHS
expert at: expert
gardeningadvice
@gmail.com
and lilacs of roses such as Quicksand,
Silverstone and Sandstorm are considered more romantic than the red rose
and have wonderful perfume,” says
Ellis. “We team them with clematis,
astrantia, lilacs and hyacinth, stoking
up the perfume with aromatic herbs,
such as rosemary, thyme, mint, marjoram and myrtle.”
Along with a perfumed candle, you
could give the gardener in your life the
gift of a bare-rooted fragrant rose that
would bloom this summer. Present the
shell pink French rose Fantin Latour
with Roja Dove’s Rose de Mai candle,
which incorporates the coveted oil
extracted from the centifolia rose from
which Fantin Latour was created, and
you have a rather divine duo.
In the same way, Dove’s sublime
Lavande des Alpes candle could underscore a basket of garden-centre Lavandula angustifolia plants. Honeysuckle
and jasmine are fragrant climbers that
add a romantic quality to any garden;
you could send these, potted and ready
to plant, together with Ken Turner’s
Midsummer Night candle, which summons up an evening in an English
country garden, complete with the
scents of honeysuckle and jasmine. The
glass candle-holder, after use, doubles
as a posy vase.
David Austin’s garden roses are unparalleled for perfume — essential for a
truly romantic Valentine’s bouquet —
but you can find one straight-stemmed
Austin special at The Real Flower Company. Rosa Kate has magenta petals of
four inches across that deepen as the
flower ages and has fragrance notes of
raspberry, redcurrant, geranium and
bergamot.
The company also has a Vintage Valentine’s Bouquet with roses of coffeecoloured Café Latte, fragrant peach
Princess Charlene and claret Deep
Secret mixed with rosemary, mint and
eucalyptus sprays. You can raise the
romance level by adding a trio of mini
Moroccan rose-scented candles packed
in the company’s signature hatbox. “We
send out less and less red roses,” says
Vic Brotherson, of Scarlet & Violet, the
Queen’s Park florist renowned for its
romantic touch. “It’s an easy option
and it’s boring. They’re all going to die
at the same time. Your money goes
much further with lovely little handfuls
of different flowers.
“For Valentine’s, we’re sending out
peach and apricot stocks, blush-white
anemones with black sooty centres and
adding fragrant narcissus and hyacinth.
Ranunculus, resembling spring peonies, are a good rose replacement. We
might include roses but they need to
have longevity as well as fragrance, so
we use O’Hara, a large, French ivory
rose, Yves Piaget, a deep pink rose, and
our most popular, shell pink spray rose
Majolica.”
Meanwhile, inventive gardeners
could plan for Valentine’s bouquets
next year by planting right now for
seasonal spring blooms. A hand-tied
bunch of home-grown Daphne odora
stems, with their waxy pink, exquisitely perfumed flowers, a stem or two
of fragrant Viburnum Dawn or Deben,
a few sprigs of spicy-scented witch
hazel and aromatic rosemary, with a
camellia flower tucked in here and
there, will rival anything the flower
market can offer.
No two alike: Scarlet & Violet’s unique
bouquet of romantic blooms
O For outdoor events this month, visit
homesandproperty.co.uk/events
30
Homes & Property | Our home
homesandproperty.co.uk
Added extras: the house, above, now has far more light and 60 per cent more space.
Right, Mikko and Joanna in the vast kitchen-living space on the extended ground floor
Ex-council.
Really?
An imaginative loft conversion and an extension
at ground level transformed a drab former council
house, doubling its value. By Philippa Stockley
!
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Photographs:
Marcin Noga
and
David Butler
R
UN-DOWN ex-council houses
aren’t exactly inspiring. But
in 2009, this was exactly what
Mikko and Joanna Laukkanen
were looking for.
Both Finnish — though Mikko, 38, an
architect, was raised in America and
educated at Harvard — the pair first met
in a London pub.
“He had an awful gash over his eyebrow,” says Joanna, 44, who works with
investors at BT. “I wondered if he was a
bit rough, but it turned out he played
rugby for Hammersmith and Fulham,
and had been in a match.”
