Homes& Property Wednesday 12 November 2014 Get cosy with Grayson Perry What’s on in London Page 17 NINE ELMS STANDS TALL P6 CROSSRAIL: WHERE TO BUY P8 FABULOUS BED LINEN P16 SPOTLIGHT ON BARNET P36 UK’s young designers Page 22 PATRICK QUAYLE Out to conquer the world 4 WEDNESDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2014 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Online homesandproperty.co.uk with This week: homesandproperty.co.uk news: now you can cuddle up with your car The car as art: this Knightsbridge house, priced £16.5 million, is following a US craze for glazed integral garages THE dream home for a wealthy car enthusiast has come on the market in London — a £16.5 million Knightsbridge end-of-terrace house with an integral glass-panelled garage that allows the buyer to drool over their prized motor from the comfort of the study. The concept of car-as-artwork comes from America, where houses regularly feature glazed car parking areas, but this is a first for London. Property search Trophy buy of the week steer for those harbour lights £9.95 million: your Chelsea Harbour neighbour, actor Sir Michael Caine, may be moaning about Labour’s threatened mansion tax but this jaw-dropping penthouse with 2,500 square feet of lateral, white gloss-tiled entertaining space is surely worth the pain. It has a wraparound terrace with 360-degree views, including over the harbour, while the master bedroom covers 1,000sq ft and comes with a divine en suite bathroom, wet room and central bathtub. The apartment has direct lift access, 24-hour security, a 132in drop-down O Read Ruth Bloomfield’s full story at homesandproperty.co.uk £475,000: leafy Stroud Green is well worth a look if you want to live in a conservation area with good transport links and green open spaces — it sits next to vibrant Finsbury Park. You’ll find good solid Victorian proportions at this garden flat in a sought-after road. A sleek new refit has resulted in dark wood floors and white walls in a Life changer move in and launch a holiday rental firm WITH the housing market cooling down, now could be a great time to bag a good-value home ready for the new year. We have found first-time buyer flats and homes for second-steppers across London, all with price tags of less than £250,000. We’ve even found a mansion block studio apartment in prime Chelsea for only £140,000 — but with that one, we must admit there’s a catch... £850,000: there’s nothing to do to this Cornish gorgeous Georgian set in two acres surrounded by farmland, a few miles from Truro. There are four big bedrooms and two bathrooms upstairs, three lovely reception rooms and a glorious kitchen/breakfast room that opens to the gardens, plus a one-bedroom annexe you could rent out. There’s also earning potential from stables with planning consent to be turned into holiday homes. Through Jackson-Stops & Staff. O Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/hothomes250 O Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/lifechangertruro Facebook: ESHomesAndProperty • Twitter: Editor: Janice Morley • Free photography and professional copywriting • Free quality inspection and grading to tourist board standards • Contracts clarity approved by the Plain English Campaign (Crystal Mark 20837) • Expert yield management with payments in advance and no hidden fees • Personal and friendly service • Free additional listing on www.cottages4you.co.uk Call our Property Recruitment Team on 0845 268 8896 Email [email protected] or visit www.letmycottage.com O Visit homes andproperty.co.uk/ trophychel London buy of the week a roomy garden flat in sought-after Stroud Green London homes: bag one for under £250,000 What’s the catch?: a studio flat in this handsome Chelsea mansion block for £140,000 sounds too good to be true cinema screen and air conditioning throughout. There are three further en suite bedrooms and secure underground parking for two cars. Available through Foxtons. VISIT homesandproperty.co.uk/ rules for details of our usual promotion rules. When you respond to promotions, offers or competitions, the London Evening Standard and its sister companies may contact you with relevant offers and services that may be of interest. Please give your mobile number and/or email address if you would like to receive such offers by text or email. Editorial: 020 3615 2524 Advertisement manager: Mark Wood Advertising: 020 3615 0527 Homes & Property, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, Kensington, London W8 5TT. spacious reception room/open-plan kitchen that’s lit by a large bay window and door out to the private garden. The airy feel continues in two bedrooms laid with plush grey carpet, and bathrooms with high-spec fixtures. A variety of shops, restaurants and bars is a short stroll away. It’s for sale chain free through KFH. O Visit homesand property.co.uk/ buyoftheweekstroud By Faye Greenslade @HomesProperty • Pinterest: @HomesProperty Win a Grundig washing machine German design, stainless steel, 8kg capacity and rated A+++ WE HAVE the perfect prize for anyone who wants to give their kitchen a modern, stylish touch, thanks to Grundig. The company has launched in the UK with a range of German-designed home appliances that combine innovative technology and effortless good looks to add a contemporary feel to any kitchen. One lucky winner will receive Grundig’s stainless steel 8kg washing machine. It has an A+++ rating for energy use, while the 8kg capacity allows for a larger load to be washed, saving you time and money. The quick-wash program does a full load in 40 minutes at 40c, while the silent mode means you can wash at night and no one will be disturbed. Available for the first time in the UK, Grundig’s range of refrigeration, washing machines, tumble dryers and dishwashers has already received international acclaim, with the collection scooping six coveted Red Dot design awards. All products come with a five-year warranty. To find out more visit grundig.co.uk. TO ENTER For a chance to win a Grundig stainless steel 8kg washing machine, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/offers before the end of November 23. Usual rules apply, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/rules for details 5 EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2014 News Homes & Property homesandproperty.co.uk with Buy Tom’s ski pad for a cool £37m Homes gossip ÉTOM CRUISE has put his estate in the ski resort of Telluride, Colorado, on the market for £36.9 million. In addition to a 10,000sq ft, fourbedroom main residence, above, there is a three-bedroom guest house on site. The views of mountain peaks are splendid and Telluride airport is 10 minutes away, making the estate an ideal retreat for A-list fans of the slopes. The Mission: Impossible megastar, below, 52, who is reportedly dating Australian model Miranda Kerr, 31, ex-wife of British screen heart-throb Orlando Bloom, is selling up via Sotheby’s International Realty. By Amira Hashish £10,000 a week to live like the Robster ÉROBBIE WILLIAMS’S former home in Little Venice is back on the rental market. The four-storey period villa, above, near Regent’s Canal, is listed with Savills for £10,000 a week. With five bedrooms, it would be perfect for hosting Christmas guests, with a large reception room, study area and a gym to work off the turkey and trimmings. Communal gardens with tennis courts and a play area offer another incentive. The singer, left, has a two-year-old daughter, Teddy, with wife Ayda Field and last month tweeted live video footage from the American actress’s bedside while she was in labour with their son, Charlton. The young family now split their time between a 46-room Holland Park mansion and a home in Los Angeles. Rent a shabby-chic celebrity haunt 6,000sq ft Dalston warehouse, above left and right, is for rent. MC Motors in Millers Avenue, E8, is regularly used for shabby-chic photo shoots. Singer Jessie J, left, model Cara Delevingne, and Game of Thrones stars Lena Headey and Emilia Clarke have all been seen there recently, so it’s the obvious spot for a starry Christmas Party. Visit castle gibson.com. Price on application. GETTY Got some gossip? Tweet @amiranews GETTY ÉA MAGNIFICENT “distressed” O homesandproperty.co.uk/rentrobbie Now that’s a (political) party house REX ÉIF YOU enjoy a drink, a flutter and playing power politics, then this three-bedroom house, right, in Elstree Hill, Bromley, is for you. It was the home of the early 19th-century politician and art connoisseur Charles Long, 1st Baron Farnborough, whose friends and political allies, including William Pitt and William Wilberforce, enjoyed gambling and drinking parties on its “casino terrace”. Lord Farnborough helped establish the National Gallery and his wife Amelia Long, Lady Farnborough, was a renowned artist and garden designer. While her work can be found at Tate Britain and the V&A, some remains in the Elstree Hill house and is sure to interest art collectors. Available through Sinclair Hammelton, the Italian-style villa needs modernising but at £500,000 it could be a solid investment. O Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/farn $++ + ( ((& -''))*-& $" % %%" )&!%# %&!%# #%% # !%# , % %'*% ( ")"")) !$)',"")*)")%" Prices from £355,000 020 3411 2026 %"$)) )'#))%),)+%+ +%"$)) )'+% Computer generated image of an apartment at Camberwell Fields is indicative only. 6 WEDNESDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2014 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property New homes Our garden’s in the sky SOME of the tallest towers are being built at One Nine Elms, a homes-and-hotel scheme with 436 flats. The first of the two striking buildings is 56-storey City Tower. Much is being made of its dramatic architecture and stunning views plus the five-star hotel services available to residents. But amenities come at a cost — higher service charges. Completion is in 2018. Prices from £795,000. Call Strutt & Parker on 020 7629 7282. Nine Elms Point, right, a complex of 593 flats, is being built beside the new Nine Elms Northern line Tube station in Wandsworth Road. A new Sainsbury superstore is part of the project. Two-bedroom flats start at £883,000. Call Barratt on 0844 811 4334. Vauxhall Sky Gardens is rising on a plot opposite the Tube station. The 35-storey tower includes communal gardens on the higher floors, while the design of the “rococo-style” entrance lobby is inspired by historic Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, from 1729 a centre of art and architecture for 200 years. Twobedroom flats with interiors by Philippe Starck’s Yoo company cost from £980,000. Completion in 2017. Call 020 7437 1000. homesandproperty.co.uk with N ICKNAMED “New South Bank” and even “Hong Kong on Thames”, Nine Elms is on the radar of everyone looking for a new central London home or an investment. This once-forlorn industrial strip between Battersea and Vauxhall is rapidly turning into the capital’s biggest new neighbourhood, attracting buyers, renters and investors from across London and the globe. Covering 480 acres, the area between Vauxhall Bridge and Chelsea Bridge, sandwiched by the Thames and Wandsworth Road, is five times the size of Canary Wharf, with a mile and a half of riverfront and up to 30 projects either under way or poised to start. As the distinctive residential