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Homes&
Property
Wednesday 25 March 2015
Folk art
Design trends
Page 20
LIVERPOOL STREET’S BEST COMMUTES P8 THE NEW CHELSEA P9 SPRING FORWARD: CLOCKS P12 SPOTLIGHT ON RICHMOND P32
The new homes
catch of the day
Page 6
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DANIEL LYNCH
Fish Island
4
WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Online
homesandproperty.co.uk with
This week: homesandproperty.co.uk
news: ‘Save Blossom Street
from the wrecking ball’
Threatened:
British Land
wants to build
glass office
blocks on the
site of historic
warehouses in
Blossom Street,
Spitalfields
A BATTLE has been launched to save an entire city block
in a Spitalfields conservation area from demolition.
British Land wants to tear down historic warehouses in
Blossom Street, E1, to build mostly glass office blocks of
up to 13 storeys. Objectors say the project will include just
40 new homes, with only 10 earmarked as affordable.
Plans submitted to Tower Hamlets planners centre
around the ancient Liberty of Norton Folgate and include
demolishing Blossom Street’s 1886 Victorian warehouses,
said to contain fine interiors of Baltic pine floorboards
and cast iron pillars.
Protesters hope the scheme will meet a similar fate to
plans to demolish part of Smithfield Market, which were
thrown out last summer by government ministers.
Property
search
Trophy buy of the week
Georgian gem has pedigree
£5.5 million: this Sussex pile, in all its Georgian glory, sits
among 34 acres. As one would expect, it comes with a
tennis court, swimming pool, full equestrian facilities,
including a sand school and stables to house a fine filly or
two, plus beautiful manicured lawns. The 8,700sq ft home
features eight bedrooms and six bathrooms, six reception
rooms, a vast kitchen and sun terrace. A separate twobedroom cottage is perfect for parking the staff or a
troublesome guest. Through Hamptons International.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/trophy
London buy of the week fly high in
the style stakes with smart apartments
£459,950: new to the market is a
stylish collection of modern flats at
Beaufort Park, built on an old RAF
base in Colindale, NW9.
This two-bedroom apartment comes
with a high-spec finish throughout, an
open-plan living room and a slick
kitchen, complete with the latest
appliances. The master bedroom
O Read Philippa Stockley’s full story at homesandproperty.co.uk
Life changer make your
mark on bright blank canvas
Visit our new online
luxury section
HomesAndProperty.co.uk/luxury
£900,000: cream of the Cornish crop can be found in
Trevone Bay near Padstow — one of north Cornwall’s
popular holiday spots. Casa Vista and Bella Vista come as a
lucrative package offering eight guest bedrooms, four
reception rooms and three bathrooms between them. Both
homes are bright, airy blank canvases, perfect for creating
a dream boutique B&B. Through Country & Waterside.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/lifechanger
Facebook:
has an en suite shower room, while
the second bedroom has use of a
luxury bathroom. There is also a large
decked balcony, perfect for soaking
up views over parkland.
A health and fitness suite, 24-hour
concierge and underground parking
complete the deal. It’s on the market
with Foxtons.
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Morley
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Digital stars prefer the fringe
WEALTHY and young
digital entrepreneurs
looking for a home in
the capital are ignoring
prime central London
in favour of new
emerging districts on
the fringes of the
Square Mile, from
Farringdon in the
west to Whitechapel
in the east, a new
Knight Frank report
reveals.
Fifteen thousand
design and digital
start-up businesses
have opened near
Old Street’s Silicon
Roundabout alone
during the past two
years, with global giants
Google, Facebook and
Amazon moving there.
The new research
shows that, over the
From £735,000: flats at Goodman’s Fields, Aldgate,
with pool and gym (homesandproperty.co.uk/gfa)
same period, house
prices in the area
have outperformed
average prime central
London, with soaring
demand for handsome
Georgian terrace
homes and airy loft
conversions that will
be on the doorstep of
three Crossrail stations
by 2018.
Join us as we take a
property tour of
London’s booming
“City central” hotspots.
O Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/prime
5
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH 2015
News Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Strut your stuff in
Versace’s mansion
Got some
gossip?
Tweet
@amiranews
É KENSINGTON’S Logan Mews is
known for its ties with rock legends
Queen. Freddie Mercury once lived
at Number 1 and the band enjoyed
many parties in the grounds.
Those wanting to relive the
Mercury magic will be drawn to a
four-bedroom house in the private
cobbled enclave that is on
Mountgrange Heritage’s books.
It hits all the right notes for
lovers of urban chic, as it has
a decked roof terrace that
makes the ideal party spot.
Near the artisan cafés of
Stratford Village, the home,
priced at £3.495 million, could
be a refuge for Brian May, who
lives nearby, but grumbled about
building works on his own street.
É JESSICA CHASTAIN, below,
has splashed out £3.4 million
on a four-bedroom apartment in
central New York.
The Oscar-nominated actress,
who is set to play Marilyn Monroe
in upcoming film Blonde, which is
directed by Andrew Dominik, plans
to live there with her fashion
executive boyfriend Gian Luca
Passi de Preposulo.
The property, which boasts plenty
of character, includes a master
suite with floor-to-ceiling closets,
hand-carved mahogany windows
with Tiffany glass, a music room
and a library.
It once belonged to legendary
composer Leonard Bernstein,
but Chastain bought it from
Tony-winning composer and
lyricist Adam Guettel.
The man who sold his house
GETTY
RETNA
Homes
gossip
By Amira Hashish
New York flat’s
Jess the ticket
Logan Mews
will rock you
ÉTWO homes once lived
in by David Bowie have
come on the market,
but are worlds apart.
Mandalay, left, was
built for the singer on
the Caribbean island
of Mustique. It has
Indonesian-style
décor and it is
for sale through
Knight Frank
for £13.5 million.
Sitting just above the
water, it has a card room
decorated with mussel
shells, a recording studio
with a bamboo ceiling and
a stage for gigs. Bowie
originally sold the place
to publisher Felix Dennis
for £3.3 million.
Meanwhile, Bowie’s
childhood home at
106 Canon Road in
Bromley, south London, is
a more modest offering.
Despite undergoing a
recent refurbishment, the
two-bedroom property is
available to rent from this
Saturday through Cannon
Kallar (cannonkallar.co.uk)
for £1,350 a month.
REX
É FASHION house Versace is about
to launch a collection of super-luxury
homes in China as part of its growing
property arm. Yet none will match
the grandeur of the Grade II-listed
Mayfair mansion designed for
founder Gianni Versace and now on
the market for £15 million.
The 5,756sq ft space, for sale
through Wetherell (wetherell.co.uk),
has four bedrooms, three reception
rooms and one of the biggest atriumstyle conservatories in the West End.
The 18th century property at
50 Charles Street had many aristocratic owners before being converted
into offices after the Second World
War. Now reverted to a single home,
it has a marble entrance hall and a
34ft long Milanese-style patio garden.
6
WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property New homes
homesandproperty.co.uk with
F
ISH ISLAND may be an
unlikely and unpromising
candidate, but this 50-acre
triangular tract of industrial
land with a small colony of
creatives and small businesses next
to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
in Stratford has ambitions to become
the latest cool neighbourhood in the
east — another London Fields.
Bounded on two sides by canals
and on the third side by a roaring
dual carriageway, this semi-derelict
backwater is not for the faint-hearted.
It was once part of a thriving
industrial suburb. Here, in 1865,
the Gas Light & Coke Company
built a small factory town, now a
conservation area. Streets were given
names of freshwater fish, and Fish
Island was born.
The Blitz knocked the stuffing out
of it and post-war urban planners
finished the job, cutting it adrift from
the historic heartland of Homerton.
However, a revival of sorts started
in the Eighties and quietly gathered
pace, spurred by an influx of small
creative businesses. It is where
renowned artist Bridget Riley worked.
Today, 600 artists’ studios and
workshops are clustered in the area,
alongside enterprises such as
smoked salmon producer Forman &
Son, whose showpiece new premises
doubles as a restaurant, gallery and
exhibition space. Here, too, housed
in a former sofa factory, is Fish Island
Labs, a Barbican Centre-backed
initiative offering low-rent space to
techno creatives.
ANOTHER OLYMPIC WINNER
Had it not been for London hosting
the 2012 Olympics, Fish Island would
have remained a cut-off creative
colony largely ignored.
It is the staggering regeneration of
neighbouring Stratford that has
altered its fortunes.
Not only is Fish Island a beneficiary
of all the new infrastructure and local
amenities, it is a key component of
an ambitious master plan for the
wider Hackney Wick area, one that is
bringing a new Overground station
and up to 5,500 new homes.
Crucially, London Legacy
Development Corporation, which
owns a lot of the land, has taken
control as the planning authority and
is fast-tracking change.
NEW HOMES A RARITY
All this physical change has
transformed public perceptions of
Fish Island as a place to live and work
as well as propelling the value of land
and buildings, many of which are
empty or under-utilised. Currently,
Smokers welcome: Lance Forman, boss of Fish Island salmon producer Forman & Son
Arty, edgy
and the
catch of
the day
Fish Island, Stratford’s last colony, is sharing
in the Olympics legacy with new homes
and artists’ studios, says David Spittles
homes for sale are scarce. Omega
Works, a pioneering apartment
scheme built in the Nineties, had a
troubled start after the developer got
into difficulties, but the block is now
extremely sought-after.
“Two-bedroom flats cost £400,000
to £500,000, but rarely come up
for sale or rent,” says Gavin Ridding,
a civil engineer and planning
consultant whose association with
the area goes back 30 years. Today
he is chairman of the local business
forum group and owner of estate
agent Fish Island Properties, selling
mainly commercial premises.
