Wednesday 31 January 2018 Sail into style Homes&

Ocean liners — new exhibition at the V&A Property Page 16

THE MODERN MANSION BLOCK P6 VILLAGE OF THE YEAR P8 NEW TOWN: EBBSFLEET P12 SPOTLIGHT ON WALTHAMSTOW P26

Eugenie’s cottage in royal commune Page 1818 SNOWDON/CAMERA PRESS, GETTY SNOWDON/CAMERA London’s best property search news: homesandproperty.co.uk 4 WEDNESDAY 31 JANUARY 2018 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property | News Stay put … but it won’t improve your profit Trophy RECORD number of home- owners are expected to home of extend their properties this the week Ayear, new research shows. The popularity of exten- Perfect for a sions is driven by the belief that adding space to your existing home is a better well-heeled investment than moving to a bigger house — and paying the stamp duty such movie buff a move entails. However, the research out today sug- £6.75 million: the present gests small-scale extensions, while owner of this home in improving lifestyles, may not be the Barnes, SW13, has used his money-spinner owners hope. connections in the movie The cost of home improvements has industry to help him design spiralled in five years, according to the the key rooms based on his data from the Building Cost Information favourite film sets. U.N.C.L.E. So what do the landscaped garden. In the Service, part of the Royal Institution of There’s a Harry Potter grown-ups get? Well, basement is a gym, steam Chartered Surveyors. cupboard under the stairs, a 6,125sq ft of space across room and guest suite. Barnes The cost of materials and labour for Narnia-style secret room in seven bedroom suites, four Village with its boutiques, a four-metre by three-metre rear the children’s bedrooms and reception rooms and a restaurants, pretty village extension increased almost 20 per a sunken entertainment fabulous Smallbone kitchen/ green and pond is on the cent between 2012 and last year, to a room and wine cellar breakfast room, lit by a doorstep. Through

national average of £17,753. The cost SHUTTERSTOCK inspired by The Man from sliding glass wall out to a Winkworth (020 8012 3586).

In demand: the of a modest loft extension went up Editor: growing cost of from £18,975 to £21,231 — a hike of Lifechanger labour has seen 11 per cent. Janice the price of “The price rises over the last few of the week Morley extending your years have been overwhelmingly home rise driven by labour costs,” explains Chris Great catch for VISIT homesandproperty.co.uk/ dramatically Romer-Lee, director of Studio Octopi an angler who rules for details of our usual over five years architects. “Labour costs had already promotion rules. When you been rising fast in some skills, such as can make his respond to promotions, offers or bricklaying, as lots of people were lost competitions, the London Evening to those trades during the global finan- hobby pay Standard and its sister companies cial crisis years when many people may contact you with relevant retired, returned to Eastern Europe or offers and services that may be of retrained when building rates £1.65 million: the Dukes of interest. Please give your mobile crashed. Bedford once owned this number and/or email address if “More recently building rates have substantial stone farmhouse you would like to receive such increased. Hence there is now a short- in Pavenham, Bedfordshire, offers by text or email. age of skilled labour and increased pay referring to it as an “estate Great Ouse, it comes with while the house has five rates. Brexit is layered on top, making cottage”. It has now been half a mile of fishing rights bedrooms of its own and an Editorial: 020 3615 2650 a bad situation worse and the cost of done up with classy and a 500m landing strip, orangery. You can start Advertisement manager: raw materials has been increasing.” reclaimed materials and is so guests will be able to earning from day one thanks Ann Finan Ran Ankory, managing director of ready for a new life as a arrive in style. the hay your land produces Advertising: 020 3615 0266 Scenario Architecture, predicts that fishing resort. How you accommodate and the grazing licences you Homes & Property, Northcliffe building prices are likely to rise another Set in an awesome 40 them is up to you. There’s can issue. House, 2 Derry Street, Kensington, five per cent this year. acres of landscaped 8,000sq ft of splendid Through Michael Graham London W8 5TT. gardens bordering the outbuildings to play with, (01234 969025). O Find Ruth Bloomfield’s full story at homesandproperty.co.uk London buy of the week Soak up river views from your swish roof terrace in Hammersmith £800,000: a winning combination of space and location can be found at this split-level flat right by the Thames in Hammersmith, giving Victorian proportions of more than 1,000sq ft to play with across three levels. A perfect canvas of pale walls and floors sets the tone throughout this party pad, starting with a gorgeous 17ft master bedroom and en suite, second bedroom and bathroom/utility on the first level. More clean lines can be terrace, left, where you can found one floor up across a sit back, take in the air and generous reception room, enjoy the view towards the again with a bright, airy feel river. throughout the open-plan For sale through Purple kitchen/dining areas. There’s Bricks (0121 396 0867). ample eaves storage and doors to a private roof By Faye Greenslade EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 31 JANUARY 2018 5 homesandproperty.co.uk powered by News | Homes & Property Meet Spacey at the stage door É WHEN we first heard a penthouse was for sale at the Perspective Building in SE1, we thought Kevin Spacey, left, was cutting ties with the London apartment that was at the centre of allegations against him of sexual assault. The House of Cards star is said to have hosted parties at the home during his time as artistic director of the Old Vic. However, it transpires

