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Homes&
Property
Wednesday 11 February 2015
Warm up in
Leagoo land
Radiators
Page 12
NEW HOMES IN ‘WOLF HALL’ P6 BOW FOR YOUNG BUYERS P8 RENTAL HOTSPOTS P9 MY AMAZING WINDOW P14
GRAHAM HUSSEY
So
Shoreditch
Live in the un-Square Mile: Page 34
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WEDNESDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Online
homesandproperty.co.uk with
This week: homesandproperty.co.uk
news: pop-up village to cut bill
for housing families in B&Bs
Bright and easy:
in Lewisham,
architect Richard
Rogers is
designing 24
temporary
homes that will
stay up for four
years
YOU’VE heard of pop-up restaurants, pop-up shops and
even pop-up theatres — now London is to get its first
pop-up village. Lewisham council has asked internationally
renowned architect Richard Rogers to design a temporary
cluster of 24 two-bedroom houses which will stand for four
years on the site of a demolished leisure centre in Ladywell,
before permanent homes are constructed. Lord Rogers
hopes the scheme will become a cost-effective blueprint for
other councils desperate to accommodate families on the
waiting list who are currently housed in expensive B&Bs.
Property
search
Trophy buy of the week
be captain of your ship
£1,685,000: nothing says you’ve made it like
uncompromisingly modern architecture. This marineinspired beauty is firmly landlocked in lovely rolling
countryside in Old Chelsfield, Kent, about 30 minutes from
Bromley. You get four acres of grounds with paddocks and
stables but it’s the five-bedroom house itself, with doubleheight reception rooms, picture windows, swimming pool
and sundecks, that will turn home life into a cruise. Through
Alan De Maid.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/trophychelsfield
London buy of the week a high-spec
apartment in Clapham’s buzzing heart
O Read Ruth Bloomfield’s full story at homesandproperty.co.uk
hot homes: make it love at
first site this Valentine’s Day
£675,000: this super-smart first-floor
flat just off Clapham High Street has
had a complete makeover to its ample
living space, resulting in a bright, highspec home perfect for entertaining.
Desirable details include under-heated
walnut floors, bespoke built-in storage
in two double bedrooms — one en suite
— plus white gloss cabinetry and
integrated appliances in the kitchen/
dining area, open-plan to a spacious
reception room lit by large windows.
A secure underground parking space
completes the deal. The Tube and
Clapham Common are both a short
stroll away. Through John D Wood.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/buychs
Life changer a farmhouse
in 11 glorious Cornish acres
£1.15 million: a two-bedroom penthouse in Hammersmith
Bridge Road, with a fire pit terrace for year-round romance
FALL for a heart-stopper this Valentine’s weekend — a
ravishing penthouse perched above the city with a heated
roof terrace, or perhaps a fairytale castle or a chocolatebox country cottage with a crackling inglenook fire. Join
us on a whirlwind tour of Britain’s most romantic homes.
£799,950: in Helston, Cornwall, Polkanugga Farmhouse
comes with a holiday-let cottage, stables, paddocks and
woodland, totalling 11 acres. There are wood burning stoves
in the country-style kitchen/diner and sitting room, four
bedrooms, two bathrooms and a conservatory. Workshops
outside would make more guest rooms, with beautiful
coastal walks nearby. Through Country & Waterside.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/lifechangerhelston
By
Faye
Greenslade
O Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/romantichomes
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Janice
Morley
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You be the judge
WE ARE looking for 20 people, each
with a passion for property, who are
avid readers of Homes & Property
and would like to join our judging
panel for the 2015 Evening Standard
New Homes Awards.
You will work with industry experts
to choose the best homes and
schemes in London and the SouthEast. A shortlist will be drawn up by
the experts, who will visit each site —
but our reader judges will choose the
winners in each category.
You don’t need any professional
qualifications to be a judge, just bags
of enthusiasm for good-quality
architecture and design, whether
it’s a swanky loft, a family home or
a well-built starter flat.
HOW TO APPLY: if you would like to take part, tell us in no more than 150 words
why you feel up to the task, detailing all relevant knowledge or experience. You
will need to be free on the evening of Thursday, March 5 to attend the selection
process in Kensington (refreshments provided) and all day on Thursday, April 9 for
the final judging day. Please email your application to [email protected]
5
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2015
News Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Homes gossip
By Amira Hashish
J-Lo’s garage —
with an integral
house
ÉJENNIFER LOPEZ is
É WHERE can you still buy a threebedroom house for £100,000? The
answer is Liverpool, and this one
was the childhood home of former
Beatle Paul McCartney. The
three-up, two-down
terrace house is being
sold at auction on
February 26 at the
Cavern Club, the
Liverpool nightspot
where the Fab Four got
their first break.
Sir Paul, 72 — who
recently teamed up
with rapper Kanye
West and Rihanna
on the Barbadian
singer’s new
single, FourFive
Seconds — lived at
the house in
Western Avenue
with his parents Jim
and Mary until the
mid-Fifties. Another
Liverpool home,
where Macca went on
to spend his teens, is
owned by the National Trust.
The house for sale has a
£100,000 guide price through
Merseyside agent Entwistle
Green (entwistlegreen.co.uk).
É FOR Hollywood-style living
close to home, the X Factor house
has been spruced up since latest
winner Ben Haenow, left, and his
fellow contestants moved out a
month ago to start their UK tour.
The eight-bedroom, fourbathroom property, on the market
with Statons for £2,795,000, is now
looking immaculate. Spread over
four floors, the 6,400sq ft house in
Hadley Wood, Barnet, has a
contemporary fitted kitchen
overlooking the landscaped rear
garden, which includes an impressive
swimming pool, above. There is also a
gym, where Fleur East and Jake
Quickenden worked out, plus a wet
room and sauna. It’s a 30-minute
commute from Moorgate.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/xfactor
AP
Got some
gossip?
Tweet
@amiranews
Buy X Factor
Ben’s base
SPLASH
Bid £100,000 for the terrace
home where Macca grew up
selling her Los Angeles
mansion. The nine-bedroom
house, bought with exhusband Marc Anthony in 2010
for £5.4 million, is on the market for
£11.2 million.
All-singing, all-dancing Lopez, right,
installed her own dance studio,
recording room and 20-seat cinema
at the 17,129sq ft property, which also
comes with a garage that has room
for eight cars, and a motor court with
space for 20 more.
Meanwhile, Lopez, mother of twins
Emme and Max, six, is said to be
looking for her next investment.
Any crocs in that creek, Liana?
É PRODUCER John
Cornell, who discovered
Aussie star Paul Hogan and
wrote the screenplay for
Crocodile Dundee, bought
two flats at Prospect Quay
in Wandsworth, left, in
1998 as an investment for
his daughters. Now Liana
Cornell, right, who
followed in her Australian
father’s footsteps to
produce and act in film and
theatre, is selling her two-
bedroom flat for £749,950.
Based in Australia, she was
in The Winter’s Tale at the
Sydney Opera House last
year. On the market with
River Homes, the secondfloor flat has a balcony with
views across the Thames
towards the Hurlingham
Club and comes with porter
services, plus a shared gym
and swimming pool.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/lia
! 6
WEDNESDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property New homes
homesandproperty.co.uk with
All the
grandeur
of Wolf Hall —
without
the risks
Magnificent restoration and sensitive design
are turning these historic trophy estates into
homes for London commuters to the manor
born, discovers David Spittles
F
EW homes set the heart racing more than grand apartments carved from heritage
buildings such as country
mansions, Victorian hospitals, former convents and colleges in
the leafy commuter belt. High-quality
conversions that retain the best of the
old architecture while creating new
floorplans and interiors to suit modern
lifestyles always impress, and buyers’
appetite for them is keen.
It is about more than classic good
looks and a sense of history. Often
these homes are set in lavishly landscaped grounds and reached via a carriage drive or tree-lined avenue,
making for a marvellous sense of
arrival. Properties are usually leasehold and residents pay service charges
for amenities, such as a gym or concierge, and for upkeep of grounds. But
charges are rarely more onerous than
for typical city apartment schemes.
“Refurbishment and reinstatement
of historic features is much more
expensive than building from scratch
so it takes commitment and expertise
to make these projects work,” says
developer Bob Weston, whose latest
challenge is Preston Hall, a magnificent Jacobean mansion with a grand
stone façade, stained-glass windows,
high, ornate ceilings, rich wood wall
panelling and marquetry, and festooned with turrets, towers, stone
carvings and heraldic symbols.
