1. real estate
2. apartments

Homes&
Property
Wednesday 27 May 2015
East
London’s
new island
of dance
New homes
Page 4
CITY OWNER, RURAL RENTER P10 FABULOUS FLORENCE P11 BEST SEAT IN THE HOUSE P16 SPOTLIGHT ON SURREY QUAYS P34
Making a
bigger splash
Pools and ponds are the
hot trend for London homes
THE NEW KING’S CROSS PUBLIC BATHING POND. PICTURE: DANIEL LYNCH
Page 6
London’s best property search website: homesandproperty.co.uk
2
WEDNESDAY 27 MAY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Online
homesandproperty.co.uk with
This week: homesandproperty.co.uk
news: hunt is on for London’s
rare gems under £250,000
£159,995: this
one-bedroom
flat in James Lee
Square, Enfield,
is an increasingly
rare good-value
find in London.
For more details
and pictures,
visit the link
below
LONDON’S property market is becoming increasingly
polarised, with homes for £250,000 or less getting far
harder to find, while the capital’s rich have an expanding
choice in the top price ranges.
A report by market analyst Experian reveals that the
availability of homes priced £250,000 or less has plunged
14 per cent in a year, with most of those that remain being
found in Newham, Enfield, Croydon, and Barking and
Dagenham. At the other end of the scale, homes priced at
£500,000 or more increased by just over 22 per cent.
Property
search
Trophy buy of the week
in the premier league
£6.75 million: Kent’s exclusive Keston Park estate has
no shortage of flash homes, but this new-build mansion —
all 15,000sq ft of it, set in an acre of closely clipped gardens
— is in a league of its own. It has a full complement of
must-haves, from four grand reception rooms and a vast,
über-sleek kitchen and breakfast room to a super-luxe
spa complex with a pool, hot tub, sauna and steam room,
five en suite bedrooms reached by a lift, a gym, cinema,
beauty salon and au pair suite. Through Alan de Maid.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/trophy
London buy of the week modern
school conversion in a class of its own
O Ruth Bloomfield’s full story is at homesandproperty.co.uk/news
£550,000: if you love high ceilings,
huge windows and open-plan living,
a school conversion apartment such
as this one in Albany Road is bang
on the money.
The SE5 location is ideal, too,
overlooking the green open spaces
of Burgess Park, and it is just
10 minutes from the foodie haven
GRAHAM HUSSEY
hot homes: first-timers head
for the south-east postcodes
First-time
favourite: good
shopping, new
fast transport
links and homes
for £300,000
are changing
the fortunes of
Crystal Palace
SOUTH-EAST London has become the favourite of
first-time buyers, according to research by Hamptons
International. Last year more than 15,000 starter homes
were bought in the increasingly popular district.
Good-value areas furthest from central London have
seen the highest levels of demand. In Beckenham, Crystal
Palace and Bromley, homes with two or more bedrooms
can still be found for about £300,000.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/botw
Life changer rustle up extra
income from your farm shop
£799,950: all the ingredients to make a pretty packet can
be found at Pitchers Hill in Wickhamford, Worcestershire,
where a four-bedroom house with bags of space comes with
a farm shop, vintage tea rooms and a caravan site — all set
within paddocks looking out to the Malvern Hills. The shop
is famous for its Vale of Evesham asparagus and often
features in television cookery shows. Through Hamptons.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/lifechanger
O For the full story, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/selon
Facebook:
at Borough Market. Triple-height
ceilings and original school windows
won’t fail to impress across the
reception/dining and kitchen areas,
while two bright and airy bedrooms
can be found on a mezzanine level.
Through Wooster & Stock.
ESHomesAndProperty • Twitter:
By
Faye
Greenslade
@HomesProperty • Pinterest:
Editor:
Janice
Morley
VISIT homesandproperty.co.
uk/rules for details of our
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you respond to promotions,
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Homes & Property, Northcliffe
House, 2 Derry Street,
Kensington, London W8 5TT.
@HomesProperty
Strange
but true
JOIN us as we step
inside some of
Britain’s cleverest
conversions and
quirkiest modern
homes. They
range from a
former nuclear
bunker turned
into a private
swimming pool
extension, to a
former gun tower,
top right, now a
seafront home
at Aldeburgh,
Suffolk. And in
Mortlake High
Street, a Douglas
fir box house with
a rooftop terrace,
right, is perfect for
watching the
annual Boat Race. O homesandproperty.co.uk/unusual
3
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 27 MAY 2015
News Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Got some gossip? Tweet @amiranews
This is the
headline that
goes like this
É ZOOEY DESCHANEL is selling her
home in the Hollywood Hills.
The star of hit US TV sitcom New
Girl has put the bungalow, above, on
the market for £1.4 million. It was
previously owned by Mark Ruffalo,
who played the Hulk in Marvel
Comics movie The Avengers.
Deschanel, right, has lived in the
property for six years but has just
bought a six-bedroom house in
Manhattan Beach, complete with a
swimming pool and a tennis court in
the grounds, for £3 million.
Andre’s show home for sale
É FASHION designer Tom Ford, left,
is reinforcing his successful parallel
career as a film director.
The 53-year-old American has just
secured a £12.8 million deal to make
his second feature film, Nocturnal
Animals, a thriller based on Austin
Wright’s 1993 book Tony & Susan.
Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal are
lined up for roles in the film.
Meanwhile, Ford’s former Chelsea
home is for sale for £1.15 million
through Marsh & Parsons.
Ford lived at the two-bedroom flat,
above, for a decade from 1994. Set on
two floors near King’s Road, it has a
huge roof terrace for summer parties.
É PETER ANDRE has put
O homesandproperty.co.uk/ford
must be hoping it’s third
time lucky.
Fans of Andre’s ITV
reality show My Life know
the property well. It is in
the Dormans Park estate
near East Grinstead and
has six bedrooms, four
reception rooms and
landscaped gardens.
Rent south of the
river from a hunky
ex-EastEnders star
É ACTOR Stefan Booth, left, is
O homesandproperty.co.uk/pa
buying a two-bedroom apartment
at Riverside Quarter, right, in
Wandsworth SW18.
Best known as Greg Jessop in
EastEnders — and for appearing as
a Cosmo centrefold — Booth and his
partner, Debbie Flett, also dabble
in property and are letting this one
out at £625 a week through
Riverhomes. It has a balcony, river
views and 24-hour concierge.
REX
his grand home, below, on
the West Sussex/Surrey
borders up for sale with
Hamptons International
at £1,695,000.
The pop singer, 42, above
— who is due to marry
fiancée Emily MacDonagh,
25, next year — has failed
to sell the detached house
twice since 2013, so he
REX
Fashion king Ford’s
perfect party flat
REX
New Girl Zooey’s
off to New York
O homesandproperty.co.uk/stefan
REX
By Amira Hashish
4
WEDNESDAY 27 MAY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property New homes
DANIEL LYNCH
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Gathering pace: ambitious regeneration will make edgy Canning Town unrecognisable within a decade
The island
of dance
English National Ballet is moving east to be at the
cultural heart of a new Docklands community offering
thousands of striking homes, says David Spittles
E
DGY Canning Town in east
London languished outside
the market for many years.
It was a rough, working-class
district, ignored by housebuilders and feared by courier firms.
Few would have imagined that this
patch populated by boxing clubs and
pearly kings and queens would one day
be home to English National Ballet. Yet
the world-renowned company has
chosen to leave its prime Kensington
venue and blaze a trail to a new home
on London City Island — the latest
Docklands neighbourhood.
Of course, it has become fashionable
for institutions to surprise. The trend
was set when the American Embassy
announced it would be leaving its
palatial Grosvenor Square HQ to move
next to Battersea Dogs & Cats Home on
the South Bank.
The new City Island community will
be made up of 1,706 new homes, built
A rounded
community:
London City
Island will offer
shops including
deli/grocers,
right, plus cafés,
bars, restaurants,
an open-air pool
and an arts club
in a loop of the River Lea as it joins the
Thames, directly opposite the O2.
The 12-acre site, once a margarine
factory, was an industrial eyesore for
years but it is being transformed into
a glass-and-steel waterside district,
with brightly coloured apartment
blocks, shops, boutiques, cafés,
restaurants and an arts club — all
landscaped with parks, squares and an
open-air fitness pool.
In the loop: set in
a meander of the
River Lea,
London City
Island will
benefit from
proximity to
Crossrail and
Canary Wharf
BETTER CONNECTED
creative energy in an area once considered a cultural wasteland, with only a
small, long-established artists’ colony
at adjacent Trinity Buoy Wharf.
Canary Wharf brought Canning Town
to life, but the real game-changer was
the Olympics going to Stratford, which
cemented a £3.7 billion regeneration
programme, spearheaded by Newham
council. Now Crossrail has created
another dynamic. A striking “cat’s
cradle” iron bridge from City Island to
Into this brave new world has tiptoed
English National Ballet, with bespoke
88,000sq ft rehearsal studios made
from glass, allowing passers-by to
watch dancers and the company’s
symphony orchestra. City Island’s
public spaces will also be a stage for
impromptu performances and a
programme of street entertainment.