When they first married, the couple
lived in Joanna’s house — a listed Georgian cottage, where their son, Dashiell,
was born. When Ava, now seven,
arrived, it was time to go house-hunting
for more room.
Architects see things differently to
most of us. For them, problems become
opportunities. Even so, after the 2008
crash, the market had got tougher and
the pair were gazumped. Although North
Sheen, just two minutes from Richmond,
has lots of Thirties homes of the type
they were looking for, it took more than
a year to find a place they wanted — a
three-bedroom, neglected ex-council
terrace, ripe for renewal.
“It was in such a state,” says Joanna.
“Every tiny room was a different bright
colour, with a matching carpet. There
was one small bathroom upstairs, the
kitchen was disgusting and the garden
‘It was in such a state. Each
room was a different colour,
the kitchen was disgusting —
it was just what we wanted
a jungle. But it was exactly what we
wanted.”
They put in an offer and were
gazumped again, but this time, furious,
they countered with more cash and got
their house in 2010.
When they first moved in, they gave it
a coat of whitewash to make it bearable,
while Mikko put in applications to the
council for a loft conversion, plus an
extension and a studio in the garden. To
his surprise, the planners rejected his
“lawful development” application, so
he went to appeal — which he won.
As with most Londoners, money was
super-tight. Although they were finally
given the green light in 2011, they saved
up and didn’t start works until 2013. The
pre-prep to such a big project is lengthy
and involves a lot of organisation.
Once they were ready, they decided on
a really fast build, and set aside just four
months to do a complete transformation
that would add 60 per cent extra space.
They created a master bedroom and en
suite in the loft and extended out four
metres at ground level to make a vast
kitchen-living space with six Velux roof
lights and big bi-fold doors. They also
built a double studio, with a loo, at the
end of the garden.
The whole house was refurbished, too
— a loo was built in the old cupboard
under the stairs, and the foot of the staircase was curved to make room for a big
cupboard by the front door.
Joanna took the children away for a
month during demolition. Mikko stayed
on site — though once the entire back
wall had come off, he was sliding down
a scaffolding pole instead of taking the
stairs. The family then moved into a flat
while the work was completed.
“We had 10 builders working six days
a week,” says Mikko, who project-managed, as well as surfing the internet for
bargains.
Every day, Joanna came home from
work to find that Mikko had found lots
of things online for her to choose
between. From lamps and light sockets
to lavatories and sinks, the pair left no
stone unturned. But they didn’t compromise on quality, especially in the envelope of the house, from windows to
engineered oak floors.
J
OANNA wanted three particular
pendant lights over the kitchen
units, but each cost hundreds
of pounds, so Mikko took two
lamps apart and built her something that looks identical, for £60 each.
He found bargain toilets on eBay and
then sourced basins to match. For the
kitchen, they tracked down a firm in
31
Our home | Homes & Property
powered by
MIKKO’S TIPS:
Bright and
beautiful:
floor-to-ceiling
windows in the
cool and stylish
master bedroom
floods the room
with natural light
Using the space:
the sizeable
master bedroom,
which is in
the converted
loft of the
former council
house, has an
en suite
Don’t be afraid of bold structural
changes — such as demolishing
stairs, chimney breasts or walls —
but take advice and get necessary
consents first. It is better to pay
£10,000-£20,000 extra and recover
£100,000-£200,000 of useable area
through better use of space than be
burdened with poor room
proportions.
Nano self-cleaning paint, sanded
smooth, keeps white external paint
looking good for longer.
GET THE LOOK
O Architecture by Mikko
Laukkanen at mlaukkanen@gmail.
com
O Building work by Mo
Construction, via architect
O Engineered oak flooring from
Jordan’s Wood Flooring at
jordanwoodfloors.co.uk
O Doors from Distinctive Doors at
distinctivedoors.co.uk
O White leather corner sofa from
Dwell at dwell.co.uk
O Chrome door handles from
ironmongerydirect.co.uk
O Alien Egg Pod loos from eBay at
ebay.co.uk
O Ceramic tiles in bathroom from
Minoli at minoli.co.uk
O Granite setts used as paving in
garden from eBay, as before
O Lotusan nano self-cleaning
paint from Sto at sto.co.uk
WHAT IS A LAWFUL
DEVELOPMENT CERTIFICATE?