The house stands on the River Medway
at Aylesford, Kent, with the journey to
St Pancras just 34 minutes from Strood
station. Built in 1102, Preston Hall was
once the home of Joyce Culpeper,
mother of Henry VIII’s fifth wife, Catherine Howard. Sir Thomas Culpeper,
another member of the family, was
Catherine’s secret lover. Both were
executed when their affair was discovered. In Victorian times the house was
enlarged by railway baron Edward
Betts, and in the First World War served
Historic magnificence: ornate ceiling
and gallery, right, among features at
Preston Hall, built in 1102 and enlarged
in the Victorian era. Far right, the
grand entrance. Flats from £190,000
as a hospital for shell-shocked soldiers.
It became part of the NHS but was
bought in 2012 by Weston Homes after
a period lying empty. Bob Weston
unleashed an army of craftspeople to
restore the mansion and create 36
luxurious one- to four-bedroom apartments with double-height mezzanine
spaces, and new villas in the grounds
carved from stables and an orangery.
The three-storey great hall with its
original oak staircase, gallery and glass
cupola has become a communal space
for residents. English Heritage will not
accept “false history”, so anything
reinstated must be as true to the original as possible. Weston Homes brought
back into use a network of Tudor tunnels and wine cellars. Two stone lions,
sculpted in 1838 and later stolen from
the estate, have been returned to their
plinths at the entrance to the house,
while a restored Versailles-style stone
fountain with four mermaids is the
focal point of the 2.5-acre grounds.
A two-bedroom show flat is open for
viewing. Prices start at £190,000 and
rise to £700,000, with completion due
this summer. Call 01279 873 333.
ARTS & CRAFTS PRIZE
Heritage specialist City & Country
understands this niche market better
than most, taking on challenging res-
toration projects such as dilapidated
Victorian asylums. As its name suggests, the company brings back the
beauty of the original structure and
adds metropolitan design glamour.
Chief executive Tim Sargeant works
closely with heritage organisations to
return buildings to use.
King Edward VII Estate, near Midhurst in West Sussex, lies within the
South Downs National Park. Built in
1901 as a tuberculosis hospital, it has
been hailed as an Arts & Crafts masterpiece and includes a Grade II*-listed
chapel with prized stained-glass windows that is due to become a café and
shop for residents when the 162-home
project is complete later this year.
The listed grounds, originally planted
by famed horticulturalist Gertrude
Jekyll, are an early example of ”therapeutic gardens”, linking with the buildings and the wider landscape. Five
miles of footpaths are being created
through the estate’s mature oak woodland and heath. Residents will also have
a swimming pool and gym.
Trains to Victoria take just under an
hour. The first homes go on sale next
month, with prices from £195,000 to
£995,000. To register, call 01730
817979.
CROSSRAIL BONUS
Other City & Country projects include
The General, Bristol, a former hospital being converted into 206 homes
priced from £285,000. The Galleries
in Brentwood, Essex, another hospital
restoration, includes stunning loft-style
spaces. Prices from £420,000.
David Simpson is managing director
of developer Millgate. He and his team
are recreating Woolley Hall, a grand
Georgian mansion near Littlewick
Green, a few miles from Maidenhead
station, which is 24 miles from London
and soon to be Crossrail-linked. The
listed estate dates from 1780 and is set
7
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2015
New homes Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
From £429,950:
flats at Royal
Connaught Park
in Bushey,
Hertfordshire,
used in Harry
Potter movies
From £825,000:
apartments,
houses and
mews homes at
Woolley Hall, an
18th-century
listed estate in
Berkshire
woodland
Stunning: above,
a double-height
galleried
communal space
at Preston Hall,
where Tudor
wine cellars have
been brought
back into use
From £190,000:
apartments at
Preston Hall, left
a Kent Jacobean
mansion, once
home to the
family of Henry
VIII’s doomed
fifth wife,
Catherine
Howard. Inset,
one of two stone
lions stolen from
the estate, now
returned to their
entrance plinths
in 24 acres of woodland. Six grand
apartments, up to 3,700sq ft, are being
created in the main house with original
wood panelling and fireplaces, ornate
plasterwork and stained-glass windows. Prices from £825,000. Five new
houses, from £3.1 million, are being
built in the gated grounds, plus mews
houses and homes in a restored stable
block. Call 01628 674234.
Royal Connaught Park in Bushey,
Hertfordshire, is set in 100 acres of
parkland and was originally the Royal
Masonic School for Boys. The architecture is grand Edward ian and it doubled
as Hogwarts school in some scenes in
the Harry Potter film franchise.
New homes have been created from
the school’s ancillary buildings, which
have big windows, vaulted ceilings,
ornate stonework, wooden beams and
plaster cornicing. Prices range from
£429,950 to £2.79 million. Call 01923
222292.
O For more pictures, visit
homesandproperty.co.uk/luxury
Handsome,
well-connected
homes: Woolley
Hall is near
Maidenhead
station, soon to
have Crossrail
trains into
central London
From £195,000:
homes at King
Edward VII
Estate near
Midhurst, West
Sussex
8
WEDNESDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property First-time buyers
homesandproperty.co.uk with
ALAMY
£340,000 first-time buy: above left, a two-bedroom, two-bathroom flat ideal for sharers at Twelvetrees
Crescent, Bow (homesandproperty.co.uk/12trees). Above right, £305,000: flats at Lock Keepers, a
Peabody scheme, with shared-ownership options available (homesandproperty.co.uk/lock)
Getting their feet wet: East End artists competing at Bow in the Annual Regent’s Canal Raft Race
£100,000 flats. Can
you Adam and Eve it?
Huge regeneration is the Olympic legacy for
Bow in the East End, with waterside homes
and great transport. By Ruth Bloomfield
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NEED
TO
KNOW
BOW
limited. But Sarah Butler, sales director
at Peabody, says: “There is a lot of regeneration going on in the area. There are
two new developments going up, and
it is only 10 minutes by Tube to Westfield. It benefits from waterside living
— it is beside the Limehouse Cut — and
the tie to the outdoors. You are also
alongside the River Lee and it is a 10minute walk to the Olympic Park at
Stratford.”
Devons Road DLR station, in Zone 2,
is a short walk away, with direct links to
Canary Wharf in 10 to 15 minutes. Lock
Keepers, with 109 flats in three blocks,
is also close to Bromley-by-Bow Tube,
with District and Hammersmith & City
line trains to the City in about quarter
of an hour, and services beyond.
The old Bryant & May match factory,
now called Bow Quarter, holds 700
homes, and the Georgian townhouses
of Tredegar Square sell for several million pounds. Berkeley Homes and Barratt London both have major local
projects and Crossways estate has been
revamped and renamed Bow Cross.
OW has turned out to be the
biggest winner of the London
Olympics, with billions of
pounds of regeneration
money pouring into the E3
postcode. Glue factories and slaughterhouses have been replaced by smart
new flats perfect for Canary Wharf
workers, and fashionable bars are
being hewn out of East End boozers.
Average local property prices now
stand at about £400,000 but a new
waterside scheme from housing association Peabody will provide starter
homes from just over £100,000.
A 35 per cent share of a one-bedroom
flat at Lock Keepers, with a full price
of £305,000, will come in at £106,750.
The estimated monthly outgoings
including mortgage, rent and service
charge will be about £1,175.
A 35 per cent share of a two-bedroom
flat is £140,000 and there are also some
three-bedroom duplex properties
priced at £178,500 for 35 per cent.
The area is rather industrial, a little
too close to the traffic-clogged A12 and
Blackwall Tunnel approach for comfort,
and on-the-doorstep facilities are
O Visit peabodysales.co.uk
Past: the suffragette movement was
born in Bow when Bryant & May match
girls went on strike for better conditions
in 1888. In 1912 Sylvia Pankhurst set up
the East London Federation of
Suffragettes at 198 Bow Road.
Future: the post-war Leopold Estate is
being replaced with 364 new flats —
108 affordable — by 2019.
Trivial pursuit: moving to Bow won’t
make you a Cockney — the saying
about being born within earshot of the
bells of Bow church refers to St Maryle-Bow Church which is in the City.
What it costs: an average home in
Bow costs £399,970 up 12.51 per cent
in the last year, while an average twobedroom flat rents at £1,137 a month,
says Zoopla property website.
Landmarks: the seven Grade II-listed
gas holders at the Bromley-by-Bow
gasworks were built in the 1870s.
Eat: Carmelite Café in Bow Road is a
former nunnery turned into an upscale
coffee house with great sandwiches
and an adjacent art gallery.
Drink: East London Liquor Company
makes its own spirits including gin.
Take a tour, buy a souvenir, or have a
drink in the industrial-style bar, in a
former glue factory.