Dancers and musicians will fuel the
Canning Town Tube and bus station,
one of the capital’s best transport hubs,
is a vital piece of new infrastructure.
Surrounded by roaring dual carriageways, it could hardly be more urban.
It is very much a self-contained site,
albeit an accessible one, and the buildings and landscaping aim to enhance
its distinct identity.
The architecture is bold — glazedbrick buildings in red, orange, blue,
black and white are a reference to the
area’s maritime past, with its lighthouses, containers, cranes and painted
ship hulls. There are plans for a rooftop
lawned sports pitch.
The factory buildings of Manhattan,
the world’s most famous island community, are another design inspiration.
Apartments sit behind a grid-pattern
façade, allowing for wide windows and
recessed terraces to give protection
from the elements.
Trees will be planted in mobile
containers resembling the tea chest
cargo boxes of the East India Dock
Company, strands of red will create a
navigation route between buildings,
public spaces and waterways, and
delis and grocery shops will exist
alongside the spa, gym and social club.
Apartments, built to resemble the
original brick warehouses, will have
open-plan interiors with engineered
timber floors.
Prices start at £300,000 for a studio,
which the plans refer to as “suites”.
One-bedroom flats cost from £375,000,
with two-bedroom flats from £525,000.
Penthouse-type four-bedroom flats
start at £1.2 million. First completions
are in 2017. Call 020 7118 0400.
A FASHIONABLE
FRONTIER
Who will buy into this raw east London
fringe? Local agents say it is not just
for the Canary Wharf workforce.
Buyers are likely to be attracted
by the newness, the scale of the
regeneration, the waterfront and big
skies. On a practical level, plus points
include the closeness of amenities and,
of course, Crossrail, which will get
locals to the West End.
The prices are also appealing. In
10 years’ time, this bleak area will
b e u n re c o g n i s a b l e , ye t a t t h e
moment, properties are only £600£800 a square foot.
The wider Canning Town masterplan
includes bulldozing outdated local
council homes to build up to 10,000
new mixed-tenure ones, a school, a
public library, a new town centre and
more community facilities.
Step out of Canning Town station and
the soaring Vermilion development,
of 271 homes, looms into view — most
in a 21-storey tower with colourful
exterior cladding that has inspired the
name. It has “living” walls, which
encourage natural ecology, and roofs
5
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 27 MAY 2015
New homes Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
City Island-bound: Tamara Rojo, ENB artistic director and a lead principal ballerina with the company
that drain rainwater into a hi-tech
watering system, feeding fountains,
ponds and multi-level communal
gardens built to encourage habitats
for the birds that nest around the River
Lea and the Thames. Vegetable-
growing enthusiasts can use 30 private
allotments.
Hallsville Quarter, close to Custom
House, a Crossrail station, will have
1,100 new homes, garden squares, a
supermarket, restaurants, a cinema,
bars and a hotel. The latest phase of 49
homes unveiled by Mountain Capital
cost from £337,500. Townhouses cost
from £725,000. Call 020 7861 5499.
Royal Gateway is another new
apartment scheme. Two-bedroom flats
cost from £465,000. Call Galliard on
020 3740 9706.
Early residents better get used to
cranes, a community of hard hats, a
faint layer of dust and the rumble of
rubble being removed.
Feel part of the art: the public will be
able to watch dancers rehearsing in
the glass-walled English National
Ballet studios
Photographs: Daniel Lynch
6
WEDNESDAY 27 MAY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Homes with pools
homesandproperty.co.uk with
A bigger
splash
Lidos, ponds and pools in landscaped gardens and on
rooftops are tempting fitness enthusiasts to London’s
latest new apartments, discovers Ginetta Vedrickas
K
For sky-divers:
the glass-bottom
rooftop pool
overlooks the
atrium entrance
at six-storey
Warehaus in
Hackney
ING’S CROSS may seem an
unlikely place for a dip, but
it’s now possible thanks to
the UK’s first man-made
freshwater public bathing
pond. Architect Ooze has created the
chemical-free pond, which opened last
week, as a piece of land art to tempt
residents and visitors to the 67-acre
King’s Cross Development site, where
2,000 new homes are planned.
The 10-metre by 40-metre pond will
stay in place for at least two years, with
the area’s new residents set to gain free
membership of the King’s Cross Pond
Club (kingscrosspond.club), explains
the project’s aptly named manager
Ian Freshwater.
Prices for new apartments planned
around the pond at Lewis Cubitt Park
haven’t yet been released, but flats at
The Plimsoll Building nearby start
at £1,085,000. Call Knight Frank on
020 3691 3969.
The pond is open to the public and
Freshwater has already been inundated
with requests from open-water swimming enthusiasts across the capital.
Only 160 swimmers are allowed in the
pond each day, but visitors who are not
swimming are also welcome. “It’s a
great spot to contemplate seasonal
changes,” says Freshwater, who is working with site organiser Fusion, which
A first for Britain: the man-made
freshwater public bathing pond which
opened last week at King’s Cross
also manages busy Brockwell Lido at
Brockwell Park in Herne Hill SE24.
FLOATING IDEAS
In Hackney, the Thirties-built London
Fields Lido reopened in 2006 after a
refurbishment, and its 50-metre heated
pool attracts thousands of swimmers
all year round. A new rooftop pool
7
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 27 MAY 2015
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Homes with pools Homes & Property
ALAMY
to install a pontoon on the Thames near
Blackfriars Bridge with plunge and
paddling pools containing filtered river
water. “People don’t want smelly,
chlorinated pools,” he says. “The
Thames is a great London resource and
shouldn’t just be for haulage.”
In a sign of a huge endorsement by
Londoners, the campaign to get the
pontoon constructed has exceeded its
crowd-funding target of £125,000.
The money will move the scheme on
to its next stage, with Studio Octopi
predicting that the pontoon could be
in place by Christmas next year.
Having a splashing time: the Thirties-built London Fields
Lido in Hackney, which reopened in 2006 after a revamp
Making waves: Greenwich Square residents will be able to
use the new Greenwich Centre’s two indoor pools and gym
DEVELOPERS ARE DIVING IN
Cashing in on the fitness craze, developers see communal swimming pools
as an enticement to buyers. Studios at
Goodman’s Fields in Aldgate start
from £735,000, and residents at the
seven-acre site in E1 can enjoy a heated
indoor pool and five-star health centre.
Call Berkeley on 020 3217 1000.
Buy an apartment at 190 Strand in
WC2, where prices start from £1.5 million, and get exclusive access to a
bespoke pool and spa, including vitality pools and steam rooms that rival
any health resort. Call St Edward on
020 3051 1022.
Riverside Quarter in Wandsworth
SW18, overlooking the exclusive Hurlingham Club, has its own leisure centre
with a gym, pool, hot tub and sauna.
The latest phase, Seven Riverside, has
87 flats from £720,000 for two bedrooms. Call Savills on 020 8877 2000.
A
opens next month at nearby Warehaus,
an apartment block by Union Developments. Thirty flats start from £535,000
for a one-bedroom home and go up to
£950,000 for three bedrooms. Call
0800 043 2523. All of the flats have
private outdoor space, but Peter Ciezak
of Union Developments believes the
residents-only, glass-bottom pool is one
of the main draws for buyers.
“It overlooks the atrium entrance,
making it unique for London,” he says.
The Outdoor Swimming Society, which
promotes swimming under open skies,
has a growing membership that’s topping 16,000 — and their passion is one
reason why architect Chris Romer-Lee
has found himself designing
Take a dip: buyers at 190 Strand have
access to a bespoke pool and spa
innovative places to swim in London.
His practice, Studio Octopi, is behind
the Thames Baths project, which aims
SECOND phase of townhouses is about to be
released by Hadley Mace
at Greenwich Square,
where residents will have
access to two indoor pools plus a gym
in the new Greenwich Centre opening
next month. The three-storey homes
start at £799,950 and are rare for SE10,
says project manager Danielle Torpey.
“They will be very popular with families — there aren’t many four-bedroom
houses in this area,” she adds.
The pools and gym will be open to the
public and managed by Better Living,
which also runs Charlton Lido nearby.
“Our consultation showed that pools
in this area are in great demand and
this will be a lovely place for families
to live,” adds Torpey. Call Savills on
0800 077 817.
8
WEDNESDAY 27 MAY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property First-time buyers
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Join the City Fringes set for less than £80k
From £86,625:
for 25 per cent of
a one-bedroom
flat at Elizabeth
Wharf in Repton
Street, E14, with
Regent’s Canal
and Limehouse
DLR station
nearby
Ruth Bloomfield finds shared-ownership
flats with great transport, culture and nightlife
HIPSTER HEAVEN
Saffron Court in Pedley Street is centrally located and half a mile from
Shoreditch High Street station (Zone 1),
with services to Canary Wharf in less
than 10 minutes. Bethnal Green or
Liverpool Street stations on the Central
line are also within walking distance.