Finishes count:
the couple made
sure the house
had high-quality
fixtures and
fittings, such
as designer
doors and
engineered oak
flooring
Southampton that made wooden
carcasses, which they topped with
smooth white silestone.
Mikko hid all the pipework and cables,
so there are no drainpipes cluttering up
the back façade, and put in as much glass
as possible. In the sunny main room, a
smart trick was running a band of mirror
all the way round the walls, a bit like a
frame. This bounces light and foxes the
eye, enlarging the sense of space. There
is also concealed coving lighting,
dimmable downlighters and pendants
— and plenty of sunlight.
Finishing just two days before Christmas, they were laying the last bit of the
floor when Joanna’s parents arrived.
“They just couldn’t believe the transfor-
mation,” she says. “Terraces can be quite
deep and dark, and we wanted light. It’s
good for the children.”
When you match light with a lot more
space — all done on a tight budget — it
doesn’t get much better than that.
If you think what you want to do falls
within “permitted development
rights” — alterations or extensions
that can be done without planning
permission — you can apply for a
Lawful Development Certificate
beforehand, which you can show
subsequent buyers to prove that you
acted lawfully.
It’s not obligatory, but it is good for
peace of mind. Visit planningportal.
gov/uk for more information.
WHAT IT COST
O The ex-council house cost £572,000
in 2010
O The couple spent: (without
architect’s fees) £215,000
O Value now: £1.2 million
MARKETING SUITE AND
SHOW APARTMENT LAUNCHING
SATURDAY 20TH FEBRUARY, 10AM - 4PM
" " ! R E G E N E R AT I O N
34
Homes & Property | Property searching
Spotlight on Leyton
Leyton is working hard on its appearance. With the Olympic Park and
Stratford nearby, it’s a place with added value, says Anthea Masey
H
Pastel parade: the brightly painted shops of Leyton High Road
On track: Coopers Lane, near Leyton Midland Road station
OUSE prices generally get
cheaper the further away
you get from central London, but this rule doesn’t
always apply. The east
London suburb of Leyton can offer
more affordable property — by at least
10 per cent — than its more fashionable
neighbour, Walthamstow, just a few
miles further north.
South of Leyton lies Stratford,
another happening neighbourhood.
The open green spaces of the Lea Valley
and Hackney Marshes lie west of Leyton, and you’ll go east for Leytonstone,
Wanstead and Epping Forest. Meanwhile, the Queen Elizabeth Olympic
Park, with entertainment programmes
and fabulous facilities including the
VeloPark and Lee Valley Hockey and
Tennis Centre, is in walking distance.
The local council has done a good job
in recent years of tidying up Leyton’s
shopping areas. In High Road, around
Leyton Tube station, along Francis
Road and in the Bakers Arms area —
where the High Road, Hoe Street and
Lea Bridge Road meet — upper storeys
have been painted in bright colours
and shop owners have been persuaded
to forgo brash neon for more subtle
painted signs. Other councils up and
down the country have followed suit,
using this idea as a blueprint for
improving their own high streets.
Leyton is the birthplace of David
Beckham, Jonathan Ross and Graham
Gooch — the former England football
skipper, the TV personality and the
ex-England cricket captain all came
into the world at Whipps Cross University Hospital, which has one of Britain’s
busiest A&E departments.
Local estate agent Paul Leonard, of
Bairstow Eves, says nine out of 10 of his
buyers are from outside the area — in
particular people priced out of Hackney
and Stoke Newington who are searching
for a home they can afford — and many
are first-time buyers.
