Homes&
Property
Wednesday 13 May 2015
Clerkenwell
Design Week
Young, creative
and fun
Page 17
NINE ELMS’ CULTURAL QUARTER P6 HOMES UNDER £100,000 P10 SURFERS’ PARADISE P13 SPOTLIGHT ON READING P36
Oh brother
Chelsea Flower Show’s
youngest designers
y and David Rich
Harry
RACHEL WARNE
Page 30
4
WEDNESDAY 13 MAY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Online
homesandproperty.co.uk with
This week: homesandproperty.co.uk
Luck of the draw:
this new house in
Bermondsey was
approved but
it’s claimed one
council turned
down another
plan because a
single councillor
disliked ﬂat roofs
revealed: the London councils
that like to say ‘yes’
IF YOU want planning permission for home improvements,
you’re better off in Wandsworth, Kensington and Chelsea,
where up to 92 per cent of applications are approved.
An audit of the outcome of planning proposals in the past
year by planning consultancy Daniel Watney LLP has
uncovered a dramatic postcode lottery in the capital, with
some councils rejecting two out of three applications.
Nick Willson, director of Nick Willson Architects, says
Londoners must share some of the blame as they fail to
include enough detail with their applications.
Property
search
Trophy buy of the week
Regency style, modern luxury
£4.2 million: early 18th-century design meets 21st-century
luxury at this 7,600sq ft, Regency-style mansion in Cheam,
Surrey. French limestone, Italian marble and solid oak are
among plush materials used inside the six-bedroom home,
spectacularly lit by an octagonal cupola in the roof.
The kitchen is a bespoke statement of tulip wood and
white granite, while the dining and drawing rooms, cinema
and gym are air conditioned. Available through Hamptons
International.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/trophy
London buy of the week boutique
apartment will be a perfect pied-à-terre
O Read Ruth Bloomfield’s full story at homesandproperty.co.uk
£495,000: mosey on over to Mortlake
to see this new boutique development
of nine apartments in a prime spot
opposite the Thames.
Prices go up to £1 million for a
penthouse, but this one-bedroom flat
could be perfect if it’s a pied-à-terre
you’re after. Inside you will find
clean lines, space and natural light,
hot homes: clever and small
Two in one:
the John Lewis
Odyssey gas-lift
table (£599)
easily switches
from coffee table
to a full-size
dining table
DESIGNERS have recognised the challenges of living in
small city spaces and have come up with versatile,
lightweight furniture that has more than one use and
which often folds away for simple storage.
We’ve tracked down 25 of the best furniture ideas for
small spaces, including slimline foldaway balcony and
patio bistro tables and chairs that mean anyone with
even a tiny patch of outdoor space can enjoy alfresco
dining this summer.
achieved by floor-to-ceiling windows
and high-spec details.
The 18sq ft reception room/kitchen
features glass doors that open out to
a private terrace, while the bedroom
has an en suite dressing area and
bathroom. Through John D Wood.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/botw
Life changer enough room
for family and holiday letting
£550,000: this 18th-century beauty in the hills above
Llanwrda Village in the Towy Valley, West Wales, is all set
up for a successful holiday let business, with its separate
two-bedroom stone barn conversion and a one-bedroom
annexe. The main farmhouse has three bedrooms and a
spacious lounge/diner. Four acres of gardens complete
the idyllic package. Through Sell My Home.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/lifechanger
By
Faye
Greenslade
O Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/smallspaces
Facebook:
ESHomesAndProperty • Twitter:
@HomesProperty • Pinterest:
Editor:
Janice
Morley
VISIT homesandproperty.co.
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@HomesProperty
Post-election boost
Sales rise as mansion tax sinks without trace
THE Tory election win — and the
sinking of Labour’s mansion tax
plans — have given an instant boost to
London’s housing market, say
analysts.
Potential buyers dreading the
arrival of the hefty new tax on
homes worth £2 million-plus have
begun house-hunting again, while
first-time buyers have welcomed the
introduction of new ways to get them
on to the property ladder,
Estate agents Hamptons
International saw its London-based
business treble over the post-election
weekend. “There was a threefold
increase of instructions involving
homes above the £2 million price
bracket across London and the
South-East,” says Johnny Morris,
head of research.
Jonathan Hudson, director at
Hudsons estate agents, added: “All
the buyers who had put in offers
pending the result of this election
£2.65 million: new to the market is
this ﬁve-bedroom house in Grafton
Square SW4 (go online for details)
have been busy agreeing these deals
since Friday’s result. We expect an
increase in new listings in the
coming weeks.”
Join our tour of homes that have
come on to the market since Friday at
homesandproperty.co.uk/newsales.
5
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 13 MAY 2015
News Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Flatley dances his
way to Belgravia
Violinist’s home hits all the right notes
É FRENCH violinist Philippe Honoré
has put his Grade II-listed London
home, above, on the market with
The Modern House for £1.02 million.
Honoré, who plays with the world’s
leading orchestras and has been
appointed violin professor at the
Royal Academy of Music, fell for the
quirky features in the striking two-
bedroom house opposite Acton Park,
W3, part of the Goldsmiths Buildings
development. Robson Warren
Architects turned the almshouses of
The Goldsmiths’ Company into
modern homes, and Honoré’s was
the former chapel.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/act
É WHO would have thought Irish
dancing could bring such riches? It
certainly worked for Michael Flatley
— he has snapped up a beautiful
Belgravia mansion just off superprime Eaton Square.
The dancer, below, who ranked
seventh in The Sunday Times Rich
List of musicians with a fortune of
£195 million, is thought to have
splashed out more than £20 million
for the stuccoed gem.
Previously based in Knightsbridge,
Flatley and his wife, Niamh, have said
they love living in London, where
their eight-year-old son Michael St
James goes to school.
When they fancy a break from the
capital, they jet off to their Barbados
beach house or their castle in Cork.
Flatley, 56, will appear as a guest
performer in his show Lord of the
Dance: Dangerous Games on Friday
and Saturday evenings at the
Dominion Theatre until June 27.
He will make his final appearance
as a dancer on the UK stage on July 4
at Wembley Arena, with the British
touring production of the same show.
Cosy up to the
Clooneys
É GEORGE CLOONEY and his lawyer
wife Amal, right, are keen to inject
a little Hollywood glamour into their
Thames riverside home in the leafy
village of Sonning, Berkshire.
They only bought the £10 million,
nine-bedroom mansion seven months
ago but it is already having a luxe
facelift, with the addition of a pool, hot
tub and 12-seater cinema. It will surely
set new standards for the area.
A nearby six-bedroom home, above, also
has star quality. It has just come on the
market with Hamptons International for
£2.95 million.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/son
By Amira Hashish
Got some gossip? Tweet @amiranews
Harry’s wild about
£13m Miami house
ÉTHE Temple House is the largest
family house in South Beach, Miami.
Harry Styles, Kim Kardashian and
Jennifer Lopez, left, are among the
A-listers who have used it for shoots
and the setting for interviews.
Currently owned by entrepreneur
Daniel Davidson, the renovated Art
Deco building is on the market at
£13.1 million with Sotheby’s
International Realty.
The former synagogue features a
grand room with a 25ft-high ceiling,
far left, a spacious sundeck and a
five-bedroom mansion on site.
6
WEDNESDAY 13 MAY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property New homes
homesandproperty.co.uk with
A
GRAND plan to create a
major new cultural quarter
at Nine Elms and Vauxhall,
one of Europe’s biggest
regeneration zones, has
been unveiled this week. It is an ambitious initiative to combat the criticism
that this fledgling riverside district,
where 18,000 homes are to be dropped
into the landscape within a decade,
lacks soul and a sense of community.
Some fear it will end up being a land
of absentee owners, investors and
transitory renters. However, city planners and developers are spearheading
a project for this shiny new neighbourhood with “fresh urban thinkers” who
know how global cities should
evolve.
The process is known as “cultural
place-making”, where the arts are not
a cuddly vanity project for some rich
philanthropist, but embedded into the
area and woven into its architectural
fabric, helping to engage local residents
and foster a sense of belonging. Well,
that’s the theory.
World-renowned architects are shaping the landscape with showpiece
glassy and glossy buildings — satellite
projects linked to the born-again
Battersea Power Station. Public spaces,
including a riverside park, are being
designed with art and community
Just the spot: Damien Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery will be
housed in the warehouse where his spot paintings were made
Fresh urban thinkers and place-makers have been shipped in to
bring community life to the new ‘global city’ being built on the
south bank of the Thames, discovers David Spittles
Will this newly launched cultural
From £800,000:
Riverlight at
Nine Elms will
host StudioRCA,
launched by
the Royal
College of Art
participation in mind — for theatre and
dance performances, events, markets
and exhibitions — while buildings
awaiting redevelopment are being
handed over to pop-ups.
The power station’s developer has
even appointed a director of design
and place-making, David Twohig, to
deliver a strategy for a rich and diverse
programme of cultural events. “The
spaces in between the buildings are as
important as the buildings themselves,” he says.
Circus West, the first residential
phase of the power station, includes a
contemporary take on the traditional
village hall, while the original boiler
house and control room will be cultural
venues.
Royal College of Art’s Battersea campus, a recent arrival, is an artistic hub
with influence that is spreading to the
less glamorous Lambeth and Wandsworth hinterland, where there is an
established network of galleries and
studios. The college has forged a relationship with developer St James by
opening StudioRCA at the swish
Riverlight apartment complex at Nine
Elms where homes are priced from
£800,000. Call 020 7870 9620.
Coming soon is Damien Hirst’s
Newport Street Gallery, which will
house the artist’s personal art collec-
tion of 2,000 pieces, including works
by Banksy and Jeff Koons.