that it is actually Spacey’s neighbour MARC BRENNER who is parting ways with his duplex. The three-bedroom home, London Eye. But Spacey’s apartment pictured, on the market with Foxtons has more unusual elements including Fancy a Wilde pied-à-terre, Jen? for £2.3 million, is very similar in a stage door from the Old Vic as its É AS OSCAR WILDE season kicks off some ways to the actor’s apartment. front door. He had to gain special at the Vaudeville Theatre, with It has two balconies and floor-to- permission from the building’s Jennifer Saunders currently starring

GETTY ceiling windows overlooking the freeholders before having it installed. in Lady Windermere’s Fan, above, a piece of the flamboyant playwright’s real life surfaces. A Knightsbridge property which was said to be Wilde’s London pied-à- terre has come to the market. Spread across three floors, the apartment, Homes below, in Pont Street, is in a magnificent Queen Anne Revival house designed by CW Stephens, the architect behind Claridge’s and gossip Harrods. By Amira Hashish A stone’s throw from the fashion boutiques of Sloane Street and King’s Road, the three-bedroom home is RiRi could be your listed for sale with JLL and Savills for £4.95 million. The star feature is the cool new landlady Tailor your life, luxurious master bedroom, with a large en suite and dressing room. É
RIHANNA is renting out her West like a style icon The house is next door to a blue Hollywood home. The Work singer, plaque property which was home to right, splashed out £1.95 million on É
A SIX-BEDROOM apartment in actor-manager Sir George Alexander the five-bedroom property, below, in Marylebone that’s as super-sharp as its (1858-1918), whose memoirs state that August last year but apparently she former occupant, fashion designer Ozwald Wilde was his neighbour. The tired of it rather quickly and Boateng, is available to rent. playwright was famously arrested in

attempted to sell it only two months The celebrity tailor, right, who has dressed GETTY the nearby Cadogan Hotel. later for £2.02 million. everyone from Graham Norton to Will Smith, She didn’t find a buyer, so she has was the tenant until recently. Mover and now opted to rent it out for £11,727 a shaker Boateng, who spent last week in Davos

month. GETTY for the World Economic Forum, has a flagship The 2,600sq ft house is surrounded store in Savile Row, so the flat in Chandos by hedges so there is plenty of Street, W1, above, was walking distance from privacy — just perfect for Rihanna’s work. At a cool £5,000 per week, it is as slick as fellow A-listers. might be expected, with two dressing rooms, eight There is also a guesthouse in the bathrooms, a gym and a lift. It’s a smart addition grounds with its own bathroom and to Knight Frank’s books. kitchen, plus the obligatory pool and lounge area. In the coolest part of WeHo, close to O For more celebrity gossip, visit Melrose Avenue, this is the ultimate homesandproperty.co.uk/gossip

star-spotting neighbourhood. MLS/REALTOR.COM 6 WEDNESDAY 31 JANUARY 2018 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property | New homes