THE PROPERTY SCENE
LEYTON has roads of Victorian
terrace houses and purpose-built
flats, as well as some Thirties houses
and council estates. The Francis
Road area is popular, as the local
shops are improving and the nearby
primary school, Newport, is rated
“outstanding” by the Ofsted
education watchdog. The Capworth
Street area will benefit from the
Pitch perfect:
Colin James,
Leyton Orient FC
groundsman,
gets ready for
Saturday
FROM £364,950
£675,000
£350,000
£665,000
APARTMENTS and townhouses in Prospect East,
E15, a new scheme in Leyton Road, a 12-minute
walk from the Tube. Call East Thames on 020
8012 6065.
THIS newly refurbished five-bedroom
house in Palamos Road is close to good
schools and transport links. Call
Douglas Allen on 020 8012 2127.
SET in a period conversion in Belmont Park Road,
this two-bedroom ground-floor apartment comes
with a private garden. Call Foxtons in Walthamstow
on 020 3324 9160.
A FOUR-BEDROOM house in Malta
Road with an open-plan kitchen-diner
leading to the terrace and garden.
Call Ellis & Co on 020 8012 2203.
To find a home in Leyton, visit rightmove.co.uk
For more about Leyton, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/leyton
THE
PROSPECT
LOOKS
GREAT
Photographs:
Daniel Lynch
! ! " 35
Property searching | Homes & Property
powered by
STATS CHECK
WHAT HOMES COST
Eye-eye: Owen Bailey — owner of Platinum antiques store in High Road — and pal
HAVE YOUR SAY: LEYTON
LOCALS TWEET THEIR TIPS
@EdwynUK @deeneys is the best thing
to happen to Leyton in a long time, great
little café with fabulous staff and great
toasties.
@ForestGreat The lovely @Marmelo_
Kitchen for the best roast pork belly.
@Bobbiebee33 @LeytonVillage lots
going on — Muga pizza at The Northcote,
reopening of Lea Bridge station in the
spring, while the Barclay estate, off
Essex Road, is close to Whipps Cross
University Hospital and Leyton Sixth
Form College.
TRAVEL
@SusieHQ @Marmelo_Kitchen has
great meat-free dishes, too.
@DA_E10 Café Lolita for great Spanish
tapas, @LeytonTechnical (one of
London’s best pubs), @OceanoLeyton,
Anatolia for great Turkish food.
flats start at £350,000 and the
development will be ready this
summer. Call 020 7087 5634.
O Use our School Checker to find
catchment areas and inspection
reports for local schools
O The best shops and restaurants in
and around Leyton
O Local arts, leisure and sport
O Where to find the nearest open
spaces
O All the latest new homes
developments
■ HOMES TO RENT
LEYTON Tube station is on the Central
line, with trains to Stratford in two
minutes and to Oxford Circus in
21 minutes. Leyton Midland Road,
above, is on the Overground line
linking Gospel Oak and Barking. Both
stations are in Zone 3 and an annual
travelcard to Zone 1 costs £1,520.
Source: Rightmove
FOR MORE, VISIT
Housing association ISHA will have
13 shared-ownership flats at The
Exchange available later this year, for
occupation in February next year.
Register an interest at isha.co.uk.
Lettings manager Luke Parkinson,
from Bairstow Eves, says houses for
sharers in the Francis Road area get
snapped up in a heartbeat.
“Our renters are mainly young
professional sharers and young
families who appreciate the easy
access to the West End and the City,”
he says. “For example, I recently
rented a three-bedroom house to
three primary school teachers.”
Source: Rightmove
RENTING IN LEYTON
(Average rates)
One-bedroom flat £1,054 a month
Two-bedroom flat £1,347 a month
Two-bedroom house £1,398 a month
Three-bedroom house £1,731 a month
Four-bedroom house £2,066 a month
■ AFFORDABLE HOMES
■ NEW-BUILD HOMES
The Exchange is a development of
148 one-, two- and three-bedroom
flats, including 36 affordable homes,
in Leyton High Road. Six two- and
three-bedroom flats remain in
Brennan Apartments, the final
phase, with prices starting at
£335,000. The development will be
completed by September. Call
Bellway Homes on 0845 257 6177.