Iron Works is another canalside
apartment complex, adjacent to
Greenway, a new pedestrian and
cycle route built above sewers
designed by Joseph Bazalgette, the
great Victorian engineer.
What was a virtual no-go zone for
home buyers is now a promising new
frontier, with eager developers
swooping to snap up sites and estate
Artistic: Fish Island Labs, left, is housed in a former sofa factory; right, a pedestrian and cyclist cross Old Ford Lock
agents plotting the future. Peabody’s
Neptune Wharf will provide
578 homes. L&Q, another housing
association developer, is poised to
unveil a scheme of canalside homes
on Stour Road, while developer
Aitch Group is moving into this
territory and is progressing four
schemes with up to 250 homes.
Hackney
Stratford
Fish Island
City
Tower
Hamlets
Newham
CHASING THE LONDON
FIELDS EFFECT
The area has all the ingredients to
become another London Fields,
the trendy Hackney district of
east London centred around the
eponymous park and enlivened
by boutique-strewn Broadway
Market, according to estate agent
Currell, which is extending its
reach by setting up a “resource
centre” covering Fish Island and
Hackney Wick.
Initially this will be a pop-up
showroom with a 3D model of the
area and a digital database of land
ownership, transport proposals,
cultural and community initiatives,
development opportunities and
apartments coming up for sale
and rent.
“London Fields’ rise has been
dramatic during the past decade
and there are strong parallels
between the two places: pockets of
‘I like the rawness
of Hackney Wick’
NATALIE HALL, 36, a marketing
director who works in Shoreditch,
bought one of the new flats at The
Mission. She has lived in the
Hackney borough for 13 years,
moving from Hoxton to Dalston to
London Fields and now to
Hackney Wick.
“I suppose I’ve followed the wave
of gentrification as it has spread out
from Shoreditch. Often areas
become victims of their own
success. I like the rawness of
Hackney Wick, but it has a special
quality and I hope this is not lost
with the planned regeneration.”
7
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH 2015
New homes Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
£1.127 million: for a striking penthouse in the listed tower at
The Mission, next to St Mary of Eton Church in Hackney Wick
Centre built for London 2012 has
become Here East, a new digital
quarter expected to bring 7,500 jobs.
“We believe the area will attract
buyers, mainly young professionals
working in Shoreditch and the City,
who would never choose to live in
the new-build villages on the Olympic
Park. They’ll enjoy being part of ‘a
work in progress’, finding it exciting
and cool to be part of the area’s
transformation,” adds Currell.
You need faith. Despite being close
to the Olympic Park’s splendid
meadows, accessible via a
ramshackle footbridge, currently
Fish Island is corralled by a semiderelict waterfront, while the
15-minute walk to the nearest train
stations — Puddle Dock, Bow Road
and Hackney Wick — is through a
gritty and formidable urban
landscape.
Hackney Wick train station is
getting a major facelift, with a new
entrance and a parade of shops
creating a new hub.
ALL PICTURES: DANIEL LYNCH
GETTING THE RIGHT
BALANCE
Afloat: houseboats have colonised the
River Lee, as seen from new homes at
Omega Works on Fish Island, which
was for years a forgotten backwater
gentrification alongside pockets of
deprivation, some fabulous yet
decaying industrial buildings, and a
pleasant open green space on the
doorstep,” says owner Anne Currell.
Fish Island has the advantage of
being plugged into the mini city that
is Stratford, where the former Media
From £400,000: resale flats are
sought-after at Omega Works, a
pioneering scheme, but apartments
rarely come up for sale or for rent
This patch needs a boost. Postindustrial decline brought a return to
the deprivation that led Eton College
in 1880 to establish an outreach
mission for the poor.
Ironically, the church of St Mary of
Eton, where the mission was set up,
is at the centre of an ambitious
community-based regeneration
project called The Mission.
It has brought 25 new homes,
including a fabulous penthouse in
the listed tower. The latter, just
released, is on the market for
£1.127 million through estate agent
Fyfe McDade. Call 020 7613 4044.
Loft-style apartments with up to
four bedrooms and patio-style
terraces have been carved from the
double-height, tall-windowed
mission hall, while a new vicarage
has been built alongside and a café
created in the cobbled courtyard.
Planners want to protect the best
of the area’s industrial architecture
and ensure this new neighbourhood
is “balanced”, with a tenure mix of
owners and renters, and that its
rooted community of small
businesses and creatives is not
dislodged by fashionistas.
8
WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Commuting: Liverpool Street
CHELMSFORD: GETS TOP MARKS
This is the most popular choice for
commuters, with almost five million
season ticket journeys each year from
its station, largely because of the city’s
excellent schools.
For boys, King Edward VI Grammar
— known as Kegs — is one of the top
secondary schools in the UK, and
Chelmsford County High, for girls, has
an almost equally stellar reputation.
Both operate a 12-mile catchment
limit, which has pulled more families
out of Essex villages and into the city.
Granted city status in 2012, Chelmsford has first-rate sports facilities, open
country on the doorstep, and Stansted
airport is a 20-minute drive away. The
Essex ‘tickets’
all the right
boxes for rail
commuters
Nine locations beyond the M25 get you into
Liverpool Street in under an hour. Chelmsford
tops the bill, says Ruth Bloomfield
town centre is a bit on the Towie side,
but Old Moulsham has a great mix of
cafés and independent shops.
An average home in the city costs
£269,072, up 8.6 per cent in the last
year. Stephen White, a director of
Savills, says Chelmsford is booming.
“Over the last three years, there has
been an explosion of development and
house prices, and businesses and
people are coming in,” he said.
To the north of the city, thousands of
new homes are being built at Beaulieu
Park, a 604-acre site that was once the
summer residence of King Henry VIII.
Modern houses there are priced up to
about £900,000 for a five-bedroom
detached home, or for buyers lower
down the ladder, a two-bedroom
Victorian cottage would cost from
about £250,000. Two-bedroom flats
are priced from about £200,000.
ESSEX’S TOP COMMUTER DESTINATIONS
Station
Shenfield
Ingatestone
Chelmsford
Hatfield Peverel
Witham
Kelvedon
Marks Tey
Colchester
Manningtree
Journey time
in minutes
27
29
35
43
44
48
54
52
60
Season ticket
price
£2,868
£3,320
£3,728
£4,016
£4,160
£4,364
£4,488
£4,796
£5,360
Average
price of a
home
£369,037
£536,415
£269,072
£313,516
£218,975
£283,546
£292,111
£200,088
£227,945
Growth
rate in a
year (%)
8.6
11.2
8.6
9.4
6.5
4.0
4.7
4.0
5.5
SHENFIELD: IT’S UP-AND-COMING
This is a semi-suburb with a journey
time of just 27 minutes. Prices here
have soared by close to 15 per cent
since 2007, to an average of £369,037.
Shenfield is at the easternmost point
of the Crossrail line and, by 2018, will
have fast direct routes to both the West
End and Heathrow airport.
Critics might find the area a little
soulless, with rather too many gated
developments of executive homes, but
its high street very much passes the
coffee shop test.
COLCHESTER: HISTORY AT HOME
This is the big-town option out of
Liverpool Street with average prices
just a shade over £200,000 thanks to
its 52-minute journey time.
The oldest town in England, Colchester has character and culture with a
ALAMY
L
IVERPOOL STREET is one of
London’s busiest stations —
partly because of its prime
position in the City, and
partly because it serves some
of the most popular commuter villages
and towns east of the capital.
The destinations it serves fit the
principal requirement for most commuters — getting home in less than an hour.
So where should house hunters start
looking for a property this Easter? Basically, from Liverpool Street, it’s Essex.
Exclusive research on the nine
locations that lie beyond the M25, but
within an hour of Liverpool Street,
reveals a huge price difference between
Shenfield — a 27-minute journey — and
Manningtree, which takes the full
60 minutes. The average property in
Shenfield costs £369,037, while up the
track in Manningtree it’s £227,945,
according to analysis by Savills.
Shenfield residents pay the extra to
save 66 minutes each day on a round
trip to Liverpool Street. Every saved
minute costs them £2,137.
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Boating on the River Cam: Chelmsford is a winner with commuters and families
new £28 million art centre, designed
by Uruguayan architect Rafael Viñoly
and clad in gilded metal. It is known
locally as the Golden Banana.
Schools are great, in particular the
highly sought-after Colchester County
High School, for girls, and the Royal
Grammar School, for boys, and there
are plenty of good pubs. Its location
£895,000:
Growth
rate since
2007 (%)
14.9
10.9
11.7
13.7
9.8
13.1
0.2
5.1
7.4
Source: Savills using Office of Rail Regulation and Land Registry
an impressive
five-bedroom
house in Cressing
Road, Witham.
Through Walkers
O Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/cressingroad
on the Essex/Suffolk border means
the beauties of the Stour Valley are
close by and you are only 15 miles from
Frinton-on-Sea.
On the downside, the high street has
too many chain stores to be anything
more than useful, but the Dutch Quarter, just north of the town centre, has
some lovely and characterful period
cottages with painted façades.
Expect to pay about £175,000 to
£200,000 for a two-bedroom home,
or from about £250,000 to £300,000
for a house with three bedrooms.
The grandest address in town is
Lexden, about 15 minutes’ walk from
the centre, and full of sprawling
Victorian villas.
The largest properties, with at least
six bedrooms and going on for
4,000sq ft of space, are priced at
£1 million or more, but you could buy
a four-bedroom Victorian semi for
about £600,000.