towers shoot up and the neighbourhood takes shape, buyers are becoming more forensic about the design, size and price of the homes on offer, as well as local amenities, and are deciding precisely where they want to live. After all, Nine Elms will be a construction site for at least another 10 years. The rough masterplan envisages a collection of micro neighbourhoods — high-rise, low-rise, riverside and inland, each with a distinct identity. There’s a wide spectrum of homes and prices, and resales are already appearing. It takes about half an hour to walk through the heart of the district, so proximity to one of two new Tube stations coming to the area is likely to be a big factor for many buyers. A railway line, parallel with the river, cuts through it, giving rise to judgments about homes on the “wrong side of the tracks”. Up in the blue: Vauxhall Sky Gardens, a 35-storey tower of 204 flats at Nine Elms with interiors by Yoo and communal gardens on the higher floors NEW TOWERS Five times the size of Canary Wharf, with two new Tube stations and a business park, Nine Elms is shooting skywards, discovers David Spittles VAUX POP Start your home search at the district’s eastern end, by MI6 headquarters, where a cluster of developments is under construction. This patch, amid Vauxhall’s fast-gentrifying streets, is closest to the central London action and likely to appeal to younger buyers working in the City and West End. Vauxhall Cross, currently a giant traffic swirl, is set to be transformed by a development of the same name: two skyscrapers designed by architects Squire and Partners that will “dovetail” with the bustling transport hub, bringing 291 apartments plus a hotel, offices, Manhattan style: Embassy Gardens streets, right, around the new US embassy, have the solid feel of the Meatpacking District, or the capital’s Edwardian mansion blocks shops and pedestrian-friendly spaces. First phase completions from 2019. Call Knight Frank on 020 7861 5411. PARK PEOPLE A linear park linking the river and various developments including the US embassy will be the pedestrian spine of the new district. This “continuous car-free green corridor” will run from Vauxhall Cross to Battersea Power Station. It will be a focal point for recreation, entirely open to the public. The edges of this important community facility will be lined with shops, cafés and restaurants, appealing 7 EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2014 New homes Homes & Property ( -( & (!&&( -!-!(& (-- ( Transformation: the Vauxhall Cross towers, by Squire and Partners, with 291 flats, a hotel, offices and shops. Call Knight Frank on 020 7861 5411 OF LONDON to families and those seeking to relax and shake off the sweat of the city. A key section of the park will snake through what is now New Covent Garden Market, a 57-acre industrial estate for London’s fruit and vegetable traders. The site will become a new Borough Market-style food quarter with stalls, space for start-up businesses and up to 3,019 homes. Embassy Gardens, next door, is one of the more advanced projects, a complex of 1,982 homes that will form a horseshoe around the new American embassy. The apartment blocks are more sober and arguably more considered than those at Vauxhall Cross. Built of brick rather than glass and steel, they are of varying height and character, influenced by Manhattan’s historic Meatpacking District. Developer Ballymore has also delivered classy, contemporary-design interiors. The first residents move in early next year. On-site extras include a spa, yoga studio, library, cinema suite and 24hour security. Coming later is one of London’s biggest Waitrose stores. Show flats are open for viewing ahead of the phase two launch next spring. Call 020 7062 8940. Behind Embassy Gardens, warehouses formerly owned by fine art auctioneer Christie’s are being redeveloped by Bellway into 513 homes, while Nine Elms Parkside, currently a Royal Mail depot, has planning consent for 456 homes, sports pitches and a primary school. Riverlight has six waterfront pavilions with 813 homes and is well-located for the proposed new pedestrian bridge across the Thames to Pimlico. Prices from £800,000. Call 020 7870 9620. POWER PLAY Awesome Battersea Power Station, close to Chelsea Bridge, will be the district’s commercial heart, its town centre. The £8 billion power station redevelopment will provide three and a half million square feet of shops, offices and restaurants, as well as 3,800 homes, the first of which will be ready in 2016. Two phases of apartments were an instant sell-out and the third phase, a series of dramatic, tumbling, titaniumclad blocks by “starchitect” Frank Gehry, has just been unveiled, with prices starting at £495,000 for a studio and £3.2 million for a four-bedroom townhouse. Call 020 7501 0678. Flats in the power station itself have sold for premium prices, with studios fetching £800,000. “There are buyers who want to be in the power station and nowhere else,” says Kieran Chalker of local estate agent Garton Jones. One of the area’s two Northern line stations will be within the 40-acre complex, expected to be a vibrant, 24-hour neighbourhood. While the born-again power station will open up the waterfront, closed to the public for generations, the back end of the development in Nine Elms Lane is less enticing. The industrial legacy is still evident here. Battersea Dogs and Cats Home is an incongruous presence, while the land is criss-crossed by railway tracks. Gas holders are being decommissioned for new housing, called Battersea Gardens, by developer St James. Battersea Park East, a scheme by Taylor Wimpey, seeks to enhance the area by transforming derelict railway arches and building 290 homes plus a new primary school, and is perhaps a chance to buy into a hot district at a lower price. To register, call DTZ on 020 3296 2222. To date, developers have been aggressively marketing homes and raising prices with each new phase. Since 2011, the average value of a home in the Nine Elms zone has jumped from about £800 to £1,400 per square foot, while spectacular river-facing flats are fetching more than £2,000 per square foot. It is a good idea to compare resales with off-plan prices. Garton Jones has a number of resales priced from £699,000 to £2.9 million. Call 020 7735 1888. With many more flats becoming available, and property market sentiment changing ahead of next year’s general election, it is possible that prices may plateau, at least in the short term. "((!&!$(). (+ ' , . -!& #(&-!(&(- !!( ( (!(-!%)!(! !($(!+( * - (! + +($(& -( (!( @LQHomesForSale $(& www.lqgroup.org.uk/pricedin Registered Society 30441R Exempt charity. Details correct at time of going to print 11/14. Your home is at risk if you fail to keep up repayments on a mortgage, rent or other loan secured on it. Please make sure you can afford the repayments before you take out a mortgage. FOR FULL TERMS & CONDITIONS please see www.lqgroup.org.uk/pricedin for details. Window on the world: panoramic view at Vauxhall Sky Gardens (020 7437 1000) ( 8 WEDNESDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2014 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Commuting homesandproperty.co.uk with N OWHERE along Crossrail’s route will the new train service’s impact be more m a rke d t h a n a ro u n d its southern spur, from Whitechapel to Abbey Wood in southeast London. In terms of the transformative effect on areas and enhancing their desirability, each of the five districts dotted along the spur is set to be driven into a different housing bracket. A new station is being built at each stop and at peak times, 12 trains an hour will take passengers to Docklands, the City and the West End. STATION STORIES CANARY WHARF: this new station will be one of the largest on the Crossrail network, a spectacular design that has been likened to a docked cruise ship, with six storeys of shops, a cinema, restaurants, bars, a landscaped park and a roof garden above the tracks. Crucially, for the first time, Canary Wharf will have a direct link to Heathrow, slashing the journey time to the airport to 39 minutes — a boon for timepoor bankers and business executives. Crossrail marks a fresh stage in the evolution of Canary Wharf and is the key factor in ambitions to double the area’s working population to 200,000 over the next 15 years. And more employees mean more homes. “There’s an abundance of new-build projects nearing completion, and the dynamics of the market are changing. No longer is it just Canary Wharf workers buying or renting. People are moving in from west and south,” says Julian Amos, of the local branch of estate agent Hamptons International. This part of Docklands is an alternative London, having more in common with downtown Chicago or Singapore than Kensington, Putney, Highgate or the City. Most residents are high-earning singles and couples under 45. Canary Wharf was built originally as a financial zone. The vast majority of apartments, new and older ones, are outside the 97-acre estate. Homes within a 10-minute walk of the office towers are the most sought-after. The new Crossrail station, anchored below the dealing rooms, will provide quicker links to Poplar, a poor relation currently blocked off by a dock. At most developments, prices are 15-20 Game changer: Woolwich’s new Crossrail station will vastly improve connections from what is one of London’s cheapest areas to live — for now. Rail journey times to the City, Canary Wharf, the West End and Heathrow airport will be slashed PART 5: WHITECHAPEL TO ABBEY WOOD Crossrail The transformation of these five districts will be the biggest in their history, says David Spittles per cent higher than a year ago, but values are still quite a bit lower than in central London, ranging from £600 to £1,000 a square foot. This means you can buy a waterfront flat with a budget of less than £500,000, while if you can stretch to £1 million or more, you can live in a penthouse. Typically, new one-bedroom flats cost £300,000 to £500,000, and two-bedroom flats from £450,000 to £750,000. Resales in less-glitzy first-generation developments, built 15 or 20 years ago, are cheaper. CUSTOM HOUSE: Crossrail is a huge boost for Royal Docks, one of London’s main regeneration and housing growth areas. Equivalent in size to the area from Hyde Park to Tower Bridge, it is currently out on a limb, served only by the Docklands Light Railway, but Crossrail will take locals to the heart of the West End — Tottenham Court Road — in 15 minutes. The vision is for tens of thousands of new homes and the sort of convivial waterside living we associate with places such as Chelsea Harbour. At the moment, the area feels raw. However, with the sweeping changes planned, it is an opportunity to buy early into a district with upside. Royal Wharf is one of the new neighbourhoods being built, with 3,385 homes designed around a high street and marketplace, garden squares, parks, shops, restaurants and a school. Much-needed family houses are part of the mix and MINUTES SAVED ON JOURNEYS TO AND FROM TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD BY CROSSRAIL Whitechapel 12 Reading Heathrow Abbey Wood 23 Custom House 15 Canary Wharf 9 almost half of this mainly low-rise development will be open green space, with jogging and cycle paths plus a riverside Woolwich 18 Shenfield Inner London