Buy: Growing Concerns in Wick Lane,
an excellent garden centre, runs
regular community workshops.
Walk: Bow aces the green space test.
You can walk through Mile End Park, via
Victoria Park and on to the Queen
Elizabeth II Park and Hackney Marshes.
9
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2015
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Renting Homes & Property
RENTAL HOTSPOT
WEST HAMPSTEAD
FACT FILE:
ALAMY
E
VEN 150 years ago,
housebuilders knew the
importance of branding.
West Hampstead, in Zone 2,
could so easily have been
called East Kilburn. Occupying a slope
of land between two ancient highways
heading north out of central London,
its 1860s developers wanted homes
they built associated the with the
monied hilltop village of Hampstead
on the area’s eastern flank rather than
Kilburn, a rural hamlet to the west.
West Hampstead has been popular
ever since. Those Victorians built
terraces. Then came a generation of
mansion blocks, followed in the 20th
century by council estates and the
conversion of houses into flats.
Buzzy and cosmopolitan, the area is
now a fashionable inner suburb, with
handsome red-brick houses reverting
back to single homes . It is familyfriendly with close proximity to highly
praised private schools, one reason
why Bank of England Governor Mark
Carney has chosen to live there.
Transport links are excellent, while
community spirit is “great”, says Jenni
Towler of Benham & Reeves Lettings.
“In a cultural sense, West Hampstead
straddles the best of both worlds. It
borders Hampstead with its rich
literary tradition and leafy seclusion,
and also Kilburn — edgy, bustling,
with a vibrant live music scene.”
Kilburn has several more things in
its favour. Firstly, it is close-in —
straight up Edgware Road from
Marble Arch and nearer to the centre
than, say, Hammersmith or Hackney.
Transport links are very good —
Bakerloo and Jubilee line Tube, plus
Overground rail and proximity to
Paddington, with its Heathrow link,
and Crossrail for the future.
“It’s definitely up and coming,” says
Debbie Reiter of Benham & Reeves
Lettings. “It has street cred, which
young professionals like, while
corporate tenants favour the semis in
the Matesbury conservation area.”
All kinds of homes can be had at
prices still a fair bit lower than in
trendy nearby areas — from converted
flats to artisan cottages, Victorian
terraces and Edwardian villas.
Spine of the area: West End Lane in fashionable West Hampstead is packed with coffee shops, bakeries, bistros and bars
Make the connection
Great transport links, including Crossrail on the horizon, mean this spot
in Zone 2 is a hit with young professional renters. By David Spittles
New scheme: Mill Apartments, with 39
flats in Mill Lane, near a nature reserve
£650 a week: a three-bedroom period conversion flat in popular Goldhurst
Terrace, NW6. Through Benham & Reeves (homesandproperty.co.uk/rentgold)
Average rental values (per week)
One-bedroom flat £300-£400
Two-bedroom flat £400-£600
Three-bedroom house £800-£1,100
For tights budgets, rentals start at £220
a week for studios, £285 a week for
bigger ex-council flats. You’ll pay a
premium, about £650 a week, for a
large period conversion.
Best roads: Crediton Hill, Kingdon
Road, Dennington Park Road, Sumatra
Road and Holmdale Road are popular.
Typical tenants: mainly young single
professionals and no-kids couples
wanting to live in a good residential
area. They get more for their money
than in Hampstead itself and new
restaurants, bars and shops are
opening. A Waitrose is planned and new
developments are popping up, pushing
up local rents.
Influences on the market: superb
transport links, with Bakerloo and
Jubilee Tube lines — Bond Street is a few
stops away — plus Overground rail and
proximity to Paddington, with its
Heathrow link, and Crossrail for the
future. There are three train stations,
one recently refurbished, and West
Hampstead is a main interchange, with
Thameslink, Tube and Overground
services, and good links to Stansted,
Gatwick and Luton airports.
Major new developments: a former
business estate, West Hampstead
Square has apartments, gardens, a new
public square, Marks & Spencer, cafés
and restaurants, a gym, dance studio,
spa and hotel-style reception with
concierge (westhampsteadsq.com;
ballymore.co.uk). Mill Apartments, a
new scheme of 39 flats in Mill Lane,
borders a nature reserve.
Out and about: there are lots of
buzzing bars and good affordable
restaurants. The train station forecourt
doubles as a farmers’ market and street
food hub, complementing West End
Lane, the spine of the area, with coffee
shops, bakeries, boutiques, bistros and
bars. Mill Lane, which cuts across
railway tracks to Cricklewood, is
gentrifying, with antique shops, delis
and gastropubs.
Top local schools: South Hampstead
High (private); Northbridge House
(private); Hampstead High (state), and
Emmanuelle School (state).
10
WEDNESDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Homes abroad
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Alpine
fun with
families
in mind
From £146,000: Arlberg Chalets, Wald
am Arlberg. through Pure International
Get the max all year
out of a good-value
chalet in Austria, says
Cathy Hawker
From £711,700: flats at Arlberg 1800
Residences. Through Pure (as before)
T
TOP-PRICE LECH
ALAMY
HE strong pound, at a sevenyear high against the euro
this month, has made a
home in the Eurozone 10 per
cent more affordable than at
the start of last year. Turmoil in Greece
could add to single currency woes.
“British buyers in the Alps certainly
realise there is an opportunity,” says
Paul Kleinkorte from Pure International.
“Austria already has a reputation for
value. Build quality is as good as in
Switzerland but prices are far better,
and resorts are small scale and family
friendly.”
Year-round resort: St Christoph am Arlberg, where new flats share facilities of the Arlberg Hospiz Hotel, right of picture
APRÈS-SKI IS THE BEST IN EUROPE’
JULIAN and Julia Rooth from
Ramsdell in Hampshire
should get the keys to their
new Austrian home later
this year. The couple, seen
left with sons Nico and Ollie,
15 and 13, bought an offplan, ski-in apartment at
Arlberg 1800 Residences.
“We were attracted to
Austria for its authentic
resorts, tight planning
restrictions and the best
après-ski in Europe,” says
Julian, 47. “We chose the
ROYAL RESORTS
Pure is selling properties in the Arlberg
ski region in west Austria, 50 minutes
by car or train from Innsbruck. Like its
snow record, its pedigree is strong.
Arlberg is home to super-chic villages
such as St Anton, Lech and Zürs where
European royal families love to ski.
Princess Diana, William and Harry
were regulars at the Arlberg Hotel in
Lech and local second home owners
include F1 driver Sebastian Vettel.
Arlberg also has a strong summer
season thanks to two 18-hole golf
courses and hundreds of miles of walking and cycling tracks. Lech is one of
Austria’s most beautiful villages, stuffed
with award-winning restaurants and
bars, and all of this provides generous
rental yields, the highest in the Alps
averaging five to seven per cent, says
Kleinkorte.
PROPERTIES FOR SALE
Small, traditional and decidedly sleepy
Wald am Arlberg, just 20 minutes from
Lech and St Anton, lacks their highvoltage fame — and their prices. In the
centre of Wald at Arlberg Chalets,
work is about to start on 35 flats and 21
chalets. A local bus service connects to
the ski lifts in Stuben, while less than a
mile away Sonnenkopf ski area is particularly good for children. Prices start
at £146,000 to £370,850 for one- to
three-bedroom properties with annual
service charges from £750.
Unlike most holiday homes in the
Austrian Alps, there is no rental obligation on owners at Arlberg Chalets. So
far 21 units are bought or reserved with
Arlberg region for its
excellent and varied skiing in
Lech and St Anton, and the
security that these premium
resorts would give to our
investment. And it has the
best bar in the Alps —
MooserWirt in St Anton.” The
family intend to use their flat
for four weeks winter-ski and
up to six weeks in summer
for hiking, biking and golf.
O Pure International:
020 3695 4095
buyers coming from the UK, Austria
and across the border in Switzerland.
“These new homes start from £340 per
square foot,” says local developer
Reinhard Wolf. “Twenty minutes away
in Lech you could pay up to £2,200 a
square foot for a resale apartment with
no rental restriction — that’s if you can
find one for sale.”
Wolf has also developed at the very top
end of the market in Lech itself. Four
fully furnished, seven-bedroom luxe
chalets at Chalech, connected to the
stylish five-star Aurelio Hotel, will be
priced from £4,645,000. The hotel will
manage and rent the chalets, each with
its own pool and spa, at daily rents up
to £28,500. “Lech has a top snow record
and is architecturally restrictive so you
will never see ugly towers,” says Wolf.
“Last season the Arlberg ski area connected Lech with Warth to the east so
that it now has over 90 lifts.”