9
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH 2015
Renting Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
GO WHERE THE
LOCALS GO
Gastropubs
Sands End Pub & Kitchen
Lots Road Pub & Dining Room
Riverside eateries
The Waterside Bar & Kitchen
Yamal Alsham (Lebanese food)
Blue Elephant (Thai food)
Furniture and interior
design bargains
Lots Road Auction Rooms
ALAMY
To dine for: Blue Elephant in Imperial
Wharf, a favourite for Thai dishes
Marina chic: riverside developments near Chelsea Harbour, above, are attracting new types of renters
From dirty secret to
shiny new address
T
HE now-fashionable
Fulham neighbourhood of
Sands End is a parable of
our times — the triumph
of development in a cut-off
corner of London. Despite the
negatives of a tract of industrial land
blighted by gas works and dissected
by train tracks, developers have
transformed the area into an enclave
of coveted flats and houses, now one
of Fulham’s best addresses.
During the Victorian period, it was
a very grim place, lined with factories
and a coal-fired power station, before
it gained a reputation for slums and
troubled council estates.
Only when nearby Chelsea Harbour
was built alongside a muddy inlet in
the Eighties did residential
developers look at this waterfront
strip with different eyes. It has
become a new suburb in SW6.
Today, there is a riverside path to
Chelsea Harbour via Chelsea Creek,
another swish residential scheme,
and the Sands End district has
offices, bars, restaurants, hotels,
small businesses and a settled
hinterland that stretches to trendy
New King’s Road, packed with
galleries and boutiques.
THE NEW RENTERS
“The riverside developments have
enticed a new type of Fulham
renter,” says Glen Neligan, manager
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Gone are the grime and the
slums. Sands End has become
a swish new riverside residential
quarter, says David Spittles
‘Waterfront
homes have
enticed a
new type of
Fulham
renter and
command
a premium’
£2,925 a month:
a two-bedroom
flat in Doulton
House, Chelsea
Creek, with use
of gym and pool
of Benham & Reeves Lettings. “People,
mainly young professionals and
downsizers who had previously only
considered a period home, started to
appreciate the lifestyle benefits of a
development — the security, the
parking and the amenities.
“In general, the waterfront homes
now command a premium and are
on a par with fully refurbished
properties at Parsons Green,
traditionally Fulham’s best address.”
Studios start at £350 a week and
two-bedroom flats from £550 a week,
with rents rising to £2,500 a week for
a glamorous penthouse and £3,000 a
week for a five-bedroom house.
Tucked away behind the waterfront
are original artisan cottages and
smart, small three-bedroom terrace
houses that let for £750 to £800 a
week, and conversions, including
garden flats, from £450 a week.
COMMUTE BY RIVERBUS
The Thames Clipper riverbus service
is hugely popular. Boats leave as early
as 6.10am and Costa coffee is served
on board. Most people commute to
Embankment or Blackfriars or go all
the way to Canary Wharf, without
having to change.
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BORIS BIKE EFFECT
O Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/doultonhouse
Boris bikes at Imperial Wharf have
caused property ripples in what was
an urban backwater. Rental demand
has jumped 25 per cent since the
bikes were introduced, according to
Benham & Reeves.
There are times when the slab of
riverside apartment blocks looks
somewhat forlorn. But this is an
evolving district that has come a long
way over the past decade and is likely
to gain more cachet as the years go on.
) +
#
*
10
WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Homes abroad
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Crystal clear Caymans where you pay no tax
Claim your piece of paradise in the super-safe Cayman Islands from less than £163,000, says Cathy Hawker
T
HE Cayman Islands share
much of the eye-popping
beauty of any Caribbean
island with sandy beaches,
crystalline blue seas
and world-class diving. However,
Grand Cayman is one of the safest,
wealthiest, most tax-friendly places in
the world, and it is these “extras” that
make it of particular interest to many.
For a UK overseas territory — one of
14 along with Gibraltar and Bermuda
— the Cayman Islands, made up of
Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and
Little Cayman, don’t seem very
British. Yes, you see a picture of the
Queen in the arrivals hall at Grand
Cayman airport after the 10-hour
direct flight from London, but Miami
is only an hour away and 80 per cent
of visitors are from the US.
HEAVEN IS...
NOTHING TO PAY
THE Cayman Islands have no
restrictions on foreign ownership of
land. Anyone with an EU passport who
owns property there can come and go
at will as long as they are able to
prove they can support themselves.
A straightforward way to become
resident in the Caymans is to apply
for Residency for Persons of
Individual Means. Anyone investing a
minimum of £393,000 in property
and with an annual income of
£94,000 without needing to work can
get a 25-year renewable residency
certificate for a fee of £15,700.
Residents in the Caymans pay no
income, capital gains, inheritance,
property or sales taxes, or on their
investment portfolio. Stamp duty is
7.5 per cent.
Grand Cayman is by far the most
developed of the three Cayman
islands, but at about 22 miles long by
an average four miles wide, it is
hardly a giant. It is a colossus,
however, in the financial world.
Cayman is the sixth largest
international banking centre with a
top-grade AAA credit rating, on a par
with London and Switzerland.
“Cayman is little-known globally,
but we want to get our brand out
there so the world knows we are a
world-class financial destination,”
says the Hon Moses Kirkconnell,
deputy premier and tourism minister
of the islands. “Tourism and finance
are our two drivers. Tourism is set to
grow 12 per cent this year,
substantially above the regional
average of five per cent.”
Infrastructure is key to this plan
and the Caymans have excellent
roads, several international schools
and modern hospitals. A larger
airport is being built and Camana Bay,
a new town with 600 acres of
thoughtfully designed boutique
shops, apartments, offices and openair restaurants, has transformed life
for residents. “For lifestyle, Cayman is
ALAMY
BANKING GIANT
£3,058,000: this five-bedroom waterfront home at
Canal Point in Grand Cayman is close to Seven Mile Beach
hard to beat,” says James Burdess of
estate agent Savills. “It has an
established business community with
130 different nationalities, which
From £162,660: Ironwood resort in Grand Cayman offers
one- to three-bedroom apartments for sale through Savills
brings a diverse social life and wellestablished facilities.”
Property for sale in Grand Cayman
through Savills includes comfortable,
new one- to four-bedroom flats,
townhouses and villas on the water at
Cypress Pointe North priced from
£250,500. This 38-unit development
is five minutes from prime Seven Mile
Beach in family-friendly Crystal
Harbour. Savills is also selling off-plan
property at Ironwood, a golf and
sports resort being developed at the
quieter eastern end of Grand Cayman,
priced from £162,660 for one- to
three-bedroom flats. This ambitious,
long-term project offers supermarkets
and smaller shops, and an Arnold
Secluded setting: family-owned
Brac Reef Beach Resort is on the
south-west end of Cayman Brac
Palmer-designed championship golf
course is planned. The first homes
will be ready in 2017. Buyers looking
for large, detached waterfront
properties can opt for the canal,
where a boat mooring is part of the
deal, or the beach.
British-born engineer Mike
Burcombe and his American wife
Joyce, an architect, are selling the
fully furnished substantial house
they built at Canal Point for
£3,058,000, but have no plans to
leave the island. “Why wouldn’t you
live here?” says Joyce, whose
children are at boarding school in the
UK. “Number one is the safety and
security combined with a friendly
and varied expat community. Then
there is great healthcare, restaurants,
flight access and grocery stores.
“Mike and I have worked all over
the Caribbean and nowhere
compares to Cayman.”
O Savills: savills.co.uk (020 7016 3843)
O Cayman Islands Tourism:
caymanislands.ky
IT’S PARTY TIME LONDON COUPLE BRING CAMDEN TO THE BEACH
We’re the No 1 choice for both
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Join Britain’s favourite holiday letting agency and benefit from:
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or visit www.cottages4you.co.uk
HURRICANE IVAN
damaged half of all homes
in Grand Cayman in
2004, destroying many
heritage buildings.
Recent architecture on
the island is largely
uninspiring, but
Londoners Lisa and Vidal
Brewer, pictured, have taken
their experience from remodelling
period homes in Camden and
Westminster to build Grand
Cayman’s most striking
contemporary home.
Camden House at Rum Point is an
ocean front property designed by
UK-based architect Nicholas Tye. The
strong architecture includes glass
walls, a cantilevered steel staircase
and a roof terrace made for parties.
Striking style:
Camden House
at Rum Point is a
contemporary
property on the
ocean front
“Building this house has been
unbelievably difficult,” admits Lisa.
“We had terrible arguments with
Nick, but he pushed us to be purists
and I am glad he did. Finding
contemporary products even in the
US is challenging. For example, all
the light fittings came from Ambiente
Direct in Germany.”
The couple, with six-year-old
daughter Emily, arrived in Grand
Cayman four years ago and own a
property development company.
“We live an easy, happy, outdoor life
here,” says Lisa. “It’s relaxed, it’s safe
and everything works.”
They also own a large four-bedroom
detached house on the beach at
Rum Point, which they rent out from
£420 a night. “It’s ranch style,
which we painted white and
furnished with modern pieces,” says
Lisa. “It rents very well, even in low
season because people are mad
for modern.”
O Camden House is on the market for
£4,457,000 through Savills
12
WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Clocks
homesandproperty.co.uk with
A brief
history of
As the clocks go forward, Philippa Stockley meets
the man in charge of the world’s most famous timepiece
S
HOULD you happen to be
standing near the Houses of
Parliament this Saturday
evening, you’ll notice two
things: first, at 8.30pm, all
four faces of Big Ben will go dark. Second, at around 10pm (if you have keen
eyes), you’ll spot its gigantic hands
starting to race round. This is the night
that the clocks spring forward an hour.