Abbey Wood Source: Hamptons Call for entries The 24th annual London Evening Standard New Homes Awards will celebrate and commend innovation and excellence in today’s new homes. For more information and to request an entry form email [email protected] or call 01568 708 163. Closing date for entries: Friday 6 February 2015 9 EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2014 Commuting Homes & Property homesandproperty.co.uk with From £250,000: Woolwich Central apartments, right, in blocks linked by landscaped walkways and sky gardens £345,000. Call 020 8331 7130. The local council is lobbying Transport for London to make Woolwich, currently in Zone 4, a Zone 3 station, while another aim is to reconnect the riverside with Woolwich town centre, via new pedestrian routes and a public square. Woolwich Central, a major town centre scheme built above a Tesco superstore, is an uplifting assembly of nine buildings linked by open courtyards, landscaped walkways and sky gardens. Modern, modular apartment blocks are clad in a grid pattern of black-and-grey panels and have glasswalled winter gardens for year-round living and views of the Thames. Prices from £250,000. Call 020 8855 7290. Ex-local authority flats in the area start at less than £125,000, according to estate agent Peter James. Call 020 8858 2555. Away from the river-hugging town centre and industrial estates, Woolwich has tree-lined avenues, a common and conservation areas. Spectacular: Crossrail, and its new Canary Wharf station, left, with six storeys of amenities above the tracks, mark the area’s next stage of evolution ABBEY WOOD: this dreary south-London outpost will be brought in from the cold by Crossrail, the biggest addition to the local train network since the North Kent line was built in 1849. “The new link will morph the area into a serious commuter zone,” says Johnny Morris, head of research at Hamptons International. Most housing here dates back to the Fifties and Sixties when the London County Council built new estates on marshland. Thamesmead, with its brutalist-style concrete architecture, was one of these neighbourhoods but it is now being bulldozed to make way for new homes for a new generation. Peabody, the housing charity, is investing £200 million in a new “garden suburb” that will include apartments along Thamesmead’s three miles of waterfront and be connected to the new Crossrail station. Regeneration is already under way at Southmere Village — 296 homes plus a library, shops and community square. Bellway is also building homes here. Call 01689 886400. Elsewhere, three-bedroom houses sell for less than £180,000. Call Able Estates on 020 8012 2231. From £250,000: flats at Royal Wharf, right, a new Royal Docks neighbourhood, with Custom House the local Crossrail station promenade. Flats start at £250,000. Three-bedroom townhouses with gardens and terraces cost from £630,000. Call 0800 160 1200. A town centre of sorts for Royal Docks has formed around ExCeL exhibition centre, where smart apartment blocks and a cluster of hotels and eateries have sprung up. WOOLWICH: still one of the cheapest places to live in London, it has been touted as “up-and-coming” for more than a decade, without really achieving that status, but Crossrail is likely to be a game changer. When the station opens in 2018, no other place beyond Zone 1 in south London will be as wellconnected. Locals will be able to travel to Canary Wharf in eight minutes, to the City in 14 minutes, to Bond Street in 22 minutes and to Heathrow in 50 minutes, without changing trains. Royal Arsenal Riverside is the address set to benefit most. The new Crossrail station is being built within the walls of this impressive housing estate, a former armaments factory with a collection of prized listed buildings. Developer Berkeley Homes has contributed £30 million to the cost of the station and is building 592 flats in five tower blocks above it, with prices from Regeneration: residents at the new Southmere Village in Thamesmead will be served by Abbey Wood Crossrail station View homes for sale at every station along the Crossrail route. Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/hothomescrossrail • Ready to move in now • Travel to Canary Wharf in just 4 minutes* Sales Representation 0207 515 1491 www.av-e14.co.uk Beyond your expectations Price correct at time of press. *Travel times represent the quickest journeys via public transport from Canning Town Station which is approximately a 10 minute walk from the development. Source: Transport for London. 10 WEDNESDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2014 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Area watch H AMMERSMITH, which has lent its name to the Apollo music venue, to the Lyric theatre and to a flyover, has never managed to become associated with pioneering architecture. This is a sprawling suburb with a big market in three-bedroom houses that are typically priced about £2.2 million and sought after by families wanting to benefit from the range of good local schools. So how will Sovereign Court, where flats are priced from £2,199,950 to £3,849,950 fit in? Only the penthouse remains for sale in phase one of this luxury apartment development due to complete in 2016. The scheme includes Clarence House and adjoining Lancaster House. They sit at the corner of Glenthorne and Beadon Roads in W6 on the site of a former car park. The developer, St George, is putting parking places underground. Interiors have a smart neutral palette, though buyers can specify finishes, from classic oak flooring to deep-pile carpets. The 2.4-metre ceiling heights are typical inner city, while “second” ceilings conceal air filtration and comfort cooling systems. PLUS POINTS The concierge will deliver your mail and pick up letters for delivery from a postbox on each floor, and there are refuse chutes at every floor, too. The three-bedroom show flat for the remaining phases has an open-plan living space, a Commodore kitchen with marble central island and Siemens homesandproperty.co.uk with SOVEREIGN COURT Luxurious yes, but perfection? Not quite Architecture writer Suzanne Trocmé looks at two new Hammersmith schemes and finds the cheaper one is by far the best appliances, plus dining and soft seating areas. There is the ubiquitous wine cooler but the apartment is cosy, rather than palatial. A plus point is the natural light from two aspects. Sound systems and 55in LED TVs are included, Sky and broadband thrown in. The penthouse boasts a home automation system. Service charge is £3.50 a square foot and for the boiler you pay £400 up front and then for additional usage. Floor plans differ for the one-, two- and three-bedroom flats, though this proves more successful in some cases than in others, with, for example, compromised bathroom space in the show apartment. Though fitted with Villeroy & Boch fixtures and with a heated marble floor and walls, the shower room has its door facing the Sovereign Court: scheme brings 418 luxurious new Hammersmith homes Penthouse perfection: fabulous views from Sovereign Court roof terrace open-plan living space. Bedrooms are further along a corridor that turns, raising the spectre of jet-lagged guests wandering into the hub of the home to ablute when lunch is in full swing. The other bathroom is en suite at the other end of the corridor. You can see why this arrangement was chosen, to create an accessible loo. As a second bathroom it does not work. The door should be on the bedroom corridor, which would have been easy to do. Each apartment has a balcony and floor-to-ceiling windows, so with all this +'0('),,''07,'-' ,'''' ' ! '% ! ' $ 1' ' 1 ' ' % %' '& !'& &#''''),+'((7, 2*,'-7' /# ' &'''),+'((7,#''),+'0, 2*,'-7' # +2'(,2+,'62 2.'(+ '),+'((7,'-7' # *,(+4*45 0,,64*45 6*55,,,)4*45 7,'.,,(,+'27(.,'(,'2+2*(2 ,'6'(+')3,*''*0(.,4 11 EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2014 Area watch Homes & Property homesandproperty.co.uk with The high life: just the penthouse, with a spectacular living space, remains for sale in the first phase of Sovereign Court How it’s done: unrivalled riverside views at Fulham Reach, which has a boat club, spa, a pool and residents’ wine cellar DEVELOPMENT TWO: FULHAM REACH detail and conformity to interior designer Helen Turkington’s vision, why are the curtains not thrown in? What irks me is the way that owners are able to put up whatever window treatments they wish. This can often ruin the glass frontage with a mishmash of curtains and blinds. Vistas are marred by such short-sightedness. SENSITIVE TO THE AREA There has been a successful attempt at Sovereign House to mirror the materials used among existing buildings nearby. The brickwork of Glenthorne Road will, stylistically speaking, be reflected in the next phase, Montpelier House, and the architectural vernacular for this part of Hammersmith is being sensibly preserved. The second St George site in Hammersmith, with homes from £1.6 million, is called Fulham Reach and 75 residents out of a possible 138 are already in the first phase, Distillery Wharf, completing early next year. Brunswick House has sold all 49 homes, with completion next autumn, and two elliptical new builds complete in late 2016. A site of over seven acres, this has been a seven-year plan and it feels that way — considered and resolved. Service charges are higher than at Sovereign Court — £5.48 per square foot rather than £3.50 — but 186 of its 744 flats are aimed at first-time buyers This development has riverside beauty and unrivalled views. I want to move in. There’s a boat club, a private club offering snooker, golf, cinema, pool and spa, and a controlled cellar to store up to 1,000 bottles of residents’ Could pose a problem: some Sovereign Court bathrooms open on to living spaces, to meet accessibility standards wine. Planning rules at Fulham Reach mean four state schools already have access to the boat club, while half of the finished site’s footprint will be open space. Glorious. While these flats are cheaper than those at Sovereign Court, the interiors are almost on a par, without the double ceiling and air filtration. The scheme for Young Professionals is not embarrassing. These flats — where qualifying firsttimers can buy 70 per cent with 30 per cent held in deed through the borough, with eventual 100 per cent ownership possible — consist of one-room homes built to the same standards. I viewed such a “Manhattan” flat to uncover what is the most luxurious element yet — in less than 500sq ft, the largest utility room of the entire venture. That is what I call living. Has Glammersmith arrived? I think so. And not just for the rich. Well, not quite. '' &',(4' (5,'2'4 ' ! " MOVE IN WITH JUST 5% DEPOSIT 1,2 & 3 BEDROOM APARTMENTS, PRIVATE BALCONIES OR TERRACES ! +2#&#'''),+'((7, 2*,'-7' #' APARTMENTS FROM £415,000 7,*0((654*45 ,()+(6,4*45 12 WEDNESDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2014 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Affordable homes homesandproperty.co.uk with This part of Hackney is trendy and popular... the block is close to music venues, restaurants and bars ESHomesAndProperty From £148,000: for a 30 per cent share of a one-bedroom flat at Art Deco-inspired Shoreditch Heights, right and left Find us on Facebook Get Old Street cred H ACKNEY’S frenetic Old Street roundabout, with its cluster