The artisan look London Design Week Page 26 Homes& Property Wednesday 4 March 2015 LIVE NEAR A NEW THAMES CROSSING P4 HOMES BELOW £250K P6 SUPER STAIRS P10 SPOTLIGHT ON WEYBRIDGE P32 The little house that grew up ADRIAN LOURIE Our home: Page 14 LAUNCHING 18TH MARCH 2015 THE PENTHOUSE COLLECTION FETTER LANE EC4 REQUEST YOUR INVITATION TO THE EVENT BY CALLING JLL ON PRICES FROM £2,200,000 0203 675 0677 S T D U N S T A N S C O U R T. C O M Image is computer generated and indicative only. Prices are correct at time of going to press. S E L L I N G AG E N TS 2 WEDNESDAY 4 MARCH 2015 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Online homesandproperty.co.uk with This week: homesandproperty.co.uk news: wealthy buyers send prices rocketing — in Newham £1.85 million: flats like this three-bedroom penthouse in Royal Victoria Dock have raised Newham’s price ranking Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/alask for more details A DECADE after London was selected to host the 2012 games, the Olympic borough of Newham is finally flourishing — recording the capital’s top property price rises of more than 23 per cent a year, according to new Land Registry figures. The east London borough topped the table largely through rich buyers snapping up new high-end apartments in the former Olympic Village and at Royal Victoria Dock. Price rises among average homes in the capital have been strongest in south-east London, while values in prime central London have stalled. Property search Trophy buy of the week your own slice of Downton £1.85 million: Wyfold Court in Kingwood, Oxfordshire, is very Downton Abbey, don’t you think? Set in glorious parkland, the house has been divided into exceptional apartments. This one has six bedrooms, a turret and spans three floors. A private lift brings your guests directly to your grand reception room with a 20ft high ceiling, while your private terrace overlooks eight acres of landscaped gardens, which include communal tennis courts. Through Hamptons International. O homesandproperty.co.uk/trophyking London buy of the week converted school passes its style exams O Read Ruth Bloomfield’s full story at homesandproperty.co.uk £425,000: top marks for this onebedroom, duplex flat at Priory Grove, a school conversion close to Stockwell Tube. The inside has been given a strong dose of New York loft style, showcasing double height ceilings, exposed brick work, huge windows and wooden floors. Dark grey walls make a dramatic statement in the hot London homes: priced at less than £250,000 £109,375: buys a quarter share of this twobedroom flat at The Waterfront in Kew Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/waterk for more details FIRST-TIME buyers are finally getting their foot on the housing ladder thanks to continued low interest rates, stamp duty savings and cheaper mortgage deals. If you are looking to buy your first home, don’t miss this weekend’s First Time Buyer Show in Islington, where experts will be on hand offering free advice (see page 6 for details). And join us online now for our pick of the best London homes priced less than £250,000. open-plan reception room with its sleek kitchen and dining areas, overlooked by a spacious mezzanine incorporating a bedroom area fitted with ample wardrobe space and a cool en suite bathroom. Secure parking is included. Through John D Wood. O homesandproperty.co.uk/buystock Life changer 17th century cottage does the business £550,000: get creative in Cornwall at this 17th century cottage just outside the village of Chacewater and only five miles from the cliff top walks of the north Cornish coast. Plenty of earning potential comes from three acres of paddocks, lots of office space — ideal for a home-run business — and two kitchens in a large outbuilding, plus a further outbuilding ripe for conversion into a holiday let. Through Country & Waterside. O homesandproperty.co.uk/lifechangertruro By Faye Greenslade O Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/250k Facebook: 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. 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. Editorial: 020 3615 2524 Advertisement manager: Jamie McCabe Advertising: 020 3615 0527 Homes & Property, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, Kensington, London W8 5TT. @HomesProperty The Ideal Home Show We have 1,000 weekday tickets to give away THE Ideal Home Show has been transforming Britain’s homes since 1908 and, in 2015, the show (which runs from March 20 to April 6) returns to Olympia, where it all began. Whether you have a substantial home project or simply want to add those finishing touches that make a house a home, you’ll find all the help you need under one roof — from a host of experts and your favourite TV celebrties. With seven dedicated show areas, this is the only place to visit when creating your own ideal home. And we have 1,000 weekday tickets to the show, each worth £12, to give away. For your chance to win a pair of tickets, see details below. TO CLAIM your free tickets, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/offers before March 6, 2015. First come, first served. Terms and conditions apply. 3 EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 4 MARCH 2015 News Homes & Property homesandproperty.co.uk with This is the headline that É TRAFALGAR SQUARE, Channing and Jenna head to the Hills sdflkjsad jsd Raise a glass to Foster’ssdakjfsdalkjf coach house sadlkfjsdjfsdlfj sdlkjfjsdf É CHANNING TATUM has bought a Beverly Hills home for £3.8 million. The 4,800sq ft space has five bedrooms, six bathrooms and a 45ft living room with an impressive double-height ceiling. The Magic Mike star, who returns with the movie sequel in July, bought the house from filmmaker Roberto ÉSTARCHITECT Norman Foster, above, may be busy building towers around the world (his latest project is a 61-storey residential skyscraper in New York), but you can buy one of his more humble buildings — a converted two-bedroom coach house in Hampstead for £2.45 million. He worked on the property with Sneider. Tatum and his wife Jenna Dewan, above, have chosen a good neighbourhood — Demi Moore will be their new neighbour. And when the actor and his wife, who have a 20-month-old daughter Everly, fancy a change of scene they can always visit their £1.6 million home in L.A.’s Laurel Canyon. architects Michael and Patty Hopkins in 1969 and helped give it a showstopper glass-roofed dining area. Past owners include the late Ron Hall, who made his name as part of the investigative team at the Sunday Times during the Profumo affair. O homesandproperty.co.uk/norm sdf sdfdsf sdjflsakds dfokjasdlkjfl;kjsdf lkjsdf Python mansion has star appeal É SPAMALOT and Monty Python star Eric Idle’s former mansion in Carlton Hill, St John’s Wood, is for sale through Savills at £8.95 million. When Idle, below, was in Tunisia filming The Life of Brian he let the house to Carrie Fisher, who was working on the first Star Wars sequel, The Empire Strikes Back. Other glizty guests have included Harrison Ford, who lived there while filming Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom at Elstree Studios. The Rolling Stones have been spotted there, too. The six-bedroom Victorian villa is set over five floors and has recently been refurbished. O homesandproperty.co.uk/eric By Amira Hashish Tweet @amiranews PICTURES: REX Piper calls the tune ÉBILLIE PIPER and Laurence Fox, left, are selling Chestnut Cottage in West Sussex. The pair bought it for £725,000 in 2007 and put the listed four-bedroom semi-detached on the market last September when they moved back to north London. The couple restored their rural retreat — now with a price tag of £825,000 with Gascoigne Pees. Olivier Award nominee Piper is thought to have missed London life and splashed out £1.7 million on a four-bedroom house in the capital. 1 Acre Woodland Homes in the Cotswolds, 90 minutes from London… …luxury is standard CONCIERGE SERVICE • AWARD WINNING SPA • 24HR SECURITY DESIGN INNOVATION • FAMILY ACTIVITIES • KIDS CLUB T +44 (0) 1367 250 066 E [email protected] W www.thelakesbyyoo.com Property not to be used as primary residence 4 WEDNESDAY 4 MARCH 2015 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property New homes BRIDGING THE DIVIDE ALAMY Planned new Thames crossings may unite north and south but they are dividing communities. David Spittles asks if they will enliven dull districts — or cause chaos £4.25 million: for a six-bedroom house in St George’s Square, Pimilico’s poshest address, where prices have recently spiralled. Through Jackson-Stops & Staff homesandproperty.co.uk with N EW bridges — for cyclists and pedestrians — across the Thames in central London are set to change the character of the riverside districts they will serve. Transport for London says the crossings will amount to vital new infrastructure for the capital — though many residents’ groups fear new bridges will disrupt and distort their neighbourhoods. Following initial planning approval for the much-anticipated Garden Bridge between Temple and Waterloo, the next new crossing, between Nine Elms and Pimlico, appears to have moved a step closer. Dozens of rival designs have been published ahead of a shortlist to be unveiled in July. Construction could start at Nine Elms in 2018, subject to agreement over the precise location of the bridge. HIGH LINE INSPIRATION The Garden Bridge, a mile or so to the east, takes its inspiration from the High Line, an aerial park planted on a former railway track in New York. The £170 million