For the rest of us, it heralds the start of
British Summer Time and an extra
evening hour of sunlight, but for the
people who have to change Big Ben it
means a hard slog until 2am.
The Palace of Westminster has three
full-time clockmakers who look after
its 2,000 clocks, of which the most
famous is the one we all call Big Ben
(though, in fact, that’s the name of the
bell inside the Elizabeth Tower).
One of the clockmakers, Paul Roberson, who is also the chair of the British
Watch and Clockmakers’ Guild, still
can’t believe his luck at having this job
— even though it means getting in at
7am, being on call all hours, and climb-
ing 334 stairs up to the top of Big Ben
three times a week to wind the clock,
because there’s no lift. What if you
leave a spanner at the bottom? “What
do you think?” he asks. Once he had to
go up and down 10 times in a single day,
doing repairs. “But the worst thing,”
he laughs, “is leaving your pass at the
top when you’re heading home.”
Roberson trained as a watch and
clockmaker in Hackney. “I’ve always
been mechanically minded, but this is
more fun than rolling around under a
car, he says.
TIME TO TEST
The clock mechanism itself was
designed by an eccentric barristerturned-horologist called Edmund
Beckett Denison, and made by Dent of
Pall Mall, in London. It was finished in
1854 but, Roberson explains, the
Houses of Parliament were way behind
schedule, so there was time to
thoroughly test the mechanism. “Then
it was one of the wonders of the world,”
he says, admiringly. No one believed
CAMERA PRESS
our
time
Crunch time:
clockmaker
Paul Roberson,
above and left,
examining one of
Big Ben’s four
faces, will be
busy on Saturday
night when the
clocks go forward
by an hour
such a huge clock could be accurate to
the second, but it was and, according
to Roberson, “I see no reason for it not
to go on working for ever.
“When I first heard Big Ben, I
expected the noise would blow my
brains out but, in fact, because of the
way sound carries, it almost seems
louder outside. And it keeps humming
afterwards. The sound of its chimes,
which we call the Westminster chimes,
are in our blood, but they are copied
from the Cambridge chimes.”
Big Ben is called a three-train clock
because it has three sets of weight-
driven gears, or “trains”. One runs the
quarter chimes, one runs the strike,
and one, the “going train”, runs the
four sets of hands. This train is still
manually wound three days a week
using a crank handle, winding its
weight right back up to the top of the
tower.
WOUND UP
It’s hard work and the men take turns,
at about 30 turns each. It takes an hour
to wind. The other trains have been
wound by motor since 1912. Because
Big Ben has to be accurate, the
clockmakers have a tried and tested
system that is reassuringly low-tech.
To check that Big Ben’s chime is spot
on, they phone up the speaking clock
just before the hour, then belt up to the
belfry with a stop-watch to check the
accuracy of the strike. If it is a tiny bit
out, they place pre-decimal pennies on
the pendulum to make adjustments.
Adding one penny speeds the clock up
by two-fifths of a second over 24 hours;
taking one off does the reverse.
Just twice a year, when the clocks
change, the clockmakers are allowed
to stop the clock (that’s when the clock
13
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH 2015
Clocks Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Clockwise from left: green retro
alarm clock, £10, Imperial War
Museum shop (iwmshop.org.uk);
Umbra Ribbon wall clock, £60, and the
Lascelles Pastis clock, £34.95, both
from John Lewis (johnlewis.com);
Book clock, £25, and Victorian Style
Watch Dome, £65, both from
the National Gallery shop
(nationalgallery.co.uk)
STEVE FORREST/PANOS
■Twitter: @stockleyp
Clockwise from below: Diamantini &
Domeniconi Lollogio wall clock,
£225, from John Lewis; Big Ben wall
clock, £14.99, from the National
Gallery shop (as before); the
Diamantini & Domeniconi Arcoiris
Cuckoo clock, £170, from John Lewis
faces go dark). This gives them precious
time to do any necessary maintenance.
So on Saturday, at precisely 9.05pm,
the strike will be “locked off”; then, at
9.46pm, the quarter chimes as well. Just
before 10pm the hands will whizz round
to move the time forwards, to midnight
— making sure they don’t overrun, or
they would have to go all the way round
again. Then the clockmakers have
almost an hour to get cracking with
maintenance. At the new midnight
exactly the giant hands are started once
more, but the clock stays dark and
utterly silent. Finally, a bit before 2am,
the chimes and strike are set going
again, and the lights go back on. All this
happens with military precision, and
Big Ben will have been put in apple-pie
order for another six months.
“If you’d told me when I was growing
up in the East End that one day I’d be
looking after the most famous clock in
the world,” Roberson says, “I wouldn’t
have believed it. Being a clockmaker is
a fantastic career, I wouldn’t change
this job for anything.” He then adds
with a laugh: “Don’t tell this lot, but I
would have done it for nothing!”
BIG BEN FACTS
Big Ben first chimed in the clock tower
in 1859. The clock mechanism that
operates it weighs five tonnes and is
about 15ft across.
Originally cast in Stockton-on-Tees,
the 16-tonne bell, Big Ben, was put on
show, but broke when the massive
13 hundred-weight (about 586 kg) hammer struck it. Recast in 1858 at the
Whitechapel Bell Foundry, E1, the bell
was installed in the clock tower, now
renamed the Elizabeth Tower, with a
lighter (200kg) hammer, but still
cracked four months later; however,
that small crack was successfully
patched, and adds to the bell’s unforgettable tone.
Big Ben, and the four “quarter bells”
that ring just before it, is run by one of
the oldest and most accurate mechanical clocks in the world.
The sound produces 114 decibels and
the clockmakers wear ear defenders.
O Find out more from British Watch
and Clockmakers’ Guild: bwcmg.org
and parliament.uk/bigben
An exceptional new collection of 1 & 2 bedroom
apartments woven into the heart of Islington
Register your interest
16
WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Design
homesandproperty.co.uk with
By Amira Hashish
L
EE THORNLEY and Harriet
Roberts are the creators of
reclaimed and bespoke tile
brand Bert & May, based in
Vyner Street, Bethnal Green.
They find their inspiration among the
capital’s specialist shops and buzzing
cultural hubs. Here, they reveal the
secrets of their little black books.
THE BIRTH OF BERT & MAY
For inspiration:
Lee loves the
architectural
detailing at
Wilton’s, the
world’s oldest
surviving grand
music hall, in
east London
Our design London
LEE THORNLEY AND HARRIET ROBERTS
together — resulting in the birth of
Bert & May (bertandmay.com) in
September 2013. We both
understood how important location
is to a business and so wanted to be
within a creative part of east London.
We were delighted to find our
fabulous warehouse in Vyner Street,
which opened last October.
OUR SECRET SHOPS
Harriet: there is an amazing vintage
shop in Hackney Road called Rospo
(rospo.co.uk). Hidden away in the
basement is a beautiful collection of
antique furniture. They also make
bespoke pieces to order. I had my
kitchen table made there.
Lee: I love Earl of East London
(earlofeastlondon.com) for its scented
candles, which are essential at home
and in the office. They smell divine.
MOST STYLISH EATERY
Lee: I often stay at the Town Hall
Hotel (townhallhotel.com) in Bethnal
Green, which is home to an amazing
restaurant called Corner Room as
well as a great cocktail bar, Peg +
Patriot. Both have a stripped-back,
TONY BUCKINGHAM
DANIEL LYNCH
Meeting of
minds: Lee
Thornley and
Harriet Roberts
chatted over
drinks at Lee’s
boutique hotel in
Spain and agreed
to work together
Lee: Harriet and I met at my
boutique hotel Casa La Siesta
(casalasiesta.com) in Andalucia,
Spain, while she was on holiday with
her mother. We chatted over drinks
and I explained my plan to open a
shop in London selling the sort of
tiles that featured in the hotel.
Harriet loved the idea and, by the
time we had finished our drinks, we
had decided to begin working
industrial finish with nice homely
touches and interesting design
features.
Harriet: it has to be The Blues
Kitchen (theblueskitchen.com) in
Shoreditch. They serve a delicious
brunch and have an Airstream trailer
that acts as a private dining space.
FOR INSPIRATION
Harriet: Building BloQs
(buildingbloqs.com) in north London
is a hidden gem for design
inspiration. After an hour spent in
the wood workshops among a
community of artists, anyone
would be inspired to create
something amazing.
Lee: any Londoner must visit
Wilton’s Music Hall (wiltons.org.uk)
at some point. Between Aldgate East
and Tower Hill, it is a reinvention of a
mid-19th century grand music hall
and an 18th-century terrace of three
houses and a pub. The detailing is
like nowhere else.
WHERE TO ESCAPE
Harriet: my favourite escape is a
place called Sunday in Islington.
There is a courtyard in the back
garden, which is a little haven tucked
away from the busy streets. I like
going there for brunch on a Sunday.
Lee: I love football, so a trip to the
Emirates Stadium is a serious treat
when I am in London.
MUST-VISIT MARKET
Tucked away: Netil Market is great for unusual gifts
Lee: there are so many great
markets in London, but our
favourites have to be the two that
are most local to our warehouse,
Broadway Market in Haggerston, and
Netil Market, rather hidden in
Westgate Street in E8. Sometimes
when we are working on a Saturday
we will take a stroll down to
Broadway Market, grab a coffee at
Climpson & Sons (climpsonandsons.
com) and then head over to Netil
Market. It is the best place for
unusual finds and gifts, and we
can’t resist a grilled cheese
sandwich from Morty and Bob’s
(mortyandbobs.com).