of tech and creative firms, became known as Silicon Roundabout, and soon the geeks wanted glitzy flats which were then built in its hinterland. Of course most of these flats are designed more for the hedge fund buyer than the first-time buyer. But the latest arrival at Old Street is a landmark development designed by leading British architect Sir Terry Farrell, with a selection of shared-ownership flats that have an entry price of just under £150,000. Shoreditch Heights is just north west of the roundabout, close to Moorfields Eye Hospital and about five minutes’ walk from Old Street Tube station — a Zone 1 stop served by the Northern line. It’s no more than 10 minutes from the City and a quarter of an hour from the West End. One-bedroom flats start at £148,000 for a 30 per cent share of a property with a full value of £495,000. It is estimated that mortgage costs, rent and service charge will add up to about £1,400. Two-bedroom flats, some of which have balconies, start at £219,000 for 30 per cent, and the monthly cost is estimated at £1,618. The development, by Mount Anvil, includes a total of 343 apartments of which housing association Family Mosaic has 28 shared-ownership homes on offer. They will be ready to move into later this month. A major plus point of Shoreditch Heights is its design. Reaching up to 26 storeys — though the shared-ownership homes are limited to lower floors — it is an elegant, Art Deco-inspired building, providing a welcome counterpoint to all the steel-and-glass property springing up at the fringes of the City. “The development is in a good location,” says Stuart Spence, head of residential sales at Family Mosaic. “This area of Hackney is popular and trendy. Right next to the development is renowned electronic music venue Just under £150,000 secures your share of a Terry Farrell-designed flat in prime Tech City, Zone 1. Ruth Bloomfield reports XOYO, Shoreditch Grind espresso and cocktail bar, and The Nightjar cocktail bar. Old Street also has its own Bavarian bar, Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen restaurant is literally next door, and you don’t have to venture far into Shoreditch or Hoxton to find favourites such as The Book Club, Breakfast Club, Brick Lane and Spitalfields. You also have The Aubin Cinema in Shoreditch and the Barbican centre.” L Smart move: to buy a flat at Terry Farrelldesigned Shoreditch Heights is to buy into an expensive swathe of prime London property IFE in this central zone has traffic noise and pollution, particularly as the site abuts the heaving Cit y Road. Another issue to mention is that, because the Old Street area is now so expensive, shared owners will initially be minority owners of their homes, although they can increase their share in their flat over time. Until then, these newly minted home owners will have to resign themselves to shelling out £500 to £600 a month in rent. O Visit familymosaicsales.co.uk 13 EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2014 homesandproperty.co.uk with Homes abroad Homes & Property Where to go in 2015 A CAPITAL HAPPY BIRTHDAY ITS happy 20th birthday to Eurostar, whose first Chunnel train sped from London to Paris on November 14, 1994. Used by more than 140 million people so far, the train is chosen over the plane by 70 per cent of travellers between the two capitals. Return journeys 20 years ago cost from £99 and took three hours, compared with £69 and two and a quarter hours today. Property prices in central Paris have tripled in that time, but London buyers can still get good value, says Susie Hollands of French property agents Vingt Paris. “Paris is underpriced compared with London,” she adds. “A huge factor for Londoners buying a piedà-terre here is that they can decide on the spur of the moment to hop on the train for a weekend away.” She highlights a two-bedroom flat by the excellent Montmartre food market for £545,000 and a onebedroom artist’s atelier in Les Halles for £459,000. Both are fully renovated and ready to rent. SUMMER IN SUPER SARDINIA BRITISH AIRWAYS continues to expand its services from Gatwick with new flights for next summer to Bodrum and Dalaman in Turkey, the Greek island of Crete, and perhaps most excitingly of all to Cagliari, the little-known waterfront capital of Sardinia, two hours from London. Sardinia has a hot Mediterranean climate with bright, clear skies and temperatures that rarely dive below 15C. Most of the 250,000 annual British visitors to Sardinia head to the north, but Cagliari on the south coast is an upmarket delight. The medieval city is 10 minutes from the airport, resolutely Italian with a vibrant culture and affordable restaurants, says local British resident Rebecca Lewis Lalatta, of Italian property agents Casa & Country. “Cagliari has three marinas and is the training ground for the America’s Cup yacht race,” says Lalatta. “Today in November, from my roof terrace I can see many sails on the water. People enjoy sailing and windsurfing here year-round.” The beauty of living in Cagliari for her, she adds, is the variety of affordable activities nearby. “You can go horse riding in the mountains or to the coast and not see a soul for 30 miles. The south has some of the best beaches in the Med, with Villasimius and Costa Rei to the east and Chia to the west.” A three-bedroom countryside villa overlooking Bosa Castle is £941,000 through Casa & Country. One- to three-bedroom flats in a restored palazzo in the centre of Cagliari cost from £329,700 through Savills. O British Airways: ba.com O Casa & Country: casaandcountry.com O Savills: savills.com O Vingt Paris: vingtparis.com O Eurostar: eurostar.com £459,000: close to Les Halles, a one-bedroom fourth-floor apartment. Through Vingt Paris From £329,700: apartments in a restored central Cagliari palazzo. Through Savills LOAFINGLY LOVELY FURNITURE GETTY Cathy Hawker finds good-value holiday home hotspots easy to reach from London Historic Boston: sought-after red-brick townhouses in Acorn Street, Beacon Hill BOSTON FOR LESS THAN £100 MANY budget airlines have talked about introducing transatlantic services but Icelandic-based WOW Air has started taking bookings. From March 27 next year it will fly five times a week from Gatwick to Boston for £99, adding a Washington DC service later in the year. Downsides include extra charges for checked luggage, a measly 5kg hand luggage allowance and a minimum of three hours to spend changing planes at Reykjavik airport — but the beautiful, scholarly city of Boston is worth it. Base yourself there and it is an easy drive to New England resorts such as Cape Cod, or to the ski resorts of Vermont and New Hampshire. Boston is walkable and wonderfully green, with more than 60 universities and colleges including Harvard, and large IT and pharmaceutical industries. Property prices are highest among the aristocratic homes of Back Bay and the red-brick townhouses of Beacon Hill, with waterfront new builds selling strongly. Gibson Sotheby’s International Realty is selling a two-bedroom flat with high ceilings in an 1890 building in Back Bay for £502,000. A studio flat in Blackstone Park near the excellent restaurants of South End is £219,300. O Gibson Sotheby’s International Realty: gibsonsothebysrealty.com O WOW Air: wowair.co.uk A PLACE TO STAY AMES BOSTON HOTEL VOTED the city’s best hotel in this year’s prestigious Best of Boston awards, the Ames is a good base for visiting the capital of New England. The 114-room hotel is in Boston’s first skyscraper on the edge of the financial district. Opposite is the red-brick State House built in 1713 and emblazoned with the lion and unicorn, symbols of the British monarchy, while the Boston Tea Party was planned one block away. Boston Common and the shops of Newbury Street, the waterfront and Cambridge are all nearby. Inside the hotel, original features including beautiful mosaic tiles on the half-barrelled ceiling in the entrance hall are joined by a crisp black-andwhite scheme. This is a funky, friendly and very comfortable boutique hotel, perfectly placed for business travellers in the week and leisure guests at the weekend. Funky and friendly: the Ames Boston Hotel, where rates start from £135 a night. Visit ameshotel.com 16 WEDNESDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2014 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Design homesandproperty.co.uk with A great mid-range buy: The White Company produces bed linen for Achica, with pillowcases from £19.99 White nights Katie Law says nothing beats the look and feel of crisp, fresh white bed linen A " %# & & $ !# FTER A long day, one of life’s great pleasures is climbing into a bed freshly made with crisp, clean, white sheets in pure cotton. Good-quality cotton always feels deliciously cool and smooth and the calming effect of plain linen — with no buttons, sequins, embroidered flowers or jazzy patterns — makes for the sweetest dreams. Companies are cottoning on to our love affair with the whiter shades of pale bed linen and are producing accessibly priced “hotel-quality” sheets and pillowcases that feel indulgent, but cost far less than a single night in a boutique hotel. Buyers’ notes: think thread count, finish, weight and, of course, price. Thread count refers to the number of threads woven together in a square inch, calculated by adding together the number of threads in the length (known as the warp) and the number in the width (weft). So, 100 threads lengthwise woven with 100 widthwise equals a 200 thread count. The fewer used, the looser the fabric — muslin has a thread count of 150, for example — and the more threads used, the tighter and denser the fabric feels. A higher thread count doesn’t necessarily guarantee higher quality, and a crisp, matt percale finish versus a soft sateen feel is a matter of personal preference. Matt percale makes a good summer choice, while the thicker, softer finish tends to be cosy for winter. Egyptian cotton is renowned for its quality and should last longest. That said, a new set of sheets annually is the gold standard. Here’s our pick of good buys. WHERE TO SHOP M&S AUTOGRAPH Thread count: 400. Single Oxford pillowcase, £15; double duvet cover, £69. Egyptian cotton, made in Pakistan. Luxe factor: crisp and fine with no frills. A perfect choice for weekend guests who want to feel they are being spoiled (marksandspencer.com). JOSEPHINE HOME’S CLASSIC Thread count: 500. Standard pillowcase, £45; double duvet cover, £250. Egyptian cotton, made in Europe. Luxe factor: the boutique hotels’ label of choice, tried and tested for durability. Comes with a white grosgrain trim. The perfect present, or an indulgence for yourself (josephinehome.co.uk). HOUSE OF FRASER Thread count: 1,000. Standard pillowcase, £36 per pair; double duvet cover, £99. Indian cotton, made in India. Luxe factor: indulgently thick cotton with slightly glossy, sateen finish and no-nonsense button closure (houseoffraser.com). ACHICA’S HOTEL LIVING RANGE Thread count: 1,000. Pair of pillowcases, £19.99; double duvet cover, £64. Cotton from the Far East, made in the Far East. Luxe factor: from the new hotel luxury Premier Basics range. Thick, supersoft, dense and strong, a great winter choice, and totally plain (achica.com). THE WHITE COMPANY Thread count: 400. Standard pillowcase, £20; double duvet cover, £100. Egyptian cotton, made in Italy. Luxe