Homes& Property Wednesday 18 February 2015 Topical tropical Design trends Page 20 FAMILY FAVOURITES: NEW HOMES P6 RENTERS’ HELL P8 FIRST-TIME BUYERS P9 SPOTLIGHT ON EARLS COURT P34 My home: Page 16 London’s best property search website: homesandproperty.co.uk DAVID BUTLER It’s what I’ve worked for 4 WEDNESDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Online homesandproperty.co.uk with This week: homesandproperty.co.uk news: neighbours go for London’s biggest extension Property search Trophy buy of the week the ultimate super-mews Room on top: Rushton Mews’s residents want roof extensions NEIGHBOURS often fall out over building works — but not the residents of one west London street. Eighteen families living on one side of Rushton Mews off Ladbroke Grove have banded together to draw up plans to give each of their homes a matching two-bedroom roof extension. Thought to be London’s biggest-ever joint extension project, the scheme cuts down on fees and makes planning approval more likely. Extending their homes will cost each owner £70,00 to £80,000. “Moving to a larger home would cost us much more than that,” says a resident. Kensington and Chelsea council will consider the plan later this year. £5.35 million: moments from Marylebone Village awaits this marvellous mews. A redesign of the space (all 2,318sq ft of it) has turned each of its three floors into beautiful bespoke living areas. A family/reception room and seriously slick kitchen/breakfast room open to a patio garden, while one floor up a vast wall of sliding glass doors reveal a 30ft terrace. There are two double bedrooms and even an integral garage. Through Druce. O homesandproperty.co.uk/trophymary London buy of the week luxury touches with a view of the river £395,000: Tavern Quay, Rotherhithe, sets the scene perfectly for a plush collection of apartments with prime views over Canary Wharf. This one-bedroom flat is a showcase of luxe details, from underfloor heating and sleek polished tiles in the bathroom, to a gadget-filled kitchen open-plan to O Read Ruth Bloomfield’s full story at homesandproperty.co.uk O homesandproperty.co.uk/buymews Life changer leave the rat race and run a village shop Visit our new online luxury section HomesAndProperty.co.uk/luxury £625,000: indulge your inner shopkeeper in the Cotswold spot of Dumbleton. You get a lovely red-brick cottage with five generous bedrooms, a gorgeous kitchen with a vaulted ceiling and Aga, plus a beamed dining hall. There’s also a granny annex. But the real beauty of this buy is the village store and coffee shop included in the package — just think what you could make of that. Through Hamptons. O homesandproperty.co.uk/lifechangerdumbleton Facebook: a bright living room, complete with a private balcony overlooking the river below. Residents’ perks include a high-spec waterside gym, exercise studios and 24-hour concierge. It’s on the market through Foxtons. ESHomesAndProperty • Twitter: @HomesProperty • Pinterest: Editor: Janice Morley adorably soft... 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. hop over to our new Bath showroom The Peggy chair from £460. For reader offers visit www.sofa.com/eve, pop in to our London or Bath showroom or call us on 0345 400 2222. By Faye Greenslade Editorial: 020 3615 2524 Advertisement manager: Jamie McCabe Advertising: 020 3615 0527 Homes & Property, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, Kensington, London W8 5TT. @HomesProperty Warehouse conversions We find London’s 10 finest lofts carved from its industrial heritage LONDON’s industrial past provides a dramatic backdrop to residential conversions carved from its former factories and warehouses. These “blank space” homes often enjoy fabulous natural light from triple-height ceilings and floor-to-roof metal-framed windows. Interiors often feature original exposed brickwork and beamed ceilings, while contemporary ungrades include underfloor heating, smart lighting and wireless entertainment systems. Join us for a tour of the capital’s top lofts with stories to tell. O Visit: homesandproperty.co.uk/warehouses 5 EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2015 News Homes & Property homesandproperty.co.uk with Poirot’s block has views to die for REX REX É A FLAT in Poirot’s London block is for sale. Art Deco Florin Court in Clerkenwell was used as a location for David Suchet in the long-running BBC series, where it was known as Whitehaven Mansions. A one-bedroom flat on the seventh floor of the block is for sale at £699,950. The building, boasting a roof garden with panoramic views, is close to Farringdon so will benefit from the arrival of Crossrail in 2018. Suchet, meanwhile, will take on a different guise as Lady Bracknell in a West End production of The Importance of Being Earnest this June. O homesandproperty.co.uk/poirot All-action Willis on the move Barrel of laughs at Norton’s old haunt É BRUCE WILLIS, right, is reportedly buying a flat in plush New York development 271 Central Park West. Valued at nearly £11 million, the duplex has six bedrooms, four bathrooms, a library and views overlooking the park. Set in the Upper West Side, it is just a few blocks from the three-bedroom flat Willis sold for nearly £8.5 million in December. Meanwhile, Joan Rivers’ flat on the Upper East Side is for sale for £18.3 million. The vast penthouse, just off Fifth Avenue, has 11 rooms and is as flamboyant as the late comedy queen, below, with a Louis XIV-inspired ballroom with crystal chandeliers and antique panelling. For more pictures, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/joan É GRAHAM NORTON, above, may be the BBC’s leading chat show host, but in the earlier stages of his career he often performed at The White Horse in Hampstead. Actor Christopher Eccleston has also been a regular customer over the years, and literati including George Orwell and Joe Orton frequented the pub during their time. The leasehold for the three-storey corner terrace building is now available at £110,000 with Fleurets (fleurets.com). A short walk from Hampstead Heath, the property has exposed brick upper parts, ornate sash windows, a copper-top bar, open fire, marbled pillars and also includes a small beer garden. With funnymen Michael McIntyre and Ricky Gervais living nearby, the new landlords of this famous pub will be in good company. REX Got some gossip? Tweet @ amiranews By Amira Hashish Celeb stylist’s flat is picture perfect ÉINTERIOR decorator Sera Hersham-Loftus, known as Sera of London, has kitted out the homes of Courtney Love, Kelly Brook, Yoko Ono, Kate Moss, Eliza Doolittle and Patsy Kensit. The stylist, who splits her time between London and Norfolk, is selling her Westbourne Terrace flat for £1.175 million. The two-bedroom apartment she shares with photographer to the stars Martin Pope is for sale with Domus Nova. It comes with a beautiful conservatory where French doors lead to a decked garden. A walk-in wardrobe is an added bonus. O homesandproperty.co.uk/sera +& $) $) !$! & !!"& # " % $ ! ! !"!! " 020 3411 2026 !!! !!!% !# # #!!! # "'% %''!%"'% , ' %','' &#'"!#'( , *!,%'#, !!'! )!"'''%!%%#!' ( 6 WEDNESDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property New homes homesandproperty.co.uk with L ONDON’S biggest batch of new family houses since the Eighties has been launched in Docklands, so eventually there will be 3,385 homes at Royal Wharf. The first location will consist of 310 houses in a new riverside district next door to Canary Wharf. The neighbourhood’s layout is classic, inspired by Georgian design principles with first-floor drawing rooms. Architects Glenn Howells have taken their cue from aristocratic landowners such as Bedford Estate in Bloomsbury, where homes are laid out in an uncomplicated street pattern, or grid, with squares, public gardens and parks. Royal Wharf will have its own primary school plus a DLR station that will plug into Crossrail. Nearly 50 per cent of this mainly low-rise neighbourhood will be open green space, with outdoor areas specifically designed to promote health and fitness, with activities co-ordinated from the on-site leisure complex. The idea is for outdoor yoga, circuit training, jogging and cycling to take place on landscaped green spaces, paths and by the riverside. From £695,000: townhouses feature at the ambitious Royal Wharf scheme not so fast FAMILY-FRIENDLY Alan McCartney, an architect at Glenn Howells, says of Royal Wharf: “From a grand hallway, a staircase leads to a high-ceilinged first-floor lounge, with views across the open spaces. “At ground level is a large open-plan kitchen-diner with bi-folding doors opening out to a private garden — a floor plan that goes down well with young families. “The houses also have roof terraces large enough for toddlers to play safely, and have been designed for families to grow into, without the need for an extension.” Prices start at £695,000. Larger four-bedroom houses with up to 2,457sq ft of space cost £1.1 million. Call 0808 118 1987. Construction is under way and the first homes will be ready next year. Located in a former industrial zone close to the Thames Barrier, the address is raw and challenging. However, sweeping transformation is mapped out over the next decade. For the long-term investor, this is a chance to buy early. At the moment, values are 30 per cent cheaper than homes around the river bend at Canary Wharf. From £950,000: houses at Brentford Lock West are set around a traditional square Focus is on the family as spring’s Royal Docks leads the way as architects strive to create thousands of lower-cost, future-proof eco homes in London, says David Spittles TOWNHOUSE TURNAROUND A decade ago, new-build houses in London were disappearing, with fewer than 1,100 under construction and only 155 in inner boroughs. Today about 10,000 are in the pipeline and many are available now to move in to. But planning £1.15 million: three-storey, triple-glazed townhouses at Cobalt Place in Battersea, left, are among the greenest new homes in London. They come with private gardens but have Battersea Park, right, nearby. Call Lend Lease on 020 8879 9099 priorities have changed from creating small apartments for singles and childless couples to building family h o m e s t o ke e p p a re n t s i n t h e capital to provide more balanced communities. This policy initiative is continuing. Ahead of May’s general election, the Royal Institution of British Architects (RIBA) has launched a Build a Better Britain campaign. It is urging politicians to focus