Leyton Central is a Tudorvale
development of 87 one-, two- and
three-bedroom flats in Ruckholt
Road, designed by architects
Stockwool, which launched on
Saturday. Prices for the one-bedroom
Marmelos, Yardarm, Deeney’s. All new
and all great.
BUYING IN LEYTON
(Average prices)
One-bedroom flat £262,998
Two-bedroom flat £329,948
Two-bedroom house £427,262
Three-bedroom house £508,827
Four-bedroom house £603,673
Pretty picture: attractive properties
can be found in Vicarage Road
1, 2 AND 3 BEDROOM APARTMENTS,
DUPLEXES AND PENTHOUSES FOR SALE
LIVE CLOSE TO THE STRATFORD HUB
BE PART OF E15’S NEW NEIGHBOURHOOD!
,)
* ,,%, %%%(,
%,
, ,
*% %*% % $
! " &#&!"&!'+!&#
Prospecteast.co.uk
40
Homes & Property | Ask the expert
Is £2k reservation fee part of our deposit?
Q
Q
A
Fiona
McNulty
WHAT’S
YOUR
PROBLEM?
OUR LAWYER ANSWERS
YOUR QUESTIONS
WE ARE buying our first
house off-plan. It won’t be
ready to move into until
November. We have paid a
reservation deposit of £2,000, but
now our solicitor says we must pay
another 10 per cent of the
purchase price on exchange of
contracts. Our solicitor has also
said that he is trying to get the
seller’s solicitors to hold our
deposit as “stakeholder” rather
than “agent”, as it would be better
for us. Why is that? And if we pay
10 per cent of the purchase price
on exchange of contracts, then will
we actually be paying more than a
10 per cent deposit?
A
THE deposit of £2,000 is
probably a reservation fee
you paid to the selling agent
when you reserved the
house. On exchange of contracts, it is
normal to pay a 10 per cent deposit
under the standard conditions of
sale. Often, a seller will accept on
exchange of contracts a deposit of
10 per cent minus any reservation fee
paid. However, if there is a term in
the contract that the reservation fee
is to be taken into account upon
completion, then you will have to pay
a deposit of 10 per cent of the
purchase price on exchange of
contracts and the reservation fee of
£2,000 will be deducted from the
balance of purchase monies due
when you complete the purchase of
the property. You should clarify this
point with your solicitor.
Under the standard conditions of
sale, a 10 per cent deposit is held by
the seller’s solicitor as stakeholder,
and so cannot be released to the
seller until completion. Some
developers require the deposit to be
paid to their solicitor as agent,
enabling it to be released to the
developer prior to completion. This
is risky, as if the developer fails to
complete or becomes insolvent,
getting it back may be difficult. Some
building warranties or guarantees
cover such a risk — ask your solicitor.
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
FOR the past 12 months I have had an assured
shorthold tenancy. I paid a deposit at the
outset and I know that my landlord placed it
with one of the recognised tenancy deposit
schemes. He has now said that I can stay on in my flat
and that he will not need to give me another assured
shorthold tenancy agreement. Will that be okay? And
what will happen to my deposit? Surely I do not have
to pay another one?
IF YOU stay on at the property as a tenant after
the fixed term of your assured shorthold tenancy
has ended, this will create a statutory periodic
tenancy and your landlord does not need to
provide you with a new written tenancy agreement —
unless he wishes to do so.
You do not need to pay another deposit. As long as it
continues to be held in the same tenant deposit scheme,
its status will not change.
When you first became a tenant and your assured
shorthold tenancy agreement commenced, your
landlord should have provided you with prescribed
information regarding the tenancy deposit scheme.
The information will have covered such matters as the
address of the rental property; the amount of the deposit
and how it was to be protected; the name and contact
details of the relevant tenancy deposit protection
scheme; details of that scheme’s dispute resolution
service etc. If you have any concerns over the deposit,
you should contact the scheme.
If your landlord has failed to provide you with the
prescribed information he may struggle if he tries to seek
possession of the flat from you at a later stage.
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.