There are 14 shared-ownership homes
for sale through Currell (currell.com)
that are managed by Spitalfields
Housing Association. Prices start from
£101,125 for a 25 per cent share of a
one-bedroom flat with a market price
of £404,500. The monthly rent is £695.
Two-bedroom flats start at £136,719 for
a 25 per cent share of a property with
a value of £546,875. The monthly rent
costs £940.
PARK LIFE
Close to Mile End Park is Elizabeth
Wharf, another scheme with sharedownership homes included. This development by Hill has 16 one-, two- and
three-bedroom homes available
through Currell. They launch on Saturday. Canary Wharf and the City are
within walking distance, and Limehouse’s stations are within a quarter of
THE KNOWLEDGE:
CITY FRINGES
Past: Doctor Barnardo’s Ragged
School opened in Copperfield Road
in 1877 to provide impoverished
children with a basic education. It is
now a museum.
Future: proposals have been put
forward to build an £800 million
development of 1,500 homes on the
brownfield 10 acres of Bishopsgate
Goods Yard in Shoreditch. Locals who
say this is overdevelopment are
Your ne w b e dro om aw aits
Art attack: colourful graffiti in
Shoreditch gives the area an edge
REX
F
ROM Shoreditch to Limehouse, the belt around the
City — appropriately labelled
the City Fringes — is fast
becoming the coolest place
to live. With fantastic transport links,
a blossoming café culture, great bars
and nightlife plus the River Thames
nearby, modern apartments springing
up alongside warehouse conversions
and Georgian townhouses are breathing new life into areas that were barely
known before the recession.
Today’s prices in these areas are unattainable for most first-time buyers. But
three separate shared-ownership
schemes launching this week and next
month bring the opportunity to live in
the fringes for less than £80,000.
Martin Fillery, head of affordable
homes at Currell, which is selling all
three schemes, says they are similar in
specification and size. He adds: “The
choice is all about location. Together,
they offer everything from quiet and
green to right in the middle of things.”
People living or working within Tower
Hamlets will be given first priority for
homes in all three developments.
a mile. Fillery says: “The development
is on Regent’s Canal, so there are nice
walks and a small park nearby.”
Prices start at £86,625 for a 25 per
cent share of a one-bedroom flat priced
at £346,500. Buyers also need to factor
in the cost of monthly rent, set at £595.
Two-bedroom flats start at £104,875
for a 25 per cent share, with a rent of
£721 a month on top of mortgage costs.
Three -bedroom homes st ar t at
£125,625, again for a quarter share. The
demanding protection for historic
buildings on the site.
Trivial pursuit: Spitalfields City Farm
was founded in 1978 by local residents
who made wasteland into allotments
and kept chickens, rabbits and geese.
What it costs: all three of our
featured developments are in Tower
Hamlets, where an average property
costs £493,138, up 3.1 per cent
year-on-year, according to Zoopla.
Renting: a typical two-bedroom flat
costs £2,282 a month.
rental costs on these larger properties
will be £864 a month.
A ZEST FOR LIMEHOUSE
Tower Hamlets Community Housing
has three one- and two-bedroom flats
for shared-ownership sale at Limehouse Exchange through Currell. The
homes are on the eastern end of Commercial Road, within seconds of Limehouse DLR station and railway station,
in Zone 2. The development is a couple
of minutes’ walk from fashionable
Narrow Street, where star chef Gordon
Ramsay has a gastropub, and where
actor Sir Ian McKellen, a long-time local
resident, co-owns The Grapes pub. For
culture, Whitechapel Gallery is a mile
and a half away.
Limehouse Exchange starts at £77,250
for a 25 per cent share of a one-bedroom flat with a market price of
£309,000. A 25 per cent share of a
two-bedroom flat starts at £100,000.
Landmarks: St Anne’s Limehouse is
one of the fine Hawksmoor London
churches.
Eat: an excellent lamb hotpot at
Shanshuijian in Commercial Road.
Drink: at the fabulously Art Deco
former dance hall Troxy, right, also in
Commercial Road.
Buy: homeware classics at trendy
Labour and Wait in Redchurch Street.
Utilitarian and lovely.
Walk: through 79-acre Mile End Park,
once a World War Two bombsite.
NEW SPRING
COLLECTION
BEDS, FURNITURE, MATTRESSES,
BEDDING, BED LINEN AND
ACCESSORIES
Fulham | Chiswick | East Sheen
Tottenham Court Road | Hampstead
Kingston | Hammersmith | Chingford
www.featherandblack.com
10
WEDNESDAY 27 MAY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Renting
homesandproperty.co.uk with
You can protect your
investment by letting
your London home
and renting for less
in the country, says
Ruth Bloomfield
£3,250 a month: a five-bedroom house
in Stratton Audley, near Bicester in
Oxfordshire. Through FindersKeepers
H
OMEOWNERS know the
value of their London
property increases faster
than the price of bricks
and mortar in the country.
They fear that if they sell up and move
out, they will never be able to get back
into the market in the capital. So the
cautious are letting their homes in the
city and opting to rent, rather than buy,
in a more rural location.
DO THE MATHS: KENT
A typical four-bedroom house in
Wandsworth, for example, rents at
£3,145 a month, according to Zoopla.
An owner could trade this in for
pretty five-bedroom Dower House in
the village of Oxon Hoath, near Tonbridge, Kent, which is available to rent
for £2,900 a month with Hamptons
International (hamptons.co.uk), saving
close to £250 a month.
Trains to Charing Cross take from
40 minutes, barely longer than from
Wandsworth. An annual season ticket
comes in at £4,052 —versus a Zone 1
and 2 annual pass at £1,284 — but
should still leave anyone wanting to
make this swap just about in the
black.
Alternatively, for £2,500 a month —
more than £600 cheaper than the
typical Wandsworth home — you could
live on the edge of the plum village of
Benenden, also in Kent, in a five-bedroom detached farmhouse down a
country lane.
The Grade II-listed house is available
from Harpers & Hurlingham (harpersandhurlingham.com) and comes with
the huge advantage of being within the
catchment area of Cranbrook School,
one of the best grammar schools in the
country. This must be set against the
slightly longer commute — fast trains
Tasty option: let your London apartment, rent a house in West Peckham, Kent, and enjoy lunch at The Swan on the Green
City owner, rural renter
home counties at Savills, says her rural
renters tend to be a mixture of “try
before you buy” London homeowners,
and lifestyle renters who simply want
to get out of the city.
“Renting is a cheaper way of gaining
land because even acres of land
attached to the house will not significantly affect the rent,” she says. “If you
buy a house with land the cost shoots
up. You also do not have to pay the
maintenance on a country house,
which can be significant.”
Budgets go further in the country.
“For a two-bedroom apartment in a
prime London spot you could be paying £500 or £600 a week. That gets you
a very nice three- or four-bedroom
house,” adds Blake.
Houses in prime towns such as
Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire,
which are near good schools and stations, will be more expensive, but if you
are happy on the fringe of such an area
the rent comes down significantly.
DOS AND DON’TS OF
DOUBLE RENTING
£10,000 a month: listed Dukes Place
in West Peckham, Kent, comes with a
guest cottage. Through Savills
£2,900 a month: Dower House at Oxon
Hoath in Kent offers a tempting rural
living experience. Through Hamptons
£2,000 a month: four-bedroom house
at Barford St John, near Banbury in
Oxfordshire. Through FindersKeepers
from Headcorn take an hour and four
minutes to Charing Cross, and an
annual season ticket costs £4,052.
green fringes of the town, available
through Gascoigne-Pees (gpees.co.uk)
for £2,650 a month.
Trains from Reigate to Victoria or
London Bridge take about 45 minutes,
and a season ticket will cost £3,432. Or
go ultra posh and rent Dukes Place in
the village of West Peckham. This is a
breathtaking Grade I-listed house with
five bedrooms plus a two-bedroom
guest cottage, set in landscaped
grounds with swimming pool and a
tennis court.
This timbered property is available
with Savills (savills.co.uk) for £10,000
a month — about the same as a two- to
three-bedroom flat in Knightsbridge.
Tanya Blake, head of rentals for the
DO THE MATHS: SURREY
In affluent Reigate, prime Surrey commuter territory, you could rent a threebedroom weatherboarded house plus
windmill — yes, windmill — on the
O Go and research your chosen
country area. Do a trial commute,
and time it. Do the maths on the
commute. Include the station
parking — does the car park fill up
early? Check it out.
O If you fall for a country rental
home, be prepared to negotiate.
O Consider offering to sign a
two-year lease, or forgo break
clauses in your contract.
O The bad news is that your landlord
can take back your country rental
home. The good news is that if you
decide the countryside is not for
you, then you can take back your
London home.
11
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 27 MAY 2015
Homes abroad Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Fans of Italy are going with the Flo
How could you resist a home in
fashionable Florence, a cultural
gem on the edge of Tuscan
countryside? By Cathy Hawker
THE Lungarno Collection of hotels in
Florence is home to the finest Italian
craftsmanship, skills established by
Renaissance artists that are still
evident today in leatherwork,
clothing and design.