Opening this summer, the new space
is a redevelopment of listed warehouses where Hirst’s famous spot
paintings are produced. It occupies the
entire length of a street once considered the wrong side of the tracks. But
this grittier side of Vauxhall is changing
fast, with the hipsters moving in, and
developers offering cheaper loft-style
apartments.
Ironically, a nearby fine art storage
warehouse belonging to auctioneer
Christie’s is making way for The Residence — 510 homes, 76 of which are
classified as “affordable” available on
Cultural hub:
creative input is
transforming the
Battersea and
Nine Elms
landscapes
a shared-ownership basis. To register,
call Bellway on 01689 886400.
Charles Asprey’s Cabinet Gallery is
also scheduled to open later this
year.
If Nine Elms Vauxhall is set to become
the new Barbican, it will certainly be
more navigable than the celebrated
arts venue, with a linear park linking
the individual developments — 29 sites
across 482 acres — and a well markedout culture trail across the district.
A “promenade of curiosities” will
connect Lambeth’s pocket parks to
Vauxhall Cross.
Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, a revival
of a Victorian venue, has put in place
a summer programme of outdoor cinema screenings while a temporary ice
rink will open for the Christmas and
new year period.
Boosted by a new pedestrian bridge,
the area is also reaching across the
Thames to be part of the Chelsea
Fringe, hosting horticultural and arts
events.
DO THE LAMBETH WALK
Nearby Fentiman Road has four-storey
mid-Victorian houses popular with
barristers and City types.
Another hot address is Lilian Baylis
Old School. The listed Sixties teaching
blocks have been turned into generoussize, big-window apartments while new
in-keeping homes have been built in
the re-landscaped grounds. Call KFH
on 020 7740 2640.
Fabled Lambeth Walk’s Victorian
streetscape was marred by redevelopment in the Seventies, but parts of it
are being restored. Small businesses
a n d g a l l e r i e s a re m ov i n g i n t o
7
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 13 MAY 2015
New homes Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Big picture:
a series of free
outdoor
screenings
brings ﬁlm fans
to Vauxhall
Pleasure
Gardens, right
Urban strategy:
a riverside
esplanade is
planned at Nine
Elms, stretching
from St George
Wharf apartment
complex, left, to
Battersea Power
Station
quarter give Nine Elms heart and soul?
refurbished shopfronts, and over-theshop accommodation is set to become
available.
The big question is whether a wider
creative district can be “made” in this
way. Can this slowly evolving organic
process be manmade?
Cynics would question why developers want to forge partnerships with
the arts. It couldn’t possibly be for
profit, could it?
“I suppose patrons are okay, but we
don’t want to be patronised,” says
Bridget Wright, 58, a lifelong local
resident.
“A lot of snooty types from across the
river in Chelsea are turning up,” she
adds. “And we are already seeing prices
moving beyond what many locals
can afford.”
Planning requirements force developers to make financial contributions and
physical improvements to the local
area. In the case of Nine Elms, two new
schools and health care provision as
well as the Northern line extension are
part of the bounty to get the green light
to transform an area.
The smarter builders have put in
place a cultural strategy to win brownie
points with loc al counc ils and
stakeholders — whether residents, businesses or lobby groups.
Mark Davy, founder of Futurecity, a
self-styled “place-making agency” that
specialises in cultural collaborations,
is at the centre of this debate. He is
busy making places and has about
30 developer clients and 100 projects
on the go across London and the South
East.
“In the past, creative neighbourhoods
were in so-called ‘downtown’ areas
with cheap industrial space and bad
transport links, but the success of new
developments built around the arts,
such as King’s Cross, has persuaded
the private sector to invest in culture,”
he says. “Often it’s about making
creative use of an existing budget.
London is moving from a capital city
traditionally defined by the financial
sector to one defined by the creative
and knowledge sectors.”
Culture, he adds, brings the energy,
authenticity and edginess that defines
a modern city.
Vauxhall’s backstreet
scene: turn to Page 8
8
WEDNESDAY 13 MAY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property New homes
homesandproperty.co.uk with
From £495,000: loft apartments at Embassy Works, a
former laundry factory complex next to Vauxhall Park
Vauxhall’s
not getting
left behind
Zone 1’s cheapest area is set for a
boost as the flash new neighbours
move in, says David Spittles
V
AUXHALL’S backstreets,
sprinkled with council
tenements and housing
charity schemes, including
the Duchy of Cornwall
estate — a charming enclave of terrace
cottages built in the early 20th century
— are likely to be big beneficiaries
of the new investment and cultural
connections coming to the wider
district.
The railway line’s arches used to act
as a bulky boundary wall, blocking the
alluring riverfront at Albert Embankment. But those once-derelict arches
are being reincarnated as retail spaces
and restaurants, while green pedestrian routes through to the Thames are
finally opening up.
By Zone 1 standards, property in the
area is cheap, which attracts younger
buyers as well as people with bigger
budgets trading more expensive parts
of London to be closer to the West End
action. For many decades Embassy
Transformed:
above, the café
in Bonnington
Square; right,
homes on
the Duchy of
Cornwall estate;
far right, an
aerial view of
Embassy Works
Works, next to Vauxhall Park, was a
laundry factory that housed clients
such as The Savoy and The Ritz.
The complex of warehouses is
now being converted into 39 loft
apartments with exposed beams and
brickwork. A giant penthouse has
already been snapped up by a Soho
entrepreneur.
“For people who want to live in a glass
tower, there are plenty of options at
Nine Elms. We’re offering something
different,” says Jason Tracey of Bmor.
Prices from £495,000. Call JacksonStops & Staff on 020 7664 6649.
A lot of families choose to live in Vauxhall, as there are pockets of relatively
affordable period housing.
Bonnington Square, a secluded
space near Kia Oval cricket ground, has
a close-knit community, with an awardwinning garden square and organic
café run by a collective. The group
rescued the square when it was under
threat of demolition in the Eighties.
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9
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 13 MAY 2015
Commuting Homes & Property
L
ATER this month hundreds
of athletes will take part in
the annual London 2 Brighton
Challenge. Londoners running through the towns and
villages of Surrey and Sussex should
take note — these places are showing a
healthy price growth as buyers
squeezed out of the capital move in.
Thousands of commuters make this
journey, boarding trains from Victoria
or London Bridge. Beyond Gatwick
airport but still within an hour of the
capital, there are 10 stops for buyers to
choose from, whether they are looking
for a value-for-money starter home or
a country pile.
Research by Savills details a cluster
of Surrey addresses — Redhill,
Earlswood and Salfords — that have
enjoyed solid annual price growth,
with the average house price now
standing at £312,258.
We made it: take the London 2 Brighton challenge and check out homes along the way
REDHILL
In terms of charm and aesthetic appeal,
Redhill is a bit of a poor relation
compared to Surrey’s top commuter
towns, such as Guildford. However, a
£50 million facelift is planned for
Redhill station, which will include a
town square, shops and new homes.
The main factor in Redhill’s favour is
the speed of the commute — trains to
London take 35 minutes and an annual
season ticket costs £2,672.
What Redhill does have is quality
primary and senior schools. The
Warwick School and Saint Bede’s
School are rated “good” by Ofsted.
However, it doesn’t have a great array
of period houses, although it offers
plenty of affordable new-build properties in the city centre and post-war
houses in the suburbs.
Will Norris, a negotiator at Connells
Residential, says his buyers tend to be
young couples looking for a central
t wo -bedroom flat for bet ween
£200,000 and £240,000. They should
expect to pay £450,000-plus for a fourbedroom house. Buyers who want
period homes should look to nearby
Earlswood, where roomy detached
Victorian and Edwardian houses sell
for about £400,000.
Home search
while on the run
Commute from Surrey or Sussex and watch
your home’s value rise, says Ruth Bloomfield
there are three-bedroom Victorian
cottages, priced at about £350,000.
Lindfield, which is within a 15-minute
walk of Haywards Heath station, has
credentials — historic houses, an
ancient church and a pond. Buyers can
expect to pay between £450,000 and
£550,000 for a three-bedroom Victorian semi-detached house.
BURGESS HILL
£970,000: ﬁve-bedroom detached
house on Pendleton Road, Redhill
(homesandproperty.co.uk/redh)
HAYWARDS HEATH
Strong choices in West Sussex are
Haywards Heath and neighbouring
Lindfield, just south of the Sussex
Weald, within easy reach of some of the
South East’s loveliest countryside.
Haywards Heath is a 44-minute journey to London. An annual season ticket
costs £3,808. An average property costs
£315,483, up only 3.1 per cent in the past
year, but 15.6 per cent since 2007.
Sophie Wysock-Wright, a director of
Savills, estimates that four in 10 of her
London buyers want a family home.
The top area in the town itself is
Lucastes Avenue and the surrounding
£699,000: six-bedroom semi-detached
house on High Street, Merstham, Surrey
(homesandproperty.co.uk/merst)
roads, just west of the station, where a
detached four-bedroom Twenties
house would cost between £650,000
and £750,000. Close to the station
Moving closer to the South Downs,
another good West Sussex commuter
choice is Burgess Hill. The journey to
London takes 52 minutes and an
annual season ticket costs £3,808.
Peter Bushell, branch manager of
Fox & Sons, admits the shops and restaurants aren’t as good as those in
Haywards Heath, but adds that buyers
who spend another 10 minutes on the
train get an extra bedroom or a
detached house. It is a “perfect hub”
— a good commute to London and only
a 20 minute-drive to Brighton.
The best houses are the Victorian,
Edwardian and Thirties semi-detached
homes along Crescent Road, Park Road
and Silverdale Road, priced at about
£400,000.