factor: gorgeously fine and crisp. A brilliant mid-range buy (thewhitecompany.com). All white: Achica’s Hotel Living bed linen range comes with a 1,000 thread count. Items are priced from £8.99 to £79 17 EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2014 Shopping Homes & Property homesandproperty.co.uk with TIME FOR TOAST You’ll find Toast’s luscious lambswool throws, £239, glossy and matt glazed stoneware teapots and jugs in delicious colours, right, from £19.50, and wool Jacquard blankets, £135, at the company’s new shop in King’s Road, SW3. (visit toa.st). GRAYSON PERRY Fancy cosying up with artist Grayson Perry? His fleecy Comfort Blanket, £500, above, is one of several merchandising collaborations coinciding with the new show, Grayson Perry: Who Are You? at the National Portrait Gallery until March 15. His self-portrait Map of Days has also been adapted into a range of graphic mugs and plates, £30 each (npg.org.uk). FORTNUM’S Start to tap into that festive feeling with a spot of early Christmas shopping at Fortnum & Mason. The Victorian-style etched bauble, right, is £40. Time-poor customers can enjoy a free gift-wrapping service when they spend £100 or more on an item — or it’s £5 if you’ve spent less (fortnumandmason.com). CAROLINE GARDNER Stationery queen Caroline Gardner is opening a shop in Marylebone High Street, W1, where she will launch her first range of glass, ceramics and home accessories including this set of two “Here comes the sun” egg cups, above, £12 (caroline gardner.com). SITTING ON A KNOLL Buy the design classic you have always craved at Knoll’s annual one-day sale on November 22. Discounts include the Saarinen marble dining table for £2,999, reduced from £4,908; Saarinen laminate and marble side tables for £299, down from £588; Barcelona chairs for £1,999, reduced from £4,908, and Platner side tables for £299 — seen above with a Platner chair — down from £696. From 10am at 92 Goswell Road, EC1 (knoll-int.com). HOLLY HUNT SOFA American designer Holly Hunt opens her first London store this month, showcasing her trademark luxury look. Everything in the range is handmade and bespoke, so the customer specifies the finish, including this walnut-framed Hadrien sofa, below, available in a choice of fabrics or in leather, priced at £9,765. DESIGN SPY By Katie Law KRASSA YOUR CASA These stunning black-and-white encaustic cement tiles are available in four patterns from designer Afroditi Krassa, known for her work with Sketch, Itsu, Heston Blumenthal and Curzon Cinemas. Mix and match at £105 per square metre, plus VAT. (afroditi.com). 22 WEDNESDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2014 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Design homesandproperty.co.uk with British art and design graduates are leading the world, armed with powerful business plans to sell their work at home and abroad. Barbara Chandler charts their successes NEIL WATSON T HIS has been the year of the young designer, with the under-30s launching a raft of successful products for London homes in shops, on the web, and at big design shows. New talent in the capital is no longer raw, but assured and focused. Powering the trend are Britain’s art schools. “Our art and design education leads the world,” says Isobel Dennis, in her twelfth year as director of New Designers, the annual showcase for new graduates at Islington Business Design Centre. This year’s event brought 3,000 designers to London in the summer from colleges all over the country. “Most importantly, young grads these days are commercially aware and have business plans.” Crucially, Dennis has secured an ever-expanding list of business sponsors for her show — this year’s included Sanderson, John Lewis, Wilco and Hallmark. These firms offer awards, cherry-pick the talent, and put it to immediate use. John Lewis, for example, gave new grad Oliver Hubriak its award in 2012, and then speedily produced his much-acclaimed Finn chair, which won a prestigious furniture Brewing up business: Richard Brendon sells his Reflect mirrored tea cup and antique saucer sets to top global stores Design Guild Mark this year. Aged just 25, Hubriak will have more new furniture in John Lewis by Christmas. Habitat also loves young designers, says Polly Dickens, the store’s creative director. “Our youngsters combine technology and creativity,” she says. “Their products are daring and push the boundaries of interior design.” East London’s Martha Coates, 24, joined the company straight from Manchester School of Art, and already has a rug named after her. “Martha has reinvigorated Habitat textiles,” says Dickens. O Heal’s, with its smartly revamped Tottenham Court Road shop, has talent-spotted its own new product designers for 10 years. But its “Heal’s Di scovers” collec tive seems younger than ever this year. Newbie Sam Lloyd is only 22, and developed his “sand-cast stools” with their distinctive aluminium tops while still at Kingston Uni, boning up on metal techniques in a foundry in east London. His aim was a ready-to-go product, for which he had even done the costings. Now the stool tops and footrests are cast in Belvedere, oak legs are turned in Whitstable, and the finished furniture is available in Tottenham Court Road. O Woolwich “woodsman” Sebastian Cox, 28, is building a career on coppiced timber, creating furniture and accessories for Heal’s and Benchmark. Particularly poetic is a tall chest for Heal’s, with a different British hardwood for each of the five drawers. Others have become excellent entrepreneurs with burgeoning business skills. Richard Brendon, 27, who graduated from Kingston University in 2010, dreamed up his unique product, Reflect, in 2011. It’s an elegant bone china cup with a shiny gold or platinum finish that reflects a decorative “orphaned” antique saucer, thus creating a beautiful new/old pair. In his first year Brendon sold 150 pairs. Now he is selling hundreds a month, to prestige stores such as Fortnum & Mason, Lane Crawford in Hong Kong, Le Bon Marché in Paris and Bergdorf Goodman in New York. He is developing other ranges and is determined to maintain manufacture in Stoke. “I want British industry to thrive again, and design can help,” he says. O Talented young pattern-makers include Kit Miles, with his own London studio, and Nancy Straughan, who has created wallpapers for Graham & Brown. She hosts workshops to share her skills, and her Christmas decorations workshop will be on November 23 at Smug in Islington. Visit ifeelsmug.com (020 7354 0253). Leader of the pack is Benjamin Hubert, 30. In 2009, he packed a stand, won through an award, in the “futures” section of the 100% Design festival at Earls Court with eight ranges 23 EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2014 Design Homes & Property homesandproperty.co.uk with Left and far left: Sebastian Cox and his Crown candelabra PATRICK QUAYLE Below: Liam Treanor set up his furniture company in south London in 2011. His Lina oak desk is £875, with Louis candlesticks, £27.50, and Schuster stool, £358 Queen of pattern: Martha Coates, 24, above, is on the Habitat design team. Nancy Straughan, right, creates wallpapers for Graham & Brown of furniture and lighting for seven UK and continental manufacturers — astounding for one so young. Now Hubert works for major global brands, has moved into a new north London studio and employs 10 people. And his super thin, ultra-light table was chosen for the annual Designs of the Year show at the Design Museum this year. 19 20 TH TH ! 28 WEDNESDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2014 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Our home homesandproperty F ILM director Harvey B-Brown — the B is for Bertram — flings his arms wide, and beams. “As soon as we saw this, we said: ‘We’re home!’” Brown and his husband Steve, 50, live in a converted warehouse apartment. It’s tucked in a quiet side street, right on the border of Spitalfields and Shoreditch, which, with its health food shops and new bars, increasingly feels like the Notting Hill of the east. “It looks very grandiose, but actually it is quite modest,” adds Brown, 47, striding off down a broad central corridor, his considerable height dwarfed by the towering ceilings of the former knicker factory. “We used to live in Hampstead, in a tall, thin house, but this is lateral, which is great. And it’s also lovely to be able to swan about and not touch the ceiling.” Brown, who has directed more pop videos and commercials than he can remember, is currently writing an oldfashioned musical called Blue Jean with songwriter Mike Kintish — planned with Hollywood glamour and great songs and costumes — and, he adds, a moral heart. He is known for making stylish, colourful and often nostalgic short films, so the musical is a logical step. And since Brown also has an MA in fashion design, those costumes will be good. ■SHOWCASE: home is something between a glamorous dream and a film set, with a touch of Alice in Wonderland, too. Super-high oak door frames, stripped brick warehouse walls, a flouncy, white-painted armoire to take coats… and then, right in the middle of the apartment, a glass-walled office showcasing a black-and-gold ormolu desk that came from Saudi Arabia via eBay, lit by a dramatic Castle Gibson chandelier with glass drops shining like cabochon rubies. The large sitting area, open-plan to the big kitchen, has a huge green leather Ligne Roset sofa, and a 1901 Bechstein piano that has been revamped with a nod to Charles Rennie Mackintosh, on which Steve, an entrepreneur who used to run a successful gastropub, is learning to play. Big pieces work really well, holding their own in the broad, high space. ■TOMCAT: the master bedroom has a sensational steel “Tomcat” bed by British designer Timothy Oulton, with Spitfireinfluenced leather backrests that pull down, like two giant glove compartments. However, the aeronautic look is softened by a large-scale circular daybed upholstered in startlingly prett y turquoise floral Christian Lacroix fabric. Oulton also made the steeltopped dining table in the kitchen, Dramatic: the huge green leather Ligne Roset sofa in the open-plan sitting area, where big pieces work in the broad, high space A film director’s dream factory There’s more than a touch of Hollywood about this warehouse conversion in east London, discovers Philippa Stockley animated by mismatched Victorian chairs, their seats covered in various blue-green shades of velvet and silk. Just feet away, a high-walled courtyard, invisible to the outside world, opens up via sliding glass doors. It has a living wall of fragrant green herbs for Steve to cook with, and a mirrored wall that appears to double the space. ■FUN AND LIVELY: the mix-and-match eclecticism of this dazzling apartment keeps things fun and lively. And it took years to put together, right? Wrong. The whole thing took just a few months from start to finish. “When Steve and I set our minds to something it happens very quickly,” Brown says. They married last December and went house hunting. They wanted a warehouse they could do up. “At first we thought we were too old for Shoreditch, but it’s such a great area, with all these Chillin’: left, Harvey B-Brown, in red trousers, and husband Steve, on their daybed upholstered in Christian Lacroix fabric. Their extraordinary steel Tomcat bed by British designer