Pure International is also selling
Arlberg 1800 Residences in St Christoph am Arlberg, winter base for the
Austrian ski team. These two- to fivebedroom flats will be built in two large
chalets in the heart of the thriving village and will share the pool, spa, fitness
facilities, restaurants and concierge of
the Arlberg Hospiz Hotel. Prices start
from £711,700 for 1,022sq ft.
Four apartments linked to the Arlberg
Hospiz Hotel have already been completed in the Skyfall development,
including one bought and decorated
by an English family. The five-bedroom
home with a kitchen designed by Linley
rents for up to £37,500 a week.
O Pure International: pureintl.com
O For an Austrian investment guide,
visit Mark Warner Property:
markwarnerproperty.com
the PENTHOUSES
& the DUPLEXES
Prices from £699,950
Launching tomorrow, 12 th February
CALL TO REGISTER:
OR VISIT:
mettleandpoise.com
A development by:
Featured:
Computer generated image
of an interior at Mettle&Poise
020 3376 7775
Joint selling agents:
12
WEDNESDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Design
Keep cosy in style with clever home heating
and insulation technology. Caramel Quin
finds the hottest new products
WINTER…
JASON MUTEHAM RADIATOR COVERS
Want to hide ugly radiators but find covers just as ugly?
Kent-based furniture designer Jason Muteham makes
uniquely handsome covers. These custom-made pieces
start at £250 for a ready-to-paint cover. Real wood
veneer (oak, ash, beech, cherry, sapele, maple, walnut
or zebrano), hardwearing laminate and painted finish
are also available. Or they can be covered with your
choice of fabric, to match soft furnishings.
Visit jasonmuteham.com
VENTIVE PVHR
Passive Ventilation with Heat
Recovery lets your home benefit
from fresh air, reducing allergies,
condensation and mould, without
heat loss or draughts. Old air passes
up a duct to the roof and is
exchanged for new, while clever
design means up to 95 per cent of
the heat from the old air is
transferred to the new air. This
pre-warmed fresh air is then
returned into the room.
Ventive S is designed to retrofit
into existing, unused chimney stacks
while Ventive S+ is for new builds
and homes without unused
chimneys. Prices start at £350.
Visit ventive.co.uk
%% % ' %
- - * -
DUOSHADE
THERMAL BLINDS
This blind looks pleated but in
fact it’s made of hexagonal
“honeycomb” pockets, left,
that trap air, creating a layer of
insulation. This is teamed with
an aluminium reflective lining
that acts as a thermal barrier,
as well as giving the blind
blackout properties.
Duoshade blinds will help
keep the heat in, so you’ll save
on heating bills, yet they are
surprisingly affordable,
starting at £15.36 for a madeto-measure 40cmx40cm blind.
Visit blinds-2go.co.uk
%"+&"&)& +&#&(
#&#& #"&)++
(
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2015
13
Design Homes & Property
LEAGOO AND REX RADIATORS
If you decide to replace your
radiators, choose from the latest
designs that look nothing like
radiators. The cheekily named
Leagoo (above, £676) with its playful
building block design is ideal for
children’s rooms, while the colourful,
flat-panel Rex radiator, priced from
£719, is available in 208 different
hues at no extra charge and
has a discreet design that
fits beautifully in a contemporary
space. Both are suitable for electric
or central heating.
Visit design-radiator.co.uk
…WARMER
MORSO 1446 MULTIFUEL STOVE
Flueless gel fires may look the part
but they don’t heat a room like a
wood burning stove. But you do need
a flue for a wood burner — it’s the
column of rising air that brings more
air behind it to feed the fire.
If you don’t have a chimney, fear
not: the flue can bend 45 degrees
into an external wall and then run up
the side of the building. This Morso
(£892 delivered) burns so clean that
it is approved for use in smoke
control areas. Stoves Online offers a
free chimney design service and can
put you in touch with a local installer.
Visit stovesonline.co.uk
LAKELAND DRY-SOON
HEATED AIRER
!
$$
!
!
,
A designer radiator loses its
elegance the day you start
hanging wet socks over it.
What’s more, it loses
efficiency. So what to do in
the winter when line drying
isn’t an option? The DrySoon three-tier heated airer
(£92.99) from Lakeland is
perfect for items that can’t
be tumbled and a godsend if
you don’t have a tumble
dryer. Add the optional
cover (£29.99) to keep the
heat in, speeding up the
drying process. It may not
be pretty, but it dries clothes
fast, avoids radiator clutter
and keeps moisture in one
room — great in a bathroom
or utility room.
Visit lakeland.co.uk
14
WEDNESDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property My home
homesandproperty.co.uk with
View to the Shard: the triangular glass wall where once were
graffiti-covered bricks in the Kensal Rise converted loft
Triangular
window
on the
world
An interior designer lifted the roof
off a poky flat over a shop, creating
space and light with a dramatic
glass wall. By Jacky Parker
M
ARK NEWMAN was a
freelance interior
designer refurbishing
homes when he met
Thomas Zieglmeier, a
freelance architect, while sharing an
office space in Ladbroke Grove 11 years
ago. “We sat next to each other and
would often chat over our projects,”
says Newman. “We then collaborated
on a couple of developments and
decided to start a company, Newman
Zieglmeier.”
The duo have since risen to glittery
heights transforming the homes of
fashion industry and media types such
as designer Alice Temperley and A-list
make-up artist Charlotte Tilbury.
Partnering with building contractors
Zibi & Jack to deliver a design and build
service, Newman Zieglmeier’s knack
for clever space planning has proved a
hit in their stretch of west London, an
area filled with narrow Victorian terraces, often badly carved into flats.
Newman’s own home in Kensal Rise is
a perfect example. Built at the turn of
the last century, the property is today a
feat of spatial innovation.
“It’s rare to find somewhere with a
loft space that has so much scope,” says
Newman. Seeing the potential in what
A lesson in style:
Mark Newman in
his kitchen,
where the bank
of bespoke grey
gloss units is
beautifully
teamed with
super-thin white
worktops in
Bianco Absoluto,
a composite
stone. The
appliances are
from Neff and
the fridge is from
Miele
Photographs:
Bill Kingston
was a poky top-floor, two-bedroom flat
above a shop, albeit with an unusual
apex, the designer snapped it up. He
removed three of the magnolia-painted
partition walls, ripped up the plywood
floor, took out two fireplaces and raised
the ceilings by about eight inches, to
create an open-plan space that includes
a kitchen and sitting and dining area.
There is a separate bedroom, a shower
room and a roof terrace, too. “It’s a very
sociable apartment, with a great
kitchen. I can chat to guests while I’m
cooking and people can sit outside in
the summer,” he says.
T
HE highlight is the transformation of the loft and its
previously graffiti-covered
exterior gable end, where
the roof was lifted off. It is
now a spacious bedroom with a dramatic triangular glass wall, which not
only fills the room with light but also
provides spectacular views across the
capital, taking in local landmark Trellick
Tower and even the Shard beyond.
“There were a few challenges with the
planning application and the build,”
says Newman. “Mainly with the glass,
both on the plans and when hoisting it
in, as access was restricted.”
15
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2015
My home Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
The bedroom:
stairs, right, lead
to the new loft
space, left and
far right, with a
dramatic gable
end window
offering views
over London. The
bedroom walls
are painted in
Paint & Paper
Library Slate IV,
and the palelilac, wool carpet
is from Heal’s.
Glass
balustrades
allow more
natural light in.
The freestanding bath is
by Victoria +
Albert, with taps
by Crosswater,
both from Nuline
(nu-line.net)
The open-plan
living area: the
décor was kept
neutral and
muted for a
timeless look.
“I like colour but
can only live with
it for a short time
before I want to
change it,”
explains
Newman. “And
white can be a
little stark unless
it’s in a big
space.” A stylish
fumed-oak floor
from Element 7
runs throughout
(element7.co.uk)
O Similar
projects from
Newman
Zieglmeier start
from £150,000
(newman
zieglmeier.com)
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20
WEDNESDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Design
homesandproperty.co.uk with
My de
des
es
By Liz Hoggard
Alex
Sainsbury
DIRECTOR AND CURATOR OF
RAVEN ROW GALLERY, E1
THIERRY BAL
E
VEN as a child, supermarkets
heir Alex Sainsbury, 46, was
surrounded by fabulous
things. His wealthy family
collected art — his father
funded the £50 million Sainsbury Wing
at the National Gallery — so it’s not
surprising that Alex grew up wanting
an art gallery of his own.
After two decades working in the contemporary art world, in 2009 he
founded Raven Row in an 18th-century
Grade I-listed building in Spitalfields.