Much of the town’s housing stock was
built post-war, and a three-bedroom
house built in the Sixties would be
priced at about £300,000.
TOP COMMUTER DESTINATIONS
Journey time
(mins)
Gatwick airport
Horley
Three Bridges
Redhill
Earlswood (Surrey)
Balcombe
Salfords
Haywards Heath
Wivelsfield
Burgess Hill
Hassocks
30
33
34
35
39
40
43
44
50
52
55
Annual season
ticket price
£2,952
£3,180
£3,200
£2,672
£2,688
£3,808
£3,180
£3,808
£3,808
£3,808
£3,808
Average
price of a
home
£322,241
£322,241
£282,992
£312,258
£312,258
£470,704
£312,258
£315,483
£293,398
£293,398
£411,086
Annual
price change
(% )
9.8
9.8
7.7
13
13
3.1
13
3.1
10.7
10.7
1.5
5-year
growth
(% )
16.4
16.4
17.3
15
15
13.6
15
15.6
18.3
18.3
16.6
Source: Savills using Office of Rail Regulation and Land Registry
10
WEDNESDAY 13 MAY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property First-time buyer
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Dream of a London home for under £100k
Ruth Bloomfield discovers
affordable homes in Zone 3’s
Catford — where even the
commuting is easy and cheap
THE KNOWLEDGE
CATFORD
A
£76,000: for a
40 per cent
share of a
one-bedroom ﬂat
at Prospect
Quarter, which is
being built on the
site of the old
greyhound track
S BUYERS find themselves
increasingly priced out of
Clapham and East Dulwich, an unlikely neighbourhood south of the
river is starting to seem like a great
first-time option, and one of the few
places left in the capital where you can
buy a home for less than £100,000.
Catford is not glamorous, but it is
affordable and is due to be revamped,
so it will become a good bet for
buyers keen to see their investment
value grow. Lewisham council plans to
regenerate the town centre, currently
a rather sad affair with a proliferation
of empty buildings and pound shops,
while Transport for London has vowed
to improve roads.
Major new housing developments
include Prospect Quarter, which is
being built on the site of the former
Catford greyhound stadium.
Housing association Peabody (peabody.org.uk) has 38 shared-ownership
properties for sale on the site. They will
be ready to move into at the end of next
month and priority will be given to
those already living or working in
south-east London. Another 22 sharedownership homes on the site will go on
sale at the end of October.
“It is the last bastion of really affordable homes that is close to London,”
says Martin Fillery, head of affordable
homes at Currell, which is selling the
flats. “It really is the only place where
you can buy a home for under
£100,000. I think that it has been overlooked for years, but it is a key area.”
A 40 per cent share of a one-bedroom
flat at Prospect Quarter, with a full
price of £190,000, will cost £76,000.
Buyers also need to budget for a
monthly rent of £247 and an estimated
monthly service charge of £150.
Two-bedroom flats start at £93,000
for a 30 per cent share of a property
that has a full market value of £270,000.
Added to the cost of the mortgage will
be a monthly rent payment of £470,
plus a service charge of about £165.
Prospect Quarter is part of Barratt
London’s Catford Green scheme. It will
feature 589 homes by 2017, and shops,
in landscaped grounds near Ladywell
Fields, which has been spruced up with
tennis courts and a café.
A plus-point in this development’s
favour is its transport links. Commuters
can travel from Catford Bridge to
Waterloo East, Cannon Street or
Charing Cross in 18, 22 and 20 minutes
respectively. Journeys from Catford to
Blackfriars take 22 minutes, while a trip
to St Pancras takes just more than half
an hour. Both of Catford’s stations are
in Zone 3 and an annual season ticket
costs £1,508.
In the future there is talk of extending
both the Docklands Light Railway and
the Bakerloo line to Catford. If either
plan materialises, it would give the area
a huge boost.
Sleep easy:
Prospect Quarter
is part of Barratt
London’s Catford
Green project.
By 2017 it will
feature 589
stylish new
homes along
with new shops
and landscaped
grounds
Past: Catford Stadium, one of
London’s top greyhound racetracks
from 1932 to 2003, suffered a fire in
2005 and was later demolished.
Future: Lewisham council is
plotting a badly needed upgrade of
Catford Shopping Centre.
Trivial pursuit: Catford is home to
Britain’s largest surviving prefab
housing estate. The Excalibur Estate
was built after the Second World
War to provide “temporary”
housing for families bombed out of
the East End.
What homes cost: the average
price is £337,982, up 7.42 per cent in
the past year, according to Zoopla.
For renters, a two-bedroom flat
would cost an average of £1,218pcm.
Landmark: the huge fibreglass
cat at the entrance to Catford
Shopping Centre.
Eat: Sushi at Sapporo Ichiban.
Drink: at Catford Constitutional
Club on Catford Broadway. If you
get peckish, it has a good modern
British menu.
Buy: fruit and vegetables at the
old-school Catford market.
Walk: along the River
Ravensbourne, which runs through
Ladywell Fields — you could almost
be in the countryside.
Get set to pounce: a giant cat greets
visitors at Catford Shopping Centre
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12
WEDNESDAY 13 MAY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Public spaces
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Key locations:
far left, “shared”
Exhibition Road;
left, shoppers
enjoy the
sunshine in Lyric
Square, the new
public space in
Hammersmith
Crossing: the
proposed Thames
Garden Bridge
Access all areas
A
SPRING
CLEARANCE
UP TO 40% OFF
1 5 – 2 5 M AY
Ligne Roset City
37-39, Commercial Road – London, E1 1LF
Call 020 7426 9670
www.ligne-roset-city.co.uk
LL THE pavement artists
in Trafalgar Square congregate on the strip in front
of the National Gallery.
This is because the rest of
the square is managed by the Greater
London Authority, which won’t allow
their activities. The northern terrace
— a roadway until it was pedestrianised
in 2003 — is still managed by Westminster council.
This is part of the madness surrounding the way we are allowed to use the
London landscape — the city’s squares,
roads, pavements, riverbanks and all
the bits between the buildings. Their
use is explored in Public London, an
exhibition by New London Architecture (NLA) at the Building Centre in
Store Street WC1.
The show tracks the largely positive
change in attitude towards public space
in the capital in the decade since the
city was awarded the 2012 Olympics.
But the show’s organisers, NLA’s chairman Peter Murray and director Debbie
Whitfield, say the debate about public
space began much earlier when, in
1986, architect Richard Rogers first
suggested pedestrianising Trafalgar
Square, Parliament Square and the
whole of Victoria Embankment, which
would be turned into a park with the
traffic sent underground.
These radical ideas drove subsequent
discussions with governments and
mayors. Meanwhile, developers had
begun to include areas that were ostensibly public in commercial schemes,
such as Broadgate in the City and in
Canary Wharf. Research found that
office workers are prepared to walk up
to 440 yards further at lunchtime if
they can find a nice place to sit and eat
their sandwiches or chat with friends.
Landlords soon realised that friendly
and welcoming public spaces outside
their buildings would attract more
tenants and customers.
The show begins outside the NLA’s
Store Street offices, where the curved
forecourt-cum-road is turned into an
installation called Never Mind the
Bollards. All the items making up this
urban environment — plane trees,
cobbles, manhole covers and lamp
posts — will be annotated to get people
thinking about the spaces we share.
The NLA had previously simply laid
AstroTurf on its forecourt, which was
immediately populated by lounging
Londoners. “As soon as you give people
something to sit on, they come from all
around to use it,” says Murray. “Londoners are desperate for outside space
where they can have a sandwich and
meet their friends.”
Fifteen years ago, Westminster council threatened to prosecute cafés that
put tables on the pavement — now café
culture is seen as an essential part of
street life. Just look at Soho. The
We love a cappuccino in the sun,
a picnic in a park and browsing in
our street markets. Public space
matters, says Nick Curtis
‘As soon as
you give
people
something
to sit on,
they come
from all
around to
use it’
O Public London:
Ten years of
transforming
London’s public
spaces is at the
NLA Galleries in
the Building
Centre, 26 Store
Street WC1,
until July 11
(newlondon
architecture.org)
conversion of Exhibition Road in South
Kensington into a fluid “shared space”
is a recent example of friendly space.
Smaller projects include Assemble
— a timber stage in New Addington
town centre, built as a focal point for
community events — and the proposed
floating lido on Victoria Embankment,
planned by Studio Octopi.
In my bit of Lambeth, grass bays and
flowerbeds have been built out into
roads, helping drainage, slowing traffic
and making life that little bit more
pleasant. Many improvements involve
transport upgrades and changes to
road usage.
The congestion charge was a major
game-changer for the quality of life in
London, as was the reintroduction of
slower, more pedestrian-friendly, twoway traffic in place of one-way urban
“race tracks”. This transformation is
due for Tottenham Court Road and
Gower Street. City Hall and TfL are
currently organising London’s roads
into nine categories, from arterial
routes where vehicles can travel at
60mph down to pedestrian zones.
In 2018, Alfred Place, off Store Street,
will be converted into a park in time
for Crossrail. The new link will mean
thousands more people on the pavements in the West End and the City.
Murray says: “We need to think about
how we provide space for them to
move around comfortably.” Hence the
creation of a proper piazza around
Centre Point.
“One of the big ge st mi st akes
Boris Johnson made was to abandon
the pedestrianisation of Parliament
Square for God knows what reason,”
adds Murray. “But that will come back
on the agenda because it really is a
scandal.” Richard Rogers’s plan for a
park on Victoria Embankment never
came true, although “it is going to
be a cycle superhighway, so less cardominated”.
With expected local and central government spending cuts, the creation
and maintenance of public space will
inevitably fall to private developers.
