Wednesday 5 October 2016 Wizardry Homes& in wood
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Lofty ambitions My home: Page 28 DAVID BUTLER DAVID London’s best property search news: homesandproperty.co.uk 4 WEDNESDAY 5 OCTOBER 2016 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property |
Focal point: the junction outside the Bank of England, where only buses and bikes may be allowed from next spring Trophy home of the week Victorian ALAMY grandeur with all mod cons City car ban will add £19.5 million: splash the cash in style on this grand Kensington house and luxuriate in its Victorian found on the lower ground proportions, extended across floor, while the basement chaos to commerce five floors into substantial houses a swimming pool, living and entertaining dance studio and sauna. A HE City of London is press- This tackles the time period when 75 space. Dinner soirées can be plush master bedroom suite ing ahead with controversial per cent of collisions occur.” held in the formal dining with extensive dressing and plans to close Bank Junction The City, with funding from Transport room on the raised ground en suite areas is upstairs, to cars and trucks after a for London, has already spent almost floor, while one floor up finds followed by four further en series of major accidents £400,000 modelling the impact of the a magnificent drawing room suite bedrooms all reached Tinvolving cyclists. The residents of the closure, including its effect on local to enjoy a digestif with your by a glass lift. Further details City of London, and its daily commuter businesses, how it would be enforced guests. A media room, study from Knight Frank (020 8012 army, need to brace themselves for and knock-on effects of diverted traffic and bedroom suite can be 3475). escalating levels of frustration and traf- in the surrounding area. fic turmoil, writes Ruth Bloomfield. Bank Junction is regularly the scene The junction opposite the Bank of of traffic accidents, and London Lifechanger England is the focal point for nine Cycling Campaign infrastructure cam- roads. Its closure will force traffic into Traffic victim: paigner Simon Munk says the plans are of the week narrow surrounding streets, causing Ying Tao, 26, was “hugely welcome”. traffic pinch points in nearby roads and killed at Bank This summer city workers formed an A period gem problems for residents with taxis and after a collision impromptu human barricade to pro- deliveries. The City plans to introduce with a lorry last tect an injured cyclist left lying helpless above a the ban — between 7am and 9am on summer, sparking on the road after a collision with a car. weekdays — as early as next spring. a mass cycling The man suffered head injuries. jewellery shop Hundreds of thousands of commuters protest at the site Last summer Oxford graduate Ying in Sussex pass through the junction, one of the Tao, 26, was killed after a collision with busiest in the capital, every day. City a lorry in almost the same spot, spark- authorities are concerned that when ing a mass cycling protest at the site. £550,000: if being a Crossrail opens at Bank station in 2018 The City, which resisted new residen- shopkeeper by the sea has a the area will become even more tial for so long, has become a prime nice ring to it, this jewellery crowded and dangerous. central London property success and shop on Seaford’s high street “It is likely that buses and pedal cycles building has escalated. It is thought this in East Sussex might just beamed kitchen/breakfast separate annexe ideal for only will be allowed across the junc- construction work, with heavy use of spark your interest. The shop room with the requisite Aga, letting out. The seafront is a tion,” the City’s strategic transporta- trucks ferrying building materials, has area has plenty of retail a dining room warmed by an stroll away, along with the tion officer, Gillian Howard, writes in increased traffic levels. space and sits on the ground open fire and a spacious train station, restaurants and a report to be presented to the council’s In 2011 7,400 people lived in the floor of a lovely period house sitting room. A further cafe bars. It’s on the market projects committee next Tuesday. Square Mile. By 2026 the number is that spans three floors and bedroom, en suite bathroom with Freeman Forman (01323 She adds: “Technical work is still forecast to rise to around 10,000. includes four bedrooms, a and kitchen can be found in a 490400). being undertaken regarding whether taxis will be included in the restriction. O Find Ruth Bloomfield’s full story at homesandproperty.co.uk London buy of the week rustic meets modern with this converted stables in deepest Deptford Editor: Janice £750,000: this Deptford Morley architecturally designed three-bedroom house has VISIT homesandproperty.co.uk/ been converted from a rules for details of our usual former stables, just across promotion rules. When you the road from leafy respond to promotions, offers or Brookmill Park in the competitions, the London Evening Brookmill Conservation area, Standard and its sister companies SE8. Inside offers a raw mix may contact you with relevant of rustic character and offers and services that may be of contemporary details; walls interest. Please give your mobile are exposed brick, while number and/or email address if floors are polished stone you would like to receive such that flow from the sitting offers by text or email. room through to an open- Editorial: 020 3615 2524 plan kitchen/dining space, Advertisement manager: fully integrated to give clean Ann Finan lines with light from full Advertising: 020 3615 0266 height bi-folding doors out warehouse feel throughout space. Through Hamptons Homes & Property, Northcliffe to a courtyard/patio. the bedrooms and study International (020 3151 7627). House, 2 Derry Street, Kensington, Wooden beams and vaulted area. Outside also provides London W8 5TT. ceilings give upstairs a plenty of private parking By Faye Greenslade
Facebook: ESHomesAndProperty • Twitter: @HomesProperty EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 5 OCTOBER 2016 5 homesandproperty.co.uk powered by News | Homes & Property DJ Evans calls time down at his local This is the É RADIO 2 DJ Chris Evans is selling The Mulberry Inn at Chiddingfold in headline that Surrey. The former Top Gear presenter and petrolhead owns the goes like this property with his business partners Kirit Doshi and Camilla Hanson. He É HERE is some text that goes like became one of its neighbours after this and runs on and on but this is purchasing a nearby property. only for dummy purposes and During his time as a “custodian” of sometimes the par must end. the pub and restaurant with rooms he Then it starts again like this and has invited many of his showbiz goes on again for a further few lines friends including Gary Barlow, Tom before coming to and end. it starts Jones and Paloma Faith. again like this and goes on again for As well as a pretty patio, garden and a further few lines before coming to a children’s play area, there is a and end stunning veranda on three sides , a Then it starts again like this and popular spot for afternoon tea. goes on again for a further few lines Straddling the borders of West Sussex before coming to and end. it starts
and Surrey, it is on the edge of the Haveagain lÉ HERE fun is some in text Clooney’s that coffee house GETTY South Downs National Park and goes like this and runs on and on but Surrey Hills. É THINGS take a turn for the worse designed by Sir William Chambers, Goldie and Kurt Listed with Fleurets, the freehold is in George Clooney’s new Nespresso architect of Somerset House, with the available with an asking price of advert. The Money Monster actor is help of King George III and Queen set to make mega £1. 15 million. kidnapped, taken to a stately home in Charlotte. They were captivated by the middle of the night and Hedsor’s picturesque position high bucks on LA home given a “dressing down” by above the Thames. Pirates of the Caribbean Following decades as the É GOLDIE Hawn and Kurt Russell, actor Ian McShane. seat of the Shephard family, above, are selling their Los Angeles The property used for the beautiful Georgian pile home. the ad and now available underwent an extensive The couple, who have been together to rent is Hedsor House, a project in 2007 and now for 33 years, have listed their Pacific beautiful country home in opens its doors to acting Palisades mansion for $7.25 million Buckinghamshire’s royalty. Brad Pitt, (£5.6 million). Thames Valley, 45 Nicole Kidman, They bought the five-bedroom minutes west of Dustin house for just over $4 million By Amira Hashish London. Hoffman, (£3.1 million) in 2004 so stand to make Clooney, right, Tom Hardy, a very healthy profit. was dragged down Maggie The 6,389 sq ft space also has a guest Got some gossip? Tweet @amiranews its staircase and Smith suite and a huge pool, below, and spa. taken to the and the Despite listing their California library. During cast of house, they have no plans to leave You could cook in Olivers’ pukka kitchen filming the Mr Hollywood. Goldie will be back on the Bridal Suite also Selfridge big screen after a 15-year break in 2017 É JAMIE and Jools Oliver’s former doubled as the have in a comedy co-starring Amy Schumer four-bedroom Hampstead home is for star’s all while Kurt has action flicks Fast 8 and sale. hideaway with filmed Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 up his The 1,867sq ft period house has been wife Amal. there in sleeve. refurbished with, surprise, a suitably The 11- recent years. flash celebrity chef kitchen. The bedroom stately Celebrity DJ country style Aga he installed is still a home has an Mark Ronson big draw. illustrious history. It also held his There are amazing views of the was originally birthday party London skyline from the back and of there. The Fenton House from the front. mansion Outside space is a highlight with a O For more celebrity experience is sheltered south-facing patio and a gossip, visit yours for 24 balcony off the master bedroom. homesandproperty. hours for £3,250, on
It is listed with Benham & Reeves for co.uk/gossip REX hedsor.com. £3.25 million. 6 WEDNESDAY 5 OCTOBER 2016 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property | New homes
Pioneers: David and Greta Iredale were the first Huf case study on Grand Designs Modular goes mainstream New factory homes are cheaper and faster to build and now come packed with good ideas as mass production becomes mass customisation, discovers David Spittles