on the built environment with a particular emphasis on creating well-planned spaces as well as energy-efficient family homes. “Well-designed townhouses do not have to cost a fortune — and they can help boost regeneration in run-down areas by attracting families, who demand better schools, libraries, parks and neighbourhood shops,” says RIBA. Developers have had to fall in line with planners’ wishes and, to their delight, have discovered huge, unsatisfied demand for thoughtfullydesigned houses. Housing associations at Epping are boosting the numbers, too, making cheaper new houses available, sometimes on a shared ownership basis, as at The Arboretum in Epping, east London. This is a rare new-build scheme bordering the ancient forest and only a 15-minute walk to the Central line 7 EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2015 New homes Homes & Property homesandproperty.co.uk with says Mark Wilkinson, partner at Knight Frank. And the most demand is for the mid-market £500,000-£800,000 price bracket. WHERE TO LOOK From £494,995: new three-bedroom houses at The Arboretum, a scheme on the edge of Epping Forest, below, with town-and-country appeal to London families Link: a cable car connects Georgian Greenwich with Royal Dock, where Georgian-inspired townhouses are part of the new-homes mix new homes are launched Tube station in the market town, which has an 18th century high street and some prized listed buildings. The three-bedroom houses cost from £494,995. Call L&Q on 0844 406 9800. STRATFORD’S 67 ACRES New houses are for rent at 67-acre East Village, part of Queen Elizabeth II Park in Stratford. In this area the homes sit alongside parklands, play areas, wild flower meadows and wetlands, while private courtyards provide a safe retreat for children. Renting starts at £600 a week for a four-bedroom townhouse. Call 020 3714 8083. Modern lifestyles are shaping the design of this new generation of houses, and there is a decisive shift away from the traditional idea of the Awarded 5 stars for customer satisfaction house as a box with defined rooms for sleeping, eating and relaxing. “Buyers want the new property to have exciting design elements and also to chime with the way they live,” says Tony Travers, director of developer Countryside. The group is focusing on family homes in outer travel zones with gardens, roof terraces, bedrooms with luxury en suite bathrooms, audio-vis- ual treats such as a home cinema and iPod docks, and environmentallyfriendly features, such as solar panels. However, affordable family houses are still in the shortest supply, according to the National Association of Estate Agents. “The latent demand for this property type in London is vast and growing steadily, which pushes prices up,” Kings Park in east London is a new parkland estate being built next to Harold Wood train station, which will be on the Crossrail line (42 minutes to Bond Street). Three-bedroom houses cost from £475,000. Call 01708 348578. Millbrook Park, Mill Hill, is a new 14-acre neighbourhood on the site of a former barracks where townhouses will be released later this year. A park runs through the site with play areas for children. A new primary school has opened, too. To register, call 020 8371 9269. At The Old Dairy in Streatham, good-sized townhouses (up to 1,648sq ft) with open-plan spaces and a highceiling attic-style master bedroom cost £749,995. Call Bellway on 0845 548 3016. Edgware Green, bordering the Metropolitan Green Belt in north-west London, has big four-bedroom townhouses (the smallest is 1,900sq ft) priced from £720,000, with the helpto-buy deposit scheme available. Call Barratt on 0844 811 4334. Energy efficient Cobalt Place, Battersea, is producing the most highly-rated, energy-efficient family homes in London, due to an advanced form of timber construction that reduces the amount of energy needed to heat the building by 40 per cent, while also improving air quality and cutting noise pollution. The three-storey, triple-glazed houses have an outer layer of warm brick, while a white open-plan interior on the ground floor links to a walled private garden. Prices from £1,150,000. Call Lend Lease on 020 8879 9099. THERE’S LOCKS OF APPEAL Canalside townhouses are part of 11-acre Brentford Lock West, a regeneration project in west London that involves upgrading the waterfront and providing allotments for residents’ use. The houses are set around a new town square and have up to five bedrooms and basement parking. Prices from £950,000. Call 020 8569 7449. Chiswick Point | Colonial Drive | Chiswick | W4 5NU London W4 Over 75% sold Call: 0845 548 7020 Click: www.bellway.co.uk Visit: Open daily 10am - 5pm 8 WEDNESDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Renting homesandproperty.co.uk with Another suitcase in another hall W E HAVE been called Generation Rent, but we are also Generation Transient, moving from home to home more often than many people go to the dentist. In seven years of renting in the capital, I have lived in nine homes with about 15 different housemates. I was on an average of about one home per year, but due to a series of misfortunes (landlord selling followed by a damp problem that made it uninhabitable) I have held three different addresses in the last six months alone. If you plot my rental journey around London it forms a kind of squiggly figure-of-eight, taking in Clapham Common, Brockley, over the river to Chelsea (if this looks out of place, that’s because it is — I was kindly put up by relatives for a few months after finishing studying) and Dollis Hill, then back south to Brixton and on to Streatham Hill, Tulse Hill and finally to Herne Hill. I’ve lived in student halls of residence, party houses, period houses, flats of various shapes and styles and a dampinfested basement flat (never again). Contrary to appearances, I am not addicted to moving. Aside from the expense, it’s tedious, exhausting and fundamentally unsettling. But for me, like many of London’s 2.2 million private sector tenants, it has become an all too frequent event. ‘Private landlords also need to step up by offering tenants longer tenancies. “Renting” doesn’t have to be another word for “unstable’” rental home in a convenient location, once people are in, they become desperate to stay, forfeiting their rights. One of my friends moved in to a house only to find that they could not complain about anything because the existing flatmates had done a deal with the letting agent — let us stay and we’ll be no bother. In a micro survey of friends on Facebook, the majority who are renting have moved roughly once a year — some even more. The worst case was that of a former housemate, who answered: “10 properties, over seven years, and too many horror stories”. One friend said she had lived in six places over eight years. Another said she managed to get a “long let” (two years) but it came at a cost: ridiculously, the landlord, who lives in Spain, doesn’t want to get involved so he won’t fix the holes in the roof. Great! Normally, leases are only a year long — sometimes with a six-month breakclause — which means you’re less likely to have a chance to get to know your neighbours and there’s insufficient time to make it truly feel like home, so it’s bad for communities, as well as tenants. But a churning cycle of tenants seems to be preferable to many landlords — probably because it means they don’t have to deal with problems and they can put the rent up without complaints. WHAT’S THE SOLUTION? DESPERATE MEASURES When I moved out of a shared house to live with my boyfriend a couple of years ago I thought it would get easier. But the shortage of one-bedroom flats means finding somewhere nice and affordable and staying there is surprisingly hard to do. Such is the rarity of finding a good Deputy Mayor for housing, land and property, Richard Blakeway, says the Mayor is “working hard with the industry to improve the offer and reduce the pressure on London’s growing private sector”, with schemes such as Get Living London at East Village, the former athletes’ village in Stratford, and “thousands” of homes DANIEL LYNCH You can’t afford to buy so you rent, only to be kicked out each time a tenancy ends. And it all costs a fortune. Writer Miranda Bryant, 29, is living a London nightmare being built at Pontoon Dock overlooking Thames Barrier Park and Silvertown Way in Canning Town. Having recently visited East Village, the flats and the three-year leases are attractive, but with prices starting at £395 a week for a one-bedroom flat, stability comes with a hefty price tag. Fizzy Living also offers leases of more than a year, but the ones in good locations are not cheap. More of these schemes at a more affordable price and in more locations LOAFINGLY LOVELY FURNITURE are needed. But private landlords also need to step up by offering tenants longer tenancies. Renting doesn’t have to be a byword for unstable. It’s like that because landlords, property management agencies and letting agents choose to make it like that and authorities don’t force them to behave. With property ownership slipping further and further from the reach of many Londoners in their twenties, renting is here to stay, so let’s make it a sustainable way to live. On the move: Miranda Bryant, now based in Herne Hill, has lived in nine London homes in only seven years 9 EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2015 Head east or south to find the best value Newham, Lambeth and Dagenham are walking tall as regeneration takes hold, says David Spittles £288,950: flats at Pembury Circus, Hackney — built on a former council estate F IRST-TIME buyers are faced with stark choices when trying to get on the property ladder. For most, it boils down to either compromising on a cheaper location in an outer travel zone or squeezing into a tiny flat closer to the centre. Some are joining forces with friends to make their money go further. Others are taking on second jobs or working overtime to save a bigger deposit, even taking out personal loans to bridge the funding gap. And yet London still has affordable areas, or at least pockets of decent value, where the arithmetic can work for first-time buyers. But these areas are cheaper for a reason — terrible transport links or the proximity of a rough council estate or blighted industrial land. However, the chances are that such places will improve as regeneration takes hold. Most buyers are heading east or south, to what are still the cheaper sides of London. “Our research shows a