And there is an ongoing debate about
how “public” the spaces should be.
Murray says, however, that things are
improving. Security guards at the More
London development no longer treat
passing cyclists as if they are terrorists.
Murray adds: “There is still work to be
done, but the open space debate is all
going in favour of more sandwiches
being eaten outside in summer.”
13
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 13 MAY 2015
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Holiday homes Homes & Property
Wild Atlantic coast is a surfers’ paradise
North Cornwall offers
fabulous new family
homes, good cuisine
and beaches galore,
says Cathy Hawker
F
OR SURFERS, active families
or avid foodies, the North
Cornwall coast is a destination that delivers. From the
bright lights of Newquay to
quiet coves, the wild Atlantic coastline
with its big-name chefs — Nathan
Outlaw, Rick Stein and Jamie Oliver —
provides homes and holidays that lure
families back again and again.
This year has started strongly, says
Miles Kevin of Chartsedge estate
agents, helped perhaps by the popularity of the BBC’s Cornish-based serial,
Poldark. After a long, post-recession
hiatus, new developments are being
built and are selling.
“The market switched on at the start
of spring,” says Kevin. “We launched
Seascape, an off-plan development of
12 units in Newquay priced from
£170,000, and immediately sold 10
homes. Prices are still between five and
15 per cent off their pre-recession
peaks, but sensibly priced properties
in good locations are selling well.”
FRACTIONAL OWNERSHIP
Bay Retreat, a resort in St Merryn,
10 minutes from Padstow, stalled in the
recession, but new owners have refurbished it to offer 28 two-bedroom
modern holiday homes for £145,000.
Annual service charges will be about
£1,250.
Also new to the market in New
Polzeath, 30 minutes from Newquay
Cornwall airport, Atlantic House has
nine apartments available through
fractional ownership. This was the site
of a successful 27-room hotel built
a b o u t 1 9 0 0 d i re c t ly ove r N e w
Polzeath’s impressive, family-friendly
beach. Families would return every
summer for old-fashioned bucket-and-
Surf’s up: Ruth and Hugh Pitman and their new-look home, The Yellow Cottage
CORBIS
Surfing couple realise their dream
AFTER three years renting The Yellow
Cottage in Trebarwith Strand, two miles
from Tintagel, Ruth and Hugh Pitman
from Wiltshire asked the owners to give
them first refusal if they ever sold. The
owners responded and, in 2007, the
Pitmans bought the small bungalow
overlooking the sea.
“We holidayed there so we could take
our three children surfing at Polzeath,
but we discovered the surfing was
excellent in Trebarwith Strand,” says
Ruth, a chartered surveyor.
“We completely fell in love with the
village and have never bothered to go
anywhere else.”
The bungalow, however, was rundown
and the Pitmans replaced it with a
spacious house, keeping the distinctive
yellow cladding and creating a
comfortable New England-style home
less than 100 feet from the beach.
The family use it often, but also rent it
through Perfect Stays, a rentals
company offering a bespoke concierge
service in some large, exceptional
holiday homes.
“It is easy to let during school holidays,
Christmas and new year,” says Ruth.
“May, June and September are
increasingly popular months. In fact,
you could let it for 18 to 20 weeks as well
as some long weekends.”
spade holidays. Helen Schofield from
Henley had holidayed at Atlantic House
since the Sixties. Now married with
three adult children, she and her husband, Brian, knew the hotel well.
With Brian’s brother Christopher,
they bought the hotel in 2009 and,
after securing some financial backing,
last autumn had it demolished to make
way for a new building.
On completion next spring Atlantic
House will become a 14-room hotel
with nine contemporary two- and
three-bedroom apartments available
on a 999-year lease. These apartments
average 1,100sq ft, all with balconies
facing the sea, and will be sold fully
furnished on a fractional basis priced
from £105,000 to £145,000.
Owners get five weeks’ use each year
and can rent any weeks they don’t use.
So far, 46 per cent of the 90 fractions
are sold, mostly to families who knew
the hotel, but also to couples like the
surfers who wandered up from the beach
and ended up buying into the project.
O The Yellow Cottage is available
through Perfect Stays from £1,400
for three nights. Visit perfectstays.
co.uk or call 01208 895570.
Rock on: lovely Newquay beach has been a favourite of families for generations
From £105,000: new apartments at Atlantic House are being built on the site of
the former beachside hotel, offering balconies and sea-facing views throughout
O Atlantic House: visit theatlantic
house.co.uk or call John Bray &
Partners on 01208 863206
O Chartsedge: chartsedge.co.uk
(01392 832446)
16
WEDNESDAY 13 MAY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property My home
homesandproperty.co.uk with
I got what I wanted
PURE AND
SIMPLE
H
White hot: the Ikea carcass kitchen
Contrast: white walls and dark ﬂoors
could oversee the project, which took
five-and-a-half months. He kept the
interior décor simple, with dark oak
floorboards, white walls and window
blinds. The living room features a large,
white, bespoke wall unit, while the
modern flueless ethanol fire surround
is made with grey marble.
The kitchen is an Ikea carcass, with
bespoke plywood doors and counter
tops in grey with a stylish splash of yellow on the wall with the fitted shelves.
Upstairs neat balustrades double as
bookshelves, and the master bedroom
has built-in wardrobes and storage in
the eaves. It is large enough for an armchair beneath a huge picture window,
which slides open to reveal the rooftops
of south London.
Inserting a skylight at the top of the
stairs allows for more light, while the
skylight above the shower floods the
bathroom with natural light.
The project extended the property
by about a third to 973sq ft and cost
£110,000. It is valued at between
£600,000 and £650,000.
“I have invested a lot of time and
energy in this project, but I have got
exactly what I want. It is a home with
the wow factor,” says Steve.
His top tips include thinking ahead
to plan for what you really want, and
to create as much storage as possible.
But one thing Steve regrets is not having sliding doors installed, which
would have given him the option of
using the kitchen and living rooms as
one space or two separate rooms.
OMEBUYERS sometimes
need to search an area for
a long time to find the right
property with improvement potential. Steve
Rosier’s ascent up the property ladder
began in 2000 when he bought a
four-bedroom Edwardian house in
Brixton for the now-unimaginable sum
of £260,000.
By 2009, Steve wanted to move closer
to the heart of London, so he sold his
place for £425,000 and rented while
viewing more than 60 flats over two
years. He found a top-floor maisonette
in Kennington — central enough so that
he could hear Big Ben chime.
It was advertised as having two bedrooms, though one was too small to
justify the name. But what attracted
Steve, a 44-year-old publicist with
Channel 4, was a share of the freehold
— ownership of the good-sized attic and
the opportunity to totally refurbish.
He paid £350,000 for the 647sq ft
property. His research had proved that
neighbouring properties with new loft
conversions were fetching a sale price
of £70,000 more, so the space-creating
solution was obvious.
Steve hired architect Francesco Pierazzi (fparchitects.london) to draw up
imaginative plans with a cube-shaped
loft extension to house a master bedroom and bathroom, and open out the
main floor to create a living room and
kitchen, plus a guest bedroom and a
study area. After obtaining planning
permission, Steve rented nearby so he
ALL PICTURES: DAVID BUTLER
Result:: Steve says planning is key
After climbing the ladder, Steve Rosier has
his perfect home, says Ruth Bloomfield
Vantage point: Steve Rosier’s main bedroom is in a cube-shaped loft extension
Sleek and chic: the living room features a modern ﬁreplace and bespoke wall unit
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17
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 13 MAY 2015
Design Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Craft work:
innovation in
design can be
found through
the week. Don’t
miss these Ballo
stools by
Humanscale,
left, and the M11
furniture range
by Mathias Hahn
for Zeitraum,
right
CLERKENWELL DESIGN WEEK
Go east to the
cutting edge
Three days and 80 venues will be devoted to
the work of the latest young designers. This is
a must-see, reports Barbara Chandler
T
HERE is only one event to
visit in east London next
week where you can see
the latest cutting-edge
designs for free. It’s Clerkenwell Design Week, of course. It
began as an annual celebration of
design five years ago, but it has now
transformed into a leading independent festival, with group shows, product launches, installations, talks,
walks and workshops.
But if you want to soak up everything
it has to offer, you’ll need to be quick,
because it only lasts three days — from
Tuesday until Thursday. Register for
free entry to the show at clerkenwell
designweek.com.
The venues are an added bonus. This
clutch of historic buildings housing
about 80 showrooms is in an area
saturated with medieval history.
Make a start in St John’s Square,
with its stunning pop-up pavilion of
coloured glass. Then dip into Priory
Church at the Order of St John monastery. Here you will find 35 booths for
high-end furnishings, including rugs,
furniture and wallpapers. Draw breath
in the beautiful secret garden at the
back, and gear up to see more with a
glass of bubbly from the bar.
Next, visit the Old Sessions House
on Clerkenwell Green. It’s a fabulous
18th-century former courthouse, with
top interiors brands filling a warren
of rooms. At the medieval St John’s
Gate, you will find under the arch a
cocoon-like sculpture of woven, steambent hardwood designed and made by
artist Laura Ellen Bacon and London
woodworker Sebastian Cox. They’ve
called this centrepiece The Invisible
Store of Happiness.
Finally, there is the Farmiloe Building, once home to a Victorian glassworks, with an entrance now decorated
by Johnson Tiles. This — the “Design
Factory” — is the largest show of the
lot, with about 75 designers and brands
crammed into a warren of rooms and
steps. Take a break at the Leica Café,
and browse a shopping arcade of
designer goodies.