With the help of Bloomsbury-based 6A
architects, he spent four years restoring
the building as a non-profit contemporary art exhibition centre, renowned
for its original programming.
“The hope,” he says, “is that it will
add to the London art scene in the
same way that the Whitechapel or the
South London Gallery has.”
WHERE I LIVE
I live close to King’s Road. I grew up
there and have memories of it as a
child, as I tried to navigate the Seventies scene; being sworn at by punks was
pretty exciting. I’m very lucky, very
privileged, because I had the opportunity to build my own home in Tite
Street, down by the Embankment,
quite close to the river. It has been a
privilege to build two architectural
projects in London — a private house
and this gallery, both with young British architects, 6a.
MY HOME
I looked for a site everywhere for five
years. It wasn’t just that I wanted to live
London life:
Alex Sainsbury
loves the towers
of Barbican, left.
With modernist
6a architects
of Bloomsbury,
he “keyed into
history” to build
his home in
Chelsea, above
in Chelsea, I was eager to find somewhere in Clerkenwell but never managed. It was taken over by the
professional loft developers in those
days. I was working for [the architect]
Tony Fretton at the time and I showed
him a few places that were makeshift
and quite difficult. And he said: “No,
no.” He wanted me to be ambitious,
which I am so grateful for, because the
site I have now is very, very wonderful
and living on the river itself is fantastic.
6a are modernists but the house is near
where Whistler and Wilde lived, so we
keyed into that history, making a case
for English Heritage.
HOME COLOURS/
TEXTURES
I was in my twenties when I moved in
and unmarried, and I tried to imagine
what it might be like to live in a married
house — which I failed to do exactly. So
now it is an adapted batchelor pad. I
like warm colours, which is very English. I think it’s our miserable weather
that drives us to warm interiors. I work
with a really wonderful house painter,
Richard Clark, who is out of the art
world but mixes his own paints. So
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KING’S CROSS
ON A NEW LEVEL
21
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2015
Design Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
we’ve got pinks and yellows and golds
and silvers as well as textured ivorywhites like a plaster wall finish. For
Raven Row I also worked with Patrick
Baty of Papers and Paints who have
brilliant paint mixes, especially one
called Quiet White, the best white I
have ever come across. Good paint is
the answer. It doesn’t have to be expensive, you can go down to Leyland and
get it done. I remember an extraordinary green wall they mixed for a show
I hosted in the early days .
LIGHT AND FLOW — AND
DECIDING WHAT WORKS
As an art movement minimalism is
unbelievably important, but as an
architectural style it’s bombastic and
overdemonstrative, so it doesn’t actually work. I prefer soft edges and texture in the form of rugs and beautiful
woods, which the early Miesian modernists were keen on as well. And light,
flowing curtains, but not these crazy,
very heavy, traditional English curtains
which I find too much.
hugely enjoyable. I like St John tremendously, of course, which is very much
the darling of the art world, and Moro
which my cousin Mark co-founded with
the Clarks.
CULTURAL HOTSPOT
The Bold Tendencies sculpture show
and Frank’s bar that Hannah Barry
organises on the multi-storey car park
roof in Peckham every summer.
SECRET SHOP
AMAZING ARCHITECTURE
I love watches. I lived in the Barbican
for a while and I hugely enjoyed going
to the little yellow hole-in-the-wall place
on Clerkenwell Road, run by this committed watch enthusiast called John.
It’s a fascinating place because it’s got
all the old equipment for mending and
repairing, as well as a fantastic collection of stuff. He has a lot of Omega
watches, which are wonderful things.
I’m not crazy about the white stucco
of west London, I prefer east London.
But I love the tower of Christ Church
right round where I live — surely one
of the greatest pieces of architecture in
London — and the Buddhist temple in
Battersea Park, one of the last architectural commissions of the GLC.
In terms of contemporary design,
going into the Museum of Childhood
always gives me a huge kick; Caruso St
John’s front there is brilliant. And I love
what they’ve done to Tate Britain.
MOST COVETED
DESIGN OBJECT
Furniture, and of course it is fantasy
stuff because I don’t own it. A cabinet
by Italian designer Martino Gamper,
who had a show at the Serpentine
recently, would be a fantastic thing.
TYPICAL WEEKEND
It’s very child-centred so I’m bicycling
round Battersea Park with them. We go
to lots of children’s theatre such as the
Polka, Unicorn and the Puppet Theatre
in Little Venice. There’s a wonderful
children’s zoo in Vauxhall Pleasure
Gardens. We definitely keep our kids
away from technology. At five and three,
they will come to it soon enough.
FAVOURITE GALLERY
Chisenhale Gallery, run brilliantly by
Polly Staple. Their brief seems to be to
show most interesting, manageable,
youngish artists. A favourite commercial gallery is Old Street’s Cabinet
Gallery. They are about to open
another space in the old Pleasure Gardens at Vauxhall.
MY DREAM HOME
My orientation is more east than west,
so I suppose it would be a two-storey
house with a roof garden in Clerkenwell
designed by Tony Fretton or 6a.
LONDON’S DOWNSIDE?
I’m going to be very traditional and say
my favourite restaurant is La Famiglia
in World’s End, an old Tuscan trattoria
from the days of Swinging London. On
Sunday night there’s nothing better
than repairing there. It is pricey but
I don’t want to come across as a
grumpy middle-aged man, but it is
difficult not to be upset about property
prices. It has definitely affected artists
and all cultural workers.
Anything other than being a banker
precludes living within Zones 1 to 4
really. And artists rely on communities
for cohesion and conversations — it’s a
lonely business in the studio. I think
art and cultural production in London
is genuinely under threat.
From left: Martino Gamper makes
cabinets coveted by Alex, who says
Frank’s bar at Peckham car park is a
cultural hotspot, and who enjoys taking
the family to puppet theatre shows
O Raven Row, 56 Artiller y Lane,
Spitalfields, E1, is open Wednesday to
Sunday, 11am to 6pm. Admission is free.
Visit ravenrow.org.
■Twitter: @JKatieLaw
REX
DAVID BUTLER
BEST RESTAURANT
24
WEDNESDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Our home
homesandproperty
Mum’s on
a mission
When you buy a dump, have faith and vision, hire the
right architect, get lucky with the builder and you can
have your paradise, says Philippa Stockley
A
■Twitter:
@stockleyp
Photographs:
Kilian
O’Sullivan
and
Adrian Lourie
HOUSE can be much more
than just a house. For Judy
Yu, the modern home she
has created in Maida Vale for
herself, her husband and
their children, Lucas, four, and Marissa,
two, was a long labour of love in which
she fulfilled a childhood dream.
Judy’s parents lived in Hong Kong for
two years as Vietnam war refugees
before coming to Ipswich in 1979. Her
mother was Vietnamese and her father
Chinese. “They didn’t have a pair of
chopsticks between them,” she says.
Judy was born in 1980, but her father
worked so hard she only saw him on
Sundays. In 1988 the family moved to
Islington and Judy grew up there, taking
a degree in psychology before working
in a law firm. In 2006 she met her future
husband, and they married in 2009.
Lucas was born in 2010.
“We were renting in Chelsea, I spent
years looking for the right family home
with a big garden and off-street parking,”
she says. Judy drew a blank in Chelsea,
Gloucester Road and South Kensington.
Then, pregnant with Marissa, she widened the net to Barnes, Richmond and
Putney. Finally, in 2013, she hired a property searcher.
“One day she rang about a house that
wasn’t in our chosen areas and said, ‘You
have to see this, it ticks all the boxes, but
someone else wants it so you have to
move right now.’” Judy set off at once to
Maida Vale. The semi-detached house
was in one of the late-Victorian terraces
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designed for a booming middle class. It
was divided into lots of rooms, particularly in the dark basement, which had a
low ceiling and an ugly conservatoryextension on the back. This extension
butted up clumsily against the brick
retaining wall of the overgrown lawn, at
the end of which lurked a giant shed.
The house looked as if nothing had
been done for 30 years. “It was like Miss
Havisham’s house — it was eerie, my skin
was crawling. The hall was dark and
dingy. The guy had stuck CDs to the ceiling and once answered the door stark
naked.” But apart from a crumbling roof
the place was structurally sound, so Judy
and her husband put in an offer — and
completed in June 2013.
She interviewed three architects whose
work her husband had read about in
design magazines and immediately liked
Chris Eaton, who paid a site visit. “I just
asked him what he saw, and he pretty
much described what I wanted.” So Judy
hired him. It was the same with the
builder. “I looked at three, met Jon Loveday, and loved him as a person.”