crossing will span the Thames between Temple and the Southbank Centre. Planners like the idea because it will enliven the relatively quiet zone by Temple and dovetail with new residential developments, such as 190 Strand, with 206 apartments, the largest in the area for more than a century. Prices from £1.22 million. Call St Edward Homes on 020 3051 1022. But the Nine Elms to Pimlico bridge is not having such a smooth ride. TfL’s preferred route, backed by Wandsworth Council, is for a south-ofthe river landing point close to the new United States Embassy at Nine Elms, and a north bank landing point by St George’s Square on the Pimlico waterfront. Up to 30,000 new homes are earmarked for the Nine Elms district, dominated by Battersea Power Station, and the bridge would provide a quick and convenient link through Pimlico to Sloane Square and Belgravia as well as to Victoria train station. A projected 18,000 cyclists and pedestrians a day would use the bridge, according to TfL, turning a relatively quiet patch of Pimlico into a bustling zone, though possibly creating a rat-run. BRIDGE ‘TO NOWHERE’ From 1.22 million: with views of the new Garden Bridge at Temple, 190 Strand will be one of the largest residential projects in the area for more than a century Edward Reeve, chairman of FREDA, an umbrella group representing 25 Pimlico residents’ associations, says it is a flawed proposal — a bridge from “somewhere to nowhere” — and a waste of public money. “We don’t believe the case for the bridge is proven,” he says. “Most of the projected users would be diverted from existing bridges. And where would people be heading to anyway? St George’s Square is not a destination in the same sense as St Paul’s Cathedral or Tate Modern, which are linked by the Millennium Bridge. It’s been suggested that people will walk across the bridge from Nine Elms to get to Pimlico Tube station, yet two new stations are being built on the south side.” He adds that because the landing site on the north side is a constrained space and would require high steps or long ramps, the bridge would cause horrendous car congestion along the Embankment and also ruin Pimlico Gardens, the only green space along this riverside strip. Such objections may smack of nimbyism, but for the time being at least, Westminster City Council is also oppos- ing the bridge “on the grounds of its visual and environmental impact”. But, ultimately, the decision over whether to build the bridge is likely to rest with the London Mayor, and with TfL, which will pay for it. St George’s Square is Pimlico’s poshest address, a long and narrow rectangle of imposing cream-coloured stucco townhouses facing the Thames alongside sprawling Churchill Gardens council estate, itself a conservation area with 1,600 homes, many now privately owned, and Dolphin Square, the 1,250-apartment complex built in the Thirties. This part of Pimlico used to belong to Grosvenor Estate (the land was sold off in the Fifties), and though it bears a superficial resemblance to neighbouring Belgravia, it has never been quite as smart. Grosvenor’s architect Thomas Cubitt laid out the handsome terraces, wide streets and imposing squares. For much of the 20th century, it lost its attraction, with houses clumsily split into small flats and bedsits or converted to B&Bs. The turnaround started in the Seventies, with the opening of Pimlico’s Victoria line Tube station, and gathered pace during the next decades, with many refurbished houses reverting to family occupancy or transformed into luxury apartments, especially those within the so-called Pimlico Grid, an enclave of blocked-off streets and cul-de-sacs that is remarkably peaceful because of the absence of through traffic. PROPERTY PRICE BOOST In recent years, Pimlico property values have spiralled. A six-bedroom house on St George’s Square is on the market for £4.25 million, through Jackson-Stops & Staff, while Douglas & Gordon is selling a townhouse in Charlwood Place for £3.15 million. Swish, purpose-built developments are also appearing. Riverwalk, at Millbank, replaces a Sixties office building and brings 116 apartments in two undulating blocks, one 17 storeys high, connected by a central podium. The site includes Locking Piece, a bronze sculpture by Henry Moore. Two-bedroom flats cost from £1.75 million, while the largest penthouse is priced at £25 million. Call Knight Frank on 020 7861 5499. CHELSEA BARRACKS IN THE PIPELINE On the horizon is high-profile Chelsea Barracks, a prized 13-acre chunk of land between Pimlico Road and the river, where the first phase of 600 upmarket homes is under way. Surprisingly, perhaps, Pimlico has a wide social mix, with well-kept private, council and charitable housing plus there is a growing number of young private renters living around the lively hub at Warwick Way, just south of 5 EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 4 MARCH 2015 New homes Homes & Property homesandproperty.co.uk with Weekend escape: David and Linda Phillips bought a flat at Riverlight ‘New bridge will be a seamless link to Pimlico and Hyde Park’ THE first new residents at Nine Elms cannot wait for a new bridge to be built. Linda and David Phillips bought an apartment at Riverlight, a scheme that comprises six striking waterfront pavilions with external lifts encased in glass. David, 44, an oil industry executive, and his wife want the flat so they can spend weekends and holidays in central London. The couple’s main home is in Shenfield, Essex. “We like to make the most of the arts and entertainment options — museums, the theatre, good restaurants and shopping,” David Victoria station. As well as a place to live, Nine Elms is set to become a giant recreational and retail hub, and is certain to attract many visitors from north of the river, perhaps reinforcing the case for another bridge. Since 2011, the average value of a home has jumped from about £800 a sq ft to £1,400 a sq ft, while river-facing penthouses are fetching more than £2,000 a sq ft. Flats at Battersea Power Station cost from £495,000 for a studio, rising to £3.2 million for a four-bedroom townhouse. Call 020 7501 0678. Down by the riverside: dozens of designs have been submitted for a new Nine Elms to Pimlico bridge. All of them struggle with the differing elevations of the two sides. This one deploys snaking ramps in an attempt to overcome the problem Nine Elms Point, a Barratt development of 737 homes, has two-bedroom flats starting at £883,000 (call CBRE on 020 7182 2477), while One Nine Elms has 436 flats priced from £795,000. Call Strutt & Parker on 020 7629 7282. Completion is in 2018. With many more says. “Nine Elms is so well placed for this and the new bridge will provide a seamless link to Pimlico and on to Chelsea and Hyde Park. “We’ll be able to stroll to Sloane Square and Kings Road in less than 20 minutes. “The bridge just adds to the convenience of living here.” Riverlight itself has a new arts venue, StudioRCA, a collaboration with the Royal College of Art, plus a spa, gym, library, club lounge and café, and is the first of the new developments to complete. Only a few apartments remain for sale, priced from £800,000. Call 020 7870 9620. flats becoming available it is possible that prices may plateau in the short term at least — one reason to compare resales with off-plan prices. Estate agent Garton Jones has a number of resales priced from £699,000 to £2.9 million. Call 020 7735 1888. PUTNEY SW15 NOW OVER 60% SOLD COSMOPOLITAN LIVING IN VIBRANT PUTNEY 1, 2 & 3 BEDROOM APARTMENTS AND PENTHOUSES FROM £595,000 Computer generated image depicts London Square Putney. Details and price are correct at time of going to press. The London Square Sales Suite, 113 Upper Richmond Road, SW15 2TL now open daily 0333 666 2838 www.londonsquare.co.uk 6 WEDNESDAY 4 MARCH 2015 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property First-time buyers F IRST-TIME buyers have never had it so bad — thanks to eyewatering property price rises and tough restrictions on lending — yet, at last, the future looks much brighter. Prices in London are steady for the first time in five years; stamp duty has been reduced, more lenders are offering 95 per cent mortgages, ever more shared-ownership deals are around, and interest rates look set to stay at their record low for some time yet. Right now in London buying is about 10 per cent cheaper than renting, with typical costs of £1,275 a month when buying, and £1,387 when renting, according to Halifax, which has trimmed two-year fixed mortgages for first-time borrowers, including shared ownership buyers, to 2.94 per cent. SAVINGS PUSH Research by Family Mosaic housing assoc iation shows more young Londoners are taking on second jobs, working overtime, cancelling gym memberships, foregoing holidays, and cycling to work to save and build up a deposit. A good many inner city areas as well as outer travel zones are within the budget of first-time buyers, with many properties in the £200,000-£300,000 price bracket, and part shares starting at less than £70,000. homesandproperty.co.uk with IT’S SHOWTIME The First Time Buyer Show taking place at Business Design Centre in Islington on Saturday has new spring home launches. London’s main housing associations as well as private developers and estate agents are exhibiting. Mortgage advisers and lawyers will also be on hand, plus there are free seminars explaining the ins and outs of low-cost options such as shared ownership and Help-to-Buy. Visit ftbhomeshow.co.uk BUYING DISCOUNTS L&Q housing association is promoting “PricedIn”, a campaign to bring affordable homes to young Londoners, and some of the homes on offer are close to the venue. Harrington Court at Hornsey Rise has 28 flats priced from £174,995 for a 35 per cent share. Call 0844 4069800. First-time buyers working in west London boroughs qualify for “discount market” flats priced from £280,000 at Barratt’s Great West Quarter in Brentford. Call 0844 811 4321. This low-cost initiative helps buyers overcome the hurdle of having to put down a big deposit. Buyers have full ownership of the property and pay no rent, only mortgage repayments. But a deed of covenant gives the local council the right to buy back the prop- £76,876: for a quarter share of a flat at Spectra, Wandsworth, the Octavia Living’s follow-on phase from Illumina House, above From £240,000: Aura is a new development in Edgware constructed around manicured gardens and a central pond Cancel the gym and get on the ladder The prospects for first-time buyers are brighter than they have been for years. But saving for a deposit and finding the right home still require sacrifices — and doing your homework, explains David Spittles erty if the buyer chooses to sell. The owner would receive 70 per cent of the prevailing open market value. CANALSIDE LIVING Developers continue to unlock derelict canalside sites still in need of cleaning up. They’re cheaper, quiet, car-free and have good transport links. Royal Quay, overlooking Limehouse Cut, has 90 flats set behind original warehouse façades. Prices from £250,000. Call Regal Homes on 020 7328 7171. Southall, part of the Heathrow Quarter in west London (therefore suffering plane noise), is earmarked for housing growth. Grand Union Canal runs through the area and it will have a new Crossrail station in 2018. At Salisbury Gardens, a new scheme of 103 homes, prices start at £205,000. Call Barratt on 0844 8114321. Edgware, in north-west London, has also been designated a key regeneration zone and will benefit from fasttrack planning and development. Last week, Boris Johnson announced that the Northern line Tube service to Edgware will operate 24 hours a day by the end of this year. Aura, with 189 '* "' *'")($*)*#")#")$*) ""***"*&"*'*" )& **" "!%%% homes, is one of the new schemes rising. Prices from £240,000. Call Weston Homes on 01279 873 300. MALL GREEN LIGHT Croydon is launching several key towncentre projects, including £1 billion Westfield shopping mall — getting the green light after a decade-long planning wrangle. With the town’s commercial heart getting sorted, housebuilders are stepping forward. Morello Quarter is the latest launch, 290 apartments 7 EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 4 MARCH 2015 First time buyers Homes & Property homesandproperty.co.uk with From £259,995: Morello Quarter, left, in Croydon is well connected, with 27 trains an hour to the centre of London From £205,000: Salisbury Gardens, right, a new Barratt scheme in Southall, will feature 103 homes Living the dream: Rachel Warren had given up on buying her own home adjacent to East Croydon train station, one of the best-connected outer-London transport hubs, with 27 trains an hour to the centre — London Bridge and Victoria in 15 minutes — and a through-the-night service to Gatwick. Morello Quarter also has landscaped gardens, an on-site gym, café and concierge reception. Prices from £259,995. Call Redrow on 020 3305 5057. PINPOINT SEARCH Much activity is being channelled through the mayor’s First Steps programme, which promotes shared ownership. Visit sharetobuy.com. This offers a simple registration and search service, allowing people to pinpoint affordable homes on a borough-byborough basis. All first-time buyers earning between £15,000 and £60,000 are eligible. Typically, applicants must have at least £4,000 in savings to cover the cost of buying a home. This amount is in addition to the minimum five per cent required by a lender. Some properties are available “off-plan”, usually several months before they are complete, allowing buyers to organise their move. ‘I thought I’d be renting for life’ EVENTS and catering designer Rachel Warren, 35, believed she would be renting for life in order to be able to afford and enjoy the London lifestyle. “I had given up the dream of buying a home in Wandsworth, where I wanted to live, and was quite content renting a room in a shared property with four other people.” Then she discovered shared ownership, and was able to purchase a 45 per cent share of a one-bedroom flat at a development called Illumina House. That was in 2013. She paid £126,000 and has since bought another 20 per cent of equity. She hopes to “staircase” to full ownership within the next five years. In addition to mortgage payments, she pays rent of £352 per month plus a service charge of £110 per month. Octavia Living, the housing association, is also offering shared ownership at Spectra, postcode SW18. Prices from £76,876 for a 25 per cent share. Call 020 8354 5500. *(#"$0"-1-('"" "&1$"0-1-('"%"*$$((."1$""!+."(*-(('"-"*0$'"" $0(." ,($/(.&1"$'",("$&-$('"0*"$("(*-(('"$'(1$/")" *(#"$0"-1-('. (*-(('")"&("'"0"$*,"("!""(("'" !""*0$'. 8 WEDNESDAY 4 MARCH 2015 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Homes abroad homesandproperty.co.uk with Cathy Hawker finds second-home destinations that will keep everyone in the family happy From £167,000: apartments in Valmorel through the French leaseback scheme with family-friendly skiiing — and the Pink family, left T ‘EVEN THOUGH IT WAS DARK WE HAD TO HAVE IT’ HE perfect family holiday home has to work hard for its keep. A charmed location, plenty to do and multigenerational appeal can seem a contradictory list of requirements. But here are three destinations that seem to make the cut. WHEN John Pink and his wife Susi, from Richmond, bought a three-bedroom apartment in Valmorel there were many reasons for their choice. The view from the balcony, the pool, spa and the rental income from the leaseback all played a part. “We first looked at the MGM development in Ste Foy and Tignes and were 1 THE SPORTING CHOICE: FRENCH ALPS Last year the attractive French alpine resort of Valmorel won the World Snow Award for Most Improved Family Resort Worldwide, the culmination of a two-year campaign to improve its family-friendly credentials. Valmorel has spent £96,500 improving its ski runs, £37,000 creating dedicated family ski parks and introduced competitive pricing on lift passes. The resort has testing black runs, but 80 per cent of its 80 miles are easy-rated green and blues. Developer MGM is selling ski-in-andout one- to three-bedroom apartments at La Grange aux Fées, close to the village centre and with wide mountain and valley views. Prices start from £167,000 for a 457sq ft flat through the French leaseback scheme where owners are obliged to rent for the majority of the year. Full ownership apartments including VAT start from £185,500. Getting young children and all their kit ready isn’t easy so the closer to the slopes the better. New ski-in-and-out two- to four-bedroom apartments at Les Flambeaux in Chatel in the ever popular, year-round Portes du Soleil are selling fast, says agents Athena Advisors. Prices at Les Flambeaux start from £310,000 through Athena Advisors. impressed by the design,” says IT specialist John, 45. “When we moved on to Valmorel, even though it was dark, once we saw the moonlit view we had to have it.” The couple, who paid £351,700 (plus VAT), plan many holidays with children Millie and Archie. O MGM: mgmfrench properties. com 020 7494 0706 At last, a squabble-free holiday detached villa and pool in Binixica close to Mahon. A two-bedroom 1,237sq ft villa and pool in quiet Trebaluger close to Es Castell is £241,000. O Hamptons International: hamptons.co.uk 020 7265 6595 3 FOR TRYING TEENAGERS: MAURITIUS £392,000: near Binibeca, Menorca, a four-bedroom villa with pool and gardens. Through Hamptons O MGM: mgmfrenchproperties.com 020 7494 0706 O Athena Advisors: athenaadvisors. co.uk 020 7471 4500 2 IDEAL FOR PRE-TEENS: MENORCA The quiet Balearic island lacks the chic of Ibiza and the buzz of Majorca, but its child-friendly appeal is undisputed. Safe, pretty and traditionally Spanish, it has more beaches than those two islands combined. Hamptons has two-bedroom homes on Son Parc golf course from £89,000. The average British buyer spends £297,000, which buys a four-bedroom 020 3411 2026 A 12-hour flight from London takes you to the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, a tropical mix of French, English, Indian and Creole culture. Financially successful through manufacturing and trade, the island is an upmarket tourist destination and a popular golfing one with 10 championship courses. Less than half the size of Norfolk, it includes lagoons, densely forested mountains and, of course, tropical beaches edged with palm trees and encircled by coral reefs. Abercrombie & Kent is selling detached homes at Villas Valriche, a 525-acre golf estate in the undeveloped south-west. The elevated site with sea views will eventually have 288 plantation-style two- to six-bedroom villas. From £431,000: plantation-style family homes at Villas Valriche, Mauritius, through Abercrombie & Kent These are well-finished homes, half already sold and occupied with prices from £431,000. There is a beach club there, too. “Mauritius has a reputation for stability and racial harmony, and with safe swimming, French-influenced cuisine and sporting excellence, it is the perfect family destination,” says Robert Green of A&K International Estates. O Abercrombie & Kent: akinternationalestates.com Join the lively new community at Camberwell Fields, SE5. You’ll have a great location opposite Burgess Park, one of the largest in South London. .