HOME that comes on a homes that are functional, glamorous and then transported as “pods”, or ter? They don’t have to, say experts. Urban Splash, a developer that truck and is finished in 10 and “sustainable”. modular units, yet the homes still look Architects as well as developers point made its name transforming redundant days could be the building London’s biggest housebuilder Tony traditional. They can have a brick skin to the well tried, deep-rooted, modular mills and warehouses into hip loft method that will solve our Pidgley, boss of Berkeley Homes, has or another type of cladding plus cos- building in Europe and across the apartments, says it will factory-build housing crisis. been experimenting with kit homes. metic architectural details added on- world where the aesthetic qualities are up to 80 per cent of its new “hoUSe” ACustomised homes that are made in “It’s a culture change but there’s a site. But the whole process is quicker preserved. design. a factory rather than built on-site have compelling case for modular,” he says. and cheaper, being less prone to Huf Haus, which produces factory- This award-winning, three-storey, become a sophisticated method of He has committed 20 per cent of his weather delays and skill shortages, engineered timber and glass homes, 1,500sq ft terrace house has great space building eco-friendly, energy-efficient output to factory-built homes, and which in theory makes the homes more shows that fabulous bespoke houses and light and allows purchasers to homes. plans a bigger amount in future via its affordable. Berkeley says the £800,000 can be modular design, though this customise the floor plan by choosing Leading property developers are now own modular housing factory. Urban Houses at Kidbrooke are about company produces mainly one-off and which floors are for bedrooms and embracing modular construction to The first “Urban Houses” for the £400,000 cheaper than similar-size thus expensive properties. You can which for the kitchen and living areas speed up the delivery of new homes company’s 5,000-home scheme in houses up the road in leafy Black- view a spectacular Huf Haus show — upstairs or downstairs. — and they are out to prove that they Kidbrooke, south-east London, are heath. home that was flat-packed in Germany Buyers can also opt for certain design can be as beautiful and desirable as the already rolling off a Midlands produc- One obvious question is: when pro- and the design possibilities at the com- finishes, colours for “spine” walls and best traditionally built homes. tion line, creating good-looking town duced in bulk, will the designs just look pany’s Weybridge headquarters. Call even fitted furniture items. And Huf houses and many other types of houses with roof gardens. too predictable and lacking in charac- 01932 586550. because partition walls are non-struc- modular building in Europe, Scandi- But to deliver a property of quality navia, Australia and Japan are praised and durability and also one that has all for their aesthetic quality, where they the design features today’s buyers want have been a method of house supply involves painstaking preparation, for many years, showing off their mod- explains factory managing director ernist credentials and pushing the idea Karl Whiteman. of the ugly, cheap and flimsy identikit “The detailed design has to be correct prefab homes that proliferated in the at the outset. It’s built in a factory to UK post-war out of the window. exacting standards and when it leaves The onward march of new technology the factory, that’s it, whereas with tradi- has brought a shift from mass produc- tional building we can make changes or tion to mass customisation, allowing tweak things as part of the process.” factory-built homes to be impressive The structural frame, walls and parts pieces of cutting-edge architecture — are made and assembled in a factory
Creating beauty: New Yorker Dani McDonald has built a Huf house like this (right) in the middle of a meadow in Kent EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 5 OCTOBER 2016 7 homesandproperty.co.uk powered by New homes | Homes & Property
Radical designs: Good-looking: left, an Urban right, Berkeley Splash house at Homes’ Urban New Islington in Houses at Manchester. Kidbrooke Right, a three- Village storey Urban Splash home being slotted into place. Below, Apex Housing Group’s Airspace rooftop The onward development at march of Wilmot Place in new Camden technology allows factory-built homes to be impressive pieces of cutting-edge architecture
creaky versions of yesteryear, and they of Camden alone, almost 500 sites have huge green benefits,” says Marc capable of bringing 2,500 new homes Vlessing, founder of developer Pocket, have been identified, despite half the which builds hundreds of flats for first- borough being covered by conserva- time buyers in London. tion areas and a quarter of it by open “Modular minimises disruption for green space. local residents as it requires 60 per cent In a significant move, insurance giant fewer trucks coming to the site and cuts Legal & General has set up the world’s waste by 90 per cent.” largest modular housing factory in Pocket’s no-frills homes, which Yorkshire, capable of producing 5,000 always cost 20 per cent less than mar- homes per year. Contractor Laing ket value, certainly lend themselves to O’Rourke has a state-of-the-art Explore this type of construction. Once on-site, Manufacturing plant in Derbyshire, the compact homes are craned into while Swan housing association is also position like Lego blocks, shaving six opening its own factory. months off the construction time of a Reading is the next location for Ber- traditional development. keley’s terraced Urban Houses, which Search tural, the floor plan can be altered with Pocket currently has projects in range up to 1,450sq ft internally and new occupants’ changing needs. Streatham, Brixton, Lambeth, Lewi- have an expansive roof terrace instead “It’s a radical move away from the sham, Wandsworth, Hackney and of a garden. The design took 10 years homes pattern-book approach of volume Southall, with prices starting at to evolve, and the house looks “nor- builders,” says Tom Bloxham, the £205,000. Call 020 7291 3683 or visit- mal”, with a handsome mellow brick for firm’s chairman, who was given an MBE pocketliving.com façade and an open-plan, ground-floor for services to architecture and urban Modular skyscrapers are being built kitchen and living area. One design sale regeneration and is an honorary fellow too. Creekside Wharf in Deptford is a challenge was restricting the width of of the Royal Institute of British Archi- 23-storey tower with 249 flats, which the house to four metres so it could be tects. developer Essential Living says will be transported safely by truck. Clad in man-made fibreboard, the for renters rather than buyers. Will homebuyers fall in love with fac- steel-frame houses look distinctly mod- And research commissioned by tory-build homes? Perhaps buyers will ern rather than pastiche, having simple Apex, a developer that specialises in never be able to tell the difference. lines, square bay windows and pitched building on unused space above exist- Berkeley’s Tony Pidgley says: “Actu- roofs for extra height. And they cost ing buildings, says 180,000 modular ally it’s a traditionally built house that from £260,000. homes in London could conveniently we’ve taken into the factory; that’s the “Factory-built homes are not the be created on rooftops. In the borough revolutionary side of it.” 8 WEDNESDAY 5 OCTOBER 2016 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property | Commuting
New opportunity in Kent: left, St Mary’s Island in Chatham. Right, Eversley Park, a redevelopment of a former college in Folkestone
Growing value in the Garden of England
S1, the high-speed rail link through north Kent, Prices have not yet caught up has been a game-changer for the county’s with faster travel times in Kent, commuters by cutting making it a hot tip for commuters, Hjourney times to the capital to under an hour from previously “long haul” as David Spittles discovers locations such as Canterbury, Dover, Folkestone and the Medway towns. some prized architecture and period Together with an improved properties remain. A number of motorway network, this is bringing restoration projects are under way and £17 billion of economic benefits to a there are plans for showpiece cultural traditionally investment-starved and leisure venues, new marinas and a region, according to economics makeover of the promenades. analyst Volerra, and propelling some In Dover, an initiative called Sea places into property hotspots. Change aims to connect the hilltop Kent is one of England’s most castle with the refurbished esplanade /#4-'6+0) 57+6' #0& diverse counties, with raw and and provide continental-style refined areas — countryside and pavement cafés via a “land bridge” . 5*19 #2#46/'06 019 12'0 coastal — plus a former industrial Stevens also tips the cathedral city of swathe around Ebbsfleet that is Canterbury and says Deal, a seaside benefiting from ambitious town with protected architecture, is regeneration and lots of new homes. the “new Whitstable”. Yet property prices are quite low. Former Eversley College in “Prices have yet to catch up with Folkestone town centre has been transport upgrades and some places redeveloped into 42 new and stand out as particularly good value,” refurbished homes. Prices from says Mark Quinn, managing director £275,000. Call 01303 268141. of Quinn Estates, which has more At Sevastopol Place, Canterbury, a than 20 projects in the pipeline. scheme of 30 two-bedroom houses at $ ! $ ))"' "'! “You can buy a three-bedroom house a former barracks cost from £210,000. in a really well-connected part of Call Annington on 01227 454925. $"$( ( $ $% Kent such as Ashford — 40 minutes to St Pancras — for less than £250,000.” HEADWAY IN THE MEDWAY * %$"$ " $ % " ! & ! ! Ashford, where Quinn is building a Medway Renaissance is a co- "$(" $! " "%$" "" $ " '$ " 660-home scheme, is a key growth ordinated project aiming to * ! "!& area with a £2.5 billion development transform eight miles of riverfront, * " !" $" %!$( ! !& $ %$ ! " $ !$ $" strategy in place. Its population is linking Chatham, Rochester, forecast to double in the next 25 years. Rainham, Gillingham and Strood into * %! % !! % ! Thirtysomethings Grace and Jon an 8,000-home “linear city”. * !$"$! $ "' "!"$ %! $" " " Neville moved there from private Chatham is at the centre of the * "' !$% %$"' rented accommodation in Forest Hill, Find action, with high-rise apartments buying a four-bedroom detached and family houses built alongside a house for £433,995 at a development homes protected Georgian quarter, a new called St Andrew’s Park. 300-berth marina and retail complex %#.. 61 $11- ;174 #221+06/'06 “We wanted to start a family but it in easy plus leisure attractions. 61 8+'9 6*' 5*19 #2#46/'06 was impossible for us to buy a big reach St Mary’s Island, once a dumping enough house in London. Here we’ve ground for the naval base, has been 24+%'5 (41/ got much more for our money and of transformed into a 150-acre “green” the commute from Ashford is neighbourhood and has attractive painless,” says Grace. London bright-coloured, timber-clad houses Sam Stevens, an independent with sun decks and steeply pitched property surveyor specialising in land roofs. Prices from £505,000. Call acquisition, commutes to London 01634 891200. from Folkestone three times a week. Victory Pier, a mixed development ,QWTPG[ VKOGU CPF FKUVCPEGU CTG CRRTQZKOCVG 5QWTEGU 6(.IQXWM After decades of decline he says there in Gillingham, is being built alongside PCVKQPCNTCKNEQWM )QQING OCRU %QORWVGT IGPGTCVGF KOCIGU UJQY CRCTVOGPV RJQVQITCRJ[ CPF NKHGUV[NG RJQVQITCRJ[ KU KPFKECVKXG QPN[ is a new wave of optimism in the the town’s walled harbour with smart harbour towns of Folkestone and apartment blocks, shops, bars and Dover. Both were elegant seaside cafés, a hotel and moorings. Prices resorts in their Victorian heyday, and from £255,000. Call 01634 776773. EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 5 OCTOBER 2016 9 homesandproperty.co.uk powered by First-time buyers | Homes & Property