17
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH 2015
Design Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Harriet’s designer to watch: Philippe
Malouin with his new Mollo sofa for
Established & Sons, right
Harriet’s secret shop: Rospo in
Hackney Road has a beautiful
collection of antique furniture, left
quirky and forever-changing
selection of design and antiques
shops dotted around which I love
visiting when I have time.
Lee: I split my time between
Yorkshire, where my family live, and
London for Bert & May. I’m very
lucky to have a beautiful Georgian
house in the Yorkshire countryside, a
fabulous Spanish holiday home and
the exciting and inspirational buzz of
city life in London. My home in
Yorkshire is my family hub and the
place I share with my two gorgeous
children, Lyla and Iris. It is the
perfect place to relax, unwind and
enjoy time being a dad.
OUR DREAM HOMES
Favourite for
fabrics: Harriet
tips Dalston Mill
Fabrics in Ridley
Road, Hackney,
above, while her
most coveted
object is an
Atollo light,
by Italian Vico
Magistretti, left
(mathiashahn.com), an incredible
product designer who has a studio in
Stoke Newington. Sebastian Cox’s
designs are timeless and I love his
approach to sustainability
(sebastiancox.co.uk).
Harriet: my absolute favourite is
Philippe Malouin (philippemalouin.
com). He is an architectural and
interiors genius who transforms
spaces using the most unusual and
unexpected materials. I also love
International Studio (internationalstudio.co.uk) for unique lighting and
furniture design.
FIND YOUR FABRICS
WHERE WE LIVE
Harriet: there is a little curtain and
fabric shop, Alexander Furnishings
(alexanderfurnishings.com) in
Marylebone. I go there for print
inspiration and to pick up fabric for
furnishings at home. Dalston Mill
Fabrics (dalstonmillfabrics.co.uk) in
Ridley Road, Hackney is also great.
Harriet: I live in a Georgian
townhouse in the Barnsbury area of
Islington with my husband. When I
was looking to buy I instantly fell in
love with the area — it is so quiet on
our street yet only a short walk home
from the City, where I used to work,
and a quick taxi ride home from the
West End after an evening out. The
architecture is beautiful and there’s a
Lee: Labour and Wait
(labourandwait.co.uk) has great
household goodies — we sourced our
Alpine bucket sink from there.
TREASURED
MEMORABILIA
Harriet: I bought a Danish school
gym mat many years ago and had a
frame built for it. I use it as my coffee
table — I still absolutely love it.
Lee: my Verner Panton bachelor
chair. As soon as I saw it I knew I had
to have it. Now it takes pride of place
in my living room and the children
know that it is my chair and only I am
allowed to sit on it.
COVETED OBJECTS
Harriet: I am desperate for an Atollo
light by Vico Magistretti.
Lee: anything by Jean Prouvé — I’m a
bit chair obsessed — so maybe his
Cité lounge chair.
DESIGNERS WE ADMIRE
Lee: we are constantly inspired by
the creativity in the capital,
especially in east London. One of
my favourites is Mathias Hahn
Designer we
admire:
Mathias Hahn,
above, is a
master of
geometric
shapes. His
lamps, right,
have a homely
appearance,
but at the same
time possess a
clearly defined
personality
Lee: it is hard to give only one
example of my dream home because
I dream about so many homes. I am
currently building a dream home in
London — a canal boat on Regent’s
Canal. We have a mooring at the Bert
& May warehouse, so I’ll be able to
roll out of bed and into the office.
The design of the barge is striking,
geometric and minimalist. It is
a fabulous, simple space with
everything I need to enjoy
London life.
Harriet: I have a few dream houses
that match different parts of my
personality. A villa in the Caribbean,
a cottage in the countryside — I’m a
bit of a traditionalist — or my dream
house in London would be
Fenton House in Hampstead. It is the
most stunning property with a
walled garden.
MY SATURDAYS
Harriet: mornings are usually
reserved for leisurely breakfasts with
my husband. Then we will meet
friends for a drink in our local pub.
Lee: usually I spend my weekends in
Yorkshire with my family, heading
out to the moors for bracing family
Timeless quality:
designer
Sebastian Cox,
above, and his
beautifully
crafted oak and
hazel side table
for Heal’s, £695
walks. Sometimes I cannot make it
back up to Yorkshire because of
work, so I spend the weekend on my
friend’s houseboat. We will make
breakfast then take the boat towards
Camden or Hackney Wick, where we
will stop off at Crate Brewery
(cratebrewery.com) for pizza and a
pint of local ale.
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20
WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Interiors
▼ PUTTING an eye-catching spin on
simple folk-style florals is a new porcelain
line called Beatrix at Oliver Bonas. The
espresso coffee cups, below, are £27.50
for a boxed set of four (oliverbonas.com).
homesandproperty.co.uk with
► HOTEL decorating legend Kit Kemp
includes the Rabbit Folkthread Rug in
flatweave cotton in her new collection
curated for Anthropologie. Measuring
5ft x 7ft, it costs £498 (anthropologie.eu).
▼ HAND-EMBROIDERED cushion covers
are made in organic cotton by the Otomi
community in Mexico, with motifs based
on ancient wall art. Price £45 without a
pad, size 50cm x 40cm (mayalma.com).
go gypsy By Barbara Chandler
▼ LONDON designer Karolin Schnoor’s
Fable range is now on Royal Doulton,
with plates, mugs, platters and more. The
Red Tree mug is £7 (royaldoulton.co.uk).
Design
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KING’S CROSS
ON A NEW LEVEL
Flowers, trees, birds and rabbits, all in
striking colours, lead a strong folk strand
in homeware and interiors this spring
21
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH 2015
Interiors Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
▼ DESIGNER
Jamie Graham was
inspired by Suzani
fabric to cover a
limited-edition
chair. There are
40 pieces at £450
each (grahamand
green.co.uk).
◄ LARGE, round Life is Beautiful cushion,
◄ ILLUSTRATOR
▲ ROSE plate,
35cm diameter, cotton cover, oversize
tassles and polyester pad, £16. Cotton
Flower Cart cushion, 40cm x 40cm, and
Sewing Machine cushion, 45cm x 45cm,
both with polyester pad, £20 each. Demi
floor lamp with blue shade, 157cm high,
£135. Bennett wing armchair in a stout
cotton, £699. Blue Small Bird plaque, £15.
All at Bhs (bhs.co.uk; 0344 411 6000).
Harriet Taylor
Seed’s Four
Seasons
table mats are
£9.50 each, or
you can buy a set
of four for £35
(beastinshow.
com).
£3.49, and
embroidered table
mat, £4.99. Folk
plate, small, £3.49,
large, £3.99.
Faux flowers,
£4.99, all at
Homesense stores
(homesense.com).
26
WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property My home
homesandproperty
Just our cup of tea: Lindsey and Chris soak up the bright and breezy atmosphere of their beautiful kitchen diner
Philippa Stockley meets a north London couple
who saw in an instant how they could transform an
Edwardian terraced house near Alexandra Palace
A big kitchen diner and
T
2
HERE are times in life when, if you
see the right thing, you must jump.
That’s what happened to Lindsey
and Chris Reed in 2011 when, after
looking for a new home for two
years and giving up hope of ever finding the
right one, they were told about a house that
had potential.
Lindsey, a market researcher, and Chris, who
runs his own PR company, had been living
with their two boys; 12-year-old Fin, and Ollie,
nine, in a big house in Finsbury Park. They’d
bought it from Iwona Blazwick, who runs the
Whitechapel Gallery, so it was very stylish.
But the basement kitchen where the couple,
both 44, spent a lot of time was dark. As well
as more light, they wanted somewhere safer
for the boys, with more outside space, and a
more neighbourly feel.
They had looked around the desirable village
of Crouch End, but gardens there tend to be
small. Then the Edwardian terraced house
near Alexandra Palace popped up. At the top
of their budget, it was on a street they had
earmarked. “The moment we saw it, Chris
and I had the same vision for what to do to it
— which has never happened to us in our
lives,” says Lindsey with a grin.
They made an offer on the spot, before it
went on the market, and before they’d put
their own home up for sale. “So the owners
knew we were serious,” adds Lindsay.
In their old house they’d had a bathroom
added by architect Andrew Mulroy, so they
took him round too, to see if he agreed with
their idea for extending the back. Then they
put their house on the market and sold it to
the first people who saw it.
And that was that. They moved in.
Families in this part of north London stay
for a lifetime in these well-built, charming
houses with big gardens near the park.
“People leave their wellies on the front doorstep,” says Lindsey. The old owners had stayed
for 25 years. The 1910 houses were often built
from a pattern book, and many still have lovely
details, such as encaustic tiled floors, stained
glass windows and original fireplaces with Art
Deco tiles. All that was the case here.
However, the house was a rabbit warren at
the back. The ground floor was carved into
three little rooms — a small breakfast room,
an even smaller kitchen “with the same cooker
I had at university!” laughs Chris, and a tight
living room with a French window offering
views to the unspoiled garden, which is
perfect for teenage footballers.
Chris and Lindsey wanted to knock it all into
a big kitchen diner, and extend out as well,
with full-width sliding glass doors.
They also fancied an unusually big skylight
over the dining area, made from a single pane
of toughened, triple-laminated glass.
“We didn’t want a bar down the middle, but
as soon as you start talking glass, the price
skyrockets,” says Chris. For the whole works
their architect estimated it would cost
£80,000-£120,000, depending on the quality
they went for. He started making drawings six
months after the family moved in, and the
works began six months after that, with no
planning problems, and using the same
builder, who brought with him the same
team.