Salvatore Ferragamo is part of
that legacy. Born near Naples in
1898, he emigrated with his
brothers to the US aged 15, where he
went on to become shoemaker to
the stars in Hollywood, including
Marilyn Monroe and Audrey
Hepburn.
He returned to Italy in the
Twenties, opening a shop in
Florence. Ferragamo remains one of
the most famous Florentine names.
Salvatore’s son, Leonardo, is
president of The Lungarno Collection,
four joyful boutique hotels clustered
around the Ponte Vecchio in the
historic heart of the city. All four
share an emphasis on hospitality and
were designed by architect Michele
Bönan, a favourite in the city.
The newest addition is Portrait
Firenze where Bönan has let
Fifties Florentine couture influence
his design. The 34-suite hotel has
felt chairs in soft grey, Fifties
wooden tables, full-height windows
and Carrara marble bathrooms.
Caffè dell’Oro, the hotel’s
reasonably priced bistro, serves
Florentine favourites from possibly
the best-located kitchen in the city.
‘The Tuscan
market used
to be wrecks
to renovate
in Chianti
countryside
... it’s more
refined now,
and that
means cities’
O Visit lungarnocollection.com.
Double rooms at the hotels start at
£135 a night plus 10 per cent VAT.
LORENCE is a popular choice
for an increasing number of
international second-home
buyers, who are attracted by
the Italian city’s atmospheric
alleyways full of curious shops, little
architectural jewels and its palazzos of
Renaissance treasures. People who once
would have chosen the Tuscan countryside are now turning their backs on rural
living for culture on their doorstep.
“Ten years ago the Tuscan market
was 80 per cent in the countryside —
wrecks to renovate in Chianti, for
example — and 20 per cent in Florence,” says long-time Tuscan resident
Bill Thomson, chairman of Knight
Frank’s Italian network.
“Now it is the reverse. The market has
become more refined in terms of what
people want and that means cities.
There has been a move inexorably
towards Florence.”
LIVE IN A PALAZZO
A city apartment has several advantages over its country cousin. There’s
no garden or pool to maintain and heating and maintenance costs are therefore lower. The rental season is
generally longer, producing better
yields, and it is easier to lock up and
leave, which makes it ideal for spontaneous weekend visits.
Combine that with Florence’s specific
charms of wonderful culture in a compact city close to rolling countryside,
with delicious food and wine, and the
appeal is clear.
New residents demand high-quality
renovations and Palazzo Bardi was
one of the first examples on the market.
The beautiful 16th-century palace with
a courtyard by Filippo Brunelleschi,
architect of Florence Cathedral’s magnificent dome, was renovated eight
years ago. The 18 apartments created
CORBIS
F
Chic city hotels
with star appeal
Treasures: medieval Ponte Vecchio or “Old Bridge” across the Arno, among Florence’s many charms
£1.3 million:
left, a fourbedroom
apartment with
communal
gardens in the
Piazzale
Michelangelo
area of Florence
(Casa & Country)
£613,000:
quality studio,
one- and twobedroom
apartments are
available in
Palazzo
Tornabuoni, left,
a restored
15th-century
palace in the
finest shopping
street in the
city. Through
Knight Frank
sold well, mainly to British buyers. Now
two apartments have come up for
resale through Knight Frank. A fully
furnished studio with mezzanine bedroom, covered in restored original
frescoes, is £360,520. This would make
a generous and welcoming pied-à-terre.
FLATS NEAR SMART SHOPS
The Palazzo Tornabuoni in Florence’s
most prestigious shopping street has
also notched up some high-end sales
this year. Studio, one- and two-bedroom
apartments with sleek, contemporary
interiors start from £613,000.
Behind Via Tornabuoni in a charming, quiet street within view of the Arno
river, a mini palazzo has been divided
into seven flats. A spacious, fabulously
comfortable, one-bedroom furnished
flat is for sale at £620,000 with service
charges of less than £70 a month.
O Knight Frank: knightfrank.com
(020 7861 5269)
O Casa & Country: casaandcountry.com
“
14
WEDNESDAY 27 MAY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Design
homesandproperty.co.uk with
By Liz Hoggard
M de
My
des
d
es
es
MOST
COVETED
DESIGN
OBJECT
on
on
I’m not a car person
— but a classic Aston
Martin would be my
choice. It really is
about the design.
FAMEED KHALIQUE
GO-TO MAN FOR MATERIALS
B
ACK IN 1985, he came up
with the idea for Fashion
Aid, which saw the likes of
Boy George modelling
clothes from designers
including Yves Saint Laurent in the
name of combating poverty in Africa.
Later Fameed Khalique, now 49, set
up his own company sourcing
materials for the interior design
industry. Today he’s the man to go to
for the most exotic and experimental
surfaces for walls, floors, ceilings and
furniture. His portfolio includes
high-profile homes, such as Candy &
Candy’s One Hyde Park, and top
hotels including the Four Seasons
at Park Lane.
Treasured: Fameed’s favourite
possession is a wooden
sculpted jacket by Italian artist
Livio De Marchi. The jacket
even has its own red scarf
WHERE I LIVE
For years I lived in a tiny studio in
Portland Place and dreamed of space
after growing up in the Leicestershire
countryside. Then, 14 years ago, I
finally bought a loft apartment in
St John Street, Clerkenwell. I love the
fact that there is a little electrical
shop round the corner and a barber.
It’s a great place to be at the
weekends. I travel a lot so it’s brilliant
for Heathrow (even quicker when
Crossrail opens). There’s a council
estate behind me which keeps
everything real.
MY HOME
It is in a proper factory building that
was originally where Scholl footwear
was produced. And my flat — one of
14 — is a brilliant place for a party.
You can get 150 people in here quite
easily. Seven years ago I started my
business in the guest bedroom and it
took over the place. In the end I
rented an apartment round the
corner. But now I’m opening a new
West End showroom, so I get my
flat back.
Cohen, the painter and architect, just
before he died of cancer. He was
one of the most influential people
in my life.
MY ESCAPE
I go to St James’s Church at
Clerkenwell Green. There’s a
peaceful little garden at the back with
benches, where I sometimes sit with
my sandwich in the summer.
Stylish touch:
Fameed has just
launched a range
of cushions,
which feature
textured hides
and embroidery
BEST RESTAURANT
Classical look:
two regilded
Louis XV chairs
add a dash of
regal charm to
his home in
Clerkenwell
Chris and Jeremy’s restaurants
(Corbin & King) — I’ve been going to
The Ivy forever. It was the first
grown-up restaurant I went to in
my early-twenties. For a drink,
Scarfes Bar at Rosewood Hotel near
Covent Garden, which is a bit of an
insider secret. Cartoonist Gerald
Scarfe did all the sketches for it.
There is a huge fireplace, easy
armchairs and fantastic, friendly
staff.
SECRET SHOP
HOME COLOURS/TEXTURES
When I bought the flat it was
all white, so I painted it blue,
donkey grey and burnt orange,
and everything else came from the
furniture, which is classic
contemporary. I have two
Louis XV chairs that I regilded and
reupholstered. I’ve just launched
my own range of cushions. They
feature bronze metallic leathers,
textured hides and embroidery.
Each piece features unique
textiles and materials, creating a
collection with a variety of moods
and looks.
I love the tiny electrical shop
Embassy Electrical Supplies in
Compton Street, Clerkenwell. The
Turkish-Cypriot owner, Mehmet,
sells amazing virgin olive oil
produced on his two groves in
Cyprus and Turkey. It’s shipped over
to the UK to be bottled right here in
EC1. He has many celebrity fans,
even New York magazine has written
about him. I also love my barber,
George, in Bedfordbury, Covent
Garden. It is run by two brothers
and a cousin, all Greek, and
George, who looks like one of
The Three Stooges.
Admired: Salgado’s Youth in Revolt
FAVOURITE GALLERY
I go to Beers Contemporary in
Baldwin Street, EC1. It has wonderful
artists such as Andrew Salgado. I also
visit Gallery Fumi in Shoreditch
because the owners, Valerio and
Sam, have an amazing eye.
O Fameed Khalique has launched
Khalique, a lifestyle brand including
40 individual cushion designs, from
metallic woven leather to peacock
feathers (fameedkhalique.com).
FAVOURITE POSSESSION
Secret spot: Scarfes Bar at Rosewood Hotel has sketches by the famous cartoonist
A wooden sculpted jacket by Italian
artist Livio De Marchi. The sculpture
has buttons, stitches and even its
own red scarf. He’s based in Venice
and carves things out of one piece of
wood — everything from Ferraris and
armchairs to teddy bears and wallets.
He has a remarkable talent. It was a
gift from my dear friend Ronnie
Branching out: Mehmet, of Embassy Electrical Supplies, with his virgin olive oil
15
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 27 MAY 2015
Reader promotion Homes & Property
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Sofa beds come with a
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For a further five per
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willowandhall.co.uk/
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MODECOR’S
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The set is
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To view the
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before June
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EGYPTIAN cotton duvet covers from
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The 200 thread count linen offers
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double size reduced from £45.99 to
only £19.99. They come in white and
ivory, and the full collection, from
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To order, visit oneregentplace.
co.uk or call 020 7087 2900 (Monday
to Friday) before June 1.