*&*!*.*($/ +*%($ /$ $ *. !.$ $.$(.*$ #-*#($$ ***..!$&*$ .*" (.*$ # -* ( - ( !$&*, *# "$*"/$ .$ ' % !$#/ /$, !$#/ /$ %/'% ')( $% ../ -$ . $%, **/ /( $(.#*"/$', 10 WEDNESDAY 4 MARCH 2015 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Interiors homesandproperty.co.uk with Right: in a house in Mayfair a glass cupola over the stairs drops light to lower levels, while a 55-stone crystal chandelier provides decoration Centre right: in Winchester Street, Pimlico, a living area wood, glass and metal staircase provides a focal point E LEVATING the functional into something beautiful is the ultimate hallmark of good design and few things in a house are more functional than its staircase. The Georgians really knew how to build staircases — dramatic cantilevered affairs with stone treads and sweeping curves — but the space and cost-conscious Victorians and Edwardians relegated them to the mundane. Today, however, architects and designers are turning the humble staircase into a signature design item. “The stair has a functional aspect, but can also be very beautiful and act as a stunning centrepiece to a space bringing in light,” says Nick Willson, director of Nick Willson Architects. “We can also play with the look — its width, treads, risers and materials. Storage can be included, with bookcases for example, but also the stair can wrap around tight spaces or run up a double height space.” Architect Michael Crowley adds: “The design of a staircase is not purely an aesthetic decision. This is one of the crucial elements of the house because you don’t only see it and utilise it, but daily you touch it. It’s the tactile centre of the building.” This means that materials have to be chosen carefully and design should take into account how it will be used — the handrail should be the right size to grip perfectly and the risers should not be uncomfortably steep. Another architect, Alex Haw, founder of Atmos Studio (atmosstudio.com), combined style with storage in a design for an artist and a musician’s home in Stoke Newington. Their central, open staircase is built of oak, steel and MDF, and the treads splay to create space for cupboards, shelves and seating in the understairs area. “In duplex apartments staircases should be flexible. This flat only measured about 650sq ft. Whatever we did had to be very space-efficient and we needed to use every pocket of space.” Stairs are the stars The staircase is no longer hiding in the hall, instead it has a new role as a home’s stunning centrepiece, reports Ruth Bloomfield The project cost about £6,000, including labour, plus a design fee of about 15 per cent and carried out as part of a refurbishment. Haw’s stairs are a mixture of form and function though stairs can also be simply extravagant. Philip Watts, founder of Philip Watts Design (philipwattsdesign.com), used glass, wood and metal to create his “spine staircase”, a statement piece created for a home in Northampton, where the curved maple treads are supported by a sculptural piece resembling a thick, ropy spinal cord which appears to melt into the wood floor. A cast aluminium rib cage is curved upward to form the balustrade (curved glass panels set between each of the ribs ensures the stairs are not only beautiful, but safe to use). Meanwhile Battersea Power Station interior architects Michaelis Boyd (michaelisboyd.com) injected a bit of fun into a high-end home by creating a hybrid staircase/children’s slide for a family in Chelsea. The practice designed a bespoke slide made of Corian which fits over a section of the stairs, transforming them into a slide for children. The slide is 1.5ft wide and, at around 4ft, the stairs are still wide enough for those who prefer a more conventional method of descent to walk down. It cost £9,000. Property developers always tend to go for more traditional designs than architects. Fenton Whelan opted for a grand spiral staircase running through the heart of a remodelled listed house in Reeves Mews, Mayfair. A bohemian crystal chandelier — which weighs an astonishing 55 stone — throws shards of light around the stairwell. “When you look at an old house it was clearly all about ‘my staircase is bigger $ $$$ ! # ! $#$!$ " )$$,$'(, % $ $ "$ # # ** *)--.(/&** $%$++ $ " "$#&($!#$#$$#!$$#'#$)$$$##')&&"& 11 EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 4 MARCH 2015 Interiors Homes & Property homesandproperty.co.uk with Right: in Stoke Newington, the treads of the staircase, by architects Atmos Studio, splay to create space for shelves and seating $$ $ than yours’,” says Peter Wetherell, managing director of Wetherell, which is marketing the house for £24 million. “The Victorians stopped doing that, which I think was a shame because it gives you a real sense of arrival and makes a house feel very special. They do, however, take up a lot of space.” Glass balustrades are fashionable, and used with floating treads they give rather stolid stairs an ethereal feel. The owners of a three-bedroom townhouse on Winchester Street, Pimlico, used wood, glass and metal for their floating staircase, which is a fine focal point to the open plan living room. The property is on sale for £1.65 million with Douglas and Gordon. The interior design team Oliver Burns opted for glass balustrades when designing a marble-clad staircase for The Walpole lateral apartments beside The Ritz Hotel. Above: maple treads, glass panels and an aluminium “rib cage” create a sculptural staircase in Northampton Right: in Chelsea, Michaelis Boyd injected a bit of fun into this family home with a slide for the children and a more conventional descent for the adults $# $ $$ !$ " $ $ $ $! " ! $$ "" $$$ ! Above: at The Walpole, a scheme of flats next to The Ritz Hotel in central London, kitchens are reached by marble-clad staircases with glass balustrades. This one, however, is finished with stainless steel 14 WEDNESDAY 4 MARCH 2015 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Our home Seeing the light: covering the side return increased the space and privacy, while the statement Crittall French window brought in more natural sunlight homesandproperty.co.uk with A raw B beauty Philippa Stockley discovers how a grim Victorian terrace become a much-loved home EIBHINN GILLAN, 34, and Matt Arnold, 40, were priced out of buying in Hackney, where they were renting, and so found themselves in Peckham. Even though they weren’t in love with the little Victorian terrace they had found there, they knew it could be changed into the sort of place they could fall in love with, so they bought it. Beibhinn (pronounced Bevan), an Irish girl who trained as an accountant, had met New Zealander Matt, who works in banking, while they were on holiday in Portugal in 2006. Two years later she came over from Dublin and moved in, and everything was fine, until they were expecting Ellie Rose (now two). Then it was time to find a proper home with a garden. They had previously met John and Joanna, from Mustard Architects, at a little stall in Victoria Park, E3. “They were doing a bit of guerrilla marketing, so I went and talked to them,” Beibhinn says. “What they were saying made sense, so we invited them over to Peckham to see if their design philosophy matched ours.” A FIRM OFFER The Peckham house needed work, and had just been taken off the market, having languished there for ages. But they put in a firm offer, which the owners accepted just before Christmas. What they’d bought was a classic, two-storey, early Victorian terrace house with an original dog-leg and side return at the back. These narrow outdoor spaces are the bane of many Londoners’ lives — particularly since, in this case, the extending leg of the house held a small thin kitchen with a poky window on to the garden, while the gravelled, overgrown side return just sat there, unloved. Having already engaged their architects, the couple knew that they wanted to absorb the side return into the house to create a full-width kitchen-diner. “It was a no-brainer,” says Beibhinn. “Even though estate agents think there is a better financial return from extending into the loft, that wasn’t what we wanted.” However, it would mean getting planning permission — and their neighbours’ agreement to raise the existing, chest-height garden wall in order to spring a glazed roof from it to go over the top. So they got cracking. Two days after they moved in, in February 2013, John and Joanna from Mustard came round. The works the couple ended up doing were more extensive and cost more than they’d first anticipated. Though their original budget was £100,000, they ended up spending £170,000, but they achieved a lot for it. The side return’s wall came out, the opening supported by a big beam. The side return itself was roofed with triplelaminated glass, sprung from the gar- Steps in the right direction: the walls were painted in tones that complemented the style of the home, with paints from Colour Makes People Happy at sieclecolours. com Photographs: Tim Crocker and Adrian Lourie 15 EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 4 MARCH 2015 Our home Homes & Property homesandproperty.co.uk with den wall that was raised to 2.3 metres. At the end of the house they put in a Crittall French window and a matching, double window for a hefty £9,000. IN FOR THE LONG TERM “What we were doing was long term,” Beibhinn says. The