OME of London’s top architects have got together with experts in space management to argue Sthat the answer to creating more family homes and build- ing good-looking neighbourhoods is to bring back the mansion block. This low-level, high-density home- building formula has been around for 150 years. It was tried and tested — but it was abandoned by post-war planners in favour of sky-piercing apartment tow- ers and “multi-level” housing estates. Late-Victorian developers, inspired Modern mansion blocks — by philanthropist George Peabody’s flats of the mid-1800s, filled inner Lon- mid-rise homes that foster don with mansion blocks and created community in well-designed some of the streets and homes we love best today, in Maida Vale, Chelsea, Ken- spaces — are welcomed by sington, Marylebone and Victoria. Albert Hall Mansions in Kensington Londoners, says Lee Mallett Gore and Prince of Wales Drive in Bat- tersea are prime examples. More modest but well-loved mansion blocks appeared in the suburbs, too. So

why did they fade in popularity? ROTHERY TOM Mini mansion blocks: 81-87 Weston Street near London Bridge, new launch from Planning rules so often skewer a scheme Solidspace, offers flats with split-level interiors above brutalist-style office space as it tries to comply with day-lighting, sun-lighting and street widths while Simone Pagani, senior partner of Gor- trying to achieve greater densities. But don Ingram Associates, who advise on the new draft London Plan and recent designing for daylighting and rights of Greater London Authority housing guid- light. “There’s been a massive leap for- ance recommends more flexibility with ward in terms of how we look at the planning schemes. Successful, denser, vision for a place.” popular blocks, built before today’s Architect Alex Lifschutz, whose firm regulations, can now be considered a designed blocks for Brent council in the reasonable guide to what might be new Kilburn Quarter in South Kilburn,

allowed — provided there are generous NW6, says the mansion block “is about BEN BLOSSOM ceiling heights, windows, shared amen- selling the dream, like an ocean liner”, “Family-friendly homes”: architect ities and architectural detailing. and adds: “A mansion block is like a Alison Brooks’s practice designed “Instead of using ‘numbers’ to dictate club. It’s more communal.” blocks in Kilburn Quarter the density, planners and developers With one- to four-bedroom flats and are now able to look at the vision of duplexes, Kilburn Quarter in Zone 2 is cessful recent estate regeneration what’s trying to be achieved,” says regarded as one of London’s more suc- schemes. Large Sixties modernist apart- ment blocks, set back from the streets, are being replaced by mid-rise mansion WHAT IS A MANSION BLOCK? linking between them; main living blocks lining existing streets and reflect- THERE are features that architects rooms at the front of the block, and ing the mansion blocks of nearby Maida and developers agree constitute a — very importantly — dual-aspect Vale, linking the neighbourhoods back mansion block. These include it apartments with windows at the together. Half of these new homes are desirable. They offer family-friendly being a “big house” — a mansion. front and back of the block. for social housing and the remainder Looking for a homes and there is a massive shortage The model is also defined by Another crucial feature is for sale, to build a more mixed commu- of these. They offer a canvas for a new repeated main architectural generous floor-to-ceiling heights, or nity and raise capital for reinvesting. new-build home? architectural approach that can be play- elements: an imposing single the volume within apartments, From £535,000. See kilburnquarter. Start your search ful and more expressive. The Victorians entrance per group of apartments; particularly lower down the block. com or call 020 3846 8500 for more. really had fun with them, drawing on lift cores that serve two to four flats Extra height and volume on the Arts and Crafts movement. People per floor and eliminate long, dark compensate for higher density and POPULAR TO BUY AND RENT love that. Mansion blocks can add value access corridors; street elevations provide a sense of luxury. Mansion Alison Brooks Architects also designed in a way that is underexploited.” that feature a base, middle and top, blocks also have shared courtyards blocks in Kilburn Quarter: “The man- Richard Barrett, head of estates regen- with mansard roofs; bay windows, or green space, and are often near sion block brings graciousness to denser eration, leads the project for Brent perhaps with sheltered balconies large open spaces, public or private. living,” says Brooks. “Some of the blocks council which is partnering with private are nine storeys, so they are dense, but developers to replace about 1,100 EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 31 JANUARY 2018 7 homesandproperty.co.uk powered by New homes | Homes & Property PAUL RIDDLE PAUL From £535,000: Kilburn Quarter, a scheme of flats and duplexes including 50 per cent social housing