TO APPRECIATE TRUE QUALITY
YOU MUST FIRST SEE IT FOR YOURSELF
STUNNING NEW SHOW APARTMENT NOW OPEN
TWENTY RESIDENCES OF THE HIGHEST STANDARD
Aldwych Chambers is a boutique development of exclusive apartments and
penthouses close to The Strand and Covent Garden with far reaching views
over the City and the River Thames.
READY FOR OCCUPATION EASTER 2016
[email protected]
020 7087 5111
PRICES: £ 895,000 - £ 4,725,000
ALDWYCH CHAMBERS MARKETING SUITE | CBRE Office 9 -1 2 Bow Street | London
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TO VIEW OUR NEW SHOW APARTMENT
[email protected]
020 7420 3033
WC2E 7AB
aldwychchambers.com
44
Homes & Property | Inside story
Business is going
hell for leather. I’ll
hop on the Harley
MONDAY
I am starting the day at Hogarth Views
in Chiswick — 19 new apartments we
are selling overlooking Hogarth’s
House. We’re dressing the show apartment for the official launch on Saturday
and there is a real sense of excitement
because there is the chance to move in
before April 1 and avoid the changes to
stamp duty. A call from Team Chiswick
confirms 79 people have pre-registered
for launch day.
In the afternoon, I make the most
of the sunshine and nip over on my
Harley-Davidson motorbike to our
Fulham office, where the team is busy
chatting with a long-term client from
the area about the Sands End market.
Any excuse for property chat and coffee goes down well with the team.
TUESDAY
It’s an early start today, meeting a publication filming an online renovation
series at our property in Queensmill
Road, Fulham. This is a big coup for us,
as it’s going to complement our new —
and second — office in Fulham. Next,
it’s over to our HQ in Shepherd’s Bush
for a strategy meeting with my marketing manager and our directors to thrash
Diary of
an estate
agent
out our objectives for the second quarter of the year. After lunch at a brilliant
café in Askew Road, I meet with a developer to pitch for a new-build in Balham
for our new homes department.
WEDNESDAY
Waking up to numerous iPhone notifications reminds me that, five years ago
today, I wrote the business plan for Haus
Properties. Four offices, seven awards
and 29 staff later, we’re flying.
We have won an instruction on a new
development of six luxury townhouses
in Fulham and I spend the morning
briefing our office team over there. In
the afternoon, we have our monthly
“Haus Huddle”, where the entire team
gets together to talk about the good,
the bad and the ugly. We celebrate our
successes, enjoy pizza and a few drinks
together.
THURSDAY
We’ve had five more fantastic Google
reviews overnight for treating our
clients well. Two regulars come into
the Chiswick office with their dog for
coffee and an update on their latest
investment, which they’re keen for us
to take on.
At 5pm, I head over to our Wandsworth Bridge Road office to meet a
global architectural firm round the
kitchen table. They’re interested in a
refurbishment project at one of our
properties, and we love any opportunity to talk design. I am slightly jealous,
as this is my dream pad.
FRIDAY
A few months after opening, business
at our Shepherd’s Bush office is really
taking off. I start the day here, and we’re
taking in some gorgeous turn-of-thecentury homes with quirky, intelligent
designs that will be a hit within the local
market. I visit all four offices, before
heading home to get ready for the
evening event. We’re big on community events and I’m off to cut the ribbon
at a bilingual school in Fulham, whose
“Hollywood Glamour” evening we’re
sponsoring. It’s the end of a busy week
and an ideal way to celebrate with
clients and local friends alike.
O Jamie Lester is head of Haus
Properties (hausproperties.co.uk).
46
Homes & Property | Letting on
D
ON’T you just love the
idea of an ex-Labour
prime minister’s wife
helping to fight a Tory
chancellor’s plan to tax
landlords more heavily — calling it a
breach of our human rights? Next, Sir
David Attenborough will be airing a
documentary on landlords as a breed
threatened with extinction by wilful
Acts of Parliament.
Not that I think Cherie Booth QC —
aka Mrs Tony Blair — hasn’t got a
strong argument against George
Osborne’s plan to remove the relief
landlords get on mortgage interest
payments.