SIMPLE SOPHISTICATION
The architects’ design removed unnecessary internal walls and used a grown-up,
sophisticated palette of dark wood, black
steel, bronze, travertine feature walls
and a lot of glass. All the planners
rejected was a flat roof over the remodelled extension.
A cramped study at the end of the hall
that blocked light went, to be replaced
by smart Crittall glass walls — a transformative act that lightens the entire
raised ground floor. Everything else on
t h a t f l o o r w a s s t re a m l i n e d a n d
smoothed. A “library room” looking out
to the back garden through a boxy new
bay window has a stunning fireplace wall
of travertine. Black-stained engineered
Favourite family spot: Judy, Marissa and Lucas in
the once-dingy basement space, now transformed
!" "
Top-lit living space: flowing out to the garden through floor-to-ceiling glass doors
Less is more: subtle styling and palette for bathroom elegance
25
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2015
Our home Homes & Property
y.co.uk with
Lightening device: Crittall glass walls
oak floorboards echo the black steel of
the Crittall frames. The lovely door handles are bronze, and the handrail down
to the transformed basement is beautifully crafted bronze: formal and elegant.
The lower floor’s muddle of little dark
rooms and a nasty toilet were ripped out,
as was the old conservatory. Now a spacious, serene white kitchen with soft
grey Corian worktops flows around a
central screen of shelves into a top-lit
living space. This flows straight out to
the garden through floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors.
FOR THE CHILDREN
The old outside wilderness has become
a chic three-tier affair. The glass doors
lead to a smart entertaining area with
concealed speakers and stylish planting.
There’s a water feature in a long trough,
and the middle section is edged with
topiary — magnolia stellata, wisteria,
alliums and acers. The end part is just
for the children, with murals on the side
walls, tough fake grass and a climbing
tower designed by Judy.
All the building, including remodelling
the upper levels and dropping the floors
of the attic rooms to give a decent head
height, was done in 10 months. The basement is now big and bright. “We thought
we would spend most time upstairs, but
we spend it here where I can cook and
keep an eye on the children.”
This is a very grown-up house, but
perhaps most of all Judy loves the children’s garden: “I never had this when I
was growing up so really, it is for me.”
GET THIS LOOK
Dining in: pendant lights by Tom Dixon
Room to grow: upper floors were remodelled, attic room floors dropped for height
Three tiers: view out to versatile garden
Project architect: Natalie Benes
(stiffandtrevillion.com)
Sliding doors to garden: from
finelinealuminium.com
W20 Crittall doors and fixed screens:
D&R Design (dandrdesign.co.uk)
Oak multilayer engineered board:
parquet-flooring.co.uk
Athens grey marble in library, black
travertine in bathroom: from thestone
collection.co.uk
3034 bronze door knobs: by Frank
Allart (allart.co.uk)
Builder: Jon Loveday
(lovedayconstruction.com)
Joiner: Conor Manning
(manningbespoke.ie)
Triple pendant Beat lamps in black, in
cinema room; Flask pendants over
dining table: all from tomdixon.net
Hooked lamp in library: by
Buster+Punch (busterandpunch.com)
Globe blown glass pendants in
bathroom: from hollowaysofludlow.com
Kitchen: by Pedini, at pedinilondon.
co.uk
Pure linen voile curtains: JAB Anstoetz
(jab-uk.co.uk) or from Design Centre
Chelsea Harbour (dcch.co.uk)
30
WEDNESDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Outdoors
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Grow roses — you know it makes scents
From fruity to fresh,
fill your garden with
the sublime fragrance
of gorgeous blooms
Fruity beauty:
Lady Emma
Hamilton, right,
carries the
distinct
fragrance of
pear, grape and
citrus
Pattie
Barron
A
HOWARD RICE
MARIANNE MAJERUS
DOZEN long-stemmed red
roses for Valentine’s Day is
all very well, but where is
the fragrance? No production-line rose raised in a
plastic tunnel can compete with the
romantic thrill of the perfume from a
rose grown in your garden — provided,
of course, you choose the right one.
If you are buying from the garden
centre now — and this is a good time to
get them into the ground, while they
are dormant — many of the old roses
and shrub roses are best bets. You can
still get your fragrance fix if you are
short on space by growing shrub roses
in big tubs, using soil-based compost.
The trick is to avoid made-to-measure
patio and miniature roses which have
little or no fragrance.
Robert Calkin, notable perfume
“nose” and former perfume lecturer,
is fragrance consultant to David Austin
Roses and, a keen rose grower himself,
has the tricky task of describing for the
catalogue the various fragrance
attributes of each rose. “A rose’s fragrance should have a simplicity of
character but the composition should
be complex,” he says. Some roses, for
instance, carry notes of myrrh, not the
myrrh of the Bible, but Myrrhis odorata, or sweet cicely, which has distinctive anise-scented foliage. So if you like
the smell of fennel, Calkin suggests
Austin’s first rose, deep pink Constance
Spry, as well as a more recent descendant, softer pink Scepter’d Isle.
Calkin even differentiates between
the fragrance of petals and stamens in
certain roses. Wild Edric, like all the
tough rugosa roses including the outstanding magenta Roseraie de l’Hay,
has a wonderfully rich, old rose fragrance, but he points out that the petals also carry hints of watercress and
cucumber, while the stamens are pure
clove. Either way, you are guaranteed
a sublime perfume.
Some roses offer more of a full bouquet. Summer Song, a short, bushy
shrub with cupped burnt orange flowers
that is perfect for pots, has the scent,
says Calkin, of a florist’s shop, mingled
with chrysanthemum leaves, ripe
bananas and tea. Petite and pretty Rosemoor’s blush-pink rosette flowers offer
a frisky fragrance: old rose, with hints
of apple, cucumber and violet leaf.
Today’s roses — hybrid teas, shrubs
— are bred from the original tea roses
imported from China, and they did
smell strongly of black tea. Modern
musk hybrids, soft yellow Charlotte,
rich peach Port Sunlight and deep
magenta Young Lycidas — voted most
fragrant in US rose trials last year — all
Clockwise from left: Scepter’d Isle
carries the distinctive scent of anise;
potted Princess Alexandra has hints of
tea, lemon and blackcurrant; Summer
Song smells like a florist’s shop;
Munstead Wood’s colour reflects its
rich fragrance of dark berries; Port
Sunlight offers a classic tea rose
perfume
O For outdoor events this month, visit
homesandproperty.co.uk/events
carry that fabulous tea rose fragrance,
but if you like a smoky tang to your tea,
Calkin recommends the divine butteryellow Graham Thomas, which has a
definite whiff of Lapsang Souchong.
The fruity notes in David Austin’s
English roses derive from that original
tea fragrance. I’m a fool for Lady Emma
Hamilton, a beauty with unusually
vibrant tangerine blooms that carry a
potent perfume redolent of the most
delicious fruit salad. Calkin describes
it more precisely as a strong, fruity
fragrance with hints of pear, grape and
citrus fruits. If you, too, favour fruityscented roses, you will love apricot-yellow Jude the Obscure, with notes of
guava, citrus and sweet white wine,
and Munstead Wood, renowned for its
perfume of old rose with notes of blackberry, damson and blueberry that
underscore the lush velvety crimson
of the full blooms.
T
HE ancient Damask roses are
the ones used in the perfume
industry and one of this
group, Quatre Saisons, with
clear pink, shaggy flowers
receives Calkin’s ultimate accolade: the
finest fragrance of any rose. When asked
to describe it, he is at a loss but says
simply: “If summer sunshine had a
smell, that would be it.
“At the opening of every term, I’d cut
a bloom from my garden, pass it
around my students and tell them, ‘If
you can create anything as beautiful as
this fragrance in your lifetime, you will
have achieved something.’”
34
WEDNESDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Property searching
homesandproperty.co.uk with
A
MAZE of small streets and
main roads of thundering
traffic, a tangle of railway
bridges, walls of dazzling
street art and at every turn
art galleries, cafés, clubs, boutiques
and bars — this is the eclectic mix that
is Shoreditch, on the north-eastern
edge of the City of London.
After work and at the weekend, the
pubs, bars and clubs are packed with
City workers and revellers from across
the capital. It’s all a far cry from the
early days of Shoreditch’s transformation 30 years ago, when buildings left
empty by departing printers and furniture makers were populated by artists looking for cheap space.
Then the fashion for loft living took
off. Developers bought up former
industrial buildings, carving them up
into spaces which buyers fitted out
themselves, sometimes hiring a fashionable young architectural firm.These
were the Shoreditch pioneers and,
according to estate agent Nick Karamanlis at Stirling Ackroyd, they are still
a force to be reckoned with.