Looking up: Frank’s Café with its rooftop bar is one of the allures that have helped Peckham become London’s first- time buyer capital
On sale for £470,000: right, a one-bedroom apartment for sale in Wood’s
DANIEL LYNCH DANIEL Road, Peckham
ORE than a quarter of the first-time buyer destinations across London have an SE postcode, and one of those destination favourites is SE is first Peckham. Even five years ago any- oneM who suggested Peckham, fictional home of Del Boy and Rodney Trotter and with a troubled history of gangs and squats, would have been laughed out of town. Now it is a hotspot. place for Peckham has become a place of hipster pilgrim- age. Today it emerged that the allure of a Campari spritz at Frank’s Café atop the Peckham multi- storey car park has helped SE15 to become Lon- don’s first-time buyer capital. newbies Research by Hamptons International found that almost six out of 10 homes sold in the area go to South-east postcodes top newbie buyers, who pay an average £385,750 for a home. Prices in the area have risen by 15 per first-time buyers’ wishlists cent year on year as a result of its popularity. “First-time buyers love Peckham because there in London, a survey reveals. are so many restaurants and bars, and it is all quite independent and anti-chain,” says Becky Munday, By Ruth Bloomfield managing director of Munday’s estate agents. “Peckham really erupted in 2012 with the Over- ton, where 57 per cent of sales are to first-timers ground extension and it has been infectious — once who pay an average £650,000. Prices in the area one person wants to be in Peckham they all do.” have risen by 20 per cent year on year. First-time buyers’ dream Peckham home, says David Fell, author of today’s report, believes the Munday, is a two-bedroom Victorian conversion introduction of higher stamp duty rates for land- ( which would cost between £600,000 and lords in April, combined with a less beneficial tax £675,000 (a similar sized ex-local authority flat regime for landlords, has helped first-time buyers would cost £450,000 to £500,000). by removing competition for starter-sized homes. The only area to match Peckham, according to “Five months on, first-time buyers are still tak- today’s study, which highlights the top 30 loca- ing the place of some investors and make up a tions for FTB in London, was neighbouring Brix- bigger proportion of London buyers,” he says. “While first-time buyers still favour more afford- FIRST-TIME BUYERS’ CHOICE able locations in east and south London, a cooler Sales to First- Average Average market with less competition means they’ve been first- timers first- overall able to push into places they’d tended to avoid.” time buying a time price Across London what the league table shows is Postcode and area buyers flat price growth that first-time buyers are colonising wide swathes SE15 (Peckham) 57% 93% 385,750 15% of south-east London in particular. SW2 (Brixton) 57% 97% 650,625 20% In Forest Hill Javaid Ahmed, sales manager at RM8 (Becontree) 55% 44% 243,906 19% Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward, said that a two-bed- 7KHQHZSKDVHRI ) ! + &!" *+" SE13 (Lewisham) 53% 75% 342,731 11% room flat in a mansion block or Victorian conver- EHGURRP DSDUWPHQWV N17 (Tottenham) 51% 58% 400,124 16% sions would cost around £450,000. In East !& + ! " Dulwich, just up the road but a world away in E16 (Canning Town) 48% 53% 324,857 10% LQ WKH 5R\DO 'RFNV ZLOO "& & gentrification and popularity, the same sort of UB5 (Northolt) 48% 65% 301,881 14% EH ODXQFKLQJ RQ E14 11% property would cost £550,000 to £575,000. & "& &! " & (Canary Wharf) 48% 99% 520,233 The most expensive area to make today’s list is IG4 9% 7XHVGD\2FWREHU (Redbridge) 47% 25% 458,000 Hampstead and Chalk Farm, where 47 per cent of NW3 !" ! %'---- +& (Hampstead) 47% 98% 908,875 0% sales are to FTB able to pay more than £900,000 IURP SP SP & ), * SE25 (South Norwood) 47% 63% 310,938 18% for a starter home. At the other end of the scale, SM1 (Sutton) 47% 63% 309,104 15% FTB in Dagenham or Barking pay an average of E10 (Leyton) 46% 69% 362,442 22% about £250,000 to ascend the property ladder. IG6 (Barkingside) 46% 27% 365,813 17% The fastest-growing markets are Seven Kings, in
ITH STAMP duty and increasing moving costs holding back the market this autumn more Five ways to fund Londoners than ever are improving and not moving to createW valuable space and a better lifestyle. When it comes to funding household renovations the choices can be mind-boggling. your household Here are the main five options to consider. Which one will best suit you will depend on your personal circumstance and preferences. You can also speak to a financial adviser/mortgage broker improvements for more information. OPTION 1 A REMORTGAGE
More Londoners are opting to improve their homes UK mortgage rates are at an all-time low. You really don’t need to look very hard to find a deal rather than face the costs and hassle of moving for less than two per cent. If your current mortgage deal is coming to an end, or if you are on a variable deal that has no exit penalties, then it is certainly worth considering adding your extra borrowing needs to your outstanding mortgage and looking for one product to cover both. Not only will this help you achieve one of the lowest rates, you will also only have to pay one product fee — a double win.
A concern may be that a mortgage isn’t exactly ALAMY short-term. Fear not! If you opt for a variable Added value: with mortgage rates at an all-time rate product you can typically overpay as much low you can easily borrow to build a new kitchen as you like, whenever you like. Even on a fixed rate deal, you can generally overpay up to 10 per cent of the mortgage balance within one year. So Sara assuming your outstanding mortgage was £300k+ at the start of the year/term, you’re very Yates likely to be able to clear the £30k refit in one go. FINANCIAL COMMENTATOR OPTION 2 A MORTGAGE ADVANCE make sure you factor in the product costs and If you have already rolled onto a new mortgage exit fees. or have steep exit penalties for closing the mortgage early, then speak to your lender OPTION 4 about a mortgage advance. This is where you AN UNSECURED LOAN take on an additional slug of borrowing from If you own your house outright, you may find your current provider without affecting your your preferred lender won’t lend as the amount existing deal. Be aware that the rate offered is is considered too small. Alternatively, you may often higher and there may also be a product not want to take out another loan secured on fee. Also lenders attitudes vary. Some have your property. If so, unsecured lending is worth monetary limits on the amount of additional a look. These loans offer the lender less security, borrowing allowed, while others focus on the so your rate is likely to be higher still. However, total loan to value. Likewise, some will ask to in the current environment, if you have a good see quotes for the work, others won’t. credit rating, it may mean a rate of 3.5 per cent, Your ability to overpay depends on the product which isn’t too bad. In addition, the product fees chosen. Tracker products with no exit penalties tend to be a lot less than with a remortgage. The would allow you to clear the balance at your key here is to shop around and if you do have an behest. Fixed rate products are generally less ongoing mortgage speak to your provider first — flexible. And because your total balance is only many offer better deals to existing customers £30k, an annual 10 per cent maximum with good repayment histories. But there will be overpayment threshold would mean a lengthy a repayment schedule and deviating from this slog to clear the balance. Should you pick a fixed can trigger fees. So if you are looking to make a deal and then find you have a lump sum coming large one-off repayment in a few months’ time, your way, consider using it to pay down your this may not be the option for you. mortgage or a combination of the two. Although this would reduce your overall balance quickly, OPTION 5 your monthly outgoings may be a little higher BUNG IT ON A CREDIT CARD than in option 1, due to a higher rate on the advance lending component of your mortgage. Managed well, credit cards can be a useful tool for funding property development. They have OPTION 3 two main advantages. First, if you can transfer A ‘SECOND CHARGE’ your balance to another card with a zero per cent rate for a period of time, you can effectively If you don’t want to remortgage or your existing borrow money at or close to zero per cent lender’s options are uncompetitive or (transfer fee can apply). Second, if you do have a unworkable, you may want to look to a different lump sum coming your way within the zero per provider for a second charge. This is cent window, you can use this to pay off the a mortgage secured on your home balance. But you need to be super- but taking second priority behind organised and very confident that your existing deal. This means the you will have the funds at the right lender is taking on more risk time. Otherwise, you may well because if you default, the lender find you have a quickly has to wait for your primary escalating debt. mortgage to be paid off first. Also, it is unlikely that you would Unfortunately, more risk for the be able to transfer £30k from one lender typically means a higher card to another and it is rare that
rate for you. Do shop around and SHUTTERSTOCK you can transfer between cards owned by the same parent It’s on the house: company — so do your remortgaging, a homework first. This mortgage advance option is definitely or second charge not for the can all unlock cash faint- for renovations hearted! 12 WEDNESDAY 5 OCTOBER 2016 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property | Homes abroad
A PLACE TO STAY Seaside charm: Porto Cristo marina WHILE YOU port in Manacor, where Rafa Nadal HOUSE-HUNT: HOTEL has founded a tennis academy CALA SANT VICENÇ