O See Danish craftsman in action at
the new Carl Hansen & Søn
showroom at 16A Bowling Green
Lane EC1 (carlhansen.com)
O Retreat into felt “hammocks” in
the Hypnos installation by Francesco
Draisci, and/or book a “nidra”
session, the yoga that’s like sleep,
with Sto Werkstatt, 7-9 Woodbridge
Street EC1 (werkstatt.sto.com)
O Shop at a pop-up for new grads
from Wednesday to Saturday
(looklikelove.co.uk)
Hot seat: the festival features the
latest addition to the Cyborg chair
range by Magis
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18
WEDNESDAY 13 MAY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Reader promotion
Hook
it or
hide it
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Bargain news
Sleek Danish-style
sofa bed brings a
Fifties retro touch
Serve up a new kitchen with
designer style in mind
IF YOU fancy a new
kitchen with minimum
fuss, The Kitchen
Restoration Company is
the specialist to turn to.
It can replace drawer
fronts and worktops, and
change sinks, taps and
appliances if required.
Units can be added or
removed, while storage
solutions can be installed.
For a free brochure or a
free visit from a designer,
call 0800 917 7238, or visit
kitchen-restoration.com.
Readers are offered free
fitting on all orders
received by June 10 using
code 13/05/ES/BH.
Versatile and great value
THE versatile Relyon Juno guest bed from One Regent
Place has an impressive 55 per cent off — from £1,049
to only £499. In a classic Shaker design, it comes in a dark
oak finish or a white finish, as pictured, and is crafted with
fine detailing.
It can be used as a classic single bed, as twin beds or
the two single open-coil mattresses can be linked to
create a large double bed. The mattresses are included
in the price. To order, visit oneregentplace.co.uk or call
020 7087 2900 (Monday to Friday) before May 18.
THE handy
wall-mounted
hook-and-hide
unit from Within
is hand-carved
from solid
mango wood
and features six
separate storage
compartments,
each with an
antique-style
brass name
plate.
Four practical
iron hooks sit
below for coats,
hats or dog
leads, while the
top section
provides the
perfect place to
perch other
items.
Readers can
claim 15 per
cent off,
reducing the
price from £125
to only £106.25.
To claim your
offer, visit
withinhome.
com or call 020
7087 2900 and
quote HOOK15
before May 31.
THE chic Pablo sofa bed, right, from
Onedeko takes its inspiration from
the style pioneered by young Danish
designers in the Fifties, offering a
clean, retro feel for your home. This
is a modern classic, and it is available
as a sofa bed, chair and lounger.
Readers can claim an extra 10 per
cent discount, reducing the price
of the sofa bed from £1,188 to only
£909 when using the voucher code
ALISONATHOME.
Visit onedeko.co.uk or call
020 7377 5900 before May 24 to
claim your offer.
Alison
Cork
Hang out in a pod
WALLACE SACKS is offering a 60 per
cent discount across its entire
outdoor living collection, and with
this offer you can snap up the
indoor/outdoor hanging pod chair
and frame with free delivery.
The Brighton hanging chair, right, is
made from weatherproof PU rattan
with a robust weatherproof metal
frame, both of which are guaranteed
for five years. It also comes with an
upholstered enveloping cushion.
With a normal price of £999, the
chair is now £399.60 until May 31. For
free delivery, visit wallacesacks.com
or call 0800 0114642 and enter code
BLOFELD at the checkout.
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.
“
22
WEDNESDAY 13 MAY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Design
homesandproperty.co.uk with
By Katie Law
E
LEY KISHIMOTO is a
British fashion and design
company founded in 1992
by Mark Eley and his wife
Wakako Kishimoto. The
Brixton-based couple are best known
for their vibrant silk screen prints,
inspired by history and architecture,
which span clothing, textiles and
wallpapers.
They recently designed the interior
of Southerden Patisserie and Café
in Bermondsey Street. Here they
reveal who makes the best ramen in
London, where to buy giant palm
trees and why champagne tastes best
drunk from a pewter goblet.
Ou
Our
ur des
de
es
es
Lon
London
ondon
o
ondo
nd
do
on
n
MARK ELEY AND
WAKAKO KISHIMOTO
OUR STYLE
Mark: lots of pattern and colour have
gradually crept into the house,
mostly our own prototype wallpaper
and textile designs, so the rooms look
exuberantly colourful and busy. We
use our hallway as an ever-changing
exhibition space and installed a
gallery hanging system that allows us
to change paintings regularly without
damaging the wallpaper. The kitchen
is simple wood, stainless steel and
slate with open shelves for all our
pots, pans and blenders. Wakako,
who is vegan, loves spending her
spare time sprouting seeds.
WHERE WE LIVE
AND WORK
WE’VE lived and worked on the
Brixton/Clapham border since 1992.
Our studio is a two-minute walk from
home, which we share with our
daughter Tomomi, 17, and our son
Naoki, 20, who will probably
come back to live here after he
graduates from university next
month. Our house is a classic
Victorian four-bedroom mid-terrace.
When we bought it the walls were
falling down so we reinstated them,
painted them white and stained the
wood floors dark brown.
ADRIAN LOURIE
FAVOURITE OBJECT
Mark: a Bizen ware bowl by Harada
Shuroku, a Japanese potter who
makes bowls and pots from the mud
he collects from the roadside. Once a
year he builds a caterpillar kiln on
BEST DESIGN
SHOP IN LONDON
Both: Aram in Holborn. The
founder, Zeev Aram is a pioneer
who has been bringing the most
talented designers to the public
eye for more than 50 years. He
discovered Thomas Heatherwick
and Corin Mellor and worked with
Eileen Gray who designed the
amazing Bibendum chair, which
you can buy in the shop.
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23
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 13 MAY 2015
Design Homes & Property
DDP
homesandproperty.co.uk with
ALEX LENTATI
MONEY NO OBJECT
the top of a hill in Okayama, Japan,
where he sits and fires all his bowls.
He then sells his wares for the rest of
the year. The bowl was given to us by
Wakako’s mother.
WHAT LUXURY MEANS
Mark: it’s meeting friends at the
Boot & Flogger, an atmospheric
wine bar in Southwark, where
I can drink champagne in pewter
goblets, which makes it taste nicer
and keeps it colder.
FAVOURITE EATERY
Mark: I love Friday lunchtimes at
KOI Ramen Bar in Brixton Market.
You sit outside under tarpaulin
watching a guy make the best
ramen in town for £5 a bowl.
Wakako: my favourite is Michelle
Wade’s Maison Bertaux in Soho,
above, London’s oldest French
patisserie. They made our wedding
cake. We sometimes pop in for tea
and a slice of cake.
Wakako: it means splurging on
special ceramic paints at my
favourite art materials shop Green &
Stone in King’s Road, to decorate my
growing collection of whiteware.
Wakako: I play classical music so an
upright Steinway piano, though it
would cost about £30,000.
Mark: I would like a Japanese
bathroom that includes a cedar box
bath made by bathroom company
Toto (the Armitage Shanks of Japan)
because the way people wash in
Japan is much more ritualised than
here and the water you bathe in is
completely clean.
MOST TALENTED
DESIGNER
Both: Sissel Tolaas, above, a
Norwegian scientist-artist who
designs scents and has a client
list that includes Adidas,
Comme des Garçons, Ikea and
DaimlerChrysler. She famously
extracted bacteria from one of
David Beckham’s trainers to mix
with raw milk to make cheese. Her
work is utterly fascinating.
LAZY SUNDAY
Both: we love to go hunting for
treasure at Battersea boot market,
which doesn’t start until noon.
That leaves us plenty of time to
visit Paramount Plants and Gardens
in Enfield. You can buy huge palm
trees and the people who run it
are lovely.
SECRET ESCAPE
Mark: Streatham Park Bowling Club.
It is a beautiful 1949 building with
an enclosed green, roses and a
marquee. There are jazz festivals
there. It is a hidden oasis and a slice of
traditional England in the middle of
London. Wakako likes to walk around
the old back streets of Brixton.
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26
WEDNESDAY 13 MAY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Our home
homesandproperty
Timeless: the cobbled yard featured in TV’s Steptoe and Son
We are
happier
all on
one level
A rambling office space in an
old Hammersmith warehouse
became the house Caroline
Riddell wanted for family life,
discovers Pamela Goodman
C
Photographs::
Lucas Allen
AROLINE RIDDELL has been
designing and decorating
homes for clients, as well as
her own family, for 10 years.
She has that knack of being
able to combine a great sense of style
with an easy-going attitude that makes
a house feel “designed”, but not at the
expense of homeliness.
Caroline recently sold her Hammersmith house and took on the challenge
of a mews home a few streets away. The
previous home was tall and thin, and life
with a husband, two children, au pairs,
a work assistant, cats and dogs was
altogether too vertical.
She cleverly used the proceeds of the
sale to buy a derelict house in Suffolk —
which she is restoring — and a London
property that had been the two-storey,
open-plan office space of an architec-
Light touch: character ﬁttings create a sense of homeliness
tural practice. She and her husband,
James, clearly have vision. James has a
building company, Labatt Construction,
which helps, and they both loved the
location of the new home, a tiny, industrial, cobbled mews which was the
original setting for Steptoe and Son’s
yard in the Sixties TV comedy series. It
is now a collection of offices and studios,
occupied during the day but deserted
by night.
The building the Riddells wanted came
with planning permission for residential
redevelopment on the basis that
a quarter of the property remained for
“business use”. It was the perfect solution. They would create office space for
both their businesses in the majority
section of the ground floor, with separate
access to their living quarters on the first
floor, on to which they would add a
smaller second floor for the children.
The joy of such an arrangement — apart
from the obvious one of being able to
close the doors on their offices each
night — was that their domestic lives
would become more lateral.