Given that every other type of
business is allowed to deduct the cost
of loans from pre-tax profits, it seems
harsh that landlords should be
treated differently.
Mr Osborne’s argument is that
buying to let isn’t a business, it’s an
investment. Obviously he’s never
tried looking after a rental property
and its tenants. It’s a business,
George, trust me.
Also, it does seem unfair that only
those landlords who have taken out
mortgages as individuals — myself
included — will be hit.
Bigger investors who buy
properties through companies, or
those without mortgages, won’t be
affected and neither will those
running holiday lets.
I don’t get the impression Ms Booth
is too hopeful of winning her battle.
She has been quoted as saying that
her application for a judicial review
of Clause 24 of the Finance Act 2015
has only a “reasonable chance”
This is work,
not my hobby
Mr Osborne
Victoria Whitlock says the Chancellor’s
removal of tax aid for private landlords isn’t fair
when bigger property investors will escape
The
accidental
landlord
of success, but I suppose it is worth
a try. While other landlords have
been busy crowdfunding the legal
action, I have been busy running my
rental business — take note, Mr
Osborne — and faffing about with
doorbells.
Yep. Doorbells.
My tenant has asked me to install a
bell, which I could understand if she
was in a block of flats, but she has
her own front door with a good old-
fashioned knocker. She doesn’t think
the knocker adequate, even though
you can hear it from anywhere inside
the flat. You can even hear it in the
next street, but my tenant still feels
the need for a bell.
It’s an odd request, I think,
especially as I have lived in my house
for 10 years and it has never bothered
me that I don’t have a doorbell.
Now that I think about it though,
there are times when I’m not sure
whether I have heard a knock at the
door or a car door slamming, so I
hoof it downstairs, only to discover it
was just the sound of junk mail being
thumped through the letter box. But,
you know, that’s nothing more than a
minor inconvenience.
However, while I put up with lots of
niggling imperfections in my own
£575 a week: a recently redecorated two-bedroom flat in a period building in
Roland Gardens in South Kensington, SW7, is available to rent through Hamptons
International. Call 020 8012 2916.
home, my tenants expect everything
to be just so. Little things, like the
lack of a bell, can irritate them almost
as much as a bigger problem. I guess
they think it isn’t a lot to ask, so the
landlord ought to sort it out.
Really, it is best to make sure
everything is in order before a new
tenant moves in, so that they don’t
find anything to complain about.
While it is tempting to ignore little
problems like loose door handles,
wonky loo seats and, yes, the lack
of a doorbell — don’t. You hope
the tenant won’t notice, but they
usually will. I didn’t want to spend
money on an electrician to install a
bell, but then I discovered that you
can buy wireless, battery-operated
ones that just stick into place for
about £5 or £6.
They look a bit naff, the cheapest
might not last very long, but hey, if it
keeps my tenant happy, I am happy
to buy her one.
You see, Mr Osborne, that’s
business.
O Victoria Whitlock lets four
properties in south London. To
contact Victoria with your ideas
and views, tweet @vicwhitlock
Tutelage Court,
College Terrace E3
A rare opportunity to acquire a stunning
period conversion in a former landmark
school, a Grade II listed site dating back to
the 19th Century.
Tutelage Court is a striking new development
in London’s Mile End offering buyers a
range of one, two, three and four bedroom
apartment homes.
Development by
From double height duplexes to double
fronted apartments, Tutelage Court offers
a distinctive range of homes with an array of
delightfully restored features.
Prices from £499,950 to £1,349,950.
To register your interest and secure an
appointment please contact:
020 8981 7788
[email protected]
Launch: Friday 19 February 4pm - 7pm
Saturday 20 February 11am - 2pm
50
Homes & Property | New homes
Smart
S
Sma
mart
m
mar
art m
art
By David Spittles
Just look
what’s in
my garage
S
HOREDITCH is a land of
lateral spaces, mainly
factory lofts and warehouse
conversions. So the arrival of
Dereham Place, a new
terrace of townhouses offering
vertical living over six storeys, brings
something fresh and desirable…
including a free Fiat 500 cabriolet.