IN THE north of Majorca, five miles from Port de Pollença, Cala Sant Vicenç is a beautiful fishing village with several bays and beaches caught between rocky cliffs. The resort is within one hour of Palma whose management team airport but well away from includes two former vice the buzz and bright lights presidents of Orient- of the capital. Express Hotels, Hotel Cala Sant Vicenç responsible for arguably in the centre of the resort, Majorca’s most famous an easy walk from all three hotel, La Residencia in beaches, has a long and Deia. Its plans for Hotel happy history. The 38- Cala Sant Vicenç include room and suite hotel is a some refurbishments favourite with British while keeping the holidaymakers (one charming friendly spirit of London family I met were this low-key but upmarket on their 14th annual stay) home from home. who come to hike or cycle in the Tramuntana O Double rooms from £157 mountains before relaxing a night including by the enticing pool. breakfast. Hotel Cala Sant Last year the hotel was Vicenç hotelcala.com +34 bought by Voyager Hotels 971 530 250 ALAMY Exploring Majorca’s uncharted waters HE Spanish Balearic Small fincas (farmhouses) start island of Majorca receives The Balearic island’s from £467,000 but most are closer more than three million to £850,000 and the best reach visitors each summer, fine unspoilt north- £4.25 million. Fischer’s average sale though relatively few visit last year was £765,000, which would Tits north-east corner. Furthest from east coast is 30 per buy a three-bedroom villa close to Majorca’s international airport and the coast or four- or five- bedroom without the south-west’s enticing cent cheaper, says house inland. infrastructure and glamorous super Cathy Hawker Eight miles from Artà two- and yacht marinas, the north-east was three-bedroom new-build apart- more the preserve of in-the-know generations of Spanish families to ments in traditional Mediterranean families from the Spanish main- buy local holiday homes. design in the fishing village of Colò- land. The atmospheric medieval town of nia de Sant Pere, start from £164,000 Reiner Fischer of Engel & Volkers Artà has narrow alleys and white- through Taylor Wimpey Espana. adds: “The connections with Palma washed townhouses mixed with Bahia Sant Pere is a rural develop- were not great but seven years ago tree-lined avenues. There are delis, ment surrounded by vines and a new road was built, bypassing plenty of small shops and restau- almond groves and close to the pro- many villages and putting the airport rants, even a cinema, and a popular tected sandy beach at Sa Canova. 45 minutes away rather than 80 market is held every Tuesday in In the centre of Artà a five-bed- minutes.” Plaça Conqueridor. room townhouse including an usu- Add in a soon-to-open new inter- “On average there is a 30 per cent ally large roof terrace with views to national school as part of the Rafa price difference between homes in Canyamel is £318,700 through Engel Nadal Academy in Manacor and the north-east Majorca and the prime & Volkers. It is selling an attractive recently opened and striking five- south-west,” says Fischer. “While stone finca with four-bedrooms star Park Hyatt (Park Hyatt Mallorca the south-west is more showy this is including a separate guesthouse mallorca.park.hyatt.com +34 871 81 a quieter, off-the- radar place.” close to Manacor for £679,000 and 1234) in Canyamel and the lifestyle Germans easily comprise the main a four-bedroom detached house on in the north-east looks interesting. international market in the north- a quiet road in Canyamel, also with The area stretches from Porto east. The most famous second-home a pool and garden, for £425,000. Cristo to Colònia Sant Pere and owner is tennis star Boris Becker. among its charms are many small Expect to pay from £255,000 for O Engel & Volkers engelvoelkers. harbours and five golf courses. Beau- apartments and town houses and com +34 971 82 9339 tiful beaches, clean water, delightful from £510,000 for an older house O Taylor Wimpey Espana historic towns and quiet, undevel- with sea views in the pretty seaside taylorwimpeyspain.com 08000 12 oped countryside have attracted town of Canyamel. 10 20
£679,000: a four-bedroom stone finca in the From £164,000: Taylor Wimpey Espana development countryside close to Manacor in north-east Majorca Bahia Sant Pere. Two- and three-bedroom new-build (Engel & Volkers) apartments in Colònia de Sant Pere EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 5 OCTOBER 2016 13 homesandproperty.co.uk powered by | Homes & Property Barbara Chandler Gifts cost from £15 to £500, highlights the shows, and collectables 4 sell from about festivals and craft £150. Browse the extensive private exhibitions you Daniel Collection of modern must visit this month woodturning, plus the Kew Economic Botany Collection. Pictured below are bowls by Eleanor FESTIVAL OF FURNITURE Lakelin, made with a lathe, carving tool 1 IN FITZROVIA and sandblasting (eleanorlakelin.com) Tomorrow-Sunday Tottenham Court Road has gradually MIDCENTURY had a makeover. Heal’s has always 4EAST been there but now there are about 20 Sunday, 10am- more furniture stores dotted along the 4pm road. The area, rebranded as Fitzrovia, Erno is hosting its first Festival of Furniture. Goldfinger’s This starts tomorrow, when all shops Haggerston will be open until 8pm, and promises 3 School, glasses of champagne, discounts and 1 Weymouth chats with experts. Highlights include a Terrace, E2; cosy Scandi evening at BoConcept modernshows.com. (whose sofa is pictured right) with Modernists have a new book Helen Russell, author of Year of Living on their wish list — 100 Midcentury Danishly, with designer Morten Chairs and Their Stories. Author Lucy Georgsen. American firm West Elm has October’s main events Ryder Richardson will be there to sign a resident indoor gardening expert copies (£16.99). She highlights “the most (and plant giveaways). handmade; tickets on line, £16; on the porcelain vase by Olivia McGill, or £350 WIZARDRY influential, beautiful and controversial Check the programme online at door, £18. for a Celadon Doodle vase by Adam 3IN WOOD chairs from the midcentury era”, such as enjoyfitzrovia.co.uk. Then Meet more than 200 craftspeople Aaronson, left. At the very top end is a October 12-15 Norman Cherner’s 1958 model with follow the fun on Twitter from all over the world, offering hand-crafted Gavin Robertson wardrobe Carpenters’ Hall, Throgmorton Avenue, “bikini” curves, above. @EnjoyFitzrovia, using ceramics, glass, furniture, for £5,900, and a silver-and-gold wine EC2; wizardryinwood.com; 020 7236 At the show itself, more than 60 top hashtag #Fitzrovia textiles, sculpture, jewellery carafe by Rebecca Joselyn for £2,695. 3605. Tickets £10; with two-for-one midcentury dealers will sell ceramics, and more. Buy on the day or New talent abounds. Check out the offer for first 200 readers to apply; glass, wallpaper, vintage fabrics, HANDMADE place a commission. Tide Collection of woven throws by quote code ES-WIW241 industrial pieces, original artwork, 2AT KEW Prices vary widely. You Lucy MacDonald, inspired by Orkney Here is woodworkers’ heaven. The clocks, and collectable posters and Tomorrow-Sunday 2 could pay £18 for a hand- seascapes, or the vivid Achillea textiles focus is woodturning, spinning, shaping furniture. The venue is still a working Royal Botanic Gardens, thrown porcelain tea light hand-printed in Lincolnshire by Nicola and carving wood on a lathe. Meet about school, built by brutalist architect Erno Kew, Surrey; kew.org/ holder by Luna Lighting, £170 for a Cliffe. 70 of the world’s greatest woodturners. Goldfinger between 1964 and 1965.
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. +1 % * ,* ." !*" ", 16 WEDNESDAY 5 OCTOBER 2016 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property | Three shows, Frieze, Frieze Masters and PAD, provide a feast for art fans this week. Corinne Julius reports A big treat for art-lovers T’S FRIEZE week and London is Tompkins, Portia Munson, Aurel crammed with art collectors, Schmidt and Erin Riley. aficionados and shows. The Frieze also runs a varied non-profit three big deals are Frieze, Frieze programme of ambitious new artist Masters and PAD. While other commissions and talks. This year in Ishows abound, these are the places The Nineties, Nicolas Trembley to see some of the most controversial selects artists who changed the artworks, the best of those from nature of art in that decade. Galleries previous centuries and striking will revisit seminal exhibitions from contemporary applied arts. The the 1990s, highlighting key shows offer as much fascination to GRIFFITHS DAMIAN collaborations between dealers and visitors as to serious collectors; a Frieze highlight: artists that have had a lasting impact provocation and/or a feast for the Philippe Parreno’s on contemporary art. eyes. Much of the art is at a very high Speech Bubbles The free Sculpture Park, where 20 price point but is an enjoyable (Green), 2015 works by 20th-century masters and education in major art trends. made up of 1,500 contemporary talents are placed Some 160 of the world’s leading Mylar balloons throughout the English Gardens of galleries take part in this, the 14th Regent’s Park, this year includes edition of Frieze London. All the sculptures by Conrad Shawcross, major London galleries put on Claes Oldenburg, Eduardo Paolozzi significant shows and the world’s and Jean Dubuffet. Selected by Clare galleries join in. Highlights include Lilley (director of programme at several magical immersive light Yorkshire Sculpture Park), it links installations by James Turrell (Kayne Frieze London with Frieze Masters Griffin Corcoran, Los Angeles), a new and runs from today until January 8. sculptural work by Philippe Parreno Frieze Masters, generally a less (Pilar Corrias Gallery, London) and frenetic affair than its older sister, is Hauser & Wirth (London)’s L’atelier the chance to see pieces from more d’artistes, a tongue-in-cheek look at than 130 of the world’s leading how artists’ studios are O Frieze London, galleries specialising in everything originally owned by Nelson Star of Frieze galleries partnering to mount reconstructed in museums. Regent’s Park from ancient art to 20th century Rockefeller — and a Joan Miró Masters: Paula creative and thought-provoking This year women artists are at the South, Frieze masters. maquette of his Unesco mural, Rego’s The shows, such as Salon 94 (New York) fore with work by Latifa Echakhch Masters Regent’s This year it includes extraordinary rediscovered after 50 years. Gluttony of Fish, and Bernard de Grunne (Brussels) (Kamel Mennour, Paris), Goshka Park North, artefacts such as a life-size wooden Intriguingly and unusually, women 1985 collaborating for the first time to Macuga (Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, tomorrow- face of a 6th to 7th Dynasty Egyptian artists feature strongly here too, with show figurative works by Judy Munich), Penny Siopis (Stevenson, Saturday, 11am- nobleman (Rupert Wace Ancient Art, solo exhibitions by Anni Albers (Alan Chicago, alongside African and Cape Town), Francis Upritchard 9pm, Sunday, London) and a Surrealism fest Cristea Gallery, London); Paula Rego Oceanic sculptures in a stand (Kate MacGarry, London) and 11am-6pm. Tickets (Dickinson, London) which includes (Marlborough Fine Art, London); and designed by leading architect Channa Horwitz (Ghebaly Gallery from £26 depend an iconic painting by René Magritte — Susan Rothenberg (Sperone David Adjaye. A particular highlight Los Angeles). P.P.O.W (New York) on time of day. L’Empire des lumières’ (1949), the Westwater, New York). is always Helly Nahmad (London), shows four generations of feminism One-day entry to very first work from the artist’s most There is a mix of gallery which is showing three monumental with Carolee Schneemann, Betty both shows £52 influential and celebrated series, collaborations, with 18 international Picassos.