kitchen-diner has a polished concrete floor, a central island with a steel top, and exposed flues. All this gives an attractive industrial look, but it’s practical, too, with a gorgeous steel six-burner range for Matt, who loves to cook, and an American- style double fridge. But the architects, who dubbed the property The Raw House, didn’t stop here. They also took out half the hall wall and widened the opening between the original two living rooms, effectively turning the whole ground floor into one big, comfortable living space — though retaining a sensible length of hall, and keeping zones. The floors were repaired and stained, and the walls painted in really delicious, thoughtful colours hand-mixed by a local paint wizard — a perfect French Space to dine for: Beibhinn and Matt absorbed the side return into the house to create a kitchen-diner Grey in the sitting room and a beautiful soft, warm blue in Ellie Rose’s room. Upstairs, the old bathroom was made bigger by poaching space off the back bedroom, then decked out with a double shower, a bath, and metro tiles. Through careful thinking, a small house has become a medium-sized house that thinks it’s an even bigger home. LOAFINGLY LOVELY FURNITURE Get the look Architect: John Norman at mustardarchitects.com Crittall door and windows: from Metwin Windows at metwin.co.uk Steel range cooker: from falconappliances.com Pendant steel lamps in kitchen: made in America, from barnlightelectric.com Metro bathroom tiles: firedearth.com Paints: from sieclecolours.com What it cost House in spring 2013: £540,000 Total cost including architect: £170,000 Value now (estimated): £1,150,000 Finalist For this project, which they dubbed The Raw House, Mustard won third place in the home extension category of NLA’s Don’t Move, Improve Awards 2014. See newlondonarchitecture.org 20 WEDNESDAY 4 MARCH 2015 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Events 1 2 homesandproperty.co.uk with 3 4 5 Five things to see in March By Barbara Chandler 1 THE COUNTRY LIVING SPRING FAIR March 18-22, Business Design Centre, Islington, N1; book at countrylivingfair. com; 0844 848 0160 CELEBRATE spring at this muchloved annual fair, where around 400 companies will sell charming home goodies not on any high street, from furniture and furnishings to textiles and fashion. Enjoy a lively programme of talks, workshops and demos. Tickets are £16.50 on the door or £13 in advance. Readers ticket offer: buy tickets for £12 quoting code CLS151. 2 DESIGNS OF THE YEAR 3 THE CLASSIC CAR BOOT SALE March 25-August 23, Design Museum, Shad Thames, SE1; designmuseum.org; 020 7940 8790 March 14-15, South Bank Centre, Belvedere Road, SE1; classiccar bootsale.co.uk DESIGN junkies adore this annual show, now in its eighth year, presenting an eclectic mix of ideas from around the world. Among the 75 ideas are big projects including Google’s self-driving car, US architect Frank Gehry’s Paris art gallery, the Fondation Louis Vuitton, with its 3,000 curved glass panels; and Londoner Asif Kahn’s Sochi Olympic Megafaces, a stadium wall that scanned visitors’ faces and then put them up in 3D lights, hugely enlarged. VINTAGE fans will have a ball, when more than 100 classic vehicles appear on the South Bank to trade in vintage fashion, homewares and collectibles. Find old-style textiles, glassware and retro furniture. You can even buy old American gas pumps from the boot of a Chevy Panel van. There will be live music, vintage DJ sets and swing dancing lessons. Rare show cars on view include the DeLorean used in the film Back to the Future and Niki Lauda’s Ferrari team van from Rush. 4 DESIRE JEWELLERY & SILVERSMITHING FAIR 5 THE BRANCOTT ESTATE GREAT HOME HACK March 6-8, Chelsea Old Town Hall, Kings Road, Chelsea, SW3; desirefair. com; 01622 747 325 March 13-15, noon to 9pm, Fulham Palace, Bishop’s Avenue, SW6; thegreathomehack.com IN A charming period hall are around 90 carefully selected jewellers and silversmiths selling their work, and accepting commissions. Marvellous materials include gold, silver, palladium, copper, brass, glass and bronze, which are teamed with anything from pearls and gemstones to buttons and beads. Shown here is our city’s skyline captured in handpierced silver by Jen Ricketts. Robert Ingham brings his coveted jewellery boxes. Admission £6. THE word “hack” has a lot of meanings (mostly derogatory), but here it means to make over/improve/ upcycle. This is a fun event in a beautiful venue with medieval origins. Your host is ace hacker, from TV, Max McMurdo, above, the first man to make a chair out of a shopping trolley. Expect live demos and workshops, plus stalls selling made-over furniture, glassware, jewellery and more. Tickets cost £10, but children under 12 go free. 26 WEDNESDAY 4 MARCH 2015 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Interiors homesandproperty London Design Week MARCH 8-13, DESIGN CENTRE CHELSEA HARBOUR The artisan look There are so many ways to create this exquisite style, bringing luxury and craftsmanship together, discovers Barbara Chandler F ROM Sunday for six days, Chelsea will be the world’s interior design hub, as the capital swings into London Design Week (the public can visit free from Wednesday). This is the must-see event and it all happens under the multi-floored glass domes of the Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, home to 500 global brands. “Artisanal” is the buzzword. We’ve seen it in cheese, bread and even coffee, but now it’s in interiors. This is sophisticated upmarket craft. Indeed, a new collection at Royal Warrant holder GP & J Baker uses the simple name Artisan for its beautiful handblock-printed linens and cottons. Labour of love: above, artwork for The Brook velvet took two months to hand-paint by head designer Alison Gee at Morris & Co; £110 a metre; right, wallpaper from Anthology by Harlequin; £114 a roll Many properties deliver over 35 weeks! Do you own a Holiday Home? • High booking levels through £multi-million marketing • Maximise your income through unique, in-house pricing software • Hassle-free service with 35 years’ experience in the industry • Free additional listing on www.cottages4you.co.uk Call 0345 268 8896 Email [email protected] or visit www.welcomecottages.com/letting-your-property BEAUTY IS IN THE DETAIL William Lack, founder and director of Altfield wallpaper studio, offers about 30 rare hand-made wall coverings, including a new flexible “paper” with a thin layer of real plaster painstakingly decorated by a US artist to create an instant painted wall. Elsewhere, find hand-made trimmings, for example pearls and chains, at Nada Designs. At Tissus d’Helene, Helen Cormack can show you hand-screened/blocked fabrics from more than 50 companies in Europe and America. Also find mouthblown glass (for example, lamp bases at Bella Figura), hand-applied lacquers and gilding (Porta Romana), hand-tufted rugs (Esti Barnes with exquisite calligraphy), leather painting (Edelman) and, hand-made tiles (Ann Sacks). The Harbour shows off not just fabrics and papers, but the finest furniture, lighting and flooring, too. Archives are the secret weapon of many top brands. Arts and Crafts aficionados should head straight for an updated William Morris collection. Madeleine Castaing (1894–1992) was a wildly chic French antiques dealer and interior designer, whose wallcoverings and fabrics — bang on trend with rampant skins and verdant Green appeal: fresh, leafy foliage is a strong trend – Sanderson has Muguet, a new cotton print; £47 a metre ■Twitter: @sunnyholt Glass act: it takes a huge amount of skill to create these mouthblown Sasso lamp bases, £1,050, bella-figura.com palms — are now at Turnell & Gigon. Straight from the artist’s mouth come the splashy fantasies of American Hunt Slonem and he has even made rabbits chic at Lee Jofa. As for colours, well, take your pick. Find leafy greens with ivy and trailing strawberries at Sanderson, strong blues and pinks by maestro Manuel Canovas, and a sweet dusky pink at Lelievre. CONTRASTING STYLES Luxe means elegant and svelte in a palette that’s warm and rich, but mainly neutral, maybe with flashes of mica, gold, copper and/or bronze. Surfaces are smooth and luminescent. Satin cloth, matt lacquer and polished metals contrast with the texture of natural materials such as ebonised woods and leathers. Witness Zoffany’s new Constantina collection updating damask weaves and wallpaper. Or browse Anthology at Harlequin, inspired by the industrial finishes of a fashionable loft. Also check out Mark Alexander at Romo, a family-run firm since 1902. Indeed, so many décor brands from here and abroad play 27 EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 4 MARCH 2015 Interiors Homes & Property y.co.uk with In full bloom: Tricia Guild used many inks for her Shanghai Garden collection; Willow Flower wallpaper panel costs £248 longevity as a trump card. Rubelli, with silks and exquisite weaves, is a Venetian company dating back to 1889 and is now in its fifth generation. Pierre Frey celebrates its 80th anniversary this year, while Zimmer + Rohde is now in its fifth generation. In Kings Road, the big brands have been travelling, with chic Turkish geometry at Osborne & Little. Across the road, Tricia Guild has grown her very own Shanghai garden on papers and fabrics, where bamboo, willow trees, temples and blossom are exquisitely hand-painted in the style of Chinese landscape artists. All week, London’s leading editors will host chats on stage, with big names on the interiors scene. Décor doyenne Nina Campbell will discuss 30 years’ worth of domestic design secrets drawing on her five homes. Also on the platform are A-list decorator Paolo Moschino and Joanna Wood, and they will be joined by wallpaper and furniture designers and a leading florist. Check out the programme for times and tickets — it’s called Conversations in Design. Call 020 7225 9166, or email [email protected]. Dip into the running blog on dcch.co. uk for regular updates, and follow the news feed @Designcentrech using hashtag #LDW15. READER OFFER Eastern inspiration: Tulipan cotton print from the new Turkish-inspired Pasha collection at Osborne & Little; £60 a metre. Visit osborneandlittle.com Thursday, March 12, 11.30am to 12.30pm, Conversations in Design, hosted by Homes & Property at Design Club, Third Floor, South Dome, Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, SW10. Meet three leading interior designers and find out why London is the capital of cool design. With Staffan Tollgård, Nicky Dobree and Scott Maddux. Tickets £7.50 (usually £10). Call 020 7352 1900 and quote Homes & Property (dcch.co.uk) ) " # (( $& "&$!