Alison
Cork
A table to fit right in
Elegant awnings with wow factor
PART of the Criterion Collection from
Within, the handsome Hemingway
side table, £225, is ideal for small
spaces. It has a reinforced glass surface
and brushed brass legs. Readers can
claim free delivery when quoting
HEMFREE before June 17. Order via
withinhome.com or 020 7087 2900.
EDEN VERANDAS offers an
impressive range of bespoke
garden awnings that will enhance
any home.
There are many high-performance
fabrics to choose from in more
than 150 colours — and all are
professionally installed by the
company’s expert team.
To claim your summer sale offer
of up to 25 per cent off, visit
edenverandas.co.uk or call 0800
157 1677 and use code AES27/05A
before June 12.
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.
16
WEDNESDAY 27 MAY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Interiors
homesandproperty.co.uk with
The best seat
in the house
We pay so much attention to our designer
sofas and chairs but the bathroom is where
quality really counts. By Philippa Stockley
Hot seat: Andrew
Whettem started
out as a cabinet
maker
30 years if looked after, that’s an
impressive figure. Bard & Blackwood
also makes seats for Thomas Crapper,
Czech & Speake and Lefroy Brooks.
Whettem, 58, started out as a cabinet
maker. But in 1982, when a friend said
Harrods had asked for 80 loo seats and
he needed help, Whettem lent a hand.
“I rashly said yes,” he says. The young
pair made the seats in an old boatshed.
Flushed with success, they turned their
ad hoc business into a company in 1987
in the pretty village of North Mundham, Chichester. “We made seats for
the luxurious Orient Express, which
were quite small,” adds Whettem.
BUSINESS PANS OUT
The company’s order book is impressive. “We’ve made seats for royalty,
pop stars, the Park Lane Hotel,
the RAC, Jamie Oliver’s restaurants
and the Palace of Westminster,” says
Whettem.
He has also made junior-size ones in
mahogany, while one nameless London hotel, which had a different-shape
seat in every room, asked for one
made like a violin.
Top-grade timber arrives at the
factory as small planks sent from trader
James Latham. A pattern is chosen
and the drawing is made
on the wood, using different
thicknesses for the seat
and cover.
First they are cut out
roughly by hand, then the
routing machine is set up for
an exact shape. After that, the
seat pieces are hand sanded, then
varni shed, with sandings in
between, before the solid brass bar
hinges are carefully attached.
PICTURES BY JASON BUCKNER
E
VERY bottom should enjoy
the luxury of a bespoke
lavatory seat created in one of
550 patterns in a range of
woods, such as oak, ash,
beech, maple, walnut and mahogany.
In one company’s case, if it doesn’t
already have your shape on file, it will
make you a one-off at no extra cost
if you send in a template drawing — not
of your bottom, but of your existing
lavatory seat.
“Some people actually send us their
old seat, and some even post the pan
itself — luckily not many,” says Andrew
Whettem, undisputed king of bespoke
lavatory seats.
Whettem is managing director of
Goodwood Bathrooms in West Sussex,
which sells products under its Bard &
Blackwood brand. The group has been
making these bare necessities since
1987 — at least half a million of the
wooden creations to date. Given that a
solid timber seat can last at least
Bespoke: the hand-sanded and varnished seats got celebrity chef
Jamie Oliver’s approval when he fitted them in his restaurants
WHAT THEY COST
Almost all standard seats in any wood
are online in any of the patterns and cost
£314.40, including VAT and UK delivery.
If your dream pan isn’t in the company’s
collection, a bespoke seat made using
your template costs the same, and takes
a fortnight to supply.
OTHER THRONES OF CHOICE
London-based Catchpole & Rye goes
the whole hog with the impressive
Thunderbox in solid oak or mahogany,
which fits over most pans, for £2,000
excluding VAT, or the even more
impressive Throne Seat, which even
has armrests, in oak or mahogany, at
£2,500 excluding VAT.
Thomas Crapper has several models
such as the Throne seat for £705 including VAT, and the old-fashioned D-shape
seat at £420 including VAT. They suit
high or low lavatories and come in oak,
walnut and mahogany.
London-based Czech & Speake’s
smart Edwardian Mahogany seat with
its special lifting handle costs £630 and
has a 12-week lead-time. Fired Earth
sells a nice mahogany seat on a bar
hinge in chrome or antiqued gold for
£325, excluding delivery.
Lefroy Brooks has the LB 7240 or
the LB 7740 La Chapelle in mahogany
for £362 including VAT, with a range
of bar-hinge finishes.
O
O
O
O
O
O
bardandblackwood.co.uk
catchpoleandrye.com
thomas-crapper.com
czechandspeake.com
firedearth.com
lefroybrooks.co.uk
20
WEDNESDAY 27 MAY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Interiors
homesandproperty.co.uk with
◄:THIS Starlight
rug has a wool
flatweave in a
choice of six
colours and
two sizes, prices
start at £100
(lukuhome.com)
►:LUNA painted
limestone
flooring is about
£375 a square
metre from
Decorum Est, SW6
(decorumest.
co.uk)
"
# # ▲ DUTCH designer Edward van Vliet’s
printed nylon Moooi Celestial carpet,
350cm diameter, can be seen at
The White Building, W10 (moooi.com)
◄ THIS large 12-lamp pendant
measures 75cm in diameter, and
plugs into the mains (all fittings
included). Priced at £495 (outthere
interiors.com; 020 8099 7443)
Design
De
esi
e
es
sig
si
iign
gn
gn t
SEEING STARS
By Barbara Chandler
► CRATERS On The Moon mural by
0(#((%('#
0%+(#*# #!-//%+(
Move to the
PRIDE OF PLAISTOW
,%('#(,-#%'#-
%(#(
"""
""! $"!
#"!
# ""
" "
#"
%" " " " " &(#+/(#%
(+-(##-((##%#
#&%//###
.
-//%+(.&0 #$$#)
James Nasmyth and James Carpenter,
from the British Library Collection
at Surface View, is priced from £60 a
square metre (surfaceview.co.uk;
0118 922 1327)
▼ DREAMING of celestial landscapes,
artist Rachel Cope marbles this Night
wallpaper using traditional Japanese
and Turkish techniques. Her design
is then digitally printed with no
set repeat, so it looks like a mural.
It costs from £21 a square foot
(calicowallpaper.com; furniture and
lighting are by tomdixon.net)
26
WEDNESDAY 27 MAY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property My home
homesandproperty
Blue is the colour:
Marianne Cotterill
on one of her 17
sofas — a blue silk
number — with
Lolly the Kerry
Blue Terrier;
right, the large
conservatory is
ideal for a spot of
flower arranging
I love a van full
of treasures
Interior stylist Marianne Cotterill likes nothing better than hitting the
road in search of sofas, tiles and tables, says Philippa Stockley
L
EADING interior st ylist
Marianne Cotterill’s sprawling
Victorian Gothic home in a
leafy road in Kilburn is a place
of exquisite and eye-catching
colour combinations.
They range from sage greens to pink
and lemon sorbet, pale ultramarines set
against moody indigo, as well as metallic
wallpapers and even a romantic rose
wallpaper hand-painted by Cotterill. The
north London property is furnished up
to the eyeballs, too.
“I’ve got a sofa problem,” says Cotterill,
55. “I acquire lots of things for styling,
but then I like to keep them. I don’t go
anywhere without my van.”
She points to a charming silk-upholstered sofa bed and says: “It was on a
roadside in France in the pouring rain,
they only wanted €50 (£36) for it.”
One gets the point of the van. The 17
sofas range from an antique French
canapé to a modern design upholstered
in metallic snakeskin. A Seventies sofa
covered in peacock blue silk has had its
buttons exchanged for jaunty, hot pink
felt pom-poms.
There’s also porcelain and pictures —
especially portraits from the Thirties.
Cotterill found the porcelain Chinese
lamp bases that now grace her bedside
White fit: a pretty bath was one original
fitting Marianne Cotterill wanted to keep
tables in a skip. “They looked lost so I
needed to rescue them,” she says.
For Cotterill, the key to everything is
atmosphere. In the drawing room the
floor, painted off-white on top of lemon
yellow, has been worn to give a brocade
look. A beautiful French sofa is genuine
brocade in silver and yellow silk, while
a modern wool rug plays the same colours in another shade. There are encaustic tiles in the kitchen — bought from a
Belgian café that was throwing them out
— and original parquet flooring in the
downstairs sitting room. The large conservatory is painted the magical colour
of forget-me-nots — perfect for some
romantic potting.
Most rooms are lit by sparkling chandeliers that Cotterill has picked up from
antiques markets across Europe. She and
her husband, Terry, a property lawyer,
have always liked expeditions with the
trusty van, so there’s room for booty, as
well as the grown-up children — Ted, Bea,
Cormac, Declan and Bridie. Not to mention Lolly, their Kerry Blue Terrier.