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VER in Berkeley Square, PAD craftworks: PAD, which this year clockwise from celebrates its 10th far left, Marc anniversary, is the place Ricourt’s 02 to find some of the more LimeWood C15, cutting-edgeO contemporary craft 2015; Rowan collectables, which these days come Mersh’s in a wide range of media. Asabikeshiinh Michael Eden employs digital (Dreamcatcher), techniques such as additive layer 2016; Stranger III manufacturing to create nylon by Lynn Chadwick, vessels on show at Adrian Sassoon 1959; Takeshi
alongside press-forged and hand- Igawa’s bowl JONES KATIE hammered anodised aluminium vases by Robert Foster, the Australian designer who died earlier this year, and sensuous lacquer vessels by Takeshi Igawa. FUMIGALLERY SASSOON ADRIAN Katie Jones is the specialist in GALLERY MYERSCOUGH SARAH Japanese makers who create contemporary takes on traditional Japanese concepts, such as Shouchiku Tanabe’s elegant bamboo flower container and Takeshi Mitsumoto’s silver-plated copper one. On the metal theme, Fumi show work by Studio Glithero fresh from their LDF installation at the V&A. Je Ne Sais Quoi is a set of tables constructed first in bamboo and wax before being direct cast entirely in bronze. Sarah Myerscough, showing for the first time at PAD, specialises in wood. She presents Jack’s, a super-tall cabinet in English Sycamore by Gareth Neal, and Abyss Horizon by Christopher Duffy. This coffee table made of layered high-grade reconstituted wood and different shades of layered blue Perspex looks like map contours of the ocean floor and gives the viewer the impression of diving into the depths towards the seabed. Sylvester Stallone bought
one of the series last year. JONES KATIE O PAD Berkeley Square today– Saturday Elegant: Shouchiku Tanabe’s Sound of 11am-8pm, Sunday 11am-11am-6pm, £25 Star, 2013, in madake lacquer LIGHT FLIGHT POETRY IN MOTION CARPENTERS WORKSHOP GALLERY WORKSHOP CARPENTERS
CARPENTERS Workshop Gallery shows a 21st-century chandelier by Studio Drift (Ralph Nauta and Lonneke Gordijn, left) who specialise in interactive sculptures that deal with ! ! space and light by playing ! ! with relationships between ! ! nature, technology and " mankind. In Flylight, above, LED lights interact so that as visitors circulate, the piece responds, mimicking a flock of birds. 20 WEDNESDAY 5 OCTOBER 2016 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property | Express yourself at home in the abstract Be inspired by art and these colourful ideas and go shopping, says Barbara Chandler BSTRACT Expressionism Drawing from — or “Ab Ex” as co-curator Dutch abstract and art historian David artists: right, Anfam affectionately calls Dana Finnigan; it — is the Royal Academy’s below, cushion, blockbusterA autumn show. It has just from £160, by opened and runs into the new year Klara Capouskova (royalacademy.org.uk). Here is art on a grand scale, with the great American masters of the movement, such as Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock, brushing, dripping and swirling colour. Effects vary from an extreme crackling energy to surprising serenity. Such # " London shows always feed rapidly into the patterns of home design, so for autumn we have abundant swirling abstracts — from the bold and brash to more muted styles for a softer domestic setting. Scottish designer Dana Finnigan quotes Dutch abstract artist Willem de Kooning — “I don’t paint to live, I live to paint” — and has called her ultra- splashy patterns Live to Paint. They are inspired by changing seasons in the Low Countries, where she was an exchange student. Linen fabrics are £120 a com; 07837 233664. See them at the metre, velvets are £160 a Wool BnB, open for Wool Week, metre. Wallpaper comes super- Piccadilly, October 10-16 in De Beauvoir Town, wide at £99 a roll (danafinnigan. W1, or buy N1 (campaignforwool.org). com). from royal Newly arrived at Stark Carpets in Contemporary American artist Kiki academy.org.uk Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, Slaughter says she’s “taking up the Ceramics make good SW10, is Rug Star, a contemporary baton” of the American abstract backgrounds for strong brand founded by Berlin-based expressionists, pouring, scraping and brushstrokes. Young potter Hanna designer Jürgen Dahlmanns. His layering paint onto her canvas. Tounsend, based in West Sussex, striking Splash design is a generous ! $$ Innovative wallpaper house Feathr reworks her surfaces over and over, 250cm by 300cm in size, in a blend of loves to turn art into wallpaper. It is sometimes adding fragments of text. 60/40 silk/wool. It takes three people selling her design Oh La La at £119 for Her porcelain beakers (10 cm high) a whole day to hand-knot just 5cm of $#$ ""#$ ##$ a 10-metre roll (in blue, ice, sand or cost £135 each at the New Ashgate carpet. Call 020 7352 6001 or visit gold) from feathr.com. Gallery in Farnham, Surrey; or starkcarpet.com. Maxine Hall, design director of contact hannahtounsend.co.uk; 07921 Fi MacDonald trained at the edgy British decor label Blackpop, has 142726. Tounsend will be in a group Glasgow School of Art and much loved been inspired by the New York show called Collective: A Maker’s for her soft watercolour style, has abstract expressionist movement of Exhibition, coming to Craft Central, painted a bolder abstract for a new the Forties and Fifties for a new 33-35 St John’s Square, EC1, in wallpaper for her brand Bluebellgray, collection called Homage, which is November. which she set up in 2009. part opulence, part punk. Use fabrics Experimenting The Moray design comes and papers together for a total wipe- with colours in a set of two rolls, to out. Wallpapers are super-wide at for a glaze can make a width of 70cm 79cm, in rolls at £216 a metre; fabrics give ceramics at £360; call 0141 221 cost £144 a metre. A velvet- a pleasingly 0724;.bluebellgray. upholstered 1938 fireside chair costs abstract effect. com. £1,062. Call by the London showroom London potter Klara at 39 Amwell Street, EC1, visit Helen Evans Capouskova is a blackpop.co.uk or call 01332 600341. fires her work London-based The late Zaha Hadid expressed her in stoneware at artist who is love of the early 20th-century a very high adding her abstracts of Suprematist Russian temperature, bold Kazimir Malevich in a china merging colours brushstrokes collection. It includes a Beam tea cup and textures. to floor cushions and saucer in fine bone china with She will be at and fabrics. Floor cushions, gorgeous touches of gold leaf, at £130 Handmade in From £600: rug 90cm by 90cm printed on for a set of two. There are also dinner, Kew, from by Allistair Covell both sides, cost £360 lined side-plates and bowls, all in limited tomorrow until Sunday, or with piped edges and duck editions at Selfridges, Oxford Street, contact planetceramics. feather filling; smaller W1; call 0800 123400; selfridges.com. com; 07887 994 761. cushions, 50cm square, cost £160. As you might expect, the Royal Allistair Covell is an award-winning Visit soklara.com or call 07923 Academy can offer details of the artist whose rugs have recently been 362 088. paintings themselves on punchy new bought by the National Wool Museum Armani’s Club Bar in ocean merchandise, such as a detail from in Wales for their permanent lacquer is made to order and costs Jackson Pollock’s Blue Poles or collection. His striking abstracts cost £35,000 at Armani Casa UK, Design Number 11, 1952 now on bone china at from £600 at rug-maker.com, or Centre Chelsea Harbour; call 020 £12.95. Call by the RA shop in contact the artist at allistaircovell. 7079 1930; armanicasa.com. 22 WEDNESDAY 5 OCTOBER 2016 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property | Outdoors
ROWERS of soft fruit have been ever more Pick a healthy G enterprising in introducing new varieties especially suited to breakfast from small city gardens. Compact raspberry Ruby Beauty reaches no higher than 3ft yet produces your garden a crop of full-size berries in early summer and is thornless for easy picking. All you require New varieties of berries, plums is a roomy container, a bag of No 3 John Innes compost and a and figs are making it easy for cane or three to prop up the overloaded stems. you to produce a delicious crop Blackberries need serious space to throw out their lengthy in the smallest of city gardens brambles, but a breakthrough
Dark and delicious: new strawberry variety Cherry Berry gets sweeter as the colour gets deeper
in breeding means variety Reuben, with far shorter, upright stems, is compact enough for pots and fruits on new stems each autumn. Patio gardeners could also try Blackberry Black Cascade, designed to flourish in a hanging basket. Every stem produces berries, and the word from the breeders is that one bush produces up to 1.3kg of berries, sweet enough to eat straight off the stem. Those of us who have grown strawberries in hanging baskets this summer know there is one huge benefit: no slugs or snails Compact: Blackberry Black Cascade suits a hanging basket beneath the leaves, gorging on the fruits. A new must-try Pattie claims it produces up to 50 variety is cultivated from the fruits within three years. woodland fraises des bois, has Barron Double-duty shrubs and trees the same sweet, aromatic are always good news in small flavour and produces luxuriant spaces, and fig Madeleine de and productive runners. Masses Deux Saisons can produce two of trailing small fruits all outdoor crops of pink-fleshed through summer make Scarlet recently produced a compact fruits in mid-June, and mid- Beauty the strawberry variety called Biscuit that September, but fruits best in equivalent of a tumbling reaches just 20in high, so is optimum conditions of a warm, tomato. If you don’t fancy a worth growing in a container, sunny wall. You could also try hanging basket, give it the although protect it over winter. another hard worker for a small steep walls of a large longtom. The country’s favourite plum space: Plutot Pink Candy, a As an evergreen, it’s worthy of a for both eating and cooking is compact hybrid tree combining place on the patio year-round, now available as a container the luscious taste and and is happy in light shade. tree. Sibley’s Patio Plum fragrance of an apricot with the Put aside another pot, Victoria — a maximum of 4ft juiciness of a ripe plum. however, for full-size high — produces comparatively strawberry Cherry Berry, but heavy yields of flavourful plums FRUITFUL SOURCES don’t pick the berries until in late summer. Delicious O Pomona: pomonafruits. they’re a deep claret — it is quince jelly can be yours if you co.uk purported to get sweeter as the grow Sibley’s Patio Quince, that O Lubera: lubera.co.uk fruit gets darker. You could be a has also been bred to be O Sarah Raven: sarahraven. culinary show-off and contrast, disease-resistant. In a large com on the plate, Cherry Berry with container, it can be kept to 4ft O Thompson & Morgan: novel strawberry Snow White, and supplier Pomona Fruits thompson-morgan.com the red-flecked white strawberry with a distinctive pineapple flavour. Heavy-cropping Invicta is the gooseberry bush to grow when space is limited, but now you can buy it as a standard 3ft tree with a single stem, which frees up the base to grow another crop beneath. Try it in a tub as a focal-point fruit tree. You could also try another kind of gooseberry, the Cape variety, aka physalis, with its familiar round, golden fruits within those ornamental lantern-like husks. Fruit nursery Lubera Handy hybrid: Plutot Pink Candy combines apricot with plum
O For outdoor events this month, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/events 24 WEDNESDAY 5 OCTOBER 2016 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property | Alison An Cork ace use of space