Timothy Oulton is in the background Photographs: David Butler pop-up shops, and Shoreditch House round the corner,” adds Brown. “In early January I was making a commercial in Bollywood when Steve rang and said he’d found something. He was so excited about it that I flew back to see it.” The flat was still a building site. The developers were working on the warehouse floor by floor, and since the one the couple were there to view was being done last, it was still full of rubble. The architects had already put in a bathroom with subtle matt grey wall tiles, but the overall plan was to create a three-bedroom apartment. Brown and Steve wanted two bedrooms so the architects modified the design, put in the polished concrete floors the pair liked best, and they completed at the end of February. ■LET’S SHOP: the couple sold their previous Hampstead home lock, stock and barrel. “Which was an amazing opportunity to go shopping,” says Steve, laughing. “A set design,” Brown explains, “works for the camera — but it’s not for life. Here, the architects put everything in the right place, they chose really nice things — credit where credit’s due — and then we decorated it. This is a perfect, functioning home. “After travelling, I really look forward to coming home.” 29 EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2014 Our home Homes & Property y.co.uk with Let the music play: the Bechstein, revamped with a nod to Charles Rennie Mackintosh Master bedroom: the couple’s Tomcat bed, with adjustable leather backrests Great outdoors: sliding glass dining area doors lead to the courtyard with a fragrant living wall of herbs for cooking, and a giant mirror that appears to double the outside space Architects’ choice: a matt grey-tiled bathroom was in situ from the start Notting Hill of the east: warehouse on the border of Spitalfields and Shoreditch A DIRECTOR’S LIGHTING TIPS GET THE LOOK Go for a collection of all sorts of lamps — industrial overheads, wall-mounted anglepoises, chandeliers, and standards. They have incidental, ambient lighting on one five-amp circuit, so that everything goes on, all the side lamps, with one flick of the switch, giving instant atmosphere. Then you can add other lighting on a second circuit. Use different lamps and lights for different effects and moods. Architects: chrisdyson.co.uk Living wall: by treebox.co.uk Outsize sofa: from ligneroset.co.uk Steel bed and kitchen table: by timothyoulton.com Circular daybed: by roche-bobois. com Taupe grey brick tiles in the bathroom: by towerceramics.co.uk Harvey B-Brown at harveybbrown.com 30 WEDNESDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2014 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Outdoors homesandproperty.co.uk with Do the spadework and enjoy a lazy summer Get an irrigation kit, plant big pots of colour and buy no-fuss shrubs. With your winter jobs done, you can sit back and sip cocktails all summer long Go big and bold: fewer and larger pots equals less work, more impact Flower Carpet roses, which can go anywhere. Geranium Brookside’s lavenderblue flowers bloom for months on end and just need to be sheared back in summer to keep on going. In shade, sultry, dark-flowered Geranium phaeum, the mourning widow, is your girl. Forget slug-susceptible delphiniums and lupins that only bring heartbreak. Instead, introduce verticals by planting — there is still time — allium bulbs, from early season Allium hollandicum to later summer Allium sphaerocephalon, which will give your garden pink-topurple flowering drumsticks over months. And instead of tricky, largeflowered clematis, plant the sumptuous, easy-growing viticella varieties, such as purple Polish Spirit, which just need to be chopped back in February. November is bare-root rose planting month, but if you want to bypass black spot and greenfly next summer, plant no-fuss roses that still deliver on looks and perfume — the rugosas. Roseraie de l’Hay is a gloriously fragrant, deep magenta rose that can be pruned anyold-how and is as tough as old boots. Rosa rugosa Alba has white, open blooms and fabulous, fat, orange hips. Invest in the best, so you don’t need to repair and replace. If you are buying a deck, it is worth paying extra for hardwood which only needs an annual treatment, and is less likely to slip you up in wet weather. Likewise, hardwood furniture, obelisks and arches will last a lifetime and need less upkeep than softwood, which has a limited shelf life, even when pressurised and painted. It isn’t the mowing that takes the time, it’s neatening the edges of the lawn. Cut out the drudgery by installing a lawn edging of flexible lengths of galvanised steel, three feet or so in length, that you just mow over to keep a neat and perfect outline. Visit everedge.co.uk. W ORK on weeds now so you don’t spend next spring and summer on your knees, weeding out their offspring, too. Then surround plants with a thick layer of mulch — homemade compost or job-lot bags of mix’n’mulch — which will help suppress weeds and improve the soil structure. The worms will gradually work it into the soil, so you don’t have to. If you are laying down grit, gravel, pebbles or cobblestones over paths or bare patches of ground, don’t even think of putting down so much as a pebble without laying down a weedsuppressing membrane first. PICTURES: MARIANNE MAJERUS/DESIGN: CHARLOTTE ROWE Pattie Barron DESIGN: SUSSEX PRAIRIES H OW do you want to spend your time in the garden next year — on your knees weeding, or on the terrace, sipping mojitos? Put in the prep now, and you can put your feet up later. There is no need, for example, to wield a watering can or hosepipe through weeks of summer drought. Set up an irrigation system now so plants can be watered, so to speak, on tap. It doesn’t have to be complex. Buy a porous “soaker” hose and attach a battery-powered timer to the tap, then trail the hose around susceptible plants, and bury under earth, or cover with mulch. Take the strain from container watering, too, with a system that drip-feeds water via individual tubes into pots. Soaker hoses from about 25ft and container irrigation kits are available at hozelock.com. Talking of pots, downscale containers so you have several large, co-ordinated beauties instead of an army of disparate pots that will all need watering, feeding and tending next summer. You can still plant the same amount of bedding as before, but instead of planting individually, gather several different varieties or colourways into each large pot for a bigger splash with smaller upkeep. Visit iotagarden.com for a wide rang of large containers. Which plants kept on blooming this summer, and which are just kicking their heels? This is the ideal time to take out the deadweight, reinvigorate the soil and plant robust, weather-resistant shrubs that, once-a-year pruning aside, will look after themselves. On your shopping list should be mahonia, choisya, berberis, viburnum, pittosporum, hebe and hydrangea. Instead of high-maintenance perennials, plant easy groundcover such as lambs’ ears — Stachys byzantina — in sun, blue bugle Ajuga reptans Braunherz in shade, and Less work: Hydrangea Annabelle looks great and needs little maintenance buy it Buy it top tools THE Dutch family firm of Sneeboer produces state-of-the-art gardening tools that, with their rust-proof steel blades and lightweight ash handles, make light work of even heavy soil. The long-handled fork, tilth rake and spade, right, are short and light enough to use as hand tools, but are strong enough to do the job of their full-size border versions, while a traditional bulb planter, left, has an extra-long handle of 89cm so you can do the job without breaking your back. The long-handled fork, 57cm, costs £39.95, the rake, also 57cm, is £19.95 and the spade, 74cm long, costs £37.95. The bulb planter is £59.95. Make them your own by having them personalised on the handles for £5 extra. All available from Sarah Raven at sarahraven.com. Easy-growing bulbs: spice up the border with Allium sphaerocephalon 36 WEDNESDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2014 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Property searching WHAT’S FOR SALE homesandproperty.co.uk with Spotlight Barne Barnet et £399,000 A VERY pretty one-bedroom cottage with a courtyard garden in Dury Road, Hadley Green, is for sale through Sean Heaney. O homesandproperty.co.uk/dury T HE main attraction of the north London suburb of Barnet is that it has one foot in the town, the other in the countryside. From bustling Barnet High Street it is but a short walk to the open heathland of Hadley Common with its duck ponds and hilltop views, and the rural delights of Monken Hadley. There, the picturesque little church of St Mary the Virgin is a favourite wedding venue, and motorists politely give way to oncoming traffic passing through the gap in a white picket fence. Barnet is 11 miles almost due north of central London. It sits west of Cockfosters, east of Arkley and Borehamwood, north of Totteridge and Whetstone and south of the M25 and the Hertfordshire countryside. WHAT THERE IS TO BUY £875,000 A FIVE-BEDROOM family house in Netherland Road, Barnet, set over three floors with a contemporary kitchen and a rear garden that includes a separate studio flat. Through Foxtons. O homesandproperty.co.uk/nether £8 MILLION A GRAND ambassadorial residence with eight bedrooms, a large garden and lake, in Bentley Heath, Barnet. Through Statons. O homesandproperty.co.uk/bentley The Barnet property market is varied. There are pockets of period homes in the Wood Street conservation area around St John the Baptist Church and overlooking Hadley Common, and detached, semi-detached and terrace Victorian and Edwardian houses in the roads that were developed after the arrival of improved transport links. There are also local detached and semidetached Twenties and Thirties houses and bungalows. The most expensive house currently for sale is in Dancers Lane, in the countryside between Barnet town centre and the M25. It has seven bedrooms, staff quarters and a swimming pool complex, and the asking price is £8 million (see homesandproperty. co.uk/dance). Hadley Wood, a suburban enclave in Hertfordshire countryside north of Barnet, is favoured by top footballers, especially Tottenham Hotspur players. The area has a mix of houses from the Live the country dream Outdoorsy families and soccer stars seeking trophy homes love the rural feel and markets in this north London village. By Anthea Masey Edwardian period onwards, along with its own railway station and a parade of local shops and restaurants. Parkfield House in Beech Hill, Hadley Wood, has eight bedrooms and a cinema room and is on the market for £4 million (See homesandproperty.co.uk/ parkfield). There is a handful of large detached Edwardian houses in Granville Road close to the town centre. A 3,000sq ft house with six bedrooms is on the market here for £1,325,000 (see homes andproperty.co.uk/gran). Hadley Highstone is a pretty village spread out along the Great North Road in the Monken Hadley conservation area. It offers cottages and Victorian To find a home in Barnet, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/barnet For more about Barnet, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/spotlightbarnet F terrace houses, including a four-bedroom house in Langley Row, modern but built in a traditional style, for sale at £750,000 (see homesandproperty. co.uk/lang). In the centre of High Barnet, a period property in Wood Street, in the conservation area, comes with planning permission already in place for conversion from offices to a three-bedroom house. It is priced £700,000 (homes andproperty.co.uk/woodst). Elsewhere in Barnet there are many roads of Twenties and Thirties houses. A three-bedroom house in Netherlands Road, halfway between New Barnet and Oakleigh Park stations, is for sale for £575,000 (see homesandproperty.co.uk/nether). New apartment blocks are also in the Barnet mix. A two-bedroom flat in !