Eric Parry Architects. Available through Chelsea Knight Frank, price on application. Call Barracks: 020 3866 9798. On a smaller scale there private flats with is Kingwood in Knightsbridge, devel- a mansion block oped by Finchatton (020 7349 1120), air in Belgravia which features superbly detailed brick- designed by work, also designed by Squire and Squire and Partners and 81-87 Weston Street near Partners London Bridge launched by developer Solidspace last week (020 7234 0222). Weston Street is a pairing of two mini- mansion blocks of eight apartments within a single architectural form, served by two cores and designed by AHMM. The split-level interior of all apartments creates a spectacular open volume linking living, dining and work spaces, expressed externally by the block’s L-shaped windows. PUTTING THE FAMILY FIRST

ALLAMY Developer and architect Roger Zogolo- vitch says London’s smaller “gap” sites Enduring Victorian-era favourites: can help solve the housing shortage: Albert Hall Mansions in Kensington “We don’t have to build up or out. We’re not building on the green belt. We’re homes with up to 2,800. So far 229 have building in the city’s ‘holes’. It’s a much been completed, of which 103 are social richer challenge and the mansion block rent, five for shared ownership and 121 offers distinction and character that is for market sale. “We could have done it missing from apartment blocks. The quicker and cheaper building flats, but enjoyment of living in the spaces we’ve we wouldn’t have taken the community created is very different to conventional with us,” says Barrett. “It’s the long-term apartments.” quality you get from the mansion block Tom Mann, director of residential that is generating the values and makes development at Savills shares this view: the whole scheme viable.” “Planners need to ‘tool up’ to assess schemes for quality. At the other end of the spectrum are pri- “It is essential that developers make vate schemes such as Chelsea Barracks mansion blocks easy to build and that in Belgravia, the redevelopment by they give people the spaces they’d Qatari Diar, masterplanned and expect from a house and meet the needs designed by Squire and Partners and of a family.”

Spectacular open volume: split-level flat interior at 81-87 Weston Street in

RORY GARDINER RORY Bermondsey 8 WEDNESDAY 31 JANUARY 2018 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property | Commuting

CTRESS Penelope Keith has been scouring the British Isles to find the best of our Abeautiful villages. She’s There’s a reason been looking for chocolate- box architecture, bucolic views and lashings of community spirit — but the £10,000 prize, to be awarded on Febru- this is a winner ary 10 in Channel 4’s Village of the Year final, will also require an X factor. If you are thinking of commuting, The Good Life star and her panel of judges visited 20 villages in the South- start your search among the finalists East last week to find a regional winner to go through to the grand final. They of Village of the Year. The winner will chose Berkshire’s lovely Hampstead Norreys. Set in the North Wessex Downs soon be revealed. By Anna White on the banks of the River Pang, it impressed them with its village shop run entirely by volunteers, and its art festi- val, where locals teach new skills. However, in this region there is another element that imbues a village with buyer appeal: being within com- muting distance of London. Homes & Property has picked the rural gems featured on the show that also offer acceptable journeys to the capital.

HAMPSTEAD NORREYS BERKSHIRE: REGIONAL WINNER DENSE, ancient woods dancing with bluebells are rooted in the 12th century, while Stone Age tools have been unearthed in this lovely, historic spot. In the centre of the village is a red phone box — which the locals fought hard to keep — and residents are run- ning an “adopt a grave” scheme to care for the Victorian tombstones, while a former orchid hothouse has blossomed into a tropical rainforest with more than 700 species of plant and critter. Entrepreneur Samantha Betts has her