&$( ", &-%+ ,&%, *& $'$ #%+ 28 WEDNESDAY 4 MARCH 2015 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Outdoors homesandproperty.co.uk with The drinks are on the garden Mixologist Lottie Muir says we should take advantage of our outdoor cocktail cabinets ARDENER by day and Pattie mixologist by night, Lottie Muir shakes up Barron plant-powered G Garden bar fly: Lottie Muir shakes up a storm with nature’s flavours concoctions that have the flavours of nature mingled with the kick of a cocktail. On summer evenings she sets up the bar in the roof garden she created above Rotherhithe’s Brunel Museum, and, to the delight of The Midnight Apothecary’s punters, serves up the likes of Blackberry Martini, Wild Cherry Manhattan and Grilled Nectarine Smash, the fruits first smoked over the firepit. Now Muir has gathered her recipes in a book, Wild Cocktails From The Midnight Apothecary (CICO Books), detailing the herbs and flowers to grow so that this summer, we can all pick ‘n’ mix from our own outdoor cocktail cabinets. “Just one window box of rosemary, lavender and scented geraniums will give you some great basics for infusions, syrups and garnishes,” says Muir. “Rosemary goes well with gin. Stems of upright rosemary make , $#$& $,$#+,%"(-$)''$$$%"(),%" $$$$,$'%"%($#+)-#%"* " $#%''$$#, ,!# $$#+#$,$''$& $##$$ $ ,$$'++ &$ & great swizzle sticks and the deep blue flowers of rosemary Feta Blue are a beautiful garnish. You can infuse lavender flowers — Munstead is especially fragrant — in gin or vodka, six teaspoons to a one-litre bottle. Test it for taste, every hour up to five hours. No longer, or it will get bitter.” The leaves of scented geraniums, both rose and lemon varieties, she uses for liqueurs as well as infusing in sugar to make a sweet rim around a glass, and picks the velvety leaves of variety Lemon Fancy to flavour limoncello made from vodka, lemon zest, sugar and lavender buds. Botanical cocktails should be an orgy for the senses, believes Muir, with garnishes providing flavour, aroma and texture. “Think shoots, leaves, fronds and flowers, such as peppery nasturtium blooms, which we also infuse in golden rum,” she says. “Add egg white to make a foamy float for flowers. We weave the fronds of bronze fennel into a tall glass of ice cubes and when we add the drink they look like seaweed in a rock pool.” Lemon balm is worth growing because you can use the vibrant green leaves instead of mint in a mojito. And the dainty foliage of lemon verbena makes an exquisite syrup, adds Muir, with raspberries, as well as a great rub ‘n’ sniff garnish. If you have paving stones, Muir suggests growing horseradish between them to contain the root, and then you have, in an infusion with black cardamom, a va-va-voom base for the ultimate Bloody Mary. If you have a patch of shade, you can grow tiny aromatic strawberries for a Rose and Wild Strawberry Daiquiri, and plant chocolate mint in a bucket so you can sip chocolate mint julep on the patio. Sorrel spreads in the border, but that’s no bad thing, because Muir says it adds a great sour-lemon note. You just smack a leaf between your palms — a better technique for muddling, she says, than bashing with a wooden spoon, which makes leaves bitter — and drop it into a G&T. It’s a walk in the park to gather beech leaves for a gin and brandy noyau or elderflowers for an elegant liqueur. Forage fruits of the forest Botanical hits: flavours, herbs and aromatic foliage give spirits a punch as well as adding a decorative touch from Waitrose or your garden for the best Bellinis: “If you can create pulp and juice from the fruit, you can use it,” says Muir, who makes a mean Jam Bellini from blackberry puree, serving it in a jam jar. What it’s really all about, says Muir, is getting back to nature in the city, sitting around a firepit outdoors, surrounded by the plants that are used to infuse and decorate the cocktails. “Scatter the seeds, harvest the bounty, stick it in a glass, light a fire and invite the people. They will come and they will love it!” O For Midnight Apothecary recipes, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/midnight O Wild Cocktails From The Midnight Apothecary costs £16.99, but readers can buy it for £11.99, including p&p, by calling 01256 302699 (quote code CQ1) O The Midnight Apothecary is open Saturday evenings, 5.30pm-10.30pm from Easter weekend to the end September. For details, visit brunelmuseum.org/uk Herbal treat: Bloody Rosemary is a potent blend of blood orange liquer, peach bitters and floral gin O For outdoor events this month, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/events O Gardening queries? Email our RHS expert at expertgardeningadvice@ gmail.com 32 WEDNESDAY 4 MARCH 2015 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Property searching homesandproperty.co.uk with Spotlight Weybridge £1.295 MILLION A four-bedroom house in Dorchester Road, Weybridge town centre. Through John D Wood. O homesandpoperty.co.uk/dor £4.95 MILLION A “Tuscan-style” five-bedroom house in sought-after St George’s Hill, Weybridge (Gascoigne Pees). O homesandproperty.co.uk/tusc The little town that packs a big punch Billionaires love its private gated estates but families head here for larger homes and an easy commute, says Anthea Masey £900,000 A three-bedroom Victorian former workman’s cottage in Old Avenue, Weybridge (House Simple). O homesandproperty.co.uk/ave T HE Surrey commuter town of Weybridge is a small outlying urban settlement that punches above its weight for gossip column inches, having housed some famous residents in the gated acres of its St George’s Hill estate. Among them John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Cliff Richard, and currently Dragon’s Den panellist Theo Paphitis and Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty. The wooded estate, behind high walls, houses many a secret billionaire in its lofty mansions. The quiet little town that sits close to the confluence of the River Thames and the River Wey, hence the name Historical: bricks from Henry VIII’s Oatlands Palace were used to build bridges along the Wey Weybridge, is for families who do not want to stray too far from London with its bright lights and rich variety, and want easy access to both Heathrow and Gatwick airports. In 1538, Henry VIII acquired a house at Oatlands in Weybridge for Anne of Cleves. It was rebuilt as a grand Tudor palace and it was where he married Catherine Howard in 1540. Oatlands Palace was demolished in 1653, but the bricks were used to build the locks and bridges along the River Wey. It was one of the very first canals, built a century before the great canal building boom at the end of the 18th century. It was the first of many firsts for Weybridge. At Brooklands, Weybridge can claim to have the world’s first purpose-built motor racing circuit — and it is where most of Britain’s most iconic aeroplanes, everything from the Sopwith Camel to the Wellington bomber to supersonic Concorde, were first conceived. Weybridge sits 20 miles south-west of central London with three major motorways — the M3, M25 and M4 — all nearby and a commuter train journey to Waterloo that t akes around 30 minutes. Properties: Estate agent Simon Ashwell at the local branch of Savills says there are two markets in Weybridge: the mainstream market focusing on Weybridge town centre, and the ultraprime market of St George’s Hill — known locally as The Hill — and the town’s other private gated roads. Weybridge itself has a selection of period homes ranging from quaint cottages to Edwardian semis to interwar Arts and Crafts houses. St George’s Hill features 420 houses built around a golf course and tennis club. The original builder, Walter George Tarrant, designed in an attractive Arts and Crafts style. However, many of the smaller houses have now been either dramatically extended or more £435,000 A modernised two-bedroom end-ofterrace house in Adelaide Place, Oatlands Village (Urban.co.uk). O homesandproperty.co.uk/oat To find a home in Weybridge, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/weybridge For more about Weybridge, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/spotlightweybridge F 33 EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 4 MARCH 2015 Property searching Homes & Property homesandproperty.co.uk with CHECK THE STATS ■WHAT HOMES COST: BUYING IN WEYBRIDGE (Average prices) One-bedroom flat £215,000 Two-bedroom flat £384,000 Two-bedroom