“He rebuilt the little kitchen in our back
bedroom,” says Lindsey, “and sealed off the
ground floor with lockable doors.” Such attention to detail meant they could stay on site,
save thousands, and feel secure during the
five months of the job.
Lindsey and Chris admire their architect.
Not only because he can, they say, draw in
perspective upside down, but because he
didn’t try to talk them out of or into anything.
However, the one special thing he suggested
was to set the sliding garden doors into a 15cm
shadow gap at the top, totally concealing runners, so that all you see is floor-to-ceiling
garden and sky. This is a neat touch.
The local kitchen design company did a good
job too, trying to save the couple money —
although an attempt to talk Lindsey out of a
27
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH 2015
My home Homes & Property
y.co.uk with
Spacious: the couple replaced three small, dingy rooms at the back of the house
with an extension that features a kitchen diner leading directly on to the garden
d a slice of the sky
Get the look
Quooker boiling-water tap fell on deaf
ears and so blew the budget. One brilliant idea is that the dishwasher (in the
island) is directly opposite the cutlery
and plate drawers, which means that you
unload and store its contents standing
on one spot. Over the years, this will save
literally miles of walking around with
armfuls of tableware.
WHAT IT COST:
House bought for £940,000 in 2011. Works, including
architect: £120,000. Value now (estimate): £1.5 million
SUPPLIERS:
U
NUSUALLY in a project this
big, nothing went wrong,
and Lindsey says the whole
thing is exactly what she
had dreamed of. More
importantly, in a modern world where
teenagers are constantly plugged in to
technology, rather than being tucked
away in their bedrooms, in this home
they often go online in the same family
room as their parents, who are busy
cooking or relaxing — “and that’s got to
be a good thing, hasn’t it,” says Chris.
Photographs:
Adrian Lourie
and
Arcaid Images
Design guru: architect Andrew Mulroy played an integral part in the refurbishment
Architect: Andrew Mulroy at mulroy.info
Builder: Alex Baran on 07796 008275
Sliding glass doors to garden by Sunparadise at
sunparadise.co.uk
Skylight by Glazing Vision at glazingvision.co.uk
Weitzer parquet (suitable with underfloor heating) from
local company Jordan Andrews at jordanandrews.com
Kitchen units from Abacus, in Harrow, at
Abacus-interiors.com
Silestone quartz work surface from silestone.co.uk
Quooker boiling-water tap from quooker.co.uk
Metro wall tiles from local company Checkalow Tiles at
checkalow.co.uk
Woodburner from Clearview at clearviewstoves.com
Enamel hanging lamps over kitchen island bought “for
a song” from ebay.co.uk
28
WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Outdoors
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Shrubs love it when you treat them rough
F
OR THE time-poor gardener
wanting a lot of flowers for
little input, shrubs are the
solution. Plant half a dozen
flowering shrubs in the
border or in containers and summer
is sorted. Bypass the seductive but
high-maintenance perennials at the
garden centre and, instead, choose the
trouble-free, long-flowering options
that merely need a sharp pair of secateurs and an annual spring feed to keep
them in great shape.
For example, if you want the effect of
hollyhocks without the high-maintenance palaver and threat of rust, grow
Lavatera x clementii Barnsley.
The flowers of palest pink are similar
and bloom generously from midsummer to autumn. All you need do to
prevent enthusiastic lavatera from
outgrowing its welcome is to cut the
stems back hard in spring.
Some shrubs are so beautiful that you
Give them a good clip each year and they’ll come back for more
GAP PHOTOS: GEOFF KIDD
Full-on fuchsias aren’t everyone’s
choice, but elegant Fuchsia magellanica var molinae is far removed from
the more usual pink and purple
trouper. Delicate-looking, long flowers
of two-tone shell pink appear from
midsummer until early autumn and
belie a tough disposition. Just cut right
back to the hardwood in early spring
for a glorious repeat performance.
If you’re looking for an evergreen to give
year-round structure, why not have
one that produces beautiful blooms,
Effortless blooms: Lavatera Barnsley delivers flower sprays similar to hollyhocks but wihout the high-maintenance hassle
MARIANNE MAJERUS
can forgive their brief flowering. Lilac
is typical, representing the speed with
which spring segues into summer, but
if you don’t mind breaking with tradition — and want a small plant, not a
large tree — try compact lilac Syringa
Bloomerang Dark Purple. After its first
springtime flush, it blooms intermittently until mid-autumn, so you can
enjoy those purple-pink scented flowers for months, not days.
MARIANNE MAJERUS
Pattie
Barron
too. Sheltered, warm, town gardens
suit Pittosporum tobira perfectly. From
late spring to midsummer, waxy white
flowers smother the rounded, deep
green leaves and their mock orange
blossom perfume is sublime. Variety
Nanum is a smaller, rounded version
that makes a great container plant.
Repeat performer: the papery flowers of Cistus purpureus keep on coming
LOAFINGLY LOVELY FURNITURE
Long playing: Potentilla Tangerine
Variegated leaves can be jarring, but
Weigela Nana Variegata’s lemon-edged,
soft, green, dainty leaves are the perfect complement for the rose-pink
funnel flowers that crowd the arching
stems from early summer. An easygrowing, tolerant shrub, this weigela
reaches a modest five foot and just
needs pruning after flowering.
Cistus revels in a dry, sunny spot and
is a perfect partner for other Mediterranean evergreens such as rosemary
and lavender. For maximum impact,
plant aromatic Cistus x purpureus,
which at the start of summer produces
spectacular large, papery, deep
pink flowers blotched with carmine at
the centres. Each bloom lasts just a day,
but more keep on coming.
Sambucus nigra is sensational, especially when the liquorice-black, lacey
leaves are highlighted against a brick
or pale rendered wall. Given a sunny
or part-shaded site, the black elder
produces rose pink flower sprays in
midsummer that put the icing on an
already gorgeous cake. To keep the
foliage deep and dark, cut back to
ground level in early spring.
If you have little space but fancy some
razzmatazz, plump for a potentilla,
which offers masses of bright, pretty
flowers from early spring right through
to autumn on a small, neat bush with
attractively deep-cut foliage.
Tangerine and fire-engine red Marian
Red Robin are just two of the vibrant
Potentilla fruticosa varieties to look for,
but Primrose Beauty, with soft yellow
flowers, is a subtler choice. With all that
flower power on offer, buying a pair of
potentillas seems only sensible.
O Garden queries? Email our RHS expert
at expertgardeningadvice@gmail.com
O For outdoor events this month, visit
homesandproperty.co.uk/events
32
WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Property searching
homesandproperty.co.uk with
W
£6.5 MILLION
A five-bedroom detached house
in Richmond Hill, backing on to
Richmond Park, with spacious
rooms, an indoor pool, separate
studio, two garages and off-street
parking (Foxtons).
O homesandproperty.co.uk/rhill
£1.25 MILLION
This five-bedroom Victorian terrace
house in Duncan Road, Richmond,
is full of original features and an
easy walk from Richmond railway
station (Gascoigne-Pees).
O homesandproperty.co.uk/dunc
£3.4 MILLION
A modern, three-bedroom, “futureproof” family house in Marchmont
Road, Richmond, surrounded by
exquisite landscaped gardens
(Hamptons International).
O homesandproperty.co.uk/march
ITHOUT a doubt
Richmond is one of
the top choices for
Londoners with a bit
of money looking to
buy a home. A happy blend of town
and country, its location is close to
central London, and a Thameside
setting and prominent place in English
history make it an enticing choice.
Following the success of the television
adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall
and our continuing fascination with
the Tudors, no one can now forget the
importance of Richmond Palace that
once occupied the space between
Richmond Green and the river.
The royal residence was built by King
Henry VII in 1501 on the site of an
earlier palace. Henry’s other title was
Earl of Richmond and he gave this
riverside district and the neighbouring
village of Sheen the same name.
When Cardinal Thomas Wolsey was
forced out of Hampton Court by Henry
VIII, he was exiled to the palace. The
building was later given to Anne of
Cleves after her divorce from Henry
and it was where Elizabeth I died in
1603. The palace was demolished
after the English Civil War and today
the most prominent reminder of
Richmond’s royal past is the gatehouse,
which is still owned by the Crown and
was let out as a house in 1986 on a
65-year lease.
PICTURE PERFECT
The view from the top of Richmond Hill
is one of breathtaking beauty. Below is
the meandering Thames, lush meadows and grazing cattle in a scene that
remains largely unaltered since it was
captured by painters such as Sir Joshua
Reynolds and William Turner in the
18th and 19th centuries respectively.
Talking of views, on a clear day from
a gap in a hedge on King Henry’s
Mound in Richmond Park, it is possible
to see St Paul’s Cathedral — a view
strictly protected by the London View
Management Framework.
Richmond, with the river, park, good
schools, theatres, wide choice of shops
and easy commute to Waterloo, is one
Down by the river: Richmond is a
haven for walkers and cyclists
Royal
history
on your
doorstep
The home of kings
is the perfect townand-country spot for
families, discovers
Anthea Masey
of the capital’s favourite places to bring
up children. It sits nine miles southwest of central London with Kew to the
north, Sheen to the east, Kingston to
the south and Isleworth to the west.
The average property price in the
borough, according to the Land Registry index, is £630,489, making it the
sixth most expensive borough in
London in which to buy a home.