own luxury pet care company which PILSTON TOM includes a canine spa. She and her husband converted an old farmhand’s Regional winner: Hampstead Norreys, Prices start from £400,000 for a bun- cottage into their “forever home”, South-East Village of the Year finalist galow to £15 million estates. where they live with their three black It was Elstead’s eccentric events that Labradors. ELSTEAD got it noticed by Channel 4. The Elstead “Hampstead Norreys is a lovely place marathon is five-and-a-half miles long, to be,” says Betts. “We have a brilliant SURREY while every summer the residents race community. There’s always something DOWN winding lanes, Elstead is sur- lifesize paper boats around “the moat” happening at the local shop, whether rounded by heathland and well-hidden and local pub teams compete in a tug- it’s art viewings or produce tasting — multimillion-pound mansions. It sits of-war. and we all donate extra fruit and veg in between the four key West Surrey The commute: it’s a five-minute drive to the shop.” The easy commute, good towns of Godalming, Guildford, Hasle- to Milford (where it’s free to park on schools and stunning countryside, with mere and Farnham. the road). The earliest train to London the Thames and the Berkshire Downs Pubs include The Mill at Elstead, Waterloo leaves at 05.36am and takes on one side and the Chilterns on the which has the River Wey running 53 minutes. other, draw in Londoners. through its beer garden. There’s a vil- Season ticket cost including travel- The commute: it’s a six-minute drive lage poodle parlour, convenience card: £4,700. to Goring & Streatley station, from store, hairdressers, cricket club, a good where the fastest service into London primary school and plenty of activities LINDFIELD Paddington is 47 minutes. at the village hall. Season ticket cost (including travel- “It’s a living, breathing village,” says WEST SUSSEX card): £5,300. Knight Frank partner Tim Harriss. THE preservation of Lindfield’s historic buildings in the lime tree-lined high street appealed to the Channel 4 judges. “It has bucketloads of character and over 40 timber-framed houses date back to the 14th century,” says Charlie Rosling of Strutt & Parker. The village was also praised for its farm, based at Oathall Community Col- lege, where pupils take a hands-on approach to agricultural studies. The commute: it’s but a few minutes’ drive to Hayward’s Heath station with frequent trains to Victoria in 45 min- utes. Season ticket cost including travel- card: £5,112. WOBURN BEDFORDSHIRE THE Georgian village of Woburn has strong ties to its stately home Woburn Abbey, seat of the Duke of Bedford. The aristocratic family owns most of the

TOM PILSTON TOM village so it’s rare that freehold proper- Walkies: Samantha Betts runs Betts Pets in Hampstead Norreys, Berkshire. “We ties come up for sale. When they do have a brilliant community,” she says. “There’s always something happening” they sell fast and for a premium, says EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 31 JANUARY 2018 9 homesandproperty.co.uk powered by Commuting | Homes & Property

£899,950: a four-bedroom house with a generous garden in Lightlands Lane, Cookham. Call Savills (01628 481 381)

The commute: the station at Marden is a 10-minute drive away, with 58- minute trains to Charing Cross. Season ticket including travelcard:

TOM PILSTON TOM £5,320. Up for a charity challenge: Hampstead Norreys’ Walkie Talkie fundraising group COOKHAM Jackson-Stops estate agent Neil Abra- ham. A group of keen horticulturalists BERKSHIRE have entered Woburn into heats for the Looking to move SITTING in the billionaire belt on the RHS Britain in Bloom awards, and in to a rural village banks of the Thames, Cookham’s beauty preparation local traders are sponsor- and close proximity to London attracted ing different flower beds, while hang- with an easy record numbers of high net worth indi- ing baskets can be seen swinging from viduals last year. But its most valuable shop fronts and the red phone box, commute? Start residents are Her Majesty’s swans, cared which doubles as a very small library. for by local Swan Uppers who, once a Unusually, the village also has a lido, your search on year, gently scoop up the feathered one of four surviving pools built by families, take them ashore, check them the Duke of Bedford in 1911 after for health problems and weigh them. a small boy drowned in a pond It’s an 800-year-old tradition. on the estate. There’s a Miche- Boat making in Cookham dates back lin-star restaurant called even further to Viking times, and there Paris House, and cottages is still a small group of craftsmen start from £250,000. restoring boats at the water’s edge. The commute: drive seven ing Cranbrook grammar school. The commute: the journey from miles to Leighton Buzzard, from Homes here cost five to 10 per cent Cookham station to Paddington takes where fast trains run to London more than those in neighbouring vil- less than an hour, with a change at Euston in 37 minutes. lages. A two-bedroom cottage starts Maidenhead. Season ticket cost from £250,000 while a five-bedroom Season ticket including travelcard: including travelcard: house goes for more than £850,000. £6,188. £6,188. £1.05 million: a GOUDHURST four-bedroom house with KENT magnificent “GOUDHURST is one open views in of the top Kentish vil- Hampstead lages,” says Rupert Norreys, with a Newcomb of Jackson- separate Stops. With views over Victorian chapel. the Weald, it also boasts Warmingham & a rambling medieval Co (01491 high street. 901010) Families are attracted by the tennis, football