The winning feature of the new house
for them is that, having climbed the tiny
staircase bedecked in riotous Liberty
wallpaper, they reach the principal room,
where the ceiling opens to a raftered,
double-height pitch. Here, as throughout
most of the house, walls are clad in offwhite tongue-and-groove boards, and
parquet flooring provides a seamless
transition from one room to the next.
The plain backdrop allows for bursts
of colour — the yellow, hand-dyed linen
blinds from Susan Deliss, the sofa in
rusty-orange velvet from Etro, the redstriped cushions from Colony, and
27
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 13 MAY 2015
Our home Homes & Property
y.co.uk with
Sign language: plain walls make the most of striking artwork
Kitchen sync: deep blue-painted units in the hub of the house
Farrow & Ball’s deep Hague Blue paint,
which has been applied to kitchen cupboards and doorways. As kitchen, dining
and sitting room are all in one, this is the
hub of the house — a place where old and
new furniture sits happily side by side.
While Caroline is an ardent antiques
collector — for clients as well as for her
own home — she is planning to launch
her own range of furniture in the next
year or so to complement the interior
design business she set up.
The principal room maintains the proportions of the building’s previous existence, and James and Caroline worked
out how they would divide the rest of the
space for bedrooms and bathrooms.
They created a main bedroom with an
en suite bathroom and a small study
from which rises a narrow staircase to
the top floor. This has been extended
into a substantial dormer to allow for
two small children’s bedrooms and a
second bathroom. It’s a masterclass in
space management, and the children
“love their cosy rooms”.
T
HEY all share the comfortable
television room on the ground
floor where they can be with
their friends and, in summer,
the whole courtyard of the
mews is at their disposal. There are tables
and chairs outside, tubs of geraniums and
numerous potted plants.
In the meantime, the dog is sprawled
on the sofa, the cat’s on the dining-room
table, a Tube train is rumbling past over
a bridge nearby and sunshine is flooding
the house with natural light. It’s a deeply
comfortable place, and that is Caroline’s
knack.
White delights:
cool tongue-andgroove walls
create an ideal
backdrop for soft
furnishings in
pops of warm,
bright colour
See the full version
of this feature in
next month’s
issue of House &
Garden, on sale
now
Mix it up: pattern works on bedroom walls, covers and blinds
30
WEDNESDAY 13 MAY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Outdoors
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Pattie
Barron
CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW
Soak up
dazzling
displays
New plants, floating platforms
and organic flowering walls.
Chelsea is full of exciting ideas
T
) " ((
$& "&$!&$( &-%+
,&%, *& $'$ #%+
HIS year’s Chelsea Flower
Show, which starts on
Tuesday, is worth visiting
for its new plants alone.
Expect, for example, to be
dazzled by flame Iris Carnival Time
from Todd’s Botanics, delighted by
two container clematis — blush Corinne
and lilac-striped Endellion — from
Raymond Evison and enchanted by
David Austin’s three new roses, including myrrh-scented white rose Desdemona. Naturally, Austin’s soft yellow,
beautiful English rose Charlotte is
given a fresh airing.
Meanwhile, the show gardens look
especially exciting this year, with some
designers seeming to set themselves
impossible tasks, despite the fact that
they only have days left to finish
converting a patch of grass to their
personal vision of paradise.
Youngest designers on the block
brothers Harry, 27, and David Rich, 24,
have not only had to represent the
wines of their sponsor, New Zealand
winery Cloudy Bay, through the planting — cue luscious Iris Dutch Chocolate
and dainty white Astrantia Shaggy,
among others — but they are also replicating the oak-slatted shack in which
customers sample the wines. Visitors
can expect a madding crowd at 11am,
4pm and 6pm.
Just as ambitious is Darren Hawkes.
Starting with a model of cereal boxes
on his kitchen table, he envisioned a
Sylvan retreat:
designer Jo
Thompson aims
to capture the
spirit of
Sissinghurst in
the M&G Garden,
above, while
brothers Harry
and David Rich,
right, will show
plants of wine
shades in the
Cloudy Bay
Garden
Reﬂective: the
Home Personal
Universe Garden
has a circular
waterfall and
turfed day bed,
below; ﬁery Iris
Carnival Time,
below right, from
Todd’s Botanics,
is one of many
new plants to
debut at the show
garden for Brewin Dolphin of floating
platforms suspended above woodland
ferns, which resulted in five people
cutting more than 40,000 pieces of
slate by hand. Thank goodness he
hired help.
By contrast, Fernando Gonzalez has
chosen resin jesmonite as his material
of choice for organic, flowing walls and
seating in his Pure Land Foundation
Garden, studded with apricot foxgloves.
The resin is made in the UK and is
dubbed the chameleon of the building
industry. In this garden it resembles
white marble, but costs less — although
it might take a while before jesmonite,
used at Buckingham Palace, filters
down to your local DIY store.
Dan Pearson returns to Chelsea after
11 years with a gentle representation of
the Trout Stream at Chatsworth House,
complete with sandstone boulders
from the Chatsworth Estate and delectable planting that is likely to signal a
major move to flowering shrubs.
Despite the garden being sponsored
by Laurent-Perrier, the waterfall and
stream are not of champagne, but you
can walk by the stream sipping Cuvée
Rose. Email laurentperrier@wildcard.
co.uk with your name, address and
phone number by Friday midday to
win two tickets for Thursday, May 21.
Sissinghurst also comes to Chelsea
— well, an inspired version — in a sylvan
retreat from designer Jo Thompson for
M&G Investments. Expect a natural
swimming pond, romantic planting
and, if you’re lucky, a view from the
two-storey rustic retreat inspired by
the writing room of Vita Sackville-West.
Email your name, address and phone
number to [email protected]
by Friday midday to win two tickets
for Tuesday.
An equally dreamy retreat is created
by Fuminari Todaka in the Home Personal Universe Garden that features an
idyllic circular waterfall and inviting
day bed with a tactile turf mattress.
P
RACTICAL, urban spaces are
offered by three designers.
First, Matthew Wilson of
Clifton Nurseries, with a prototype weatherproof plot that
has a harvested water system and
drought-tolerant plants.
Next, Adam Frost offers inspiration
with a Corten steel pavilion, water flowing down walls and columns of poured
concrete for Homebase. Finally, Chris
Beardshaw’s vibrant planting of clashing colours in his steel-tiled plot for
Morgan Stanley suggests the diversity
of east London, where this community
garden, happily, is destined to settle
after the show, forever preserving a
little piece of Chelsea in Poplar.
O For outdoor events this month, visit
homesandproperty.co.uk/events
36
WEDNESDAY 13 MAY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Property searching
homesandproperty.co.uk with
R
£400,000
CHARMING and set on a large plot,
this two-bedroom, country-style
cottage could be ripe for expansion.
It’s in Cockney Hill, Tilehurst.
Through Chancellors.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/tile
£525,000
THIS well-planned four-bedroom
detached house behind electric
gates in Bexley Court, Reading, is
close to Prospect Park and Reading
West station. Through Haslams.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/bex
EADING used to be all about
the three Bs — beer, biscuits
and bulbs. Now the town is
focused on C for Crossrail.
It always seemed strange
for the cross-London project to
stop at Maidenhead. In March last year,
sense prevailed and it was announced
that the railway would now terminate
at the Berkshire town known as the
capital of the Thames Valley.
Reading is a real commercial hub and
has more incoming than outgoing
commuters. And, thanks to Crossrail,
property prices are set to soar by the
end of the decade.
Although the fast trains to Paddington
take only half an hour, Crossrail, when
it arrives in Reading in December 2019,
will deposit travellers into the heart of
central London with the journey to
Bond Street taking 55 minutes, to Liverpool Street and the City 61 minutes,
and Canary Wharf 67 minutes.
For those with long memories,
Reading’s three Bs refer to its famous
brewery H & G Simonds, which was
founded in 1785 by William Blackall
Simonds and finally closed in 2010;
Huntley & Palmers, which in 1900 was
the largest biscuit maker in the world
but ceased baking in Reading in
1976; and Suttons Seeds, the only
remaining business of the three,
although sadly no longer in Reading. It
started life in 1860, but is now based in
the Devon town of Paignton.
Reading is 40 miles west of central
London. Close to junctions 10 and 11 of
the M4, it is connected to the capital
via Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s Great
Western Railway, which terminates at
Paddington station.
WHAT THERE IS TO BUY
£410,000
A CLEVER conversion has
transformed this three-bedroom
end-of-terrace house in Shinfield
from a barn into a wonderful family
home. Through Haslams.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/shin
Reading grew rapidly after the arrival
of the railway and this left a legacy of
Victorian and Edwardian homes,
everything from large detached houses
to terraces of workers’ cottages. There
are also new flats in the town centre,
especially around the Kennet and Avon
Canal.
The town’s suburbs — Woodley,
Earley, Whitley, Tilehurst and Caversham — have mainly modern houses
built since the Fifties. There are period
houses and cottages in the village of
Sonning. Haslams estate agent Tim
Harding says buyers expect to pay from
£200,000 for a Victorian terrace
Join the luxury holiday
home specialists...
Many
luxury
properties
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!" "
Vibrant centre: Town Hall Square underwent a major facelift two years ago
READING
Spotlight
Crossrail signals
more change
for this busy
Berkshire town
Commute from the capital of the Thames
Valley. It’s worth it for a family home for only
£200,000, discovers Anthea Masey
house, £300,000 for a three-bedroom
semi-detached property, and £400,000
for a four-bedroom detached home. In
the suburbs, one-bedroom flats start
at about £135,000 and two-bedroom
flats at £160,000.