According to estate agent Oliver
Griffiths, of Jackson-Stops & Staff,
t e r r a c e d h o u s e s c o s t b e t we e n
£700,000 and £800,000 and large
family houses between £2 million and
£3 million with prices as high as
£6.5 million on Richmond Hill.
Spotlight
Richmond
What there is to buy: Richmond has
some fine period properties around
The Green and in nearby Petersham.
There are also Victorian detached and
terraced houses, cottages, period
conversions and modern flats, especially in the Ham area.
The most expensive homes are around
The Green or on Richmond Hill. The
price per square foot ranges between
£900 and £950.
The area attracts: Griffiths says
Richmond is popular with families who
come here for the excellent primary
schools, such as The Vineyard and
Marshgate. “We also see buyers looking
for a weekday home within easy
reach of Waterloo, but not in central
London,” he adds.
Staying power: Once in Richmond,
people tend to stay and downsizers
usually want to remain in the area.
SHOPS AND RESTAURANTS
Richmond has a busy town centre with
a good spread of independent shops.
Upmarket brands also feature and
there’s a branch of House of Fraser plus
a Waitrose supermarket.
The alleyways that connect the high
street with The Green are full of interesting shops and cafés, including a branch
of the Margaret Howell fashion brand
— the only one outside central London.
To find a home in Richmond, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/richmond
For more about Richmond, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/spotlightrichmond
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33
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH 2015
Property searching Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
CHECK THE STATS
■WHAT HOMES COST
BUYING IN RICHMOND
(Average prices)
One-bedroom flat £361,000
Two-bedroom flat £529,000
Two-bedroom house £609,000
Three-bedroom house £795,000
Four-bedroom house £1.15 million
Source: Zoopla
RENTING IN RICHMOND
(Average rates)
One-bedroom flat £1,578 a month
Two-bedroom flat £2,204 a month
Two-bedroom house £2,284 a month
Three-bedroom house £2,935 a month
Four-bedroom house £4,272 a month
Source: Zoopla
GO ONLINE FOR MORE
O The best schools in and
around Richmond
O The lowdown on the rental scene
O The latest housing developments
in and around the district
O The arts and leisure facilities
O How this area compares with the
rest of the UK
O Smart maps to plot your
property search
Clockwise from above: a boatman
prepares for another busy day;
Ty Burke at work in Argentinian
eatery Chango; a quiet pint at
The Prince’s Head; Jackie McKernan
serves at William Curley Patissier
Chocolatier; and a jogger enjoys the
views from Richmond Hill
shops at the top of the Hill along Friars
Stile Road, the corner locals like to call
“The Village”. Here you will find Food
on the Hill and the Richmond Hill
Bakery. Lots of chain restaurants,
including Carluccio’s, YO! Sushi, Zizzi,
HAVE YOUR SAY RICHMOND
Other designer names include Massimo
Dutti, Comptoir des Cotonniers,
Matches and Zadig & Voltaire.
For homeware, there are branches of
Anthropologie and Zara Home.
Maison on Hill Rise specialises in French
and Scandinavian-inspired painted
furniture. The Enchanted Forest in
Lichfield Terrace is a well-stocked toy
shop and The Alligator’s Mouth is a new
children’s book shop in Church Court.
Celebrated chocolatier William Curley
is based in Paved Court. There are also
@Studio__Online We love Bramble &
Moss — a stylish, petit florist on
Richmond Hill.
@ellamakescakes Highly
recommend @WhiteHorseTW10. It
has lovely food and great service.
@Studio__Online The best sportswear
in Richmond and free yoga classes are
at @lululemonUK.
@alwalker83 I wish I lived in
Richmond. Love the place!
@Studio__Online Gelateria Danieli
for the best ice cream — just off
Richmond Green.
@Studio__Online Rincón is brilliant
for tapas, great wines, live music
and flamenco!
@RedDeskVA We love
@VillionnJewels — gorgeous #bespoke
#handmade #jewellery
NEXT WEEK: West Hampstead.
Do you live there? Tell us what
you think @HomesProperty
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Jamie’s Trattoria, Pizza Express, Côte,
Strada and Giraffe, have branches in
Richmond. La Buvette, tucked away in
Church Walk, is a popular local French
restaurant, and the Bingham boutique
hotel in Petersham Road has a fine dining restaurant. The teahouse at Petersham Nurseries also serves meals in a
relaxed setting.
Photographs: Daniel Lynch
■Twitter: @antheamasey
TRANSPORT LINKS
Richmond has frequent trains to Waterloo that stop at Clapham Junction,
where commuters can change for
Victoria. The journey to Waterloo takes
between 16 and 30 minutes depending
on whether it is a fast or stopping train.
Richmond is also on the District Line.
The station is in Zone 4 and an annual
travelcard to Zone 1 costs £1,844.
Council: Richmond upon Thames is
Conservative controlled and Band D
council tax for 2015/2016 is £1,582.39.
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE
Why did the Wicked Queen — the
tallest of them all — not have far to
get home last Christmas?
Discover the answer and more at
homesandproperty.co.uk/spotlightrichmond
38
WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Inside story
homesandproperty.co.uk with
The aroma that gives me great expectations
the added security the parents are looking for, which I hope will help clinch
the deal.
Diary of
an estate
agent
THURSDAY
Today I am writing my monthly market
comment for a local magazine and
exploring the positive implications
of the forthcoming Crossrail station
and proposed traffic rerouting and
improvements at Tottenham Court
Road. It’s a very exciting time for the
surrounding area, with the iconic
Centre Point tower to be transformed
into luxury homes that offer enviable
views across the London skyline.
The planned redevelopment of
Denmark Street, also known as Tin Pan
Alley, where the Rolling Stones
recorded some of their albums, has
provoked protests.
It becomes a popular topic of conversation at the networking meeting that
night at the Phoenix Artist Club.
Events like these give me a chance to
meet other local business people and
residents, with the hosts providing a
live cabaret performance to entertain
their guests.
MONDAY
I have worked in the Covent Garden
property market for the past 18 years
witnessing many changes but, throughout, the area has retained its unique
atmosphere and eclectic appeal.
Friends often ask me: “Do people
actually live within Covent Garden?”
Anyone who truly knows the area is
well aware of the thriving and fantastically diverse local community of piedà-terre owners, theatre lovers and
young people.
Today I meet the owner of a refurbished flat in Drury Lane who bought
through our office some months earlier, and now he wants to rent the flat
out. The building is a former tobacco
warehouse and was one of the first old
commercial spaces in the area to be
converted into exciting, new West End
homes. I have the ideal tenant in mind;
a leading ballerina soon to be performing at The Royal Opera House, which
is only a short stroll away.
FRIDAY
TUESDAY
This morning I am off to a sales valuation in Tavistock Street. Although
I manage the Hudsons lettings and
property management department, I
come from a background in property
sales, which is especially useful when
our existing Covent Garden landlords
are considering selling. This property
has the distinction of once being the
home and workplace of Charles Dickens,
who used locations throughout Covent
Garden as inspiration for many novels.
Such is the diverse nature of property
in the area that providing accurate
advice requires an intimate and thorough knowledge.
As I head back to the office, I stop
off at the Monmouth Coffee Shop in
Monmouth Street. The delicious aroma
makes it hard to resist.
WEDNESDAY
The ballerina has agreed to rent the
Drury Lane flat, so we have a very
happy landlord and tenant. I am now
off to show a Singaporean couple
around a flat we have for sale in Shorts
Gardens. This flat was once councilowned. A previous tenant exercised
their right to buy and now the current
owner is looking to sell to fund a move
out of London to the West Country.
This property does have the rather
unusual feature of overlooking the
outdoor swimming pool of the neighbouring Oasis Sports Centre.
These buyers are looking for a property for their daughter. She is studying
at the London School of Economics
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nearby and would rather buy than pay
rent for the three years of her studies.
I mention that I will go to any “lengths”
to find them the perfect property, but
with my weak attempt at humour
politely ignored, we are off to the next
property. It is in a portered block on
Newton Street, where there is a resident porter in the building that offers
Almost always the busiest day of the
week, today is no different, with everyone in our team having full diaries
and deals to finalise. I have a morning
meeting with a new landlord in Wellington Street, who instructs us to
market their beautiful two-bedroom
flat within a lovely Georgian terrace.
These flats are highly sought-after by
corporate tenants and we have plenty
of people looking to pay a premium
rent for such a beautiful property.
I visit the building manager of a neighbouring development where we
recently sold the home of one of BBC’s
Dragons from the Dragons’ Den
programme.
I am invited to lunch by the owner of
On The Bab in Wellington Street, a new
restaurant serving traditional Korean
drinks and dishes. It’s delicious.
O Robert Burwood is manager of
lettings and Covent Garden at Hudsons
(020 7631 8700).
For beginners and
seasoned pros…
it’s all under one roof
120+ exhibitors
70+ free seminars
& debates
40
WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Letting on
Y
ET AGAIN, a couple of
tenants have moved out
of one of my flats leaving
a bit of a mess behind,
which makes me wonder
whether I should make it a condition
of the tenancy that they pay for the
property to be professionally cleaned
when they leave.
This latest pair did make an effort
to clean up after themselves, but
they — like all the other tenants
before them — clearly didn’t realise
that when I said the property must be
“deep cleaned”, I didn’t mean “have
a bit of a wipe around”.
Even though I write to tenants
shortly before the end of their lease
spelling out in black and white all the
things they need to do when they
leave to ensure the safe return of
their deposit, they never seem to
appreciate that a property should
be as clean when they move out as
when they moved in.
Or perhaps they just underestimate
how long it takes to give every room,
every appliance and every item of
furniture a really thorough clean.