Cotterill, who was born in Wales, came
to London at the age of 19 and studied
interior design at Chelsea College of Art,
which she hated. “They made me design
stairs for three years,” she says. Later,
she went on to work for a stylist and
loved it.
After a brief first marriage, at 26 she
met Terry, who was the boy next door.
The couple lived in a flat in Hackney
when it was still a grim area.
“We were burgled to death. After the
eighth burglary the policeman said, ‘I’ve
got one thing to say to you — move.’ So
we did.”
They ended up living in Kilburn by
chance after their car was stolen. A man
27
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 27 MAY 2015
y.co.uk with
My home Homes & Property
Marianne’s tips
and source book
What it cost
House in 2001: £1.1 million
Spent over the years (including
new roof): about £250,000
Where Marianne shops
Styling: by Marianne Cotterill, visit
mariannecotterill.com
Paints: from Farrow & Ball at farrow-ball.
com. Current colours include Dix Blue,
Blackened, Hardwick White, French Grey,
Purbeck Stone, Drawing Room Blue,
Pitch Blue and Stone Blue.
Sofa covered in metallic snakeskin: from
Robert Allen at robertallendesign.com
Silk for curtains: from Pongees at
pongees.co.uk
Peacock blue silk on pom-pom sofa:
Osborne & Little (osborneandlittle.com)
Wall art: a cluster of pictures in the colourful sitting room
Marianne’s favourite antiques
fairs include:
The annual Braderie de Lille at braderiede-lille.fr; Sunbury Antiques Market
(held at Kempton Park) at
sunburyantiques.com; Ardingley
Antiques & Collectors Fair (this and
many other UK fairs can be found at
iacf.co.uk/antique-fair-calendar), and
Tongeren in Belgium.
O To view Marianne’s house and gain
exclusive access to six other amazing
houses from Hampstead to Kensal
Green, join the Livingetc House Tours in
north-west London on June 12. Tickets
are £32 from housetohome.co.uk/
livingetchousetours. The Livingetc
House Tours are held in support of
Crisis, the national charity for single
homeless people.
European union: encaustic tiles came from a Belgian café
who had been offered the vehicle called
them after he found the logbook with
their details in the car. When they went
to retrieve it, the car was parked outside
a dilapidated old house in Kilburn.
They liked the area so much they bought
a house there. Then, some years later,
they noticed that the neglected property
their stolen car had been parked outside
was on the market, so they sold up and
bought it.
The building dated back to 1882 and the
previous resident was an old woman who
died in the late Nineties. The house was
dark and outdated but full of original fittings, including fireplaces and parquet
floors, and big rooms, except a little
kitchenette, so they took a wall down and
made a big family-size kitchen. They did
up the bathrooms, but left one that had
a pretty bath. “I won’t rip out for the sake
of it,” says Cotterill.
Over the years, she and her family have
gently adapted the house. It has a remarkably good feeling, from its old-fashioned
pantry to the romantic lawned garden.
“Every time I come home from a work
trip, I think that this is the most lovely
place,” Cotterill says.
Neutral approach: white walls create a relaxing atmosphere
Photographs: Debi Treloar
28
WEDNESDAY 27 MAY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Outdoors
homesandproperty.co.uk with
CHELSEA TOUR
THE WATER PROJECT
Get ahead
of the curve
in your city
garden
Water inspired Chelsea Flower
Show medallist Matthew Wilson
to create a well-rounded, compact
design, explains Pattie Barron
C
*! #!))
%'!#'%"'%)' '.&,
-'&-!
+'!%(% $&,
OULD this be the prototype
for future London gardens?
Designer Matthew Wilson
won a silver-gilt award at
Chelsea Flower Show last
week for this contemporary garden
that — with its extravagant sweeping
deck, sculptural furniture and ancient
olive tree — looks stunning. But it illustrates an important issue, too — how to
conserve water.
Sponsored by the Royal Bank of
Canada, whose Blue Water Project aims
to preserve freshwater habitats around
the world, the garden relies solely on
rainwater stored on-site and plants that
thrive in drought conditions.
“People tend to give plants a unilateral diet of water whether they need it
or not,” says Wilson, who is an authority on climate change as well as managing director of Clifton Nurseries, whose
landscape team built the garden.
“What this garden demonstrates is
that you can have many plants that
require minimal watering or receive
no watering at all, apart from rainfall.
Edible plants need watering and nurturing because, with vegetables, what
you put in, you get out.
“Ornamental plants, if you choose
the right ones for the right place in
your garden, need no watering,
provided you give them good soil
preparation.”
Wilson made his point by dividing
the garden at Chelsea into three zones.
The first is a zero-irrigation gravel
garden with a magnificent macro
bonsai olive tree, surrounded by stipa
grasses, cistus, alliums, salvia and
California poppies.
The second is a circular, three-tiered
rainwater pool. Sited at the front, to
the right of the gravel garden, the
stone-clad pool feeds into a water tank
under the deck that keeps the garden’s
reservoir in the shade.
The third area is comprised of edible
plants, Mediterranean herbs that
thrive in dry conditions as well as
globe artichokes, chives, sea kale,
rocket and rock samphire that need
less watering than thirsty lettuces.
A novel and attractive hedge of pineapple guava produces edible, dusky
pink flowers that taste of cinnamon,
says Wilson. A stone “riverbed” flows
throughout, with “waves” that allow
‘Ornamental
plants, if
you choose
the right
ones, need
no watering
— just
give them
good soil
preparation’
Smart planning:
designer
Matthew Wilson,
above left, and
the garden, top,
with rainwater
reservoir
beneath the
deck; left, Iris
ensata thrive in
the shallows and
below left, a
shingled area
suits majestic
eremurus, stipa
grasses and
Salvia nemerosa
Caradonna
water to flow into the shallows, colonised by Japanese water iris.
At the back of the garden, a grove of
characterful cork oaks, with their
wonderfully gnarled trunks, creates
dappled shade, under which simple
wooden cubes make a fine spot to
admire the scenery.
Here, Wilson’s choice of shade-loving plants that need little watering
include the beautiful Euphorbia mellifera, London Pride, nodding ornament al onion Nec t aroscordum
siculum, woodland fern Dryopteris
and native grass Deschampsia cespitosa. All of these are widely available
online or in garden centres.
The surfaces in the garden are permeable, so rainwater sinks back into
the ground, and all the materials —
from the dry stone walling, recycled
from an old mill, to the deck boards
of western red cedar — have had
little or no water used in their
production.
Interestingly, there are no straight
lines in this garden, aside from the
boundary of dry stone columns and
western red cedar panels.
Even the oak benches and table,
steam-bent by furniture designer Tom
Raffield to mimic the flow of water,
are all curved, and the space — organic
and sensual — looks all the better
for it.
“So many contemporary gardens go
down a straight path of linear landscaping and geometric blocks of planting,” says Wilson. “In this garden, we
celebrate the curve.”
O For outdoor events this month, visit
homesandproperty.co.uk/events
READER EVENING
Photographs::
Marianne
Majerus
HEAR Matthew Wilson talk about
the making of this Chelsea garden
at Clifton Nurseries, Little Venice,
on June 3 from 6.30pm. Tickets,
priced £15, include canapés and a
glass of Prosecco. There will be an
opportunity to buy plants featured
in this garden, and all plants on
sale, at a 15 per cent discount.
To book, visit clifton.co.uk.
34
WEDNESDAY 27 MAY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Property searching
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Spotlight
Surrey Quays
The Quays to success
Striking architecture, new waterfront flats and fast links to Canary
Wharf are pulling in young professionals, says Anthea Masey
O
Making sparks fly: Kevin Boys is a traditional blacksmith who runs The Forge
at Surrey Docks Farm, where short courses in the skill are on offer to the public
NCE a thriving network of
waterways on the south
bank of the Thames receiving cargo from around the
world, Surrey Commercial
Docks — as Surrey Quays was then
called — dwindled into dereliction
before being closed in 1969.
Despite being a mere hop, skip and a
jump from central London, the place
was abandoned and forgotten for more
than a decade.
In 1981, when the London Docklands
Development Corporation was formed,
there were fewer than 6,000 people
living in the area and most of the docks
had been filled in.
During the 15-year major regeneration that followed, 5,500 new homes
were built, mostly low-rise townhouses
and flats, and waterside homes, particularly around Greenland Dock. The
network of canals created quiet and
Brewing up: Patrick Winstanley of
Mouse Tail Coffee, Canada Water Plaza
peaceful residential backwaters, while
ecological parks and woodlands provided a green lung. The area is also
home to London’s largest marina at
South Dock.
When Surrey Quays Shopping Centre
opened in 1988, this newly emerging
larger neighbourhood, where the borders of Kent and Surrey meet, adopted
the name Surrey Quays.
Today, Surrey Quays is entering a
second phase of regeneration. A striking new library at Canada Water,
described as an inverted pyramid by
architect Piers Gough at CZWG, and a
new public square with food stalls are
beginning to flourish.