Town centre flats near the station are
more expensive. One-bedroom flats
here start at about £200,000 and twobedroom flats from £300,000.
The area attracts: families come to
Reading for its two notable grammar
schools — Kendrick for girls and
Reading for boys. There is also a good
choice of private schools.
Staying power: many people initially
go to Reading for job opportunities,
but then move within the town to be in
a particular school catchment area, or
to be closer to the motorway.
To find a home in Reading, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/reading
For more about Reading, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/spotlightreading
F
Pipe dream:
Paul Gilmour,
right, of
Shave & Coster,
a traditional
tobacconist in
Harris Arcade;
far right, Peter
Odell serves a
meal at Oakford
Social Club, a
pub venue rated
for DJ nights and
live bands in
Blagrave Street
37
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 13 MAY 2015
Property searching Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
CHECK THE STATS
■WHAT HOMES COST
BUYING IN READING
(Average prices)
One-bedroom flat £172,000
Two-bedroom flat £230,000
Two-bedroom house £292,000
Three-bedroom house £367,000
Four-bedroom house £646,000
Source: Zoopla
RENTING IN READING
(Average rates)
One-bedroom flat £834 a month
Two-bedroom flat £1,164 a month
Two-bedroom house £1,077 a month
Three-bedroom house £1,175 a month
Four-bedroom house £1,483 a month
Source: Zoopla
GO ONLINE FOR MORE
O The best schools serving
Reading
O The latest housing developments
in and around the town
O How Reading compares with the
rest of the UK on house prices
O Smart maps to plot your
property search
NEXT WEEK: Clerkenwell. Do
you live there? Tell us what
you think @HomesProperty
SHOPPING AND EATING
The Oracle is Reading’s main shopping
centre. Overlooking the River Kennet,
it has a good selection of high street
brands such as Apple, H&M, Hobbs,
Mango, Phase Eight, Topshop and Zara.
The development is also home to two
department stores, House of Fraser
and Debenhams, as well as chain restaurants including PizzaExpress,
Wagamama, Café Rouge and Strada.
Harris Arcade has a good range of
independent shops. For craft beer and
cheese go to The Grumpy Goat, while
Shave & Coster is a traditional tobacconist. For made-to-measure tailoring,
try Simon Dowling Bespoke in The
Forbury.
London Street Brasserie is an awardwinning restaurant overlooking the
Kennet. Cerise in The Forbury Hotel is
a chic dining room serving modern
British food. There is a growing independent coffee scene that includes
gluten-free café Nibsy’s on Cross Street,
My Kitchen on Queen Victoria Street,
Picnic at Market Place, Shed in Merchants Place and Lincoln Coffee House
on King’s Road. Milk Bar is a popular
cocktail bar in Merchants Place.
Reading Market, open Wednesday to
Saturday, is found on Hosier Street.
Every Friday, street food stalls are set
up in Market Place.
Open space: Forbury Gardens, a public park in the town centre, has the
famous Maiwand Lion, a sculpture and
war memorial. It is overlooked by a
public square with a branch of Italian
restaurant Carluccio’s and The Forbury
Hotel in former council offices.
Palmer Park in Wokingham Road and
Prospect Park in Liebenrood Road are
Reading’s two largest parks. The
former has a sports stadium, gym, bike
hire and a children’s playground, while
Prospect Park has a miniature railway
on the first Sunday of the month, a
pond, a children’s playground and a
listed mansion that houses a private
restaurant. There are lots of peaceful
walks along the River Kennet.
Down by the river: The Oracle, above,
is Reading’s main shopping centre;
top right, Anne-Marie Beatty, director
of ale and cheese shop The Grumpy
Goat; centre right, Bruno Fonseca,
barista at Workhouse Coffee Company
ARTS AND LEISURE
Music lovers should be well aware of
Reading Festival. This year’s event
takes place from August 28 to 30 at
Little John’s Farm. Headline bands will
be Mumford & Sons, Metallica and The
Libertines.
The Hexagon on Queens Walk is a
multipurpose arts venue that puts on
concerts, comedy and children’s
shows. South Street Arts Centre is a
fringe theatre and music venue.
Progress Theatre, at The Mount, is an
amateur dramatics theatre that also
puts on the annual Open-Air Shakespeare festival in Caversham Court.
The Mill at Sonning is a small theatre
where the ticket price includes
Lively: Broad
Street is one of
Britain’s more
successful
modernised
high streets
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE
Which “Reading girl at heart” swaps
stories of growing up in the town
with Reading-born comedian
Ricky Gervais, above?
dinner. Vue cinema at The Oracle has
11 state-of-the-art screens.
Reading Museum is housed in the
magnificent Victorian town hall
designed by Alfred Waterhouse.
The University of Reading has three
museums. The Museum of English
Rural Life is currently closed for refurbishment, while The Ure Museum of
Greek Archaeology and Cole Museum
of Zoology are both on the Whiteknights campus.
Travel: there is a fast and frequent
train service to Paddington that takes
about 30 minutes from Reading station
and about 40 minutes from Reading
West. An annual season ticket costs
£4,188.
Reading council runs a bike hire
scheme called ReadyBike.
Council: Reading is Labour controlled
and Band D council tax this year is
£1,589.36.
Find the answer at
homesandproperty.co.uk/spotlightreading
Photographs:
Daniel Lynch
42
if you’re in the market
for a London property,
we’re
WEDNESDAY 13 MAY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Letting on
Fit smoke alarms
or you’ll be toast
Victoria Whitlock says a new law forcing landlords to
protect tenants from fire is vital — and long overdue
A
OnTheMarket.com is the new simple
way to search hundreds of thousands
of properties.
More and more estate and letting
agents are moving all their properties
from other sites to OnTheMarket.com
and are advertising them exclusively
with us ﬁrst.
So, for a head start in the hunt for
properties you won’t ﬁnd anywhere
else, search OnTheMarket.com.
'" ""#""!""!" %"!"$"(&)%"""""%"
%"""
""""""'" "%
! " LL LANDLORDS will be
required by law to install
working smoke alarms in
their rental properties
from October, and I think
this is a very good thing. I am all for
health and safety — so I am only
surprised this law wasn’t introduced
earlier.
Installing smoke alarms is a
no-brainer. They cost only a few
quid and they can save tenants’ lives.
Someone, somewhere has estimated
that you are four times more likely
to die in a house fire if there is no
smoke alarm.
Changes to the law will mean rental
properties must have working smoke
alarms on every floor and landlords
must test them before the start of
each tenancy.
Landlords will also have to install
carbon monoxide alarms in high-risk
rooms, such as those with a solid fuel
heating system, including an open
fire or a log burner.
Carbon monoxide, also given off by
faulty boilers and gas appliances, is a
silent killer. You can’t see it, you can’t
smell it and, unless you have got a
ruddy great alarm to give you a shrill
warning when it’s in the air, you can’t
hear it, so this is also a welcome
addition to the law. Any landlords
who ignore the new rules could be
fined up to £5,000.
The problem is, it doesn’t matter
how many of these life-saving alarms
you install, at some point the
batteries will die and, even though
the new legislation will make it clear
that it is the tenant’s responsibility to
replace them, if they are anything
like mine, they won’t.
Changing a battery in a smoke
alarm is way beyond the capabilities
of every single one of my tenants.
Years ago, a tenant specifically
asked me to provide a carbon
monoxide alarm, yet when she
moved out I found the batteries were
flat. Those in the smoke alarm had
also died.
One tenant emailed me a couple of
weeks ago to say that the smoke
alarm in her flat was “making an
annoying beeping noise”. I told her
to replace the battery. When I went
round the following week, I found it
chucked on the kitchen worktop.
I’ve lost count of the number of
times I have been round to inspect
my flats and found the smoke
alarms gaping open, with no
batteries in them.
For this reason, I think it’s worth
shelling out a bit more and buying
the ones with sealed batteries that
last 10 years. Even better are the
mains-powered alarms, but you have
to pay for these to be installed by a
The accidental
landlord
£519 a week: on Briar Avenue SW16, John D Wood has a
four-bedroom house with a garden and off-street parking
available to rent (homesandproperty.co.uk/alrent)
£715 per week: John D Wood has this four-bedroom house
on Fishers Lane, close to Chiswick High Road in W4, ready
to rent from next month (homesandproperty.co.uk/
O Victoria
Whitlock lets
three properties
in south London.
To contact
Victoria with
your ideas and
views, tweet
@vicwhitlock
qualified electrician and, to be really
safe, you still need to fit them with a
battery in case of a power failure.
I once had tenants who ripped a
smoke alarm off the hallway ceiling
because it went off every time they
burned toast. To avoid this, you can
get optical alarms, which are less
sensitive. Alternatively, you can
install a heat alarm instead of a
smoke alarm in the kitchen.
If you are really tight or feeling
broke, contact your local fire station.
Apparently they have thousands of
smoke alarms and carbon monoxide
detectors to give away for rental
properties.
The new legislation will only apply
to lettings that start after October this
year, but we should all install alarms
in every property now.
Landlords should then make a
diary note to replace batteries in
12 months’ time.
We must make sure our tenants are
safe, even if they can’t be bothered.
Find many more homes to rent at
homesandproperty.co.uk/lettings
44
WEDNESDAY 13 MAY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Inside story
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Quick exit from
the haunted house
MONDAY
The week starts with an early morning
meeting to try to make sense of the
hectic weekend just gone. There is
particular excitement to hear how the
viewing has gone at one of our most
expensive homes — a stunning six-bedroom detached Victorian house. Negotiators are always keen for the bragging
rights after a sale of distinction. The
news appears to be positive and lots of
other interest is flooding in.