Chairs WITHIN Home’s handmade Chloe discounted by £75 each, bringing the occasional chair has deep-buttoning, price down to £250 for velvet ENJOY everything from Quote BLUE10 at made a solid hardwood frame and legs with upholstery and £220 for cotton/linen bespoke sliding doors and bluefieldwardrobes.co.uk brass castors and comes with an upholstery. walk-in wardrobes to hinge or when calling 0800 610 easy amazing five-year guarantee. To order, visit withinhome.com/ doors with Bluefield 2020 by October 31 to get The Chloe chairs are currently chloe8 or call 020 3455 7731. Wardrobes. This specialist 20 per cent off. For a free uses accent colours to no-obligation design and enhance wardrobes and planning service, email matching drawer units, sales@bluefieldwardrobes. and helps to make the co.uk. Includes 10-year Make a clean most of awkward spaces guarantee and no-hassle sweep with this Bargain news and maximise storage. installation. half-price Hoover THE Hoover Capsule from One Regent Place is a versatile, cordless vacuum with an integrated handheld facility, a dusting brush/ upholstery tool and a crevice tool to clean everything from curtain poles to window tops. Don’t miss It’s marked down from £179.99 to £89.99 until October 12. Visit out on oneregentplace.co.uk/cap5 or call 020 3455 7730 to order. Get free luxury fabrics O The companies listed here are fitting wholly independent of the Evening MARVIC Textiles is holding 3, Westpoint Trading Standard. Care is taken to establish on your an unmissable sale of its Estate, Alliance Road, W3 that they are bona fide but we dream luxury furnishing fabrics 0RA between 10am–7pm recommend that you carry out your own (from tomorrow until on Thursday and Friday, checks prior to purchases and use a kitchen Saturday) with discounts and 10am–5pm on credit card where possible. To offer of up to 80 per cent on Saturday (parking is feedback on any of these companies, TRANSFORM your kitchen with the appliances if required. For a free high-end fabrics, available). For more email homesandproperty@standard. Kitchen Restoration Company. From brochure or free design visit, call wallpapers, ex-display details, visit co.uk with “Bargain News” in the subject design to bespoke manufacture and 0800 917 7238 or visit kitchen- curtains and fabulous marvictextiles.co.uk , call line. For more bargains, visit fitting, this specialist ensures that restoration.com. cushions. 020 8993 0191 or email alisonathome.com or your kitchen is fully renovated with Readers are offered free fitting on Head to the company’s [email protected]. homesandproperty.co.uk/offers. new doors, drawer fronts and all orders received by November 2 London warehouse at Unit uk. worktops, and sink, taps and using code 05/10/ES/BH.
:HVW /RQGRQ _ 6W $OEDQV _ %RXUQHPRXWK _ +LJK :\FRPEH WRGGGRRUVFRXN 28 WEDNESDAY 5 OCTOBER 2016 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property | Our home homesandproperty.co.uk p Lofty New York ambitions in Ladbroke Grove
HEN architect Christina Seilern started looking Architect Christina Seilern found a for a home in London, she says: “I couldn’t get Victorian sorting office and created my head around the a stunning loft home for her family, narrow,W vertical, Victorian thing after New York, where everything is lateral and loft-y. So I told the search agent, discovers Philippa Stockley nothing less than 10 metres wide — which ruled out most Victorian houses.” It was 2002. Two years earlier, Chris- tina, 46, and her fiancé, entrepreneur Dimitri Goulandris, had moved to Lon- don from New York. They were living in separate rented flats and had just got engaged. “Dimitri’s flat was in Holland Park, which he loved, but I could never remember which door was his, they all looked the same. I like variety.” Christina saw a few properties but found them too traditional. Then she was shown the former Victorian postal sorting office, subsequently a small theatre, in the backwaters of Ladbroke Grove. She visited the street very early, before work, and when she saw the building, “I prayed it was that one”. Almost entirely top-lit, the big, soaring brick sorting shed had a partly pitched roof lined with double-glazed skylights, stunning original iron cross-braces and immense double doors through which trucks and sacks of mail once came, to be recalls. But its bones and volume and High life: in the After a brief rebellion she settled on bined spare elegance with logic and turfed onto long wooden tables. Exposed façade were just what she wanted. old sorting shed architecture. She graduated from comfort. She kept all the windows and brick and tall plain windows on the front Raised in Switzerland, at 18, British- Christina Seilern Columbia in 1996, met Dimitri and went put in a mezzanine living floor accessed completed the distinct warehouse-loft Austrian Christina moved to Boston to twins homeliness to work for architecture legend Rafael by a gorgeous folded steel stair. Covered feel, which the theatre had kept. study. “My father said, be an architect with a clean New Viñoly, in New York. in leather, it seems to float in the “It was a terrible mess,” Christina or a journalist.” York loft feel In 2002 when Dimitri moved to Lon- space. don, Christina asked Viñoly if she could The ground floor is a huge entertain- quit, but he told her to finish the build- ing space. A steel divider creates a sort ing she was working on. of lobby in front of the great front doors, “Then he said, ‘why don’t we open a and another deceptively simple bent London office?’— and sent me to start piece of oiled steel makes an elegant it. I was only 29!” For architects that’s mantelpiece on the exposed brick of very young, but at that moment a com- the huge original chimney breast. To mission for a tower block in Amsterdam one side, a cosy suede-walled alcove arrived — and she never looked back. with a small bathroom off it contains a Simultaneously running a new inter- beautiful red-steel 1920s desk. national office and house-hunting is With the white-oiled oak floor that tough, but Christina is decisive. runs throughout, the space combines “This was the fastest project I have homeliness with a clean New York loft ever done,” she says. It only took 12 feel. months from the 2002 start to the fin- ish, including doing the drawings, get- HE family live on the mez- ting through planning and doing the zanine level. Everything is entire build, which included digging a open, even the kitchen that’s basement. only lightly divided from the “But then I was client, project man- living space. With off-white ager and architect.” They kept the base- Tlacquered cupboards, thick Corian and ment modest. Also, the couple lived in chestnut work surfaces and unfussy the building during most of the works, steel splashback, it is smart and practi- climbing up scaffolding to their bed- cal. The living area mixes comfortable room and bathroom. They had running sofas with a classic Colombo chair water and electricity, but ate out. around a big rug. A long red lacquered She shrugs off the difficulties. “We had console that Christina designed holds no children then.” Now they have three, AV and air conditioning. from 12 years to four. All this would be enough for most of Her transformative design, which us, but go up the second run of steel Warehouse feel: thanks to exposed brick and tall plain windows Top-lit: the shed had skylights and original iron cross-braces swept away most of the interior, com- stairs and through a small door for EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 5 OCTOBER 2016 29 powered by Our home | Homes & Property
Sitting pretty: the living area GET THE LOOK mixes comfortable sofas with a classic Colombo chair around a big rug
O Architect: Christina Seilern at studioseilern.com O Bespoke furniture from Christina Seilern as before O Builder: Vitpol at vitpol.co.uk O Folded steel stair by Elite Metalcraft at elitemetalcraft.co.uk O Brown floor leather from Carolyn Benson at bensonstudios.com O Polished steel biomorphic coffee table from Marché au Puces, Paris O Downstairs rug from The Rug Company at the rugcompany.com O Serge Mouille articulated lamp from UK distributor Tanguy Rolin at tanguyrolin.co.uk O Iconic 4801 Joe Colombo chair (for Kartell) from suppliers such as utilitydesign.co.uk O Kitchen from Roundhouse at roundhousedesign.com O Garden design by Declan Buckley at buckleydesignassociates.com
Looking up: on CHRISTINA’S the roof terrace, far left, a riot of TIPS jasmine and agapanthus, is a O Use natural top-lighting dining area open wherever you can, as clouds create to the stars. Left, beautiful diffused light. dining indoors O I always try to have one great idea on a project that will make the entire space flow. O Choose an architect whose work you like. That is the most important thing. O If you don’t like something, ask the architect for another solution: Pictures by it’s cheap at the drawing stage. I David Butler always offer two ideas. The only problem is when the client likes another surprise — a little run of stairs Planning regulations meant that they with an amazing geometric roof light tucked a dining area that’s open to the both! leads to a stunning decked roof terrace, had to keep its distinctive, high façade, accented with mirrors. From the bed- stars but invisible from the street. O If you can, take time on a first a riot of jasmine and agapanthus. but they could change everything room, a big triangular opening lets in Like the rest of this home, this magical project — having to change things And there’s more, for in 2006 the behind. and reflects ever-changing sky. And up New York rooftop is a perfect example later is expensive and causes couple bought the adjacent, smaller So in this volume, connected to the on the roof terrace, hidden behind the of what good design can do. upheaval. property. original house, is the master bedroom, façade, next to this rooflight, Christina @stockleyp
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34 WEDNESDAY 5 OCTOBER 2016 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property | Spotlight on The City of London The Square Mile is home for more than 8,000 people who love the vibe. Now more property is on its way, as Anthea Masey reveals
HE City of London is both a and cultural centre designed in the late city and a county within 1960s by architect Chamberlin, Powell London, colloquially known and Bon that combines jagged concrete as The Square Mile. More high-rise blocks with medium-rise than 400,000 accountants, blocks overlooking a tranquil water Tbankers, lawyers and financial support garden. employees pour in each day to its six Brexit has done nothing to dent the mainline stations and 12 Tube and DLR City’s confidence in its long-term future stops to work in the gleaming towers and it is currently consulting on how it of commerce. The City is a leading will provide office space for 50,000 driver of the London economy with an extra workers over the next 20 years. annual output of £45 billion — equiva- Providing new homes in the City is lent to 14 per cent of the capital’s GDP not its top priority. The City is exempt and three per cent of the nation’s. from government regulations that Londinium was first established by allow developers to convert office merchants as a trading port on the tidal buildings into homes without planning Thames in around 47AD during the ing the Great Fire of London that swept permission but over the next 10 years early years of the Roman occupation, through the city 350 years ago, destroy- it has agreed to build 141 new homes a and despite being badly bombed dur- ing 70,000 out of the City’s 80,000 year within its borders. ing the war has continued as a trading homes. Estate agent Alex Antzoulatos from Home central: the Barbican is also for culture vultures base up to this day. Its street names tell Today 8,000 people live in the City, the Aldgate office of Knight Frank says its history: goldsmiths, mercers, gro- a small but growing number since a buyers are split between UK and over- cers, fishmongers and their trades are review of the residential policy. seas students; young professionals who still celebrated in their livery halls. It There are another 1,400 second like to walk to work; older profession- has more than 600 listed buildings and homes among the permanent residents als who live in the City during the week every year welcomes 10.5 million visi- in the Barbican, who enjoy spacious but retreat to country homes at the tors. This year it has been remember- apartments in an iconic brutalist estate weekend and buy-to-let investors.