% !%#%" &%#%% ! ! #" ! ' 37 EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2014 homesandproperty.co.uk with Property searching Homes & Property CHECK THE STATS ■WHAT HOMES COST BUYING IN BARNET (Average prices) One-bedroom flat £207,000 Two-bedroom flat £402,000 Two-bedroom house £509,000 Three-bedroom house £603,000 Four-bedroom house £904,000 Source: Zoopla RENTING IN BARNET (Average rates) One-bedroom flat £987 a month Two-bedroom flat £1,453 a month Two-bedroom house £1,488 a month Three-bedroom house £1,886 a month Four-bedroom house £2,844 a month Source: Zoopla GO ONLINE FOR MORE O The best schools O The best shops and restaurants O The local renting scene O Arts and leisure in Barnet O The latest housing developments O How this area compares with the rest of the UK on house prices Chill out and catch up: pavement café in The Spires shopping centre, left, off bustling Barnet High Street. Above, Patrizia Iraldi, owner of Bel Gelato ice cream parlour at The Spires. Right, the duck pond at Hadley Green For all this and more, visit — just 30 minutes from the city Brackenwood Lodge in Prospect Road close to High Barnet Tube station is on the market for £279,000 (see homes andproperty.co.uk/brack). The area attracts: estate agent Gina Antoniou of the local branch of Savills says Barnet still has the feel of a traditional village, helped by its twice- HAVE YOUR SAY BARNET @Dutchy_23 need to take a look at 89 in the High Street. Classy boutique shop run by a home-grown Barnet girl @fiona232 Dory’s is one of the most popular cafés in Barnet, and also one of the oldest @HobartsN22 top local restaurant has to be @SpizzicoBarnet hands down Pretty bunch: in The Spires shopping centre, corporate consultant Natasha Pearce takes her pick at Pinks Florists weekly market, and buyers range from Premiership footballers looking for newly built trophy mansions to families from north London pursuing a change of pace and a more outdoor lifestyle, made possible by having the countryside on their doorstep. S t ay i n g p o w e r : a c c o rd i n g t o Antoniou, once families have moved to Barnet, they tend to stay — and the wide range of house types allows them to trade up and down. Up and coming: local agents say there are no undervalued pockets in Barnet. Antoniou recommends that bargain hunters look in the western part of Enfield, which is largely residential and well-served for shops. There are roads of Victorian terrace houses off Chase Side, with a nice village-like feel, for between £375,000 and £400,000. Travel: High Barnet is on the Tube Northern line with a journey time of around half an hour to central London. Hadley Wood, New Barnet and Oakleigh Park stations all have trains to Moorgate, with transfers to the Underground at Finsbury Park and Highbury & Islington. Trains from Hadley Wood to Moorgate take around 27 minutes, with the journey taking a few minutes less from the other stations. Oakleigh Park station is in Zone 4 and an annual travelcard costs £1,800, while High Barnet and New Barnet are in Zone 5 and the travelcard costs £2,136. Hadley Wood is in Zone 6 and the yearly travelcard costs £2,288. Council: Barnet council is conservative controlled and Band D council tax this year is £1,401.07. homesand property.co.uk/ spotlightbarnet Photographs: Graham Hussey NEXT WEEK: Croydon. Do you live there? Tell us what you think @HomesProperty TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE What has this doomed ship got to do with Sunday golf in Barnet? Find the answer at homesandproperty.co.uk/ spotlightbarnet $ # 40 WEDNESDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2014 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Letting on A S THE mother of teenagers, I am used to being ignored. However, I am not prepared to put up with any more cheek from my young tenants, whose behaviour would have tried the patience of Mother Teresa. Ever since these four students moved into my flat over the summer they have consistently failed to pay their rent on time and in full, and have ignored my emails and text messages asking them to pay up. The first month after they moved in they paid their rent a week late — after I had sent them a reminder — and it was more than £100 short. When I emailed to ask where the rest was, they didn’t bother to respond. The next month I got an email from one of the tenants saying he would be away for a few weeks, and therefore he would not be paying his rent. I replied to say that in that case, I would not be keeping his room for him. He paid, in the end, but there was still no sign of the missing £100-plus from the previous month. On their third month in the flat, one tenant paid her rent in full, on time, which was great. Another paid almost the full amount, which was not quite so good. Two paid nothing at all, which was annoying. There was no sign of the outstanding £100 from the first month either. I emailed all the tenants asking for the payments to be brought up to date. Three of them ignored me, again, and the fourth explained she was waiting for a student loan to come through, so homesandproperty.co.uk with Pay up now — or I’ll cut off something precious to you £475 A WEEK In a portered period building in Buckingham Gate, SW1, John D Wood has a newly refurbished one-bedroom flat available to rent. O Visit homesand property.co.uk/ rentbuck Victoria Whitlock’s four student tenants try every excuse in the book to dodge their rent. But is she cruel enough to disconnect their wifi? Well, if it works on her kids. . . The accidental landlord I agreed to give her another couple of weeks. The two weeks went by, but she still didn’t pay. The following month I didn’t receive any rent, nor the arrears from the previous months. At that point I considered asking TalkTalk to disconnect their wifi, which I pay for. Ha, I thought, that should get a reaction. I frequently switch off the wifi at home to get my kids’ attention, and I find it works every time. However, I decided that was too mean. Who knows, young people might shrivel and die if they are disconnected for too long from their cyber lifeline. Instead I sent yet another nudgenudge email asking for payment by the end of the week. Friday came and went — and still nothing. By the following Monday, I was fuming. I fired off seriously angry emails to all the tenants saying that unless they paid their rent, plus the arrears, by the end of the day I would be calling their guarantors. That almost did the trick. But not quite. Three of the tenants, who clearly didn’t want me having a chat with their parents, paid up immediately, but the fourth called to say she didn’t have the cash. It wasn’t her fault, she whined, it was something to do with a delay processing her student loan. She said she would have the money “in a few weeks”. I might have given her more time to pay if she and her flatmates hadn’t already been so random with their rent, but I had run out of patience. I told her that unless all of the rent was paid by the end of the day I would call every one of the guarantors to ask them to pay me directly in future. I also said that if any of the rent was late again I would start eviction proceedings. That last bit was probably a bit harsh, but I had started to think these youngsters were metaphorically — maybe even physically — sticking two fingers up at me. She paid up and the next month all the tenants paid, almost on time. Will they get better? Only time will tell. . . O Victoria Whitlock lets three properties in south London. To contact Victoria with your ideas and views, tweet @vicwhitlock Find many more homes to rent at homesandproperty.co.uk/lettings 42 WEDNESDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2014 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Ask the expert homesandproperty.co.uk with After delay, can I tell him to drop dead? Q Q A Fiona McNulty WHAT’S YOUR PROBLEM? OUR LAWYER ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS I AM in the process of buying a house. The seller, in turn, is buying a new build. We exchanged in August with an “on notice” completion, on the understanding that the completion date of the seller’s new build would be in the third week of August, while completion for our house would be about September 15. However, the seller’s completion has been delayed three times and there is still no definite date. Can I serve a “notice to complete” and get them to move out and complete or I get my deposit and costs back? My solicitor did not warn me of the drawbacks of “on notice” completion and did not include a drop dead date to complete on the contract, which in my opinion, in hindsight, he should have. A COMPLETION on notice is usual when a new-build property is involved. It is quite uncommon for completion to be on notice when the property is not a new build, as buyers often do not like the uncertainty of completion on notice. Your solicitor certainly should have advised you of the issues which can arise when completion is on notice — especially when notice to you is dependent on notice being served on your seller. If the contract between you and your seller had included a long stop date, it would probably have made it more straightforward for you to enforce the terms of the contract. Without knowing the terms, though, it is difficult to comment. Your solicitor could try writing to the seller’s solicitor requiring completion by a certain date. If that fails, he could ask for you to be released from the contract and for your deposit to be returned, or serve a notice to complete. If that doesn’t work there are remedies available, such as rescission of contract or specific performance, but these are likely to be complex and costly. You may end up having to seek advice from a lawyer specialising in property litigation. IF YOU have a question for Fiona McNulty, please email legalsolutions@ standard.co.uk or write to Legal Solutions, Homes & Property, London Evening Standard, 2 Derry Street, W8 5EE. We regret that questions cannot be answered individually but we will try to feature them here. Fiona McNulty is a partner in the residential property, farms and estates team at Withy King LLP (withyking.co.uk). More legal Q&As Visit: homesand property.co.uk I OWN a first-floor Victorian conversion flat, in a building with five flats in total. Two tenants have babies and are forever blocking the entrance hall with their buggies. Now one has had another baby, so there is an even larger buggy. It is often difficult to open the front door of the building. The owners of the ground-floor flat also use the hall for storage not only of their buggy, but wellington boots shoes etc. It is very annoying — what can I do? Will the flat leases deal with this sort of thing? THIS situation certainly appears to be quite unacceptable. The entrance hall will be a common part of the building, providing access to the various flats. It should not be obstructed at any time, as that will cause inconvenience for residents and could be dangerous if there was a fire. Look at your lease. There should be covenants in it saying that the common areas, access ways, staircases etc are not to be obstructed, and that the premises must not be used for any purpose which will cause nuisance to the other flat owners. Your lease should also say you may require your landlord to take action to enforce covenants which the other lessees have entered into with him, provided you indemnify him for his costs and expenses. However, it is best to try to resolve matters amicably. Talk to the other lessees and explain you are worried because the buggies, wellies etc are not only a nuisance but may make it difficult to get out in case of fire, or restrict access for the fire brigade. If that fails, involve the landlord and/or any managing agents. 