real shift east through Hackney and Newham and a push south through Lambeth and Lewisham,” says Johnny Morris, head of research at Hamptons International. GOING EAST Areas falling into favour include Canning Town, Beckton, Barking, Walthamstow and Leyton. New Festival Quarter shares the same postcode, E14, as Canary Wharf and has one-bedroom flats priced from £399,950. Set across four buildings, the scheme has a private gym, 24-hour concierge and residents’ roof garden. Call Bellway on 0845 459 5020. The same developer has launched Pembury Circus, 260 homes on the site of a former council estate in Hackney. Prices from £288,950. Call 0845 257 6064. For many years, edgy Canning Town, postcode E16, languished outside the property market. The game changer was the Olympics going to Stratford, which cemented a £3.7 billion regeneration programme. Step out of the Jubilee line station and you will be greeted by the From £300,000: flats at Mast Quay, just five minutes from Woolwich town centre soaring Vermilion development, part of the ambitious 675-home Rathbone Market renewal scheme, comprising a new library, two public squares plus purpose-built facilities for market traders. Prices for two-bedroom flats are from £138,000 (for a 40 per cent share), full price, £345,000. Call 020 7758 8481. One of the objectives is to connect Canning Town with Canary Wharf, Royal Docks and Silvertown. Nearby Custom House has a DLR station and will be on the Crossrail route when the line opens in 2018. Orchard Village in Dagenham is being developed by Centra, part of Circle housing association. It is building 516 new homes for rent, shared ownership and private sale. Green routes through the development link open spaces within and around the site, including a new community square with grids of trees and sculptures of oversize fruits — referencing the site’s former use as a fruit farm. Three-bedroom townhouses with garden, roof terrace and parking space cost from £335,000. Call 0845 223 0000. SOUTH OF THE RIVER First-time buyer territory takes in Plumstead, Woolwich, Eltham, Catford, Downham, Penge, Croydon, South Norwood and Merton. Lewisham has excellent rail links into central London, while the DLR provides a 15-minute hop to Canary Wharf. A council-led transformation of the town centre is under way, with hundreds of new flats, plus a new leisure centre, a reconfigured road system and a new bus station and shopping mall. Riverdale House, an Eighties office building notable for its Modernist architectural style, is being converted into 137 flats and will have a hotel-style entrance foyer and rooftop communal terraces. Running alongside Ravensbourne River, the site includes a Victorian mill with water wheel. Prices from £225,000. Call Galliard on 020 7620 1500. Woolwich is set to benefit massively from Crossrail in 2018. Mast Quay is an attractive waterfront development, five minutes’ walk from the new station and the town centre. Coming soon is a new phase of 161 apartments priced from £300,000. Call Comer Homes on 020 8361 2424. Grove Place, a 144-home high street scheme, has two stylish residential blocks overlooking a piazza and gardens, plus each has a hotel-style entrance foyer and secure parking. Prices from £300,000. Call Galliard on 020 3733 3884. ,,, First-time buyers Homes & Property !,"(',"),%,)!%&#, #, ,',"!,', "!"!, #%"#%'*,%,*,")!!,, #%!',", *," - ) ) )- $ # % ! - " -( )))-$#%!-"-( ,,,,,, + %! Registered Society 30441R Exempt charity. Details correct at time of going to print 02/15. Image represents typical Shared Ownership purchasers. 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 go to www.lqpricedin.co.uk. 10 WEDNESDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Homes abroad homesandproperty.co.uk with A HOLIDAY home in the central Italian region of Tuscany is the perfect daydream for many overseas buyers. Find a ruined stone farmhouse, buy it for a song, renovate it with a team of builders and bingo: the perfect holiday casa. The main flaw in this plan is that the Sixties property prices in the Chianti region have doubled every decade on average while regional authorities have resolutely preserved their finest assets. The green hills, the traditional trattorias and the vines remain untouched — there are little new-build projects and prices have escalated sharply. Six years on from the start of the recession, prices in Tuscany remain around 30 per cent down on 2007 levels and, with the pound surging against the weakened euro, surely this is an interesting time to house hunt. “We are certainly seeing more interest in Tuscany and property that is attractively priced can sell quickly in what is otherwise a slow market,” says Jelena Cvjetkovic of Savills. AN ESTATE HOME: LUXURY Twenty minutes west of Siena and within one hour of Florence and San Gimignano, Castello di Casole has been selling the Tuscan dream for a decade. The 4,200-acre historic estate includes an elegant five-star hotel, a spa and restaurant and a 3,800-acre wildlife reserve with resident deer, wild boar, rabbits and pheasants. There are From £261,600: at Castello di Casole, refurbished and new farmhouses come with a neighbouring lavish five-star hotel and excellent sports facilities and spa Head for the Castello with euros to spare 28 farmhouses spread over the rural acres, some restored from ruins and some carefully reconstructed newbuilds on the site of former homes. The final five home sites are now for sale. A four-bedroom 4,200 sq ft home costs £3,176,000 for outright ownership or can be bought in fractions starting from £261,600 for a 12th share. Small two-bedroom homes close to the hotel are £261,600 for full ownership. Casole is owned by US-based Timbers Resorts and early buyers were predominately American, but that is now changing, says sales director Patrick Jeffas. “There are around 200 owners from 20 different countries at Casole from Singapore to the UK,” says Jeffas. “They are an international community who chose Casole for the chance to own an exclusive property in an exclusive area without fear of over-development.” Paul and Gail Fitzgerald, owners of a House hunt in Tuscany while the pound is strong and Italian homes remain 30 per cent below 2007 levels, says Cathy Hawker specialist engineering company, are typical of many owners. They left London in 1987 to live in Boston, Massachusetts, and spend around two to three months each year at Casole. “At Casole I work via internet in the morning and in the afternoon we go exploring,” says Paul. “We tour vineyards and walk the Via Francigena, the old pilgrim path, or visit Siena.” Annual service charges at Casole are from £8,220 for fractional ownership and £49,000 for full ownership, a price existing owners willingly pay for the security of an exclusive property in an exclusive area, says Jeffas. Owners Tranquillity: rental properties from tuscanynow.com include everything from cosy stone cottages to historic homes that can accommodate up to 30 people who rent through Casole receive between 50 and 60 per cent of the rental income. A VALUE CHOICE IN TUSCANY Choose a remote Tuscan farmhouse and you may regret the isolation. “I lived in Tuscany for some years and came to appreciate the pleasure of having nearby shops and restaurants and the chance for a neighbourly chat,” says Cvjetkovic. “Today I would choose to live on the edge of a village.” Savills is selling homes at Villa Arceno, an estate of stone farmhouses with a communal pool, 17 miles from Siena in Chianti’s hills. Homes were renovated 15 years ago and re-sales start from £478,500 for three bedrooms. There’s a celebrity connection, too: Oscar-winning actor Colin Firth married his Italian wife Livia there in 1997. Other areas Cvjetkovic tips include the southernmost corner of Tuscany on the border with Lazio, where villages such as Pitigliano, Sorano and Sovana offer an authentic Italian lifestyle with a sense of community. Further north, quiet villages in the Pisan Hills north-west of Volterra include Lari, where unremarkable two-bedroom apartments start from £97,000 and country cottages from £299,000. O Castello di Casole castellodicasole. com O Savills savills.com £3.176 million: buyers of this large, 4,200 sq ft, four-bedroom villa with an infinity pool at Castello di Casole can enjoy the peace the location offers BUYING THE PERFECT RENTAL Renters looking to bag a holiday home in Tuscany are getting more sophisticated, says Simon Ball of family-run rental firm Tuscany Now. They expect more than just a house on a hill with a pool. “Air conditioning, en suite bathrooms and a great kitchen are all expected,” adds Ball. “There is large demand for homes where you can walk to a village. Renters also want privacy, views and tranquillity, which often clashes with the idea of walking into a village, as that is the only place in Tuscany where you can build new buildings.” Tuscany Now has 180 exclusive properties on its books, from barns with one bedroom from £760 a week in low season to historic villas sleeping 30 people for £13,461 in high season. The longest rental period of homes on the company’s books is 32 weeks and generally 24 weeks for larger homes. O Tuscany Now tuscanynow.com 12 WEDNESDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property London life homesandproperty.co.uk with Sexless Soho As one quirky London district has its naughty bits covered by smart flats, plush hotels and chain restaurants, is Tin Pan Alley the next to face ‘cleansing’, asks Nick Curtis F IRST Soho, now Tin Pan Alley: according to some, these special areas, geographically small but a big part of what makes London special, are the latest victims of the wider capital’s unstoppable economic success. The steady closure in Soho of small businesses — including sex shops, and the cabaret club Madame Jojo’s after an assault — in favour of residential developments, hotels and chain restaurants, has led many to claim the area is being “sanitised”. Now there are fears that Denmark Street, a pivotal part of London’s music scene since 1911, where the Rolling Stones and the Sex Pistols recorded and Elton John wrote Your Song, will be cleansed. Consolidated Development, which has owned the street for more than 20 years, plans a “permeable” mixed-use building on St Giles High Street — with an “indoor-outdoor” piazza at its base giving access to the thousands of passengers expected to pass through Tottenham Court Road station once Crossrail arrives — that will necessitate the demolition of one building on the north