“The people who bought in Shoreditch
20 years ago bought very cheaply, and
even if they no longer live here, they
remain attached to the area and prefer
to rent out rather than sell.” So anyone
looking to buy rather than rent a home
in or near the famed Shoreditch
Triangle, bounded by Old Street to the
north, Shoreditch High Street to the east
and Great Eastern Street to the west,
must be prepared to wait.
Except, as Karamanlis points out,
Shoreditch is entering the next stage
of its transformation, with new tower
blocks already built, under way or at
the planning stage. Some call this the
“CanaryWharf-isation” of Shoreditch,
claiming it will erase the area’s rougharound-the-edges charm.
NEW DEVELOPMENTS
The largest proposed development is
The Goodsyard, a 10-acre site where
Bishopsgate Goodsyard stood until it
was destroyed by fire in 1964. The site,
next to Shoreditch High Street station,
is a joint venture between Hammerson
and Ballymore. Seven towers of up to
46 storeys are proposed, with 1,500
new homes, offices, shops, cafés and
restaurants, and an elevated two and
a half-acre park above the restored
Braithwaite viaduct, one of the oldest
railway viaducts in the country dating
back to the 1830s.
Robert Allen from Hammerson says
Shoreditch has always been a master of
reinvention, and that The Goodsyard’s
residential towers will be an extension
of Avant-garde Tower in Bethnal Green
Road, Principal Tower in Norton
Spotlight
Shoreditch
Choose loft living or cool new
Young techies and walk-to-work City staff
drawn to this arty, foodie spot will find a new
generation of homes. By Anthea Masey
Folgate, and planned homes, offices,
shops, entertainment and public space
at The Stage in Curtain Road. “We are
building on Shoreditch’s strengths. We
are providing a mix of uses, restoring
the heritage, providing new routes
through the site and a much-needed
new park. There will be office space for
young and start-up businesses, building
on the success of Tech City and Old
Street’s Silicon Roundabout.”
Answering criticism that much of the
capital’s new housing is bought as trophy
assets by overseas investors, Ballymore’s
Jon Weston says he wants to build on the
trend of people moving back to live in
central London. “We are proud of the
fact that 96 per cent of homes in the last
four schemes we have delivered in Tower
Hamlets are occupied.”
SHOPS AND RESTAURANTS
Green space: The Goodsyard plan will bring homes, offices, cafés and a new park
It pays to wander round Shoreditch
and discover its hidden-away bars,
cafés and independent shops, and
most people have their favourites.
Long-standing SCP in Curtain Road is
popular for furniture and interior
accessories, while Labour and Wait in
Redchurch Street stocks kitchen and
garden paraphernalia with a functional
Fifties feel. British designer Ally Capellino in Calvert Avenue is a must for
classic, handcrafted handbags, and
Present is an independent menswear
boutique in Shoreditch High Street.
There is no shortage of restaurants,
bars and cafés. Top of many people’s
list will be Eyre Brothers in Leonard
Street, specialising in Spanish and Portuguese food. Neil Borthwick’s pub and
restaurant, Merchants Tavern, is in
Charlotte Road, while The Clove Club
in Shoreditch Town Hall is known for
its innovative tasting menu.
Other favourites include Rivington
Grill in Rivington Street, Queen of Hoxton in Curtain Road, Jamie Oliver’s
Fifteen restaurant in Westland Place,
Hoi Polloi brasserie at Ace Hotel in
To find a home in Shoreditch, visit: homesandproperty.co.uk/shoreditch
£2.35 MILLION
£1,595,000
£750,000
£420,000
A FOUR-BEDROOM house in Shoreditch High
Street, previously a bank, then a pawnshop and
now beautifully converted (Fyfe Mcdade).
O homesandproperty.co.uk/shorepawn
A ONE-BEDROOM flat in Clere Street, in one of
Shoreditch’s best warehouse conversions, offers a
big open-plan living space. Through Space Station.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/clere
THIS bright two-bedroom flat in Shacklewell
Street is in a gated scheme close to Brick Lane and
Columbia Road Flower Market. Through Foxtons.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/shacklewell
A SPACIOUS two-bedroom flat with an open-plan
kitchen area in a quiet block in Pitfield Street,
just behind Hoxton Square. Through Tepilo.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/hox
35
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2015
Property searching Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Right: Fix 126 in
Curtain Road.
Shoreditch is
packed with cool
cafés, bars and
restaurants
CHECK THE STATS
■WHAT HOMES COST
BUYING IN SHOREDITCH
(Average prices)
One-bedroom flat £657,000
Two-bedroom flat £884,000
Three-bedroom flat £981,000
Left: stunning
street art in
Grimsby Street.
Far left: Brick
Lane, for shops,
restaurants and
galleries in E1
Source: Zoopla
RENTING IN SHOREDITCH
(Average rates)
One-bedroom flat £2,070 a month
Two-bedroom flat £2,725 a month
Three-bedroom flat £3,209 a month
Source: Zoopla
GO ONLINE FOR MORE
O The best schools in and around
Shoreditch
O The local rental scene
O The latest housing developments
in the area
O The best streets
O Where to find open space in
Shoreditch
O How this area compares with the
rest of the UK on house prices
O Smart maps to help you plot your
property search
Right: The
Comedy Café
Theatre in
Rivington Street,
Shoreditch
Photographs:
Graham Hussey
towers in the buzzing un-Square Mile
Shoreditch High Street, Tramshed for
chicken and steak in Rivington Street
and Rochelle Canteen daytime restaurant at Arnold Circus.
The rooftop bar at Terence Conran’s
Boundary hotel in Redchurch Street is
an after-work favourite.
Local people also rave about the food
stalls in Leonard Circus at the junction
with Paul Street, with a Netherlandsstyle shared space where pedestrians
and cyclists take priority over motore
vehicles.
Vix Farrar @vixfarrar Beach Blanket
Babylon — great food, cool interior, big
white space to rent
HAVE YOUR SAY
SHOREDITCH
Wild Flowers Company @
wildflowers_co Ace Hotel café and
restaurant
angela @londonbdg @LeydenGallery
is a wonderful gallery and shop, Albion
Café in Boundary Street; Labour and
Wait shop
Louise Randall @EatMoveBloom It
has to be @URCHEEKY on Redchurch
Street
NEXT WEEK: Earls Court. Do
you live there? Tell us what
you think @HomesProperty
Travel: Old Street station is on the
Northern line and Shoreditch is on the
East London Overground line, connecting to Canary Wharf with a change at
Canada Water. Both are Zone 1 stations
and an annual travelcard costs £1,284.
Council: Shoreditch falls partly under
Hackney borough council, with Band
D council tax of £1,297.45; partly under
Tower Hamlets, where the charge is
£1,184.54, and partly under Islington,
where it’s £1,260.87. All three councils
are Labour-controlled.
For more about Shoreditch, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/spotlightshoreditch
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TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE
There is art but no fish on the menu
at which Shoreditch restaurant?
Find the answer at
homesandproperty.co.uk/spotlightshoreditch
"" at
For further information please call or visit
0845 304 1002
www.centraliving.org.uk
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40
WEDNESDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Letting on
homesandproperty.co.uk with
I’m competing with snazzy shoeboxes
T
HIS is not the best time of
year to be looking for new
tenants. It has been six
weeks since I first placed
an ad online for my onebedroom flat, which will be vacant at
the end of the month, and I have had
just two enquiries.
These calls have led to only one
viewing, which was a total waste of
time as the guy was in and out of the
flat in about three and a half seconds,
which I thought was a bit rude. The
current tenant had gone to a lot of
trouble to make the place look nice —
she had even lit a few scented
candles — and I thought he could
have at least feigned a bit of interest,
for her sake.
The other call was from a young
woman who had dropped out of
university to have her baby, which
was due any day. She intended to live
alone with the child but had no job
and no obvious means of paying the
rent.
My heart wanted to give her a
break, but my head said I shouldn’t
be a fool. After a bit of a tussle with
my conscience, I decided not to
waste her time or mine showing her
the flat.
I know that might seem heartless
but I just couldn’t risk the worst-case
scenario of this mother-to-be failing
to pay the rent and me being forced
Best man
speech
Victoria Whitlock realises it’s time to drop
the rent or stage a makeover for her roomy
old flat to take on smaller, smarter new builds
The accidental landlord
to evict her, that would be just
horrible. I would rather the property
was empty for a few weeks while I try
to find a more suitable tenant.