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. !" - # $ $ $ % " " $ $ $$ ! $ ! " 4) /+4%/ // '%33 .) %1)/, /) % )33)) / ) )(% .,. %(% /'3/) +4 #%4 /3 4 '%33 (% &1 /) /,2 . .4) /4%,) %( $ %) /(/'%/) 30 /') %) ')' % ,/, )0 #3+2 ) 4 ) + ) & ) ( )4 4 % + . ) ) , 4 /) %/ /, ' % . ( ) ) & % . /33 ) " # 4 *% P L A T I N U M 44 WEDNESDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2014 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Inside story homesandproperty.co.uk with I’ve no car, but the city’s my oyster Diary of an estate agent MONDAY I wake up and hit the gym… literally, managing to drive my car into a wall as I try to park, making this a terrible start to my day. After apologising to the scary-looking gym staff, I take a closer look at the damage. Annoyingly, my car is likely to spend the rest of the week being fixed at the garage — and I will have a hefty insurance excess to pay. Two buses later and having discovered what an Oyster card is, I still manage to get in for 8am for our team meeting. Our department is surging ahead and we have a new person starting this week to help cope with the high demand. I have 13 viewings over the course of the day with buyers evenly split between UK nationals and internationals, including a Russian family determined to buy before the end of the week. Watch this space. (un)sophisticated palate. Back at the office, one of my buyers calls, saying he has read in the papers that house prices are going down. During the conversation an email arrives from a solicitor to confirm that another one of my instructions has just exchanged at 26 per cent above the record price for the street. I inform my nervous buyer of this and subsequently take him out on a tour of three properties. I spend the rest of the day secretly hoping to hear from Kriss Akabusi and the team at Record Breakers. The property I viewed this morning does not actually exchange, as the buyer’s country-based solicitor only works half days on Tuesdays. London goes at a faster pace — my client is furious and considers pulling the deal. WEDNESDAY TUESDAY It’s straight to an 8am viewing with the buyer of a house due to exchange today. The place has been under offer for a month and these last-minute viewings are rarely good news — but on this occasion it turns out the buyer simply wants to measure up for the home bar he is installing. I make a note to pop over for a cocktail once they move in, to give them the benefit of my Well, it’s 10am and still no call from Kriss, or the from the country solicitor involved in yesterday’s sale. Then thankfully the phone rings and it’s the vendor’s solicitor confirming the exchange. I phone our client, who is thrilled. The house has been on the market for 18 months, with seven different agents, and she has had four deals fall through. I take over a bottle of bubbly and a card, and put her in ment that Mr Akabusi must be too busy with his motivational speaking to call me about my recent record-breaking performance is washed away by the excitement that I could be about to receive an offer. Chris goes on: “I have thought about it and would like to offer £10,000 above the asking price, on the condition the property is immediately removed from the market and we can exchange in two weeks.” I put it forward to the seller who, after some thought as the property is new to market, decides to accept. FRIDAY contact with our Knightsbridge office as there is a property she wants to view that is on the market with them. THURSDAY At 8am there is only my manager, James, and me in the office, and he calls me downstairs for “a chat”. My heart is thumping as I wonder if he has found out it was me who swapped the new starter’s regular peanuts with Viper chilli-covered ones. If he knows, he isn’t saying. The company stats are in and ' " " ## # # " " %%% #&!& # "&! & !& $ !# ! with a couple of recent exchanges, I am in second place for the year, one behind Big Al in Fulham, apparently. James has set me the target of beating Big Al, and possibly even One Direction, to the Christmas number one spot. My colleague emails me that a gentleman called “Chris” — I’m hoping it’s a misspelling — has called for me. I rush to the phone and punch in the number. “Hello,” says a Russian voice, “this is Chris, who you showed the Park Walk property to.” The initial disappoint- The day starts with a breakfast meeting with one of our developer clients. Over my Eggs Benedict I see Hugh Grant, Rowan Atkinson and Christine Bleakley walk by — that’s Chelsea for you. In the afternoon, my newly fixed car is dropped back to the office in time for the weekend and I am just about to head home when I get a call from a number I don’t recognise. I pick up the phone and the caller says: “Michael, this is Kriss…” O Michael McHale is a senior sales negotiator at Strutt & Parker in West Chelsea (020 7373 1010). 46 WEDNESDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2014 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property New homes homesandproperty.co.uk with Smart S Sma m mart mar art mo art mo By David Spittles Heavenly views from Angel flats ONE of the best views of the City skyline isis from just north of This aAngel, swathe the Square Mile, across the rooftops of dummy text of low-rise Georgian and Victorian terraces. The Warehouse, in Windsor Street, is a scheme of nine two-bedroom loft-style apartments behind the retained façade of a former industrial premises. Views such as the one above can be enjoyed through large, factory-style windows and from the rooftop terrace, while stylish, open-plan interiors, below, are light and airy. Prices from £850,000 to £1,325,000. Call Greene & Co on 020 7604 3200. Let’s all go down the Strand A FRESH wave of building is bringing new trophy homes to a part of central London that was once the preferred address of bishops and earls. Few places in the capital have such a deep history as Strand, Temple and Aldwych. They have been urban since the Middle Ages, when the clergy and royal courtiers built mansions with boat landings on the banks of the Thames, between the City of London and the Palace of Westminster. This patch was the domain of 17th-century diarist Samuel Pepys and Sir Christopher Wren. Somerset House is the only palace to have survived the generations of speculative development that turned the area into a commercial zone. 190 Strand, right, seeks to restore the area’s cachet as a top residential address. A Sixties office block running down to Victoria Embankment has been bulldozed to make way for a two-acre scheme of 206 homes, including townhouses. Six new buildings wrapping around a private landscaped square take their architectural cue from classic mansion blocks — robust yet intricate, with façades of stone and decorative metalwork filigree panels that imitate lace patterns. A ground-floor colonnade runs the length of the scheme towards the river, moments from the site of the proposed Garden Bridge, a floating park across the Thames. The scheme is a step up for the area, with a grand entrance lobby and a package of amenities from a spa to virtual golf. Interior design is said to be inspired by sumptuous hotels such as 47 EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2014 New homes Homes & Property homesandproperty.co.uk with STARRY SECLUSION HOMES IN CELEBS’ PRIZED ENCLAVE Read more: visit our new online luxury section HomesAndProperty.co.uk/luxury COOMBE HILL in Kingston upon Thames has traditionally been a magnet for celebrities including Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood, and it is easy to see why. The private gated estate is sandwiched between two golf courses, allowing high-profile residents to live in quiet splendour, unbothered by prying eyes. It is also a fair bit cheaper than comparable “town-meets-country” spots north and south of the river, such as Hampstead and Richmond. Fairlawn, above right, is a former grand Victorian pile, renovated and split into a pair of six-bedroom houses, book-ended by two new builds. Each property has a 100ft rear garden with access to a large communal meadow. Residents arrive through ornamental iron gates to a gravelled quadrangle with an ancient cedar tree and barn-style car ports. Behind the tasteful, traditional façades are the relaxed layouts today’s families crave —modern-design, open-plan spaces, cosy retreat areas with eco-friendly fireplaces, “media dens” and lots of storage. Prices from £2.5 million. Call Coombe Residential on 020 8947 9393. Tottenham’s got the regeneration buzz The Savoy up the road. The style is bold yet oozes class, with coffered ceilings and extravagant finishes of marble and polished nickel. Prices range from £1,225,000 to £9,512,500. Call St Edward on 020 7118 9190. IT’S CHEAP by London standards, has quick transport links to the City, West End, Docklands and Stansted airport, and, crucially, regeneration is beginning to make a difference. It’s Tottenham. The area evolved with the advent of the railways and was an important manufacturing base. Streets of modest pre-Twenties terraces were built, while the Blitz later prepared the way for sprawling council estates — including notorious Broadwater Farm — where improvements are under way and new forms of tenure are being introduced. Convenient for Seven Sisters Tube station, Lawrence Square, right, replaces an industrial estate and brings 260 homes priced from £209,995. Call Bellway on 0845 676 0261. “At the moment, demand is strong but supply is weak,” says Maxine Casey of local estate agent Barnard Marcus. “A lot of buyers have a deposit but cannot find the right property.” More choice is coming. Tottenham is one of the Mayor’s 10 new housing zones and in line for 10,000 new homes. PUTNEY SW15 NOW OVER 50% SOLD ! ! " ####%('2#$$2(#$'#(,(#'(-*('#%# $$'--*#$&,-()'#$11#$*,$#-#-'($11# -$('#22(#)2#,(#2$-1-(#$'#$#(#$-/# (##$)2#,(#01-(#)#,(#(#-&,2'#$' #($&,# &(2$#,-*,#(&-&$-#$$2(#-11#,$ (#-## -(#*$'(##%$1& #,-1(#$#(1(&-#-11#(.#)$$-&# ,)$&-*#($&(/#(-'(#-11#%((#)2#$&&(## $#&22$1#)#($&(#$'#$#+,#&&-(*(#( -&(/ PRICES FROM £575,000 CALL 0333 666 2838 TO ARRANGE YOUR VIEWING APPOINTMENT ,(#'#$(#$1(#-( #""#(#-&,2'#$' # !"###(#'$-1 2(#*(($('#-2$*(#'(-&#'#$(#(/## ($-1#$(#&(&#$#-2(#)#*-*##(/ www.londonsquare.co.uk
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