side of Denmark Street and others in Denmark Place, the alleyway behind. Consolidated’s owner Laurence Kirschel claims there are more musicbased businesses in the area today than there were when he took it over and the development is “totally preserving Denmark Street and reinforcing its music history”. Plans include a new 2,000-seat underground venue, a “hall of fame” exhibition in Denmark Place, “a sort of non-members Groucho Club for the music”, and an agreement with Camden Council that shop leases that fall vacant will be offered first to music businesses. A campaign and online petition to “save Denmark Street”, focusing on the Forge building occupied by the 12 Bar Club, as well as the area’s musical history, quickly gained support. Last month Tom Harvey of the SohoCreate Festival issued an open letter, signed by Stephen Fry, Benedict Cumberbatch and Idris Elba among others, asking the government and the mayor to protect Soho’s unique character. That same month the 12 Bar Club was closed because of safety concerns and rent arrears according to Kirschel. Protesters took over the building. Speaking before their anticipated eviction last Friday, one of the occupiers, Steve, said: “We want to keep this place open as a community centre. What do I think our chances are? Absolutely zero.” Kirschel points out that for all the romance clinging to these two zones either side of the Charing Cross Road, one in Camden and the other in Westminster, Soho was a violent, ‘The area’s definitely going to change, but it’s not going to be as fast as people think’ FELIX LAWRIE Hank’s Guitars, Denmark Street, right Carrying on: Crossrail has prompted redevelopment of Tottenham Court Road, below right, though some institutions survive, as made clear by some unusual signposting, inset %%% %*&'+ % % &$%%% %%# % %" $!!! $%! % %%)+(% %% % %% $ $$,$$$$ $"(#$$$ #$+)$$'&$$*$ #$+*$$'&$$)$ #$+%$$'&$$ $$$$$$$$#! ""# Photographs: Daniel Lynch 13 EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2015 London life Homes & Property homesandproperty.co.uk with ‘The business rates keep going up: it costs us £3,000 a week now’ CRISTINA ONUTA Manager of deli i Camisa, Old Compton Street, left Losing battle: campaigners say the character of Soho is being threatened threatening place, and Denmark Place a hot spot for drug crime. My wife worked for a Soho ad agency in the Eighties — any girl running an errand was given a film canister to prevent her being accosted as a prostitute. Later in her career she regularly saw junkies shooting up in the basement wells of empty offices opposite the north end of Denmark Street, where Renzo Piano’s posterpaint coloured Central St Giles development now stands. There are divisions among campaigners. The actor Rupert Everett has championed the case of sex workers who want to stay in Soho. Restaurateur Russell Norman, of the Polpo group, told ES magazine last month that he thought strip clubs should stay, but the brothels should go. Leslie Hardcastle, president of The Soho Society, fears corporate property investors will overrun the place with their soulless “lock and leave” homes that will kill community life and the creative spirit in the area on which these venues thrive. NOT SO FAST Walk through Denmark Street and Soho, and the traders, whose livelihoods would seem to be most at threat, voice a raft of opinions. “The area’s definitely going to change, but it’s not going to be as fast as people think,” said Felix Lawrie, sales assistant at Hank’s Guitars in Denmark Street. A manager of another nearby music shop, who asked not to be named, shrugged: “It’s the nature of capitalism, isn’t it? The centre gets sanitised, but the 12 Bar has already reopened in Holloway and there are interesting music scenes springing up in Blackheath and Hornsey.” Bev Crome, of the Rose Morris Piano Centre, was more regretful: “This is a community. People help each other out, we sell different brands and refer customers to each other. In five years it will all have changed. It’s a shame.” Cristina Onuta, manager of the Italian deli, i Camisa, in Old Compton Street for 16 years, has watched all the old businesses disappearing: “The business rates keep going up: it costs us £3,000 a week now.” The traders of Berwick Street market, many of whom have worked their pitches for 40-plus years, didn’t want to talk. But Martin Borovick, the third generation of his family to run Borovick Fabrics in Berwick Street, said: “The day of the market has gone. We could do with Berwick Street being developed — not gentrification but modernisation.” THE LANDOWNERS What is the middle course between the needs of a changing city and the history that gives these parts of London its character? Borovick praised the actions of Shaftesbury, a major Soho landowner, which has upgraded premises on Newburgh Street and encouraged independent traders to move in. John James of Soho Estates, another major landowner, which is currently doing up Walker’s Court and planning to relaunch its own version of Madame Jojos, said: “Encouraging independent traders has always been at the forefront of Soho Estates’ lettings policy and will continue to be so.” Harvey would like local authorities to “be more strategic” in the developments they allow and encourage the creative industries into the centre of London. The idea of “heritage rents” has been raised to protect historic businesses, but “rent control” has a scary sound to many. Soho and Denmark Street could potentially be declared areas of Special Policy, which would theoretically preserve their character. But such a designation failed to prevent US clothing firm Abercrombie & Fitch from muscling into Savile Row. Camden council sees no need for this. ‘The market’s days are gone. But we need modernisation rather than gentrification’ MARTIN BOROVICK Borovick Fabrics, Berwick Street, above Ditto Westminster. Councillor Jonathan Glanz said: “It would be wrong for this generation to claim Soho’s current look, feel, shops or bars as worthy of special status when those who created the Soho of today were themselves in many ways doing so by re-inventing its past.” Will the next step be serious sanitisation or a new flowering of creativity in Soho and Berwick Street? Watch this space. 16 WEDNESDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property My home homesandproperty.co.uk with NAOMI HEATON: PROPERTY QUEEN Eye for a deal: London Central Portfolio founder Naomi Heaton loves sniffing out a bargain Start with classic good taste — then add the unexpected She’s made a career out of selling London property to the super-rich but Naomi Heaton knows luxury’s limits, as she tells Liz Hoggard Y OU might think Naomi Heaton was an actress. She’s all dressed in black, accessorised with gold jewellery and she’s holding a harp; her voice a low, thespy drawl. In fact Heaton is a formidable property queen — as founder and chief executive at London Central Portfolio (LCP), she sources prime residential property in central London on behalf of international blue-chip clients. Her area of expertise is helping people invest in the private rented sector. She has made her fortune acquiring one- and two-bedroom properties for clients in the areas around Hyde Park (Knightsbridge, Kensington and Chelsea, Marylebone, South Kensington), with a typical price tag of £2 million. We are in her newly renovated five-storey Nash villa, just off the Outer Circle overlooking Regent’s Park. I’m expecting a slightly bland, international decorating style. But, actually, Heaton has a touchingly eccentric interior. The house is a riot of colour and every object has a very personal association. There’s an entrance hall, modelled on Leighton House, with a fishpond and sculpture by Paul Vanstone. She hosts recitals in the house and has her parents’ piano and that harp. “My husband’s children are choral scholars, so they’re extremely musical,” she informs me. She bought the house, which dates from 1824, because of its magnificent staircase and original cornicing, but there were few other original features. “It was a blank canvas, so it’s very much a collaboration between myself and my husband. He has a fantastic eye for design,” she says. Renovations took three years because it’s a listed house, part of the Crown Estate. And the couple needed to create a bespoke interior to suit a grown-up family. Eight years ago Heaton got together with her second husband, a doctor. “We knew each other a very long time ago, but we came back together in new, single lives. It’s a very nice story,” she says. In the meantime they had both married and divorced — her husband has two teenage children, while Naomi has two married stepsons. So the new house needs to make every member of the extended family feel welcome. In the gold, first-floor sitting room, a long curved sofa with Turkish fringing means everyone can sit together. Playful touches include a James I chest and a hippo from Liberty. The basement kitchen, the hub of the house, has a huge range. Displayed around the room are their collection of Imperial Ironstone plates and original tiles. Flat-fronted cupboards recall an old-fashioned chemist’s shop. Next door is the dining room with a long table and chairs bought at auction, upholstered in bright yellow. Working with an architect, they’ve removed a wall and added a skylight. “We wanted to create something that had a classical Georgian feel, but with a slightly eclectic twist,” she tells me. “We’re not in Georgian times, so you want to bring in other elements. It’s an inspiration, rather than a slavish copy.” The L-shaped mews house attached to the back of the villa has a separate entrance, so younger members of the family have independence. Here they’ve created a snug/games room and bedrooms for her husband’s teenage son and daughter. Heaton and her husband occupy the top of the house. The master bedroom combines a carved four-poster and a naval gun cabinet with modern touches, such as “invisible” wardrobe space and a secret en suite. Passionate collectors, the house is a showcase for their art, including works by Martin Bradley, Ceri Richards, Michael Ayrton, Peter Howson and John Piper. The eau-de-nil landing displays original watercolours and ceramic pieces. You can look down the staircase, Winter 50% Sale OFF UP TO Enjoy an extra 20% off starts Saturday* Chingford | Chiswick | East Sheen | Fulham | Hammersmith | Hampstead | Kingston | Tottenham Court Road Beds, Furniture, Mattresses, Bed Linen, Bedding & Accessories 33 Stores Nationwide | 01243 380 