James Sellar, son of Shard developer
Irvine Sellar, is building new flats
overlooking Canada Water and a
replacement store for sports retailer
Decathlon, while property giant
British Land is consulting on plans
To find a home in Surrey Quays, visit: homesandproperty.co.uk/surreyquays
£860,000
£840,OOO
£350,000
£900,000
A REFURBISHED four-bedroom townhouse in
Redriff Road, just a short walk from Canada
Water Tube. Through Living in London.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/redriff
A MODERN open-plan three-bedroom flat at
prestigious Baltic Quay, Canada Water, with
a south-facing balcony. Through Foxtons.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/baltic
A STYLISH one-bedroom flat in Lower Road, SE16,
with sweeping views across Southwark Park. It’s
also close to good travel links. Through Foxtons.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/lowerroad
A TWO-BEDROOM maisonette with lots of storage
space, a balcony and roof terrace at Navigation
House, Canada Water. Through Foxtons.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/nav
For more about Surrey Quays, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/spotlightsurreyquays
F
35
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 27 MAY 2015
Property searching Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Playing with the kids: Gemma Hooper organises projects at Surrey Docks Farm
Revival: before its revamp, Surrey
Quays was forgotten for years
CHECK THE STATS
to redevelop the shopping centre,
leisure park and the former Daily Mail
printworks.
■WHAT HOMES COST
WHAT THERE IS TO BUY
Surrey Quays has a mix of low-rise flats
and houses built in the Eighties and
Nineties and more modern higher-rise
blocks. The tallest is 27-storey Ontario
Point, which overlooks Canada Water.
The area attracts: estate agent Chris
Early, of Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward,
says Surrey Quays is attracting young
professionals looking for their first
home and buy-to-let investors wanting
to capitalise on the area’s growth
potential and excellent transport links
to the City and Canary Wharf.
Staying power: Surrey Quays has
many long-standing residents from the
time when it was a tight-knit workingclass community. According to Early,
newcomers often saw the area as a
temporary home for between three
and five years, but he says this is changing and the second wave of regeneration is encouraging families to stay and
put down roots.
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE
What part did Surrey Quays play in
the D-Day landings of June 1944?
There’s a clue in the picture.
Find the answer at
homesandproperty.co.uk/spotlightsurreyquays
BUYING IN SURREY QUAYS
(Average prices)
One-bedroom flat £456,000
Two-bedroom flat £582,000
Three-bedroom flat £765,000
Three-bedroom house £627,000
Four-bedroom house £970,000
Source: Zoopla
RENTING IN SURREY QUAYS
(Average rates)
One-bedroom flat £1,549 a month
Two-bedroom flat £1,961 a month
Three-bedroom flat £1,981 a month
Three-bedroom house £2,262 a month
Four-bedroom house £2,297 a month
Source: Zoopla
GO ONLINE FOR MORE
Photographs: Daniel Lynch
SHOPS AND RESTAURANTS
Surrey Quays Shopping Centre now
feels dated and neglected. There is a
large Tesco Extra and branches of
Bhs, Dorothy Perkins, New Look and
River Island. The centre is due for a
revamp soon.
A favourite local restaurant — and
reputedly one of the best Vietnamese
restaurants in London — is Café East in
nearby Mast Leisure Park. Canada
Water Café in Surrey Quays Road is a
welcome addition to the area.
Also highly regarded is The Yellow
House in Lower Road, a former pub
that has been turned into a bar and
restaurant.
The Mayflower in nearby Rotherhithe
village is the oldest Thames-side
pub in the capital, named after the
Pilgrim Fathers’ ship that set sail
f o r A m e r i c a f ro m Ro t h e rh i t h e
in 1620.
THINGS TO SEE AND DO
Mast Leisure Park in Surrey Quays
Road, behind Surrey Quays Shopping
Centre, has an eight-screen Odeon
cinema and a bowling alley.
CGP, an artist-led initiative providing
exhibitions of contemporary art, has
two galleries in Southwark Park — the
purpose-built Café Gallery and Dilston
Grove, which is in a former listed
chapel. The council-owned swimming
pool is at Seven Islands Leisure Centre
in Lower Road. The Brunel Museum,
dedicated to the achievements of civil
engineer Marc Isambard Brunel and
his more famous son Isambard Kingdom Brunel, is in Railway Avenue.
There is a city farm in Rotherhithe
Street, while the Surrey Docks Watersports Centre in Greenland Dock offers
kayaking, sailing, powerboating, rowing and windsurfing.
Travel: Canada Water is on the Jubilee
line and one stop from Canary Wharf.
Surrey Quays, Canada Water and Rotherhithe stations are on the Overground. All
are in Zone 2 and an annual travelcard
including Zone 1 costs £1,284.
Council: Southwark is Labour-controlled, and Band D council tax for the year
is £1,207.14.
Whale of a time: The Moby Dick pub at Greenland Dock offers home-cooked fare
HAVE YOUR SAY
@AndrewMcManus70
@Theyellowhouse_ best bar and
restaurant in Surrey Quays by a
mile. Great pizzas, wonderful
burgers and friendly service
@Shawzybaws Café East — good
food at excellent value
@choukine @surreydocksfarm
@simplicity @CanadaWaterCafé
@MayflowerPub @DowntownBSA
to name a few
NEXT WEEK: King’s Cross. Do
you live there? Tell us what
you think @HomesProperty
Pearly king: George Major at The Original Cockney Museum near Canada Water
38
WEDNESDAY 27 MAY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Ask the expert
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Can I buy a slice of my parents’ house?
Q
Q
A
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
MY PARENTS want to sell
their second home to
raise some cash, but I
want to keep the property
in the family. What options are
there if I want to buy part of the
house, thus releasing some money
for my parents?
FIRST, get an up-to-date
market valuation of the
property. You and your
parents must decide what
share of the house you should buy.
Once you have agreed on the share,
consider whether you wish to own
the legal title jointly with your
parents, or whether they are to
continue to hold the legal title, with
you having a share of the beneficial
interest in the property, which can be
evidenced by a declaration of trust.
If you decide on the former, then a
transfer document would be needed
to transfer to you the agreed share,
and that transfer would have to be
registered at the Land Registry. You
and your parents would become joint
registered proprietors. Alternatively,
your parents could remain owners of
the property and a declaration of
trust could be put in place,
confirming that they hold the
property on trust for you and them,
and the terms of that trust. In both
cases, a restriction should be placed
in the title register.
There may be a capital gains tax
liability when your parents sell to you
and when you sell in the future, as
this is a second home.
More legal
Q&As
Visit: homesand
property.co.uk
MY MOTHER is very elderly and, about 10
years ago, she made an “enduring power of
attorney” and named my sister and I as her
attorneys. I understand that, these days,
most people make “lasting powers of attorney”.
Can I still use the enduring power of attorney to
sell Mum’s house? She is going to have to move to
sheltered accommodation soon, the way things
are going.
IF THE enduring power of attorney was made
before September 2007, you may still use it.
Enduring powers of attorney were replaced by
lasting powers of attorney for property and
financial affairs in October that year.
Provided your mother has not revoked the arrangement
and still has mental capacity, it will be valid and you will
be able to use it to sell her house and to deal with her
affairs. However, if she has lost her mental capacity, you
must register the enduring power of attorney with the
Office of the Public Guardian. Once it is registered, you
must try to involve your mother in making decisions if at
all possible, and you must follow instructions that she has
given in her enduring power of attorney.
If your mother has not lost mental capacity, she could,
of course, just cancel the enduring power of attorney by a
deed of revocation and set up two new lasting powers of
attorney — one for property and financial affairs, and one
for health and welfare.
Although the latter of the two may not seem necessary
now, it may be a wise move for the future.
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.
39
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 27 MAY 2015
Inside story Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
MONDAY
THURSDAY
Today I am off to value a freehold property in Goodge Street, which is undergoing a fast-paced change as Fitzroy
Place nears completion. The street
links Tottenham Court Road and Fitzroy Place and anything along that
stretch is highly sought-after. The owners — a family who have had the property for many years — secured a change
of use from office to residential, which
has enhanced the value nicely.
There are signs that the London housing market is continuing to flourish,
despite the uncertainty the general
election brought, although not at the
same rate as the past few years.
However, this month’s statistics are
looking positive — we have already
received bids on a few more £2 millionplus homes.
I am out with a client who makes
“biskies” — a cross between biscuits,
cookies and cakes. The company has
a pop-up shop but is now looking at a
more permanent place in Soho.
It is next to the Street Food Union
market in Rupert Street, which opens
Thursday to Saturday, 11am to 4pm.
Here you will find a mixture of fresh,
diverse and exciting international
cuisine. If you haven’t tried it, I do
recommend a visit.
On the way back I pass through Soho.
The area has changed so much in the
past few years. The Crossrail project
has really altered the landscape, with
new buildings replacing the old and
attracting large retailers back to the
eastern side of Oxford Street.
TUESDAY
We review the week. The lettings team
has had a great run and I am speaking
to recruiters today, as we need another
experienced adviser to deal with all the
enquiries.
Our sales team has just agreed a deal
on a large penthouse apartment, which
was available pre-election, but suddenly had two buyers fighting over it.