house £597,000 Three-bedroom house £663,000 Four-bedroom house £927,000 Source: Zoopla RENTING IN WEYBRIDGE (Average rates) One-bedroom flat £910 a month Two-bedroom flat £1,403 a month Three-bedroom house £2,523 a month Four-bedroom house £3,145 a month Source: Zoopla GO ONLINE FOR MORE O The best schools in and around Weybridge O The best shops and restaurants O The latest housing developments in the town O Where to find open space and art and leisure facilities in Weybridge O How this area compares with the rest of the UK O Smart maps to help you plot your property search Photographs Daniel Lynch recently knocked down and rebuilt as vast mansions by its famous former and present residents. The estate now attracts the super wealthy who prefer newly-built homes to the period houses. “Many of the smaller houses adjacent to each other are being torn down, with a large mansion going up over two plots,” explains Ashwell. The area attracts: At Savills, 53 per cent of buyers are up-sizing, 15 per cent are down-sizing and the remainder are either investors or developers. Weybridge is attractive to Londoners who move here for a larger house, the easy commute to London, quick access to airports and good state and private schools. In recent years St George’s Hill has attracted mainly international buyers from Russia, China and Nigeria. HAVE YOUR SAY WEYBRIDGE @ginanavarro9 La Casa in Weybridge @CeciliaGad Best for foodie Weybs is Osso Buco & second-hand shopping @ SSChospices shop on @ QueensRoadWey @tonymoore01 The Jolly Farmer. V good local pub. The Gaylord Indian. @roffc River Wey Navigation at Weybridge Lock @Grotticia The Minnow, El Meson De Los Hermanos & Queen’s Head are my favourites, but we need more! @clive_m_h The Queen’s Head, Bridge Road — nice pub, good restaurant, & for us, walking distance! :-) @JCGStephenson #weybridge area guide. I eat steak a lot — and the best I’ve had for a LONG time was at Sosio’s Restaurant, Weybridge. @thedrycleaners ahem..... Can one recommend oneself? @HillHouseLondon Fabulous new Indian restaurant called No.7 Temple serving beautiful dishes! #Weybridge NEXT WEEK: Acton. Do you live there? Tell us what you think @HomesProperty Clockwise from above: the White Orchid florist in York Road; Fiona and Sabina serving at the Boho tea room in Queens Road; Erik Laan knows his wines at The Vineking; and a Concorde welcomes visitors to the town’s Brooklands Museum Staying power: Many families put down roots in Weybridge, which makes for a good community spirit. Travel: Weybridge is close to the M3, M25 and M4 motorways. The fast trains to Waterloo take around half an hour, while the slower trains stop at Clapham Junction for trains to Victoria and Vauxhall for the Victoria line. An annual season ticket costs £2,532. Council: Elmbridge (Conservativecontrolled); Band D council tax for the 2014/2015 year £1,610.58. TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE What is the link between Weybridge, this famous album cover and a song found on it? Find the answer at homesandproperty.co.uk/spotlightweybridge 36 WEDNESDAY 4 MARCH 2015 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Inside story homesandproperty.co.uk with MONDAY gives me the chance to show off our new office. Tonight the directors of Marsh & Parsons have organised a big dinner for all the managers across the company. It’s an annual event held in Chelsea. Must not drink too much. Today is the day. The newest addition to Marsh & Parsons’ growing London network opens its doors in Shoreditch, and I’m the sales manager. Hoarding down — check. Office looking the business — check. Phones on — check. Staff present and correct — check. And we’re off. We start the day with our meeting to go through all the instructions. Our zero per cent offer — a loss leader — means we’ve got 13 properties to sell before we even open the doors. The team have got full diaries with viewings and we are following up with the buyers who were taken to see the properties at the weekend. Despite the rain, our daily and weekly targets are set in stone. FRIDAY Doughnut day has a nice ring to it TUESDAY Two new instructions. The zero per cent commission campaign has been through people’s doors and is now sitting nicely on a billboard on Commercial Road, and we’re receiving lots of calls. Some are met with cynicism, but when I explain that there’s absolutely no catch, and that the team and I are still paid to sell their property, my clients start to feel more comfortable. If they’re thinking of selling, it’s a no-brainer. We’re doing plenty of viewings, too, so it’s only a matter of time before the offers start coming in. I hope. And in contrast to yesterday, there’s not a Diary of an estate agent cloud in the sky. I’ve also done some interesting valuations again today, in particular, a lady who has lived just off Brick Lane for 20 years — and did she have some stories. Shoreditch has such a colourful and interesting past. The owner of a terraced house in Bethnal Green, which I’m valuing, has just told me that the park where the library stands is known locally as ‘Barmy Park’ because for two centuries it was home to a madhouse. WEDNESDAY The day starts very early at a hotel in Hammersmith (quite the trek from Shoreditch), where the results of our company-wide biannual customer service satisfac tion results are presented. Some of the results are staggering. A total of 77 per cent of our respondents rated our likeability as excellent. I’ve never worked at a company where the people are so well-liked, but then, I am an estate agent. I’m back at the office at 11am and it’s great to see that we’re registering more and more buyers. All our properties are on Rightmove and Zoopla, so we’re getting some great enquiries to follow up. It’s only day three, and I’m feeling very positive. THURSDAY Today starts at 8am, which is good news for me, as I’m only around the corner, so I won’t have to travel across London at the time everyone seems to be out to kill each other. It also It’s doughnut day. As part of our marketing campaign to promote the new office and the zero per cent commission offer we’re running, we’re giving away 9,000 doughnuts (zero shaped — get it?) over the next three days. To say we had some interesting characters approach us is an understatement. One lady we stumbled across in Victoria Park particularly made an impression. Known simply as the Silver Surfer (check out her Facebook page), she proceeded to give us a skateboarding lesson after we’d given her a doughnut. In between handing out (and eating) doughnuts, I am also organising a sealed bid. Best and final offers are due at 4pm for a two-bedroom flat in an old converted perfume factory on Gowers Walk. I already know that it will go for more than the asking price. All in all it’s been a great day and week, so we’re now heading to Hoxton Square for a well deserved drink. But tomorrow there’s more doughnut eating. I mean sharing. O Mark Kempson is a sales manager with Marsh & Parsons based in Shoreditch (020 8128 0618) 38 WEDNESDAY 4 MARCH 2015 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Ask the expert homesandproperty.co.uk with How do we snap up a place in France? Q Q A Fiona McNulty WHAT’S YOUR PROBLEM? IF YOU have a question for Fiona McNulty, please email legalsolutions@ standard.co.uk or write to Legal Solutions, Homes & Property, London Evening Standard, 2 Derry Street, W8 5EE. We regret that questions cannot be answered individually, but we will try to feature them here. Fiona McNulty is a legal director in the Real Estate Team at Foot Anstey LLP (footanstey.com) OUR LAWYER ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS WE WOULD love to buy a property in France, but have no idea where to start or what the process involves. Can you give any guidance on how the French system works? A CONVEYANCING in France must, by law, be conducted by a notaire who must act impartially for the buyer and the seller. Notary fees and taxes are set by the government and calculated on a sliding scale according to property value. A buyer can appoint a separate notaire who is no more expensive, as the notaires split the fee and will often also instruct an English lawyer to arrange translations of the French documents and liaise with the notaire. Once a price is agreed, the first stage is the compromis de vente (the first contract), which contains the terms of the agreement between the buyer and seller. It must be signed by the buyer and seller and, generally, a 10 per cent deposit is payable. After a cooling off period of seven days, the contract is binding, but the buyer can withdraw if any of the conditions in the compromis de vente are not met. During the seven-day cooling off period, the buyer can withdraw without penalty, but the seller cannot. Once the compromis de vente is signed, the notaire carries out searches and investigates the title to the property. The purchase is completed when the final or full contract, known as the acte de vente or acte authentique, is signed and the purchase monies paid to the notaire. More legal Q&As Visit: homesand property.co.uk I AM planning to extend my house by adding a breakfast and utility room to the kitchen at the rear and doing some of the work myself. It will only be a very small extension. My boyfriend says that I will probably not need planning permission, as I will be able to do it under “permitted development rights”. How do these work? IT IS possible in some circumstances to make alterations to a property without applying for planning permission, providing a development right is in place. These are granted by parliament, not by your council, and help cut out a lot of paperwork. However, permitted development rights are subject to limitations and restrictions. Whether you can carry out the alterations to your property depends on the extent of the works you are planning, and also the area where you live and if your property is listed. Some areas of the country are known as designated areas. In those areas, permitted development rights may be removed or are more restricted. If you live in an area of outstanding natural beauty or in a conservation area, it is likely that your local planning authority has issued an Article 4 direction to restrict or remove permitted development rights. Contact your local planning authority to discuss the alterations you intend to do. Remember to apply for building regulation consent and also listed building consent if your house is listed. 