600 www.featherandblack.com *see in store for details 17 EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2015 My home Homes & Property homesandproperty.co.uk with which they had sandblasted, all the way to the basement. “Everywhere you look there’s a vista you can enjoy,” says Heaton. They’ve been acquiring big 17th and 18th century oils for the proportions of the house. “They go for nothing compared with contemporary art,” she marvels. “It’s the same with brown furniture, which I’m sure will come back in fashion.” Waiting for a special piece is the opposite of instant gratification, though she admits they had some heated arguments. “I’d stomp off and we had to reconvene,” she confesses. “But it’s a lovely thing to create a home.” A STRUGGLE AT THE START Heaton is very focused. After studying human sciences at Oxford, she worked in advertising, becoming the youngest female director of Saatchi & Saatchi, and a main board director of Young & Rubicam, advising blue-chip clients such as Heinz and Cadbury. “I bought my first property in Camden Town in my early twenties,” she says. “I couldn’t understand why anyone would rent rather than buy. It was a real struggle then, just as it is now. You were able to get big multiples of your salary, then I borrowed from my parents and my boyfriends’ parents. “It was more important for me to have a modest lifestyle and live somewhere, than go out having lots of dinners or buying clothes.” It gave her the taste for property and she started “sniffing out bargains”, which she renovated and sold as a hobby. She admits that she “had that entrepreneurial streak in my blood. I trawled the classified ads in newspapers looking for the deal”. She learned to buy well, but also to renovate stylishly — to a budget — to give added value. Finally, she set up her own property company. LCP will find, purchase, renovate, let and manage the property for clients. “We have no third parties so we can control the cost,” Heaton says. Today she runs a team of 50 employees. She specialises in one- and two-beds, because the rental market is largely made up of corporate tenants — mostly “the children of very wealthy clients studying here” or professional couples, located to London through their jobs. “What they want is something very similar to the boutique hotels that they’ve been staying in,” says Heaton of her clients. Only the ultra-wealthy can bag £1 million-plus flats, of course. When I moan about foreign non-coms taking over London housing stock, she offers a robust defence: 50 per cent of the central London market is bought for buy-to-let investment. This fills a socioeconomic role, stimulating economic growth and providing jobs for a huge array of professions. “We did an analysis on the private rented sector and each year brings in at least £1.5 billion into the economy,” she declares. She insists we’re only talking about six square miles (prime central London is confined to the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea and the City of Westminster). “It’s a tiny market. There are only 5,000 transactions in a Above, from left: the entrance hall is modelled on Leighton House in Holland Park and has a shallow fishpond with a sculpture by Paul Vanstone at its centre; the eau-de-nil landing displays watercolours and ceramics; contemporary design delivers a sleek modern bathroom year, only 100 per week,” she says. “Half are buying to rent out. So 50 per cent is occupied, there are no lights out there. And the bubble is not going to burst. Worldwide people see London as this safe haven asset class.” These properties are not designed or developed for Londoners, she says firmly. Not only are they unaffordable, but they are too small to be appealing. “The average price is £1.7 million so it has nothing to do with the domestic housing market — and it never did.” She will never overbid on a property, and knows exactly what rent it should yield. Location and style tends to be more important than the number of rooms, she says. The key is to go for a contemporary, neutral styling with practical, hard-wearing materials. “In the private rented sector you have to create something that endures,” she insists. “Our business model is the antithesis of Candy & Candy, where it’s a triumph of style over substance.” Her own house is rather different, of course, with its bold palette, stained glass and antique curios. The business model she developed for individual investors has led LCP to launch its dedicated residential property funds buying properties to rent. This allows you to get into the market with an investment starting from £25,000.” The first two funds, launched in 2007 and 2010, have shown a return on investment of more than 50 per cent since acquisition. “By investing savings in the fund, it provides a way for young professional Londoners to keep pace with the rapidly inflating London market as they save up for their deposit,” she explains. LCP has since then pioneered the launch of the only two Sharia-compliant residential funds in the UK, meaning that the prime London market is open to all investors. O LCP has just announced a new offer of shares in its fourth vehicle, London Central Apartments II (LCA II), a listed investment company. LCA II takes advantage of the surge in interest to invest in central London residential, capitalising on its excellent growth performance, both short and long term. Open for SIPPs, ISAs and accepting a minimum subscription of £25,000 from eligible investors, for more details visit londoncentral portfolio.com. A DESIGN MASTERCLASS WITH NAOMI HEATON PAGE 26 Eclectic twist: Naomi Heaton wanted a classic Georgian feel with a difference, as with these upholstered dining chairs bought at auction Photographs : David Butler We’re We’re the the No No 11 choice choice for for both both cottage cottage owners owners and and holidaymakers holidaymakers Join Join Britain’s Britain’s favourite favourite holiday holiday letting letting agency agency and and benefit benefit from: from: •• AA personal personal and and friendly friendly service service with with aa dedicated dedicated Regional Regional Manager Manager based based in in your your area area •• £Multi-million £Multi-million marketing marketing campaigns campaigns •• All All properties properties graded graded to to tourist tourist board board standards standards FREE FREE of of charge charge •• FREE FREE photography photography and and professional professional copywriting copywriting Call Call our our Property Property Recruitment Recruitment team team on on 0345 0345 268 268 8517 8517 Email Email [email protected] [email protected] or or visit visit www.cottages4you.co.uk www.cottages4you.co.uk 20 WEDNESDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Design homesandproperty.co.uk with By Barbara Chandler sign sig ign trend ign ig trends tre tren trre end nds ds tropical is topical Above left: Tesco cushion, £8, 43cm square in polyester/linen blend (able to wash in machine); polyester-filled pad (available from tesco.com) Below left: a pineapple brass jewellery stand, 18cm high, £20, from Oliver Bonas, with 38 stores across London (oliver bonas.com) Below: from Isatu Funna comes this Fanjul fabric in a choice of three colours. On a bench, £490, cushions are £66 (dar-leone.com) Right: Christian Lacroix Maison’s Manaos print fabric (curtains) and canopy (on stool) both £98 a metre from designers guild.com /+4,+-00++4;0+1+ 0++++ + # +! # %+" &# + & # ++ " ( + ) " # +*+ +(* +#3 +-0/+,,;0+,/+/:00 !6.0+1;+$*' +-0/+,,;0+,/+.,20 !6.0+1;+$3' #/6'*'++++-0/+,,;0 !6.0+1;+$*' ;0+200,0/+6;,20+,0+6/6.,6 0+:+,/+-70.++.4,208++ !6.0+.0.+,+6;0+1+262++08 21 EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2015 Design Homes & Property homesandproperty.co.uk with Far left top: Marimekko round plywood tray (46cm across); £62 from amara.com or 0800 587 7645 Far left bottom: jungle butterfly cushions in printed cotton (washable in machines, 40cm square), with duck feather pad, £28; from Oliver Bonas (as before) Left centre: Flamingo photo-printed bedding from very.co.uk, cotton/polyester, prices, £17 single set, £25 double Left: Linea resin flamingo, weatherproofed for outdoors, £30; 42cm high, from House of Fraser stores (houseoffraser. co.uk or call 0345 602 1073) ++ *+0,8+ ,90+6+8 #+ + %% #% + # +! 5 Move in today with as little as 5% deposit with Help to Buy ++62++-0/;+,,;0+ 0;,6+,+%40+!0:+#*'+-4+, ,6:,-:0+ 1+6;;0/6,0+..,68 !6.0+1;+$3' 0,-/,:08.89 26 WEDNESDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Interiors homesandproperty 2 1 ▲ WINDOWS WIDE Window treatments can make a significant difference to the natural light in your property. Make sure your curtains and blinds are set high or wide enough to remain clear of the windows and allow in the maximum amount of light, even on dull days. ► TASK LIGHTING If you are doing a full makeover, lighting is a cost-effective way to boost your design aesthetic and create different moods. Lighting should be considered at design stage and planned to reflect how the room will be used. All rooms need a variety of light, from ambient and accent lighting to utility and task lighting. Where possible, put in combinations of all of these, with adjustable lights, dimmer switches, lamps, skirting lights and undercupboard lights. Down lighting, which has a bad reputation, can be effective when a dimmer switch is used. This will create a soft overall glow adding to the ambience of the room. Spotlights should be used to highlight key features and architectural detailing, while skirting lights and lamps can add design features and fun. One area often neglected is the staircase. LED striplighting to wrap around the stairs can turn it into a real feature. My design masterclass Naomi Heaton, reveals how to give a two-bedroom flat a fabulous interior with her simple 10-point action plan 7 ► ACCESSORISE WITH COLOUR Colour is back in — whether you paint a feature wall, as here, or are brave enough to paint every wall in a single shade to make a design statement. Keeping the large items of your room or living area neutral, such as sofas or armchairs (below right), will help enhance the overall scheme and really make your walls stand out. Don’t be afraid, however, to use clashing colours on small items such as cushions or dining chairs to make a daring statement and brighten the room. 8 6 ▲ NATURAL LIGHT Having considered your artificial light, the next tip is to maximise the natural light in your property. If you have a small, dark home (as so many of us in London do), using natural light to enhance the sense of space is essential. Your paint colour choices can really assist in brightening up your rooms, and the first stage is to consider the direction that each of your windows face. North-facing rooms, for example, can often look cold and can benefit from warm wall colours to create a cosier space. Dark rooms should stay away from light-sapping yellow and beige colours. Mirrors can really help brighten any room by being placed strategically opposite windows to bounce off the light to the rest of the room. ► FEATURE WALLPAPER For those who do not feel that they can go the whole nine yards, a really bold feature wall is the most costeffective way to add personality and style to your property. Pick a wallpaper with large patterns or paint one wall in a striking and contrasting colour. These will help liven up your space and set your property apart from the deluge of beige that so many British homes favour. To tie the feature wall into your décor, use echoes of the same colour or pattern in your soft furnishings, or alternatively choose bold plain contrasts. 