This afternoon I get a call from our
biskies company and they want to
make a bid on the Soho shop. The
offer is quite close to the quoting terms,
so I am hopeful we will have them in
their new home soon.
I get a call from a client who I sold a flat
to back in 2007. Despite the high prices
before the recession hit, he bought
well. It’s a beautiful, second-floor,
Georgian-fronted conversion with high
ceilings, and only a short distance from
Fitzroy Square and Charlotte Street.
These types of properties are in short
supply, so they hold their worth — as
he can now see. The flat has gained
70 per cent in value since he bought.
He is impressed with the valuation, but
now has to pitch the idea of selling up
to his partner.
I spend the rest of the day booking in
valuations. Summer will be here soon
and there is a buzz in the streets. We’re
lucky to work in the busy West End.
FRIDAY
Client is so sweet on Soho
Diary of
an estate
agent
WEDNESDAY
We are putting the final touches to our
marketing campaign for a great new
development that we will start selling
at the beginning of next month. It’s a
meticulously designed property with
nine flats on the corner of Charlotte
Street. The new brochures look great,
and we have been inundated with
enquires from the hoarding. We are
preparing invites for the official
launch, when we can go through the
high specifications with each buyer.
Not long to go now.
O Jonathan Hudson is director of
Hudsons Property, based in Charlotte
Street, W1 (020 7323 2277).
!"
"
"
!
40
if you’re in the market
for a London property,
we’re
WEDNESDAY 27 MAY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Letting on
The market is hot
— and I’m bothered
Victoria Whitlock finds rivals scrambling to pay top
dollar as she tries to buy a flat to rent to her student niece
B
EING “an expert”, I was
roped in to try to help
my niece find rental
accommodation during her
second year at a university
in south London. But, quick as a
flash, it occurred to me that I could
buy a flat myself and let it to her and
her student mates for the next couple
of years until they all graduate.
Such a simple idea and a win-win
all round, you might think.
Her university halls of residence
charges students £175 to £185 a week
for a small single room with a
mouldy en suite shower, which is
way more than the average cost of a
double room in a shared private
house in the same area.
I decided that if I could find the
right property, I could let it to my
niece and her friends for a lot less
than the university was charging.
They would have more of their
student loans left over for the
essentials, like cigarettes, iPhones
and holidays in Ibiza, and I would
steal the title of Best Auntie Ever
from my younger sister.
Obviously, my niece will only be at
university for another three years —
it’s a four-year course — but I figured I
shouldn’t have any difficulty finding
new tenants in the future if I wanted
to hang on to the house. There was
just one small problem with my plan
— finding the right property.
I thought an ex-local authority
three- or four-bedroom flat would be
ideal. You get much more space for
your money with ex-council
properties and they’re great for
students because they usually have
UPVC double-glazing, meaning
they’re toasty in winter but
The accidental
landlord
O Victoria
Whitlock lets
three properties
in south London.
To contact
Victoria with
your ideas and
views, tweet
@vicwhitlock
T
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.
£700 a week: in Devonport Mews, Shepherd’s Bush, Faron
Sutaria has a two-bedroom, two-bathroom mews house
available to rent, with allocated parking. For more details
and pictures, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/alrent
'" ""#""!""!" %"!"$"(&)%"""""%"
%"""
""""""'" "%
! " comparatively cheap to heat.
However, when I contacted my
local estate agent to enquire about
suitable properties I’d spotted on
Zoopla, I was surprised to be told
they had all sold. It seems these
ex-council flats, which you couldn’t
give away a few years ago, are
suddenly selling like hot cakes.
Not only are they proving popular
with first-time buyers who have come
back into the market, but also with
investors, who have woken up to the
fact that the yields are unbeatable.
While the value of Victorian houses
in the area is actually falling, the
asking prices for ex-local authority
flats have taken off. Demand is so
high that it’s hard to even get to view
these flats that used to sit unwanted
on the market for months.
Eventually I found one new to the
market, but I was told I couldn’t see it
until the “launch” at an open house
the following Saturday, which turned
out to be a waste of time. There were
other viewers all trying to squeeze
into the tiny kitchen, so I joined a
queue to get up the cramped
staircase. I then spent longer than I
wanted inspecting the bathroom
because, once in, I couldn’t get out as
there was a traffic jam on the landing.
I gave up trying to find the agent to
ask about important stuff, such as the
length of lease and service charge.
I thought it was overpriced, yet the
flat sold the same day, presumably to
someone who had only just seen it.
I’ve spent longer choosing a pair of
cheap jeans.
HE second property I
viewed attracted two bids
within 24 hours, one from
a first-time buyer. Not
wanting to get into a
bidding war with someone trying to
buy their first home, I decided to
walk away. Offers on another
property I was interested in, a
repossession, had sailed well over
the guide price within two days of
coming on to the market.
Buying a rental property only
makes sense if you can get it at the
right price, and in this overheated
market, the price is not right. The
lesson being — do not rush into
something that is overpriced as the
deal must work. In an overheated
market, wait for it to cool off.
Find many more homes to rent at
homesandproperty.co.uk/lettings
46
WEDNESDAY 27 MAY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property New homes
Hospital homes will keep
your bank balance healthy
homesandproperty.co.uk with
By David Spittles
Smartt
mov
mo
moves
ove
ves
s
WestSide tells
a new story
THE heart of the East End
has become a fashionable
hunting ground for
first-time buyers.
Away from the gleaming
towers of Canary Wharf,
the arty lofts of Hoxton and
gentrified pockets around
Victoria Park, there are still
affordable homes.
St Clement’s, above,
is an imaginative
redevelopment of a
derelict but listed Victorian
hospital in Mile End.
Launching next month, the
252-home estate has a mix
of flats in refurbished older
buildings plus new builds
in the grounds.
It is also part of London’s
first Community Land
Project, which seeks to link
the cost of 23 of the homes
to the area’s average
median wage, meaning
one-bedroom flats will cost
from about £150,000.
Others are on a sharedownership basis, priced
from £325,000. Call Linden
Homes on 0844 488 1678.
B
RENTFORD has embarked
on a second wave of
regeneration, with
commercial buildings
being converted into
homes. The former Alfa Laval
complex in Great West Road is now
WestSide, with 137 apartments
arranged around sheltered courtyard
gardens. Prices from £309,995.
Call Bellway on 0845 676 0255.
Great West Quarter is a new
13-acre precinct with 900 homes
being built around Wallis House,
a splendid Art Deco edifice, once
headquarters of airline BOAC and
GlaxoSmithKline. The building has
an impressive colonnaded façade
with an airman statue perched at the
top, dating back to the time when
parts for Spitfire planes were made
there. Alongside are colourful
new-build blocks with concierge,
underground parking, a crêche and
shops set around a public square.
Two-bedroom apartments cost
from £480,000. Call Barratt on
0844 811 4321.
From £480,000: homes at Great West
Quarter in Clayponds Lane, Brentford,
with cafés and a covered piazza
# #
#
10 MIN TUBE
#
#
WITH ##!#"#$%##### ## #
#! ## #
Brought to you by
47
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 27 MAY 2015
New homes Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Canalside flats off ‘Skyscraper
Street’ are great for creatives
WHILE City Road, which
links the Square Mile to
Islington, has become
“Skyscraper Street”, with a
clutch of new apartment
towers, the quiet low-rise
neighbourhood tucked
away behind this bustling
thoroughfare has an
altogether different feel.
Here, canalside wharves
and small factories
are making way for new
builds and loft offices for
designers and geeks, a
spillover from Shoreditch.
City Wharf, left,
comprises a linear group
of warehouse-style blocks,
with communal roof
terraces and courtyard
gardens overlooking
Wenlock Basin. The 327
flats even feature storage
for more than 300 bikes.
Prices from £500,000.
Call Fabrica on 0800
083 3199.
LOFTY AMBITION
Read more: visit
our new online
luxury section
HomesAndProperty.co.uk/luxury
OLD habits die hard in the Surrey
stockbroker belt, but loft-style living
is catching on there.
New detached family houses at
High Warren in Ashtead, right,
have multi-use super-rooms zoned
into areas for cooking and home
entertainment. Jonathan Cranley,
director of Millgate Homes, says:
“The kitchen is the hub of the house,
the real focal point.”
Instead of rigidly defined rooms,
homes have a free-flowing feel, while
the super-room incorporates a bright
orangery with bi-fold doors opening
out on to the garden. Prices from
£3.75 million. Call 0118 934 3344.
LAST CHANCE! ONLY
TWO APARTMENTS LEFT
SPECTACULAR TOP FLOOR APARTMENTS
WITH PRIVATE LIFT ACCESS
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Prices from £1,195,000
Visit our newly opened show apartment
10am – 5pm, 7 days a week
Hammers Lane, Mill Hill, London NW7 4AQ
Contact us
020 8421 9139
Joint Sole Agents:
[email protected]
millhillplace.com
[email protected]
020 8954 8626
[email protected]
020 8731 9500
AVAILABLE
TO MOVE
IN NOW
Development by:
heronslea-group.co.uk