Tucked away in the Shoreditch
Triangle, a buzzing enclave of design
studios, fashion boutiques, bars,
coffee shops and cool restaurants,
the 1,560sq ft houses are inspired by
the live-work atelier homes of
northern European cities such as
Antwerp.
Tall and narrow, these homes have
been thoughtfully designed, with a
ground-floor workshop or garage,
basement cinema, and bedrooms
and living spaces on the upper floors.
Visit our online luxury section
HomesAndProperty.co.uk/luxury
A bespoke oak-and-glass staircase
leads to the terrace at the top.
Slick and modern, the interiors
have full-height glass, natural
ventilation and poured white resin
floors. The home automation system
controls lighting, climate, security
Lateral, flexible living in
fashionable Fitzrovia
FITZROVIA is changing. Home of
hipster advertising agencies and now
attracting corporate businesses lured
by the prospect of a local Crossrail
station, the district has all but lost its
legendary “bohemian” character.
Yet it is more fashionable than ever,
with a new wave of fancy apartments
amid the hustle and bustle.
Artisan is sited where Goodge
Street meets Tottenham Court Road
and launches 13 apartments across
the upper floors of five terrace
buildings. It’s an eclectic
architectural mix, with restored
historic façades and cantilevered
full-height glass bays.
Some apartments straddle two
buildings in the terrace, creating
wide, mostly lateral spaces with big
windows and covering up to 1,761sq ft.
Dukelease, a boutique West End
developer, has opted for a “broken
plan” apartment layout rather than
the customary open-plan design.
Sliding walls and screens are used,
From £1 million: Artisan apartments,
above and right, have sliding interior
walls to shut off part of the living space
giving owners the flexibility to shut
off part of the space.
These are elegant and original
bespoke homes. A curving oak-andglass staircase in the show apartment
is a standout feature, as are the
Japanese-inspired porcelain rain
mosaic tiles in the showers.
Prices start at £1 million. Call CBRE
on 020 7420 3050.
51
New homes | Homes & Property
From £815,000: flats in converted
Victorian weights and measures
office, Rosebery Avenue, EC1
HANDSOME
HOLBORN FLATS
MEASURE UP
From £1.5million:
Dereham Place
townhouses have
white resin floors,
full-height glass
and a Fiat 500 in
the garage
and audiovisual entertainment via a
hand-held or Apple device.
For newcomers to Shoreditch,
estate agent Frank Harris is laying on
Blue Badge walking tours of the area
after viewings. Prices start from
£1.5 million. Call 020 7600 7000.
HOLBORN has a fascinating history.
Once a borough in its own right, the
district stretches from Smithfield to
Covent Garden, taking in the Hatton
Garden jewellery quarter and
Chancery Lane’s Inns of Court.
“Urban” since the Middle Ages, it
still has ancient guilds and trade
associations, but has continuously
changed with the times. Now it is
finding a new identity as a top
address, with tasteful homes for
well-off accountants and lawyers
as well as creatives who want to
live close to their workplace.
Much of the new housing is niche
— boutique developments in
keeping with the area’s individuality.
But bigger projects, including the
Mount Pleasant postal depot, are in
the pipeline, while the Crossrail
station being built at Farringdon will
bring a new dynamic.
“Little Italy” emerged here in the
early 1800s when the Napoleonic
Wars forced northern Italians to
flee their country. Many of those
displaced from Como were skilled
artisans making barometers and
other fine instruments.
A Victorian weights and measures
office in Rosebery Avenue is a
legacy from this era. Sitting
alongside a viaduct, the handsome
red-brick building has been given a
modern extension. Together, the
two elements have produced eight
apartments, including a duplex
penthouse with terrace.
Flats in the original building have
high ceilings and traditional sash
windows. Prices from £815,000.
Call Hatton Real Estate on 020 7101
2020.
The Italian community endures,
with authentic delis such as
Gazzano’s flourishing alongside all
the new bars and eateries that
serve the neighbourhood.
Blend: period office with a modern
extension created eight homes

Arch-itecture - Homes and Property

Transcription

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