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 ) 99/-5)1))+.)!),/.:)++:/7 ) "5:/)'/)()9-+5)5)4/)4/+)1)4/)5)1).7 ) "/535).)9-+5)/))#7)"+9*)+4/.+9) 54)$4/)$4+:/&)$4/)#4+.&)$+/)./)+.)4/) 599/5:)5.3/)+99)-9/),7 ) 99)++:/)+/) 54/.))4/)4534/)+.+.)) 54)/:5:)+95+-/&)+)8)+.)) 9),+4:7 ) 9+-815+)+5)5)6)):5/)++&)+.) +53.)+5)%+59)./)()5)/+,7 ! " "" "9/+/)-+-)1.)#+95)+) $)) )20 )/74:/4-7-78 "!! 40 WEDNESDAY 4 MARCH 2015 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property New homes homesandproperty.co.uk with By David Spittles Sma Smar S Sm ma mar ar Wharf won’t cut you off No need to pay a Queen’s ransom for trendy living HOMEBUYERS priced out of Notting Hill continue to trail north to Queen’s Park, where neat Victorian red-brick cottages built by the Artisans, Labourers and General Dwelling Co — part of the “five per cent philanthropy” movement — still cast a spell. These delightful homes were built for manual workers to rent, but now cost seven-figure sums. Queen’s Park Place, above, is a new-build scheme of 116 apartments aimed at the area’s hipsters. Londonewcastle, the developer, has a flair for finding cool parts of town and delivering fashionable flats that raise the design bar. The scheme is part of the Salusbury Road hub, a family-friendly neighbourhood that boasts a farmers’ market, bistros, boutiques and delis. Prices start at £500,000. Call estate agent Aston Chase on 020 7724 4724. T HE WIDE sweep of the Thames forms Fulham’s southern and western boundaries. Here, at the frontier with Chelsea, is Imperial Wharf, a former gas works-turned-housing complex. Despite its position in a cut-off bend of the river, it has proved a hit with buyers and spurred developers to unlock sites further west on the onceindustrial Fulham waterfront. Former Kops Brewery has been reincarnated as Fulham Riverside, which has apartment blocks set at right angles to the Thames and between which will be lavishly landscaped gardens. In addition, the open area facing the river has a central communal podium garden with a three-metre waterfall feature. The façade of the old brewery, marked by a blue plaque, has been retained. Amenities include a fitness suite and badminton court, 24-hour concierge and underground parking, plus there is a new Sainsbury’s superstore. Prices from £685,000. Call Barratt on 0844 811 4334. Mansion house: Hurlingham Walk offers high-end apartments, with penthouses that feature spacious terraces Hurlingham Walk, a Fulham scheme of 68 apartments, reinvents a traditional housing model — mansion flat living, albeit with a modern twist. The mid-rise, brick-façade blocks are set around landscaped courtyards and bring stylish and functional apartments with fullheight windows and doors opening 41 EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 4 MARCH 2015 New homes Homes & Property homesandproperty.co.uk with Spitalfields flats simply heavenly PLACES of worship can make divine conversions, as Wesley Court in Spitalfields shows. The handsome listed hall, built in 1719 as a French Huguenot church, has been split into seven apartments — some are double-height spaces — and the modern, minimalist interiors are a delightful counterfoil to the heritage architecture. Prices from £575,000. Call estate agent Fyfe McDade on 020 7613 4044. For more luxury homes, visit HomesAndProperty.co.uk/luxury AFFORDABLE LUXURY KENSINGTON & CHELSEA OFFERS GREEN RETREAT on to large balconies with cast iron balustrades. Porterage, 24-hour security and gated underground parking make up the package of benefits. A collection of penthouses with vaulted ceilings and large terraces has been unveiled. Prices from £1.45 million. Call St James on 020 8246 4199. THE boundary of the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea extends west to the railway tracks of White City. This is the cheapest pocket of the cheapest part of the borough, but don’t let that put you off. The adjacent area is poised to get a big boost, with transformation of land swallowed up over the years by distribution depots and industrial estates, and pedestrian links will be opened up to provide quick access to the gleaming new community. More West in Freston Road is a Innovative: flats at More West have been designed to reduce noise new-build scheme of 57 apartments (39 for shared ownership) in the W10 postcode it shares with Ladbroke Grove. Solid-looking and sensitively designed to reduce noise, the architecture takes into account the gritty urban streetscape and the close proximity to Latimer Road Tube station, yet has a tranquil central courtyard — a green retreat for residents. Peabody, the developer, is offering buyers stamp duty refunds of up to three per cent. Prices from £415,000. Call 020 7758 8431. 44 WEDNESDAY 4 MARCH 2015 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property Letting on A LMOST half the enquiries I’ve received about my one-bedroom flat have been from tenants with dogs. It’s odd because I’ve never been asked to house pets before, but now three come along at once. So far I’ve turned away an English springer spaniel, a whippet and a Labrador. Their owners were fine, they all seemed like thoroughly nice people, but I’m gobsmacked that any of them thought my flat would provide practical accommodation for their pets. It would be fine for a goldfish or maybe a hamster, but a large dog, I ask you, what were they thinking? I mean, apart from the fact that it’s in a very built-up part of London, my flat doesn’t have a garden. As the nearest green space is a 10-minute trot away, where on earth would their dogs exercise and do “stuff”? At first I thought the springer spaniel might be okay, purely because it was the smallest of the bunch, but when I Googled the breed I discovered that they are “very playful and energetic and need lots of exercise”. Blimey. The last thing I wanted was a demented dog scampering up and down on the bare wooden floors in my flat, irritating the tenants below. I really liked the couple with the Labrador, but when a friend showed me how her own one-year-old labradoodle had clawed its way through her polished wooden floors Best man speech homesandproperty.co.uk with I’d be barking mad to take on dog owners Victoria Whitlock goes through the pros and cons of renting a flat to canine-loving tenants, and comes to a swift conclusion The accidental landlord I went off it. The last time I had the floors re-sanded and varnished it cost almost two grand. However, I did feel sorry for the Labrador owners because they were getting quite desperate to find somewhere to live as so many landlords had already turned them down. They offered to pay a higher deposit “to put my mind at rest” and they said they could get a reference for the dog from their existing landlord, though I thought there was a danger that he might say the old Lab was adorable just to get rid of it. The couple also suggested I inserted a “pet clause” in the lease agreement, which would make them responsible for any damage the dog caused (including scratched floors), plus they offered to pay for any additional cleaning at the end of the tenancy to get rid of all its hairs. Even landlords who like pets are often reluctant to accommodate them, particularly in flats, because of restrictions in their lease, or out of respect for the neighbours. My lease states that no pets are allowed on the £600 a week: in Gloucester Terrace, Paddington, John D Wood has a smart twobedroom flat in a stucco terrace available to rent (homesandproperty.co.uk/padd) property, but as I was aware that some of the other occupants have acquired cats, despite the ban, I asked them if they’d mind me letting to the couple with the Labrador. Yes, they said, they did mind. “How about a whippet?” I tried, when approached by a couple with one and swore it was so docile because it was “almost always” asleep. The other residents weren’t too keen on that, either. The neighbours’ main concern was that it would bark when left alone while the owners were at work. “Oh no, he never barks when we’re out,” said the whippet owners. “How would you know?” I asked. In the end, I turned all the dog owners away because I had to agree with the other residents — taking in dogs was too much of a risk. However, if you know someone with a goldfish, I’d happily accommodate them. 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 RINGS for wedding Hmm... Pouty profile pic to the Upload to APP GETTING A DATEfor the in Brought to you by ...CLOSER THAN YOU THINK Rent a 1 - 4 bed home in the former Athletes’ Village Find out mor e at eastvillagelondon.co.uk
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