27 EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2015 Interiors Homes & Property y.co.uk with 3 ■ BE BRAVE, THINK BIG On the subject of big, do not neglect the effect of making things oversized when you are planning your refurbishment. A simple change, such as a taller door, will help make even the smallest room even more spacious. In a period space with tall ceilings, tall doors will make it feel grander. Think about oversized skirting, extra tall kitchen units (the extra space is practical too) and extra wide floor boards. They inevitably create impact. In the same vein, do not shy away from statement pieces of furniture such as large floor lights or oversized pictures. A few large pieces in a small room will actually enhance the sense of space and give your finished design that extra wow. 4 ▼ DON’T BE TOO TECHIE Do not overcomplicate when it comes to technology. It is easy to be drawn in by the latest gizmos and apps that will turn your lights on and off, lock your house or turn your heating on before you get home. These gadgets can often be unreliable, break down and, more often than not, will end up unused. The truth is that even the simplest dimmer switch can create all the mood scenes you need. Instead, only consider the gadgets that will enhance your lifestyle. Do you hold a lot of dinner parties? A sound system that can be played in every room will make your parties a mustattend event. Do you like to take long baths? A TV set into the bathroom wall would be a great investment and make any bathroom high spec. 5 ▲ ANCIENT AND MODERN In recent years, we have seen a trend towards sharp lines, minimal interiors and neutral colour palettes. But sometimes this is not conducive to relaxed living. So think about mixing modern pieces with some old antique furniture. It gives instant character and that cosy, lived-in look. ( !& &(" # 10 9 ▲ LINK ROOMS WITH COLOUR A property can feel disjointed if colours vary dramatically from room to room. To create a flow throughout your home, which will maximise the sense of space, coordinate the colour scheme across all of the rooms. Plan floor by floor, ensuring that colours in linked rooms harmonise together. One suggestion is to use lighter and darker shades of the same colour. Another option is to find hues that complement one another. The best way to do this is to select shades with the same undertones. Stick to red undertones throughout, for example. You can also layer more than one complimentary colour in a room to create added interest. ▲ TILING AS A STATEMENT Bathrooms are an opportunity to get creative and be bold with tiling. Mosaic tiling behind a bathtub or in a shower cubicle can create a dramatic statement and help move your bathroom from bland to hotel chic. Also consider metro tiles for a stylish retro look. As the tiles are small, think about mixing colours or be brave and intersperse with a metallic finish. Kitchens, too, can be enhanced by creative tiling. Another idea is to paint behind a glass splashback, which is an economic way to provide a luxury look. Don’t overlook floor tiles either, as large bold floor tiles can add to the sense of space. ) $&-%+ ,&%, *& $'$#%+ 31 EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2015 Outdoors Homes & Property homesandproperty.co.uk with The busy Londoner’s way to grow flowers Planting tiny seeds in even lines can be a tricky business, but there are other options to avoid random scattering S Pattie Barron PRING is the time for seed sowing, but fine seeds are tricky to handle and random scattering can deliver random results. This year there are easier and quicker ways to sow and grow, such as rolling out biodegradable mats impregnated with seed that you just settle on to the soil, and water. A pack of GroMat Gardens from mr-fothergills.co.uk contains a two-metre mat that, laid and watered, will deliver a spread of summer flowers in more than a dozen varieties — colour coordinated in either blues and purples or reds and pinks. If you grow edibles, sow faster and more accurately with tapes that hold vegetable seeds at regular intervals; just bury them beneath a layer of soil and water, and then wait. Gardening problems? Email our RHS expert at: expert gardeningadvice @gmail.com selected to complement, and not compete with, the flowers. Once you’ve watered the turf through the first season, you simply cut back in a u t u m n . Yo u c a n e v e n b u y a shade-tolerant turf to suit parts of the garden that receive little light, such as the dry, tricky area around trees; see wildflowerturf.co.uk. Head gardeners who tend large plots look for short cuts. Martin Duncan, of Arundel Castle Gardens in West Sussex, enthuses about a roll-out turf ready sown with wildflowers that you cut to fit the shape you need. He gets double flower power by planting bulbs before rolling out the turf so that, he says, you get a spring extravaganza followed by wildflowers. The dense sward acts as a weed blanket so the wildflowers get a head start, and the native grasses in the 50/50 flowers and grasses mix are ELKE BORKOWSKI/GAP PHOTOS Suttons (suttons.co.uk) has a good range now, and promises a range of cut flower seed tapes for next year. Meanwhile, you can throw and grow your own urban meadow, with onecentimetre clay balls (seedball.co.uk, or from Clifton Nurseries) that each hold about 100 wildflower seeds suspended in a mix of clay, peat-free compost and a pinch of pest-deterring chilli powder. Just fling them into pots, MARIANNE MAJERUS If you can’t decide which vegetable varieties to grow in plot or pot, let the expert, Pippa Greenwood, take out the guesswork. She is sending out her tried-and-tested, tastiest choices in small to large collections from next m o n t h , w i t h f o l l ow- u p we e k ly advice to take you from planting to harvesting (pippagreenwood.com/ grow-your-own). Meanwhile, foodies can add two newly available and readyto-grow fashionable ingredients to their potagers: wild Italian asparagus crowns from dtbrownseeds.co.uk and Deep South sweet potato tubers — Carolina Ruby, Georgia Jet — from thompson-morgan.com. JONATHAN BUCKLEY/GAP PHOTOS Take a short cut: bypass seed sowing this spring by using plug plants for edibles and summer annuals Sow very simple: bring wildflowers into your garden with a readysown, roll-out turf that can be cut to fit planters or on to spare ground for a wealth of wildflowers this summer. Of course, there is always the option of buying plug plants, whether you want wildflowers in the lawn (wiggly wigglers.co.uk), flowering annuals or young vegetables (every garden centre). These can be planted straight into the ground or container, whether you’re after rocket, red campion or trailing verbena. Fancy a herb garden, but short on space? Let garden designer Antony Henn send you a box of aromatic bouquet garni consisting of seven chunky organic herb plants, the newest in his Garden on a Roll collection. The wooden box, which doubles as the planter, contains a bag of compost, full instructions and numbered plants to correspond with a numbered chart. All you do is place the plants in their positions according to the chart, add compost and water well. As the plants grow, either keep them in check by clipping or plant them in individual pots, window boxes or in the ground. See gardenonaroll.com. You could make a bee and butterfly border, guided by the experts who provide plants for many of the Chelsea Flower Show gardens: Crocus, in association with waitrosegarden. com. Their planting recipe, comprising 27 plants for £139, promises a buzzing pink and blue summer border, as well as seedheads for birds. That’s what I call results gardening. Summer in a box: bring in bees and butterflies with a border of 27 plants sent to your door from Crocus O For outdoor events this month, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/events 34 WEDNESDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Property searching E £550,000 In an impressive stuccoed period building in tree-lined Nevern Road, SW5, Faron Sutaria has this spacious studio apartment for sale. O homesandproperty.co.uk/nev £750,000 A recently refurbished two-bedroom flat in Warwick Road, close to good transport links. Through Foxtons. O homesandproperty.co.uk/war £2.15 MILLION A large three-bedroom refurbished flat for sale in popular Philbeach Gardens. Through Foxtons. O homesandproperty.co.uk/philb ARLS Court is at the centre of one of the big gest redevelopments in London. There was a time not so long ago when it was a neighbourhood of tatty bedsits and cheap hotels. It was more famous for its Art Deco exhibition centre directly opposite the Warwick Road entrance to Earl’s Court tube station than the quality of its housing stock. However, the bedsits and hotels have been largely swept away and replaced by spacious flats to rival those in nearby South Kensington. The famous exhibition centre closed in December. It is to be replaced by an £8 billion scheme that will replace the two exhibition halls, the exhibition car park, a Transport for London repair depot and two council estates. The result will be the creation of a neighbourhood stretching from Warwick Road in the east to North End Road. Over the next 15 years, Capital & Counties Properties (Capco), the developer, working from a Sir Terry Farrell masterplan, is proposing to build 7,500 new homes, of which 1,500 will be affordable, with a new high