There are also a couple of properties
on the verge of exchanging contracts,
but nothing is easy, so plenty more
hours of chasing buyers and sellers and
speaking to solicitors lie in wait.
On top of trying to sell properties, we
are helping to organise a charity fun
run around the heath with two primary
schools this weekend.
TUESDAY
After another early meeting, there is a
valuation first thing for me. I have seen
this Victorian house sitting empty for
a while and I am hoping to find plenty
of period charm.
The owner has passed away and, to
cut a long story short, the house is
spooky. Very spooky. It is full of what I
can only describe as “dark” art. As soon
as my colleague and I let ourselves in
next successful sale. We return from
the meeting room to find the office full
of tables, chairs, boards and a foldeddown marquee. After an initial worry
that Homebase has redirected its stock
delivery, I remember it is all for the
charity fun run on the heath.
Thankfully, we have managed to
juggle all that’s going on to be just about
prepared for 600 mums, dads and
children making a great effort in aid of
Cancer Research, Macmillan Cancer
Support and The 999 Club.
Diary of
an estate
agent
FRIDAY
we are uncomfortable. Fifteen minutes
later, as we stand in silence, a huge
chopping board crashes down on a
worktop a few feet away. Cue the quickest exit we have ever made.
Back to the office, a calming cup of
tea and the day continues. The big offer
on yesterday’s property is in, we have
seen proof of funds and things are looking positive. Over to the negotiator to
see if we can reach an agreement.
WEDNESDAY
We have been instructed to sell the
haunted house. Unfortunately, I need
to go there again. Not known for my
bravery, I drum up the courage to
arrange a time to pop back, this time
with the vendor.
Another interesting valuation turns
up and it is a first for me — a four-storey
house that has had the top two floors
removed and subsequently repositioned a few hundred yards down the
road. The property was split in half by
two feuding brothers, believe it or not.
I arrive to find one of the most stunning
homes I have ever seen. Every now and
again we view a house that reminds us
why we do this job, and this is one of
those. Meanwhile, there’s still plenty to
do to make sure we are set for the fun
run... time to start spinning plates.
THURSDAY
This morning’s meeting is interrupted
by a call from our vendor who has been
considering the big offer and it is good
news. A huge sigh of relief from the
negotiator and the sale has been
agreed. The team is in high spirits, but
it is now time to concentrate on our
The big news of the day — the Tories
are victorious and David Cameron is
back in No 10. We have enjoyed working in a very healthy housing market
so far this year and we hope that this
general election result gives the market
even more confidence. And maybe,
just maybe, some topic other than
politics will dominate the television
news tonight.
The Friday meeting is always a summary of the week and a chance to check
that our Saturday diary is looking busy,
but also manageable. Thankfully, it’s
looking like another good weekend and
things should run smoothly.
The first day of marketing one house
has seen close to 20 people booked in
to view it tomorrow. As a result, one of
our team will be camped out there all
day. This should mean we’re in for a
busy Monday morning.
O Elliott Walker is branch manager of
Hamptons International in Blackheath
(020 3151 7346).
RESIDENTIAL
We see
the future
NEW RESIDENTIAL THINKING
Land sales, Funding, Development consultancy, International marketing, New homes, Research,
Prime sales and lettings, Valuation
020 3627 0918
JLL.CO.UK/NEW-HOMES
46
WEDNESDAY 13 MAY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Ask the expert
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Can I keep my dog in a leasehold flat?
Q
Q
A
Fiona
McNulty
WHAT’S
YOUR
PROBLEM?
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 legal
director in the
real estate
team of Foot
Anstey LLP
(footanstey.com)
OUR LAWYER ANSWERS
YOUR QUESTIONS
I AM single and live at
home with my parents
and my dog. I have saved
enough money to put
down a deposit on a property and
would like to buy a flat, but
wonder if it will be hard to find a
place that allows dogs. My
grandmother, who lived in a flat
for years, had a dog, and as far as I
am aware never had any problems.
Realistically, am I going to be able
to find a flat to buy where I can
keep my pet?
A
ANY flat you buy will be
leasehold, and whether pets
are allowed depends on a
flat’s lease terms. The
keeping of animals may be
prohibited. Alternatively, pets such
as cats and dogs may be permitted
with the landlord’s consent.
However, that consent can usually
be withdrawn at any time if, for
example, a dog behaves badly.
There is also likely to be a covenant
in the lease against a noise nuisance,
and a dog barking incessantly would
be a breach of the lease. Perhaps
consider buying a garden flat, but be
aware that some blocks have
communal gardens which may be
covered by other rules. When you
start flat-hunting, tell any selling
agents that you will only consider
flats where dogs are allowed. Often
landlords will permit well-behaved
dogs, so hopefully you will find a
home for you and your pet, but do
get the landlord’s consent in writing.
More legal
Q&As
Visit: homesand
property.co.uk
WE HAVE been trying to buy a house that
currently has a tenant in it. We were told the
tenant would move out before we actually
bought, but now he says he is staying put so
we’ve had to pull out of the purchase. Our solicitor has
done all the searches and the conveyancing work,
though we did not sign a contract. He is now
proceeding with another property on our behalf. We
don’t really want to pay two lots of legal fees — do we
have to pay him for the first lot of work he did?
IT ALL depends on the agreement you had with
your solicitor regarding his fees. If he did work
and carried out searches without your
instructions, then you may argue that he is not
entitled to be paid.
A solicitor’s fees should be transparent. At the outset
your solicitor should have provided you with the best
possible information regarding the likely cost.
He should have given you, in writing, an estimate of
his costs and an indication of how many hours the
transaction was likely to take. He should also have
confirmed how you would be charged for any aborted
work, and given you details of disbursements.
He may have agreed not to charge fees if the purchase
did not proceed to completion, but disbursements such
as search fees are likely to be payable in any event.
If there was no specific agreement regarding charging
for aborted work, then your solicitor can charge on a
quantum meruit basis — that is, he can charge you a
reasonable amount for work he has done for you.
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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48
WEDNESDAY 13 MAY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property New homes
homesandproperty.co.uk with
By David Spittles
Tasteful: these new builds feature a private mooring
Perfect for summer: a
mansion with a boathouse
WEYBRIDGE is stuffed with
“gin’n’Jag” houses and
trophy mansions in gated
private estates, but few
come with a private
mooring at the bottom
of the garden.
Tucked away in a leafy
crescent, a pair of
substantial new builds
with up to 6,500sq ft of
space back on to the River
Wey. One of the houses
even has a boathouse,
while a footbridge could
be built from the
landscaped garden over
to a private island.
Each of the tastefully
designed homes has a
red-brick façade, a superroom opening out to the
garden, library, media
room and bar and six
bedrooms. Prices start
from £4.25 million. Call
Newcourt Residential
on 01372 237888.
Smart moves
A designer gem for WC2
C
OVENT GARDEN has
hidden gems among its
boutiques, eateries and
theatres. Its brick-built
former council estates
are tucked discreetly behind the
shopping streets and have become
genuinely coveted places to live —
if you can afford them.
Odhams Walk, close to Neal’s Yard
and Seven Dials, dates from the
Seventies. It was the last estate built
by the now-defunct Greater London
Council, and in its day won
architectural design awards. The
vision was for a high-density oasis of
102 intimate “patio garden homes”,
accessed by open walkways and set
at different heights above a perimeter
of street-level shops and an
underground car park.
The top floor — once a commercial
area — has been converted into swish
two-bedroom apartments for sale.
The resourceful redevelopment by
architects FCH has created a new
in-keeping wall of glass that throws
light into a dark corner of the estate,
right above the entrance ramp to the
car park. Terraces allow glimpses of
Covent Garden rooftops, while a
dead communal area has been
requisitioned to create an airy
entrance lobby for one of the
apartments.
It is an amazing example of how
value can be created out of a
seemingly unpromising space.
These new apartments, above and
right, are probably more luxurious,
certainly more expensive, than any
others on the estate, which is gated
after 8pm.
Most of the original flats have been
snapped up under right-to-buy and
49
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 13 MAY 2015
New homes Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Read more: visit
our new online
luxury section
HomesAndProperty.co.uk/luxury
BROMLEY BOOMS WITH FIRST-TIMER HOMES
some are sub-let, but it remains a
mixed, rooted community of
residents.
“It’s not scary and has evolved like
an established garden,” says one
long-time resident.
And what will a home on this
council estate cost you?
Prices range from £1.85 million
to £2.25 million. Call CBRE on
020 7420 3050.
One-bedroom resales on the estate
cost from £785,000, according to
Foxtons.
BROMLEY has a spring in its
step. Being a beneficiary of a
£221 million Mayor of London
initiative to improve some of
the capital’s high streets, the
south-east suburb’s tired town
centre is getting a facelift, with
a buzzing new quarter that
mixes residential, leisure,
shopping and the arts.
The £90 million St Mark’s
Square scheme, due for
completion later this year, will
bring 200 private and
affordable apartments set
around a new piazza and
performance space, a
multiplex cinema, hotel, cafés
and restaurants. To register,
call Cathedral Group on
020 7939 0800.
Bromley is London’s largest
borough at 59 square miles,
most of which is green belt
running into Kent and Surrey.
Packed with leafy avenues, the
area also has 20-minute train
links to central London,
making it popular with
prosperous career
professionals and self-made
business people living in big
family houses. Young locals
moving out of the family home
are likely purchasers at
Berwick Quarter, above, in
nearby Orpington. The
scheme is tucked away behind
the high street and close to the
train station. Prices from
£230,000. Call Robinson
Jackson on 01689 833 322.
A Berkeley Homes plan to
redevelop Orpington police
station into 83-home
Brunswick Square has
been approved by the
local council.