These two were still frantically
sweeping and dusting when the
check-out clerk arrived, so obviously
there was no time to de-grease the
oven, wash the windows, hack away
two years’ worth of limescale from
the bathroom taps or shampoo the
sofa and the mattress.
One of them complained that the
clerk was being “picky” when he
pointed out the dirty floors, but what
on earth was he there for? They were
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Messy tenants
should clean
up their act
Victoria Whitlock offers a clear solution
to a dirty problem when renters want to
move out — they should get the cleaners in
The
accidental
landlord
decent tenants, so I’m not going to
charge them much for the proper
cleaning, but if an agent had been
managing the property, I’m sure
they would have deducted several
hundred pounds from their deposit.
I’ve heard tenants moaning about
letting agents charging them because
they “forgot” to vacuum a room, but
if they leave it dirty, it’s dirty. Right?
And who do they think will clean it?
Their cleaners, that’s who, and the
tenant will have to pay.
The solution is for tenants to hire a
professional cleaning agency that
provides a deposit guarantee with its
end-of-tenancy clean, so if the checkout report shows the job wasn’t up to
scratch, or the landlord or letting
agent complain, they’ll do it again.
In London, it costs about £150 to
£200 for a professional end-oftenancy clean for a one-bedroom
flat, including shampooing
upholstery and mattresses. Cleaning
carpets will cost more.
This might seem a lot, but it’s better
than losing your deposit. Talking of
deposits, I’ve been slapped on the
£800: in Old Brompton Road, SW5, Faron Sutaria has a three double-bedroom
flat with rooftop views available to rent (homesandproperty.co.uk/rentbromp)
wrist by Trading Standards for
writing in this column that I take a
“non-refundable” holding deposit of
£100 to £150 from tenants when they
put an offer on a property, which I
deduct from the first month’s rent if
they move in.
As this is a practice widely used by
letting agents and other landlords to
prevent tenants changing their minds
at the last minute, I thought I should
pass on Trading Standards’ position.
It says that while it is acceptable to
ask tenants for a holding deposit to
secure a property, landlords must
explain what it’s for and they mustn’t
use the term “non-refundable”. A
landlord can deduct out-of-pocket
expenses such as credit checks from
the holding deposit and also any loss
of rent if the tenant doesn’t rent the
property, as long as the landlord can
quantify the loss, but any surplus
must be refunded to the tenant.
I hope this clarifies the situation.
Victoria Whitlock lets three properties
in south London. To contact
Victoria with your ideas and views,
tweet @vicwhitlock
Find many more homes to rent at
homesandproperty.co.uk/lettings
42
WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Ask the expert
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Is my listed cottage a poisoned chalice?
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 legal
director in the
real estate
team of Foot
Anstey LLP
(footanstey.com)
OUR LAWYER ANSWERS
YOUR QUESTIONS
I HAVE been left a Grade
II-listed cottage in
someone’s will — but the
inheritance is turning
into a bit of a poisoned chalice. The
old chap who left me the property
bought the place in 1987 and
gutted the downstairs and moved
the staircase. I’d like to sell the
house, but he got no listed building
consent from the council. As it was
so long ago, am I in the clear?
A
ENFORCEMENT action can
still be taken. If the property
was listed when the works
were carried out in 1987, it is
very likely to have required consent.
A surveyor experienced in listed
buildings can advise if an application
for retrospective listed building
consent is likely to succeed.
If the surveyor feels that it may be
granted, make an application so
that the current situation where you
have unauthorised works is rectified
before you try to sell.
But if the surveyor considers it
unlikely that you will be able to get
Best man
speech retrospective consent, you can take
out indemnity insurance, which can
then be offered to a future buyer.
However, if that buyer wishes to
carry out further works to the
property that, again, are likely to
require consent, then indemnity
insurance may not be appropriate,
as the cover may be affected in
such circumstances.
In your case, building regulation and
planning consent are not a concern.
More legal
Q&As
Visit: homesand
property.co.uk
MY SISTER has just fled from her home with
her baby because she was suffering domestic
abuse. She has a joint mortgage with her
partner, but he has not contributed to the
bills, mortgage or upkeep of his daughter, apart from
the first three months. Is there anything she can do to
ensure he does not get half of the property, or will this
be a very expensive lesson in joint mortgages?
THEY have a joint mortgage and so are jointly and
severally liable for it. They are joint owners of the
property and could be either tenants in common
or joint beneficial owners. We do not know
which, but unless they have made a declaration of trust
confirming that they own the property in unequal shares,
they are likely to each own 50 per cent of the property.
If the property goes up in value, your sister’s partner
will benefit, even though he has contributed very little
financially. Your sister should ask her partner to agree to
the property being transferred into her sole name.
However, to keep the existing mortgage, she would have
to satisfy the lender’s criteria for lending. If her partner
does not agree to the transfer of the property, then your
sister could apply to the court for an order for sale.
She may also wish to consider applying to the Child
Maintenance Service for extra financial support. If she
can reach an agreement with her partner, then a familybased arrangement can be set up.
But if an agreement is not possible, she can apply to
the statutory Child Maintenance Service, who could set
up an arrangement for her.
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
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44
WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property New homes
homesandproperty.co.uk with
By David Spittles
Smart
S
Sma
m
mar
art mo
art
o
Spit and polish
A new leafy square with
homes for a spring sale
FASHIONABLE parts of north-west
London, such as Hampstead and
Finchley, have had a lower profile in
recent years as the regeneration
spotlight shines brightly on the old
East End, and south of the river.
But homes are now being created
in keeping with the tradition of the
area’s Victorian and inter-war housing
boom, retaining green spaces.
Woodside Park takes its name from
the time when Finchley was part of
the Forest of Middlesex. Into this
leafy swathe of west Finchley has
arrived Imperial Square, a gated
development of family houses and
apartments designed around five
communal gardens and built in an
eclectic architectural style. Prices
from £835,000. Call Knight Frank on
020 7718 5225.
A
RTILLERY LANE is
where the City meets
Spitalfields. It is where
shiny new global bank
offices loom over earlyGeorgian townhouses and terraced
artisan cottages, where many of the
Huguenot silk merchants lived.
The conservation area wrapping
around the ancient market has a
medieval street pattern, a network
of winding lanes and narrow
passageways, once forlorn but now
buzzing with activity as office lights
stay on late in the Square Mile.
Planners keep a tight rein on
residential development.
Conversions of old buildings provide
most new homes, but measured
against the number of workers,
properties are always in short supply.
Armoury Court, right, is a small
yet sensitive refurbishment of an
18th century building that is now
seven apartments and two shops,
next to listed Raven Row, a stunning
art gallery owned by the Sainsbury
family.
Jason Moody, the developer,
grew up in the neighbourhood.
“My first job was as a French
polisher in my uncle’s factory,” he
says. “I’ve seen this area change
many times over the years. We need
to move forward, but at the same
time ensure its unique character is
not lost, and that starts with
protecting the heritage of buildings.”
A new in-keeping mansard roof has
been added. They are compact, wellplanned apartments for singles, and
couples prepared to sacrifice space
to live centrally. One flat has a roof
terrace, another a small garden.
Prices from £445,000 to £959,500.
Call Tarn & Tarn on 020 7377 8989.
Moody has another local scheme in
the pipeline — four new townhouses
in Calvin Street. To register, call
01702 230308.
45
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH 2015
New homes Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
CHIC CHISWICK LIVE AND WORK
DOWN BY THE GREEN RIVERBANK
From £515,000:
flats at the
Opus Collection
benefit from a
central heat
and power
plant, with
rooftop
gardens adding
to the appeal
PROTECTED on three sides by a curl
of the Thames, Chiswick attracts
families in search of good schools,
and greenery is everywhere.
Dukes Meadows on the riverbank,
Gunnersbury Triangle nature
reserve, the grounds of Chiswick
House, the awesome expanse of
Richmond Park and Kew’s botanical
gardens are on the doorstep, too.
The tree-lined Chiswick High Road
runs from Hammersmith to Kew
Bridge, a major thoroughfare that
successfully mixes chain stores,
independent boutiques, bookshops,
bars and brasseries to create a sort
of urban village. The western end of
this highway, closer to Heathrow,
used to be the commercial area, but
apartment schemes are sprouting
up on former office sites, and the
redevelopment of a bus depot,
designed by architect Richard
Rogers, proves that a new business
estate can be a welcome addition.
The Opus Collection, moments
from Chiswick Park Tube station
(Zone 3), brings 137 new energyefficient homes plus the “placemaking” expertise of a major
developer, Lend Lease, which is
improving the public realm and
incorporating street-level shops.
Apartments and townhouses are
powered by a central heat and power
plant, while residents can use
communal rooftop gardens. Prices
from £515,000. Call 020 3772 1000.
From £695,000
to £1.95 million:
solar tubes have
been added to
the striking
architecture at
Solstice Point,
reducing water
and heating bills
Cutting-edge flats
with a solar twist
SOLSTICE POINT in Camden is a
return to the area’s tradition of bold,
contemporary architecture, with an
eco-friendly twist.
The razor-sharp five-storey glassand-steel building generates
renewable heat through its striking
curved façade of 150 solar thermal
tubes that harness the power of the
sun to contribute to each apartment’s
water and heating, reducing running
costs by 70 per cent.
Light-filled flats start at £695,000
and rise to £1,950,000 for a threebedroom, superb-view penthouse.
Call 020 7586 2777.
Read more: visit
our new online
luxury section
HomesAndProperty.co.uk/luxury