street running through the centre. Layouts are planned to work sympathetically with much of the traditional architecture of squares, and mansion blocks that make up large parts of the wider area of Earls Court. A new primary school will be built and £5 million worth of improvements will be made to West Brompton station, including lengthening the platforms. The imposing Empress State Building will be vacated by the Metropolitan Police in 2019 and converted into an additional 500 homes. Capco is a UK company, working with a UK team. There will be a large sporting and leisure centre in the middle of the new estate. Prices start at £595,000 in the first phase, called Lillie Square, already being sold off-plan, with penthouses of £1.5 million. THE LOCATION Earls Court is three miles from central London with the busy Cromwell Road homesandproperty.co.uk with Spotlight Earls Court We’re putting on the biggest show in town An £8 billion project to regenerate Earls Court will bring 7,500 new homes to central London, discovers Anthea Masey Above: the iconic Troubadour café in the Old Brompton Road, and, left, the highly prized mews-style properties of Kenway Road to the north; South Kensington and Chelsea to the west; Fulham to the south and West Kensington and Barons Court to the east. The almost equally busy Warwick Road runs through the area. It has garden squares and roads of red brick mansion flats and large four and five-storey terrace houses. There is also an enclave of smaller terrace houses in the area known as Kenway Village around Kenway Road to the east of Earls Court Road. There are also several mews tucked away. Estate agent Ian Barrett of Marsh & Parsons describes the area as eclectic. £3.75 MILLION A four-bedroom, three bathroom, townhouse in a pretty terrace in Redfield Lane. Through Milton Stone. O homesandproperty.co.uk/redfd To find a home in Earls Court, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/earlscourt For more about Earls Court, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/spotlightearlscourt F 35 EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2015 Property searching Homes & Property homesandproperty.co.uk with Right: the beautiful period red brick mansion houses of Philbeach Gardens CHECK THE STATS ■WHAT HOMES COST: BUYING IN EARLS COURT (Average prices) One-bedroom flat £825,000 Two-bedroom flat £1.27 million Two-bedroom house £1.56 million Three-bedroom house £2 million Four-bedroom house £3.55 million Source: Zoopla RENTING IN EARLS COURT (Average rates) One-bedroom flat £2,031 a month Two-bedroom flat £2,956 a month Two-bedroom house £3,739 a month Three-bedroom house £8,522 a month Four-bedroom house £10,651 a month Right: petals strewn invitingly in front of Only Roses, Old Brompton Road’s boutique florist Source: Zoopla GO ONLINE FOR MORE, INCLUDING: O The best schools in and around Earls Court O The latest housing developments in Earls Court O The best roads — not always the same as the most expensive NEXT WEEK: Brixton. Do you live there? Tell us what you think @HomesProperty Photographs: Daniel Lynch “Earls Court is definitely flatland, but flats range from large 3,000sq ft mansion flats to studios selling for around £350,000, and price per square foot can vary from £950 a square foot for a basement flat in the less favoured roads west of Earls Court Road to as much as £2,400 a square foot for a first floor flat in Barkston Gardens.” Best roads: The garden squares to the east of Earls Court Road: Bramham Gardens, Barkston Gardens and Courtfield Gardens. SHOPS AND RESTAURANTS Breathing space: Earls Court Square is a mix of open space and splendid houses Earls Court Road has some fine Victorian pubs. The street also has chain restaurants such as Zizzi, Wagamama, Byron and Nando’s. Garnier is a popular traditional French restaurant. There are two top cocktail bars: Evans & Peel Detective Agency and Ping Kitchen, Bar & Ping Pong Rooms with real ping pong tables. Along Old Brompton Road there is a lovely flower shop Only Roses which imports roses from Ecuador, reputedly the best in the world. There are cafés, too, including the famous Troubadour, which first opened in 1954 and is still going strong with its all-day café, a wine shop and live music and poetry. Open space: Holland Park is the nearest large park. Brompton Cemetery is run by The Royal Parks; a tranquil area of 39 acres with 35,000 monuments and graves; it is a Site of Nature Conservation Importance and is currently trying to raise £500,000 to unlock a £3.7 million Lottery grant for its restoration. Council: Kensington & Chelsea (Conservative-controlled); Band D council tax: 2014/2015 year: £1066.79. TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE What in Earls Court connects this singer with Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan and Adele? Find the answer at homesandproperty.co.uk/spotlightearlscourt 36 WEDNESDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Ask the expert homesandproperty.co.uk with We want to get cracking before the big day Fiona McNulty WHAT’S YOUR PROBLEM? OUR LAWYER ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS Q WE ARE buying a property that has been empty for a while. It was let to students and is in a bad state. We want to have it rewired and fit a new central heating system, and it will need redecorating. We are getting married in two months and it would be helpful if we could get in to do some work while we still have the flat we are renting. The selling agent says we probably can’t get in until we complete. What can we do to gain early access? A YOU have no right to access the property prior to completion, although some sellers will allow access for limited purposes after exchange of contracts — for a buyer’s contractor to inspect the property and quote for works to be done, for example — but will not permit work to start. Provide your solicitor with full details of the intended works and the name of the contractors you want to use, and request schedules of work and estimates from the contractors. Your solicitor can use this information to try to agree access with the seller’s solicitor, along with the terms of a key undertaking that you are likely to be required to enter into with the seller, which will detail the purpose for which access is given and the works permitted. You must agree not to take up possession or occupation of the property prior to completion and to return the key at the end of the day to the selling agents. The seller may take the view that if you fail to complete, he will benefit from the works you carry out — so he might just decide to allow you access. 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 is legal director in the real estate group of Foot Anstey LLP in Exeter (fionamcnulty@ footanstey.com) More legal Q&As Visit: homesand property.co.uk Q I AM almost 70 and I want to make sure my sons can look after my affairs in the event that I become ill in the future. All I have is my home, an ISA and a savings account. My friend says I need to get an LPA sorted out. What is this — and can the solicitor who dealt with my husband’s probate do it for me? A AN LPA is a Lasting Power Of Attorney and there are two types — property and financial affairs, and health and welfare. You need the first type, which will give your attorneys the power to make decisions about your money and property. A health and welfare LPA enables your attorneys to deal with matters such as your daily care and any life-sustaining treatment you may need. Perhaps you will think about this at some stage, too. You can appoint your sons to be your attorneys provided they are both aged over 18. Your attorneys will have a duty to the Court of Protection to act in your best interests. You can appoint your attorneys to act jointly and severally, which means they can make decisions on their own or they can make them jointly, or they can be appointed just to act jointly — meaning they have to agree and make all decisions together. You can complete the necessary forms appointing your attorneys or you could ask the solicitors that you know already to do so. The LPA must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian before it can be used, and a registration fee is payable. 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. .&.#(.+%&# (43+00+-44/0+. 0-20&+ /,+7-20+0-0+-20.+477+ 20++8 42+4.675 +##&#*/&, #'#"'+++++-*,$,- ## ## # 37 EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2015 Inside story Homes & Property homesandproperty.co.uk with MONDAY On my way in to the office this morning, I stop for a coffee at a newcomer to the village, Gail’s Bakery. Does this mean Blackheath has arrived? A youngish couple with a child are the week’s first walk-ins. They’ve realised they can sell their Shad Thames flat and buy a house in Blackheath for a similar price. They are typical of the buyers we see. Blackheath is often compared with Dulwich, but its property market is more like Clapham. City workers move here because of its proximity to work, great transport links and much lower prices than areas a similar distance from the City, such as Islington. TUESDAY The first of two developers drops by today to ask about marketing his latest project — an upside down house with a copper roof in Kidbrooke Gardens for £1.175 million. Blackheath and Greenwich are loved for their historic properties and we’ve just taken on a former Victorian sweet shop, still with its original shop façade, for £1.295 million, which is attracting a lot of attention. But the area is also becoming home to some striking new-builds, often with lower ground levels for a home cinema or extra living space. While basements are being outlawed in some other boroughs, it seems Blackheath is just latching on. In the past, people haven’t had to dig down as the area still offered great value for money and they could buy a suffi- We’re selling allsorts — sweet shop included ciently large house. But prices have risen considerably and owners feel they’d rather add 1,000 sq ft by digging down — even at a cost of £300 a square foot — than move. And they know they’ll recoup their money. WEDNESDAY Our major meeting of the week and we’re brainstorming ideas for our next marketing campaign. The last one involved hiding Cluttons ducks on the heath for kids to find and win, along with ice cream from our neighbour, B l a c k Va n i l l a . We ’ r e t h i n k i n g marathon-themed for the next one. A vendor calls to ask if we can help sell their house in Knockholt in