THE PROPERTY SCENE
MOST residents live in the Barbican, hall School of Music and Drama includ- which is due for completion in the a well-maintained City of London ing a concert hall, theatre and studio second half of next year; demolition estate where most of the flats and in a new eight-storey block. A few of the site in Old Bartholomew Close maisonettes are now owner- apartments and penthouses remain in has started. Prices range from occupied. The Golden Lane Estate, The Heron (020 7409 8756), one of £790,000 to £4.5 million. with its curved roof line, lies to the London’s tallest residential blocks. Developer Redrow is converting west of the Barbican. Another City of Barratt London is selling off-plan Blake Tower (020 3733 2867), a London estate, it is often called “the 165 studios, one-, two- and three- former YMCA hostel in the Barbican poor man’s Barbican”; it was bedroom flats at Landmark Place in Fann Street opposite Barbican Old amid the designed by the same architect, (020 7048 0344) in Water Lane station and a short walk from new: Leadenhall Chamberlin, Powell and Bon. There overlooking the river. There is a Crossrail at Farringdon. This iconic, Market, a are historic streets of former swimming pool and spa and prices 17-storey brutalist concrete tower will charming arcade weavers’ houses in Spitalfields and a range from £765,000 to £4 million have 74 studios, one-, two- and three- in the shadow of few period houses and converted for one of the penthouses; the bedroom flats varying in size from skyscrapers like warehouses in the streets around development will be ready to move 450sq ft to 2,000sq ft. One-bedroom the Gherkin Farringdon station, St John Street into in 2018. flats start at £699,000, two-bedroom and St Bartholomew’s Hospital. Developer Helical describes Barts flats at £935,000 and three-bedroom Square (020 7726 8995) as a new flats at £1.7 million. ■ NEW-BUILD HOMES urban quarter. In Little Britain and The City’s largest single recent develop- Bartholomew Close close to St ■ AFFORDABLE HOMES ment, Milton Court next to the Barbi- Bartholomew’s Hospital a series of There are no affordable homes in the can, opened three years ago and new infill buildings and conversions City itself; however, last summer the provided 284 new homes in The Heron, is providing a total of 145 new one, City said it intended building 3,700 a 36-storey tower block, and new two- and three-bedroom flats. Some new homes by 2025 on land outside accommodation for the nearby Guild- 38 flats remain in the first phase, the City and on the estates that it
£550,000 £1.2 MILLION £1.75 MILLION One-bedroom, fourth-floor Bright apartment in a blue plaque Over two floors, this two-bedroom apartment in Portsoken Street, near building in Bolt Court with high ceilings, apartment in Brune Street has a St Katharine Docks, Brick Lane and open-plan living and two double private entrance from street level. Spitalfields. Savills (020 8012 3123) bedrooms. KFH (020 3858 2406) Through Foxtons (020 8012 6790)
To find a home in City of London, visit rightmove.co.uk For more about City of London, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/cityoflonon Photographs: Daniel Lynch EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 5 OCTOBER 2016 35 homesandproperty.co.uk powered by | Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk powered by
STATS CHECK WHAT HOMES COST BUYING IN THE CITY OF LONDON (Average prices) One-bedroom flat £782,000 Two-bedroom flat £1.23 million Three-bedroom flat £2.71 million Source: Rightmove RENTING (Average rates) One-bedroom flat Shucks: Alex Beck, head chef of Sweetings Oyster Room £2,451 a month Two-bedroom flat £3,662 a month Three-bedroom flat £9,687 a month Source: Rightmove
God and Mammon: St Paul’s from One New Change Tall storeys: The Heron FOR MORE, VISIT TRAVEL homesandproperty.co.uk The City is London’s best connected place with six mainline stations — O Use our School Checker to find Liverpool Street, Cannon catchment areas and inspection Street, Fenchurch Street, reports for local schools Moorgate, London Bridge O The best City of London shops and and Blackfriars — in or near restaurants owns in the nearby boroughs of makes financial sense to pay more in the City and with Waterloo O Local arts, leisure and sport Islington, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, rent and less on commuting with connected to Bank station O All the latest new homes Lewisham, Southwark and Lambeth most City renters able to walk to by the Waterloo & City line, developments and that a proportion will be work. Wealthy UK and overseas known affectionately as near the City. affordable. students favour the modern flats that “The Drain”. With the Crossrail will stop at are going up in and around the City. exception of the Piccadilly Liverpool Street and ■ RENTABLE HOMES “Safety is a big factor for the parents and Victoria lines, all Farringdon. The City is in Thom Atkins, lettings manager at the of students who particularly like Underground lines are Zone 1 and an annual Aldgate branch of Knight Frank, says modern flats with a concierge served by stations in or travelcard costs £1,296. many young professionals find it service.”
42 WEDNESDAY 5 OCTOBER 2016 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property | Inside story Wedding hangover Diary of an estate leads to trouble agent
MONDAY in search of a two-bedroom flat; the only another one just around the corner that Mondays are always tough, particularly catch is that she has four Maltese dogs is “currently off market”. Outside, the after a big wedding over the weekend. and needs a garden. I’m not a fan of house is covered in wisteria; he I usually get to the office early so that I Maltese dogs — the last one I came across remarks that his wife would love it and can plan for the week ahead. At the took a dislike to my new suit. that he doesn’t really need to go inside. office, I realise my mistake. I am late Once inside he says he’ll take it and for a meeting with a building surveyor WEDNESDAY offers the asking price. at a flat on Campden Hill Gardens that The buyer from Hong Kong has invited After some conversations with the was put under offer the week before. me to breakfast at the Royal Garden owner of the mews house in the after- Arriving “fashionably” late I go to let Hotel. I meet her bright and early in the noon I agree the sale. It’s a record price the surveyor into the building. I have dining room. The last time I was here I post-Brexit. the wrong set of keys. Note to self — go met a buyer from Singapore with a col- home earlier from weddings. league who ate kippers! They smelt FRIDAY The day can’t get any worse, and by disgusting and I’m sure the buyer Maltese dogs are the order of the day the afternoon I have a renewed sense thought so too. Thankfully there are no so I call the buyer from Hong Kong. of purpose to try to redeem my mis- small dogs in sight. Much of the meeting She’s keen on the flat with the large takes. I take a call from a new buyer is about the state of the market following garden, she is however unfamiliar with based in Edinburgh; he’s interested in the result of the referendum. I reassure the buying process in London. I talk viewing two mews houses on Thursday her that this is a good time to buy. her through the process and by the end and wants to make a decision to buy By the afternoon we had visited four of the conversation she has put forward one by the end of the week. flats, one of which proved to be a real a strong bid for the flat. After some contender with a garden large enough negotiation the sale is agreed. The TUESDAY for a pack of hounds to roam free. I feel buyer is over the moon and says her This time I’m in the office early for our a deal emerging. dogs will be mightily happy. Hopefully morning sales meeting. The mood in I won’t have to actually meet them. the meeting is one of optimism as a THURSDAY All in all, it was a successful week. number of sales have been agreed in I pick up the buyer from Edinburgh Before the weekend I check my diary the post-Brexit market. Feeling this from his hotel in the morning. He is as for the following week and see I have sense of optimism, I catch up with a friendly as I remember from our phone another 9am appointment on Monday. number of buyers I am running around conversation. He tells me he has just Let’s hope I’m slightly more punctual town with. sold his business and specifically wants after another wedding this weekend... I receive a lead from our Hong Kong a mews house in Kensington. I show office. My wonderful colleague Sherry him the first one and he hates it! He is O Charles Kennard is a negotiator at has a buyer who is over in London also not keen on the second one. How- Knight Frank’s Kensington office (020 tomorrow with a very healthy budget ever, all is not lost as I tell him I have 7938 4311) 44 WEDNESDAY 5 OCTOBER 2016 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property | Ask the expert It’s my house. Can I evict my lazy husband? Fiona WHAT’S WE would like to use the two spare double YOUR rooms in our home for Airbnb. Do we need McNulty PROBLEM? Qplanning consent or any other form of IF YOU have a consent to do so? OUR LAWYER ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS question for Fiona McNulty, PLANNING permission would only be required if please email the Airbnb use resulted in a “material change I AM the major legalsolutions@ Aof use”. That would depend on a number of breadwinner in our standard.co.uk factors, including the impact on the amenity Qfamily and have been for or write to Legal of the neighbourhood such as parking etc, and years. I bought our home Solutions, Homes whether the Airbnb use is ancillary to the dwelling house and it is registered in my name. My & Property, or instead has become the primary use of the property. husband and I have two children — London Evening Legislation that used to restrict London homes from he also has two children from a Standard, 2 Derry being let on a short-term basis has recently been previous marriage. This is my first Street, W8 5EE. repealed. As policy should follow legislation, it is marriage. Six months ago he lost We regret that unlikely that your local authority will require you to his job and is making very little questions cannot apply for planning consent for normal Airbnb use. effort to find a new one. He spends be answered Do check with the building-control team of your local more time down the pub than ever individually, but authority as to whether there are any health and safety and comes home in a mess. If I ask we will try to and/or building