It is possible that a local letting
agent would be able to drum up more
interest in the flat, but those I have
spoken to so far admit that the
market still hasn’t recovered from
the post-Christmas slump, so I might
just have to sit tight until demand
picks up.
One agent I contacted, who has
found me tenants in the past,
suggested I drop the rent to just
below what I was getting two years
ago. She said that, despite media
reports to the contrary, rents in my
area have been falling over the past
few months.
Looking at asking prices for similar
properties on top websites including
Zoopla, I think she is right. This
might be something to do with the
fact that quite a few new apartment
blocks have sprung up since the last
time my property was on the market,
including a rather snazzy complex
right across the road. These new
builds have smartened up the area
a little, which is good, but there
suddenly appears to be a glut of
good-quality accommodation, which
is bound to put pressure on rents.
When I compare my period
property to these new apartments, it
doesn’t look good. My place is much
larger — some of these new flats are
like shoeboxes — but they have shiny
new appliances and swish bathrooms
including, in some cases, fancy-pants
Rainmaker showers and so forth.
Some of the new blocks even have
porters.
I realise that I am going to have to
smarten up my flat a little if I am
going to compete on rent, or I can
leave it as it is but ask for less. I am
tempted to go with the latter option
as whatever I spend will take years to
recoup, but I am worried that I will
attract less-desirable tenants if I let
£725 A WEEK
A smart three-bedroom, two-bathroom house set over three floors and with a big
family room is available to rent in Heath Road, SW8, through Hamptons International.
O Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/rentheathroad
the standard of my property slip.
Whatever I decide to do, I will have to
act fast if I want to avoid my first void
period in 10 years.
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
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Rent a 1 - 4 bed home in the former Athletes’ Village
Find out mor e at eastvillagelondon.co.uk
42
WEDNESDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property New homes
Find intelligent homes in
ever-popular Richmond
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Smart moves
By David Spittles
FLY into Heathrow and you see why people like to live in
the outer reaches of south-west London — the sweeping
Thames, the commons and the great green tract of
Richmond Park. Despite traffic congestion, for many this
is the ideal London location. St Margarets Waterside,
above, a scheme of 22 flats by developer Mizen on the
banks of the River Crane, a Thames tributary, has views of
Old Deer Park and Royal Mid-Surrey Golf Course. New
office space for local small businesses is on offer, too.
Prices from £395,000. Call 020 8903 2442.
A new-build “smart-home” near Richmond town centre,
by award-winning Quad architects, has been unveiled. It
looks like a classic house from the outside but this modern
five-bedroom residence has an “intelligent” system
controlling lighting, heating, security and audiovisual
treats such as the home cinema. Price £2,695,000. Call
estate agent Featherstone Leigh on 020 8940 1575.
In on the
Acton act
ACTON is a sprawling urban mishmash, carved up by
train tracks and busy roads, but it is tipped as one of
the big Crossrail winners and is already on the rise.
Traditionally this area of west London has been
packed with young footloose renters rather than firsttime buyers, but this is changing, with new apartment
schemes bordering small parks and conservation
areas. Sabina Hasanli, 29, was looking for an up-andcoming district with good investment prospects after
studying at Cass Business School and starting her
career as a procurement specialist. “My job involves a
lot of travel in the UK and abroad so good transport
links are a priority.” She bought a one-bedroom flat at
Acton Gardens, above and left, an ambitious
43
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2015
New homes Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Marylebone is
pushing west
Read more: visit
our new online
luxury section
HomesAndProperty.co.uk/luxury
MARYLEBONE — now a very
high-end address — is expanding at
the edges as its residential renewal
gathers momentum. Buyers are
pushing west past Baker Street and
east of Great Portland Street,
blurring the border with Fitzrovia.
Tucked away in Clay Street are
five modern townhouses, right,
thoughtfully designed by young
architectural firm Piercy & Company,
whose priority was to bring natural
light into the homes and provide
flexible space.
Set over four storeys, each home
has an internal glass-walled lightwell
and an integral garage. Prices from
£3.8 million. Call Druce on 020 7935
6535 for more information.
GO EAST VICTORIA PARK ‘VILLAGE’
regeneration project bringing 2,500 homes around a
series of squares, courtyards, parks and play areas.
By buying, Hasanli, who had been paying £1,600 a
month rent, reduced her outgoings by £500 a month.
Liberty Quarter, the latest Acton Gardens phase, is
made up of apartments and townhouses. Prices from
£356,250. Call 020 8993 6923.
VICTORIA PARK in east London has
acquired “village” status due to the
cluster of independent shops, bars
and eateries that have sprung up
around Lauriston Road. Who would
have guessed a Ginger Pig butchers
and a Burberry outlet store would
pop up here in the Hackney
heartland?
The area boasts some of the
borough’s finest houses and best
primary schools, making it ideal for
families. For many, it remains a leafy
secret, just far enough away from the
hard urban face of Stratford but close
enough to benefit from all the new
amenities and infrastructure resulting
from the London 2012 Olympics.
Right in the middle of the village is
The Victoria Park Collection
comprising five townhouses and a
mews house. Prices from £750,000.
Call estate agent Currell on 020 7266
6611.
Park Apartments at Cadogan
Terrace is a new-build block directly
overlooking the park. The lessenticing rear of the building faces on
to the roaring Blackwell Tunnel
Approach Road. Homes have up to
Village hub:
thriving
Lauriston Road
four bedrooms. Prices from
£405,000. Call Thomson Currie on
020 7226 0000.
46
WEDNESDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Inside story
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Dry January’s SO
over — let’s drink
to brisk business
MONDAY
Unlike some of my more puritanical
colleagues I didn’t do dry January —
quite frankly I couldn’t face it during
the gloomiest part of the London
winter — but it has still been a very successful business start to the year.
I spend this afternoon with a Swissbased businessman who has expressed
interest in one of the developments
we are marketing in Victoria, with 55
Manhattan-style loft apartments. He’s
a man of few words but he seems very
clued-up and keeps me on my toes.
TUESDAY
I pick up again with the same buyer and
visit another three developments in
various parts of the city. After two
meetings and a few hours together his
initial reserve is softening. I learn about
his business interests and his son, who
is beginning a course of study in a
boarding school out of town — hence
the father’s desire to get a flat in London. Unfortunately, I can’t offer him
anything that matches his exact
requirements and he feels he has something better elsewhere, so for now, I
move on to the next client. Later I meet
few properties we have been discussing, so I arrange a car to take us to view
a number of options I know will appeal
to her. She is particularly impressed by
a very grand and quintessentially London building near Tower Bridge which
is being converted into luxury homes.
Once outside she thanks me for my
time, tells me she will be in touch once
she lands in Los Angeles, and is
whisked away in a chauffeur-driven
black Mercedes.
Diary of
an estate
agent
some very friendly Scottish-based buyers who are spending so much time,
and money in hotels, they have decided
to buy a pied-à-terre. They are struggling with the prospect of spending the
same amount of money on a two-bed
room flat in London as they would on
a beautiful lochside landscaped estate
in the Highlands. After a lot of searching I have identified a few good options.
Following much deliberation they
make an offer on a flat in Westminster
which is accepted by my client, to
everybody’s delight.
WEDNESDAY
A very prestigious development in
Kensington is in my book for a visit
today. It is in the latter stages of building so we are able to go into specific
units by appointment. However, the
FRIDAY
prospective buyer, who is a very elegant and no-nonsense Middle Eastern
matriarch, is less than amused when
she learns she will have to wear previously used steel-toed boots and a hard
hat, and climb several flights of stairs.
There is nothing else for it, so we begin
our upward journey but once inside
the fifth-floor, west-facing apartment
THURSDAY
I am looking forward to a day in the
office to do some much-needed admin.
However, as soon as I sit down I get a
call from the Swiss-based businessman
who asks if we could meet for lunch to
go over an investment proposition he
has been given. He says he trusts my
advice, which is very gratifying.
Intrigued, I agree to meet him at Como
Lario, an Italian restaurant in Holbein
Place off Sloane Square.
Over lunch he explains that he is no
longer proceeding with the apartment
he mentioned to me on Tuesday, outlines the new proposition and asks for
my opinion. I advise against it, outlining my reasons and he grins when I
guess at who brought the property to
him. We discuss another deal and I
return to my office to put together an
offer. It’s a good end to a good week —
which certainly merits a drink.
A surprise phone call comes in for me
from a very glamorous Shanghai-based
lady who looks after her family’s investment portfolio outside of China. She is
in town for the day and wants to see a
O Adam Simmonds is an associate in
Strutt & Parker’s London residential
development and investment team
(020 7318 4688).
filled with afternoon sunlight, a rare
smile appears on her face.