Kent. That’s something I see happening increasingly, as an agent’s location isn’t as important any more, now that people house-hunt online. There’s a huge crossover between Kent and Blackheath. Many families start here, fighting over houses next to the village’s outstanding primary schools, then head to Kent for the grammar schools. Diary of an estate agent THURSDAY I go to view a property on the private Cator Estate — which can mean anything from Sixties Span properties, which you can still buy for under £800,000 for a 1,100 sq ft house, to 5,000 sq ft mansions for £4 million. It’s typical of Blackheath’s tremendous variance in types of property. Next I head to a valuation in Lewisham. It’s a Victorian terrace house that is owned by an investment company and has been refurbished after being let out for several years. The security-conscious owner turns up 45 minutes late and finds every internal door individually locked. This wouldn’t be so bad, but half way round his key snaps in one of the many locks, bringing our visit to an abrupt end. FRIDAY I speak to a vendor today who is thinking twice about selling in the light of the stamp duty changes as he’s reluctant to pay a higher tax for his next purchase. But the bracket he’s looking at, around £1.1 to £1.2 million, is an unusual sweet spot where he’ll still be paying less stamp duty than previously. It was a similar situation in 2012 when the seven per cent stamp duty bracket came in for £2 million-plus properties. Many people said they weren’t going to pay it — then they came to accept it’s just part of the purchase price. O Wallace Jaffray is sales manager at Cluttons in Blackheath (020 7647 7820; [email protected]) # ##WINKWORTH# !!+++)!+)*+++1+!++++"!! " # ' # "$+,"+(+++(++++!++++""!! " #" " $!'!$++)$!+)+++1+!++++"!!# " # # # " +++ +*1+++1+!++++"!! "" # ' " '' #'' ) # !%++++++++!++++"!'''!'' $"!+++"(++++!++++#)!'!# 40 WEDNESDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property New homes homesandproperty.co.uk with Smart S Sma mart mar mart art mov mo mov By David Spittles City view: with its roof terrace and proximity to East Putney Tube, Oakhill Park will appeal to career professionals A leafy enclave drawing more buyers to Putney PUTNEY is bursting at the edges, swollen with homebuyers and renters priced out of the centre. Traditionally a family area, it is now attracting far more singles and couples, mainly City career professionals, and discerning downsizers who value the riverside setting (despite the congested high street), and opportunity to reach nearby green spaces. After a spate of waterfront and town-centre housing developments, Oakhill Park marks a return to the area’s more sedate roots. This mansion block scheme is tucked away in a leafy road five minutes’ walk from East Putney tube. Restrained architecture of mellow yellow brick and glass balconies sympathetically dovetail with surrounding grand detached houses. The 52 energy-efficient flats come with underground parking, concierge and gym. Prices from £595,000. Call Savills on 020 3430 6920. L ONDON’S extensive canal network continues to be unlocked by developers hungry for waterside locations close to the action. Grand Union Canal is the main inland waterway in the capital. It comes in from the west, through Brentford and Paddington before joining up with Regent’s Canal, passing through Camden, King’s Cross and Shoreditch and running into the Thames at Limehouse. Here the Limehouse Cut, London’s oldest canal, spins off in a different direction, heading north-east through Bow and Stratford and on to Hackney Marshes. Royal Quay, overlooking Limehouse Cut, is a new scheme of 90 homes set behind original warehouse façades. Apartments feature exposed brickwork and high ceilings. Prices are from £250,000 — making these flats some of the bestvalue homes in London with A view over water for £250k waterside views. Call Regal Homes on 020 7328 7171. Canalside homes in this part of London are cheaper because the old industrial landscape still lingers around, but it’s quiet, carfree and has transport links. From £250,000: Royal Quay is set behind original warehouse façades Bow Back Rivers, a four-mile network of derelict waterways largely unused since the Second World War, now forms part of the Olympic Park. The first stage of restoration is complete following a 41 EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2015 New homes Homes & Property homesandproperty.co.uk with Galleries scheme gives Kings Road a lift Read more: visit our new online luxury section HomesAndProperty.co.uk/luxury WITH Made in Chelsea types and investment bankers ruling the roost, Kings Road has lost much of the flair, individuality and spirit of the Swinging Sixties period, but new homes on this world-famous street are a tempting proposition. Chelsea Galleries was once a hub for poor and popular artists, Whistler was one of them, in the original home of Chelsea Arts Club. The building, with its distinctive Dutch Gable façade, has been redeveloped into a boutique scheme of largerthan-average size homes, with private terraces, courtyard gardens and gated parking. Three-storey townhouses with 2,400sq ft of open-plan space have interiors designed by Nina Campbell. Prices from £4.75 million. Call Knight Frank on 020 7861 5483. COMMON APPEAL VICTORIAN LOOK CROWNS BARNES new lock and water control structure, which has returned the rivers to navigation, reviving water transport in the area for the first time in 50 years. Apartments at Lock Keepers, a revitalised canal basin at Bromley-by-Bow, are available on a shared ownership basis. Shared ownership prices start at £106,750 for a 35 per cent share; the full price is £305,000. Call 020 7922 7212. BARNES, just across the river from noisy Hammersmith, is a family favourite village with good schools, an active community, handsome houses — many listed and in conservation areas, interesting shops, pubs and even a green and a duck pond. It is six miles from Trafalgar Square and sits on a bend in the Thames, with a 120-acre nature reserve belonging to the London Wetland Centre. Hampton Row, overlooking Barnes Common, is a new Victorian-style terrace of 12 apartments and nine substantial (3,026sq ft) five-bedroom houses with 45ft rear gardens. The apartment block is crowned by a large communal roof terrace with sweeping views. Prices from £625,000 to £2.495million Call Marsh and Parsons on 020 7368 4831. 44 WEDNESDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2015 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Letting on W HEN LOOKING for new tenants, I’ve learned not to count my chickens until they’re hatched. If a viewer tells me they want to take a property, I know it’s never a done deal until they hand over the first month’s rent. I got a call from a guy who pleaded with me not to take any offers on my one-bedroom flat until he’d seen it. He said it was exactly what he’d been looking for, it was right around the corner from his office, he was 100 per cent positive he would live there forever and ever and he promised he’d put a deposit down the moment he saw it. I’ve come across so many of these impetuous types before that I was absolutely 100 per cent positive he wouldn’t even turn up for the viewing we’d arranged for the following evening, let alone rent the flat. I take no pleasure in revealing that I was right. The following morning he emailed to cancel our appointment, saying he’d decided not to move after all. In my experience, the more a viewer enthuses about a property, the less likely he or she is to take it. If someone has instantly fallen in love with my flat from a few photos on Zoopla, I know they’ll probably fall in love with another five minutes later. Once or twice viewers have asked me to “hold” a property for them, as if it’s a new dress or a discounted holiday. No matter how lovely (or homesandproperty.co.uk with There’s no room for sentiment in this business Victoria Whitlock shows a cautious side as she explains why she always holds out for a fee before opening the door to a tenant The accidental landlord desperate) they seem, I always refuse (politely, of course), because I know that nine times out of 10 I’ll never hear from them again. There’s no room for sentimentality in this business and, to stick with feathered proverbs, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, so I’ll take the best offer I get from the first suitable tenant who is prepared to pay a holding fee to reserve the property. I’m not going to risk losing a suitable tenant by holding a property for someone else who may (but most probably won’t) take it, and I’d certainly never agree to let a flat to someone who hasn’t even viewed it. That makes me deeply suspicious, because who would agree to live somewhere they’ve never seen? Even after I’ve accepted an offer on a property I make it clear to tenants that I’ll continue to show others around until they’ve handed over a non-refundable holding fee of £100 to £150 and provided me references and all the necessary information to run a credit check on them. Most tenants seem to accept that this is normal procedure. After all, £525 a week: a two-bedroom flat overlooking the Thames at Molasses House, Wandsworth (John D Wood). Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/molasses most letting agents do the same. I’ve only had one viewer who refused to pay a holding fee, saying she didn’t feel comfortable handing £100 to a stranger, which is fair enough, but I pointed out that, ultimately, I would be taking a bigger gamble giving her keys to a property that was worth 2,500 times more. I recently accepted an offer on a flat from a couple, but a week later they still hadn’t paid me the holding fee and they weren’t answering my calls, so I let it to someone else. I emailed to let them know, and five minutes later they were ranting at me down the phone, saying they still wanted the flat and they thought I was a big old meanie, but when I asked why they hadn’t paid the holding fee they said they didn’t want to lose £100 if they changed their minds! Like I said, when you’re looking for tenants, don’t count your chickens until they’re hatched. 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 DATE! mess this up! blockbuster She counters with THEPICTURE HOUSE Discovering fear of FRENCH FILM NOIR is ... ...CLOSER THAN YOU THINK Rent a 1 - 4 bed home in the former Athletes’ Village Find out mor e at eastvillagelondon.co.uk Brought to you by
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