regulation requirements if your him to move out so that he can sort feature them property is to be used for Airbnb. himself and his life out and he here. Fiona Finally, check the title to your property to ensure that refuses to go, can I just change the McNulty is a there are no restrictive covenants which may prevent locks in view of his behaviour? legal director your property being used for Airbnb stays, such as a in the private covenant preventing the property being used for THOUGH you are the sole wealth group of business purposes. legal owner of your home, Foot Anstey Ayour husband has a right to (footanstey.com). live in the house because of your marriage, and so you cannot restrict him to just certain parts of property and, if so, if that harm just change the locks. However, a the house. would be greater than the harm your court can remove that right, When considering whether to make husband would experience if he were depending on how seriously harmful an occupation order the court must to be removed from the property. his behaviour is. It can make an apply a “balance of harm” test, which If the court decides that the balance occupation order, which may be requires the court to assess whether of harm test falls in your favour (for More legal O These answers can only be a very brief commentary on temporary or permanent, and which you and the children are likely to example, if he became violent), an Q&As the issues raised and should not be relied on as legal advice. can deny your husband his right to suffer significant harm attributable to occupation order could be granted to Visit: homesand No liability is accepted for such reliance. If you have similar live in the house or can, for example, your husband if he remains in the remove your husband from the house. property.co.uk issues, you should obtain advice from a solicitor
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*$++* ! "1/+ /$ / *$2 03 ! "1/+ /$ $" /*/ 48 WEDNESDAY 5 OCTOBER 2016 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property | Letting on
O CERTAIN am I that the guy looking around my one- bedroom flat is going to put in an offer that I’m giving the thumbs-up sign to my Who’s not a husbandS as we follow the viewer from room to room. Then, suddenly, things take an unexpected turn. Out of the blue, the viewer asks me what the neighbours are like. A reasonable question, you might pretty boy? think, but when I tell him they’re quiet, keep themselves to Victoria Whitlock draws the line at ‘raucous, themselves, he asks if they go out to work all day, every day. ear-shattering screams that can be heard “Why, are you a burglar?” I quip. He doesn’t laugh, just stares at me for an miles away’ — no pets means no parrots embarrassingly long time, then shrugs. “I was just asking,” he says, and strides out of the room. know if the neighbours were out all Damn it, I’m worried that my silly The day. He doesn’t want them to hear sense of humour has put him off, but poor Polly screaming when she’s left as he makes for the door he says he’s all alone. It sounds like the whole going to “have a little think”, then accidental street will be able to hear her. adds that he’ll probably make me an Another problem with pet parrots, I offer before the end of the day. Only landlord find out, is that they’re inclined to the third viewer and already I almost chew the furniture when released for have an offer. on their type and size, they vary from exercise. I don’t want the bed, table Then he turns and says oh-so-very- “very noisy” to “extremely noisy”. It and chairs pecked to bits by Polly. casually like it’s no big deal that he suggests it would be good manners to Also, re-letting the flat when the has a pet. “Don’t worry,” he adds, ask immediate neighbours if they tenant wants to move on might be £575 per week, £2,492 per month: studio apartment to rent in The Heron, “it’s only a parrot.” have any objections. awkward with a parrot screeching at Moor Lane, City of London, EC2. Visit rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/ Wait, what? A pet? No way! The Other websites are even less everyone who comes to look around. property-62206547 advert said NO PETS. And what does complimentary about the vocal God knows what it has in its he mean, “only” a parrot. That abilities of the bird. One says the larger vocabulary. counts as a pet, right? species have “raucous, ear- shattering Sure enough, Long John calls later hour or just a few times a day pet-free couple, leaving Long John He says it’s fine, it lives in a large screams that can be heard from miles in the day to put in an offer. I tell him because I just know this bird is going Silver and his parrot to find another cage and “it’s never been a problem away”. Even smaller parrots have “ear- I’m concerned about his parrot. “Is it to drive the neighbours nuts. I think nest. for other landlords”, but when Long piercing screams”, it warns. noisy during the day?” I ask him. I’d rather have a tenant with a dog. John Silver has gone I quickly Google Another website says that “Only for 15 to 20 minutes at a time,” Fortunately for me, both the first Victoria Whitlock lets four properties “are parrots noisy pets?” and the “generally, some regular, daily he says. and second people to view the flat in south London. To contact Victoria answer is worse than I thought. The vocalisation is typical for a parrot”. I don’t even bother to ask whether also put in offers a short while later with your ideas and views, tweet @ Parrot Society says that, depending So that’s why the viewer wanted to he means 15 to 20 minutes every and I quickly accept a sweet young, vicwhitlock 52 WEDNESDAY 5 OCTOBER 2016 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property | New homes Rock on down to the heart
By David Spittles
Try Twickenham for a pack of winning family homes LONDON tour guides spend a lot of A FRESH crop of family station. Within a gated mews time in Great Newport Street, Covent houses in good-value parts are Georgian-style four- Garden, pointing to the blue plaque of south-west London have bedroom townhouses with property (now the Photographers’ been unveiled. portico entrances, first-floor Gallery) where artist Joshua Reynolds Twickenham may lack the terraces and rooftop dormers lived between 1753 and 1761, and cachet of Richmond, a priced from £1,550,000. Call explaining the origin of the bridge-span away, but it can St James on 020 3642 9714. “policeman’s coat hook”, the claim the best of all worlds: Old Isleworth is a quirky capital’s only surviving one, used by green open space and river, mix of old riverside village, constables to hang their capes on a useful high street, good modern office blocks and before directing traffic along Long state and private schools, standard-issue suburbia. Acre and St Martins Lane. 20-minute trains to central Fitzroy Gate is a seven-acre And here too was Studio 51, the London plus quick links to walled estate with private legendary Sixties jazz club where Heathrow and Gatwick. parkland running down to Eric Clapton played his first gig and The town centre is getting a the Thames. Having been a the Rolling Stones held a residency, facelift with schemes such as convent for 100 years, the now transformed into 14 very smart Brewery Wharf, above, which site has been sensitively apartments. also runs alongside the River redeveloped into 39 private Called The Colyer, after the club’s Crane. This has 82 homes, including apartments owner, the homes are set behind two apartments and 28 houses, a in a listed white stucco handsome Victorian buildings used headquarters of the BBC World with 32 vertical “brise-soleil” sun- new public square, mansion and crescent of new as offices since the 1980s. Service, created a spectacular glazed deflecting panels that conceal the restaurants and 350-seat family houses. Prices from John Robertson Architects, fresh penthouse in a conservation area. Its glazing from street level. theatre venue. It also has a £1,250,000 to £2,750,000. from its splendid refurbishment of solution was a variation of the The theatreland address could not direct underpass to the train Call 020 3432 2981. nearby Bush House, former traditional mansard roof, complete be more central. Close to Soho and EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 5 OCTOBER 2016 53 homesandproperty.co.uk powered by New homes | Homes & Property of theatreland TRAVEL MONEY THE VALUE OF A LONGER COMMUTE EVER since railway expansion led typically saves you £450,000 on William upsized from Woking, to the creation of suburbs and the price of a house, according to which has a shorter commute, to commuter towns, Londoners research by Lloyds Bank. a three-bedroom semi at have been grappling with the Average property prices drop Leithfield Park, formerly Milford house price/distance relationship. from £741,919 in central London Hospital, in the Surrey Hills. Where can I buy a good-value to £294,903 in commuter towns “It’s a five-minute walk to the home that has a tolerable journey an hour away. Places such as train station. We could only time to the capital? Oxford, Ipswich, Peterborough, afford one of the smaller House prices tend to decline Southampton and Cambridge are properties at the development steadily as travel times increase. all about one hour by train from but we’re surrounded by Moreover, the same type of London. Yet attractive semi-rural impressive four- and five- property — say, interwar semis — locations that combine good bedroom family homes that cost can be cheaper to the east of schools, open space and less from £800,000. London than to the west. crime remain favourites. The couple paid £409,000 and Sixty minutes one way is the Lisa Walsh, 29, who works in HR used Help to Buy, the low- time threshold most commuters in London, travels 54 minutes by deposit scheme. want to stick to. Commuting for train from Godalming in Surrey Leithfield Park has an an hour to your job in the capital to Waterloo. She and husband “outstanding” rating in the Built for Life awards, endorsed by the Government. David Wilson Homes, the developer, is offering off-plan buyers various design options and room-configuration choices. Call 0844 Spectacular: 5566155. The Colyer is on the site of Studio Sold on Surrey: 51, where Eric Lisa Walsh and Clapton and the husband William Rolling Stones bought a semi in used to play Leithfield Park, Surrey, far left
great for culture vultures, being equidistant from the Royal Opera For more pictures, visit our new online House and the Coliseum. luxury section Prices from £950,000 to £3,750,000. HomesAndProperty.co.uk/luxury Call CBRE 020 7420 3050.