REX and cricket clubs, Won over: Hampstead Norreys’ traditional touches, including and it’s in the catch- the phone box, charmed Penelope Keith and her expert panel ment for top-perform- 10 WEDNESDAY 31 JANUARY 2018 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property | Personal finance

Unwedded bliss: cohabitation is the UK’s fastest growing “family type”. But when it all goes wrong, there’s many a bitter row over who owns what GETTY

OHABITATION is the fastest- growing “family type” in the UK — more than doubling It’s not always Cfrom 1.5 million in the mid- Nineties to 3.3 million last year. However, couples thinking about moving in together should also consider happy ever after what are likely to be the harsh realities of splitting up. Many people enjoying a new relation- ship don’t want to think about the pos- Cohabiting leaves couples with no legal sibility that it could all go wrong. You might be thrilled that your new partner rights if their relationship fails. Family lawyer is moving into the home you own to share your life and many couples do Graeme Fraser suggests a solution indeed live together happily every after, never bothering to go to the expense and effort of getting married. might be something else entirely. It will It needs to be enforceable in a court and But while married couples and civil be a court that will decide what the joint so needs to be drafted by a legal profes- partners enjoy considerable protection intention was. Demonstrating a joint sional with both parties taking separate if the relationship ends, none of these intention without a formal document is independent legal advice if possible. rights apply to couples cohabiting. not easy but it can be done if the couple There have been no rights attached to clearly discussed the matter and it can A straightforward Cohabitation Agree- “common law” marriages since 1753. be shown that the non-owning partner ment will cost about £1,000, including thought they were being promised a VAT, though it could be more expensive The ownership of the home they shared beneficial interest and had made a for couples with particularly complex and the value invested in it is likely to financial or other contribution to the financial arrangements. be the biggest souce of contention when home on that basis. Without a Cohabitation Agreement, a a cohabiting couple splits. These dis- break-up can produce a shock. One putes are likely to become more fre- GET IT DOWN IN WRITING mother of two children who had lived quent as the number of cohabiting The more effective protection against with her partner for more than a decade households increases. costly and bitter disputes following the was horrified to discovered on taking A typical living arrangement is where break-up of a relationship is for a couple legal advice following the breakdown a person already owns a property and to have a Cohabitation Agreement. This of the relationship, that she was not allows a new partner to move in with can be of benefit to both sides as it sets legally entitled to any share in the fam- them. In these circumstances, perhaps out who is entitled to what at the end of ily home. Because the property had surprisingly, there are still a number of a cohabiting relationship, removing been purchased in her partner’s name ways in which the non-owning partner much of the bickering and uncertainty and she had not made contributions to could make a claim to a share in the that often follows a split. the mortgage, she was completely property if the relationship ends. The More than that, it can establish what unprotected. most common is by demonstrating a each will contribute during cohabita- Even if she took her case to the Family “beneficial interest” in the home. tion. It can set out who pays what Court, seeking to stay in the family This could be best demonstrated by a towards household expenditure and home for the sake of their children, she signed and witnessed document stating even the specific actions that would would have to leave the property once that the non-owning partner is entitled bring about an end to the relationship. the children reached adulthood. to a particular share in the property. A Drawing up such an agreement may Resolution, a national organisation very well-organised couple might pre- seem unromantic but a Cohabitation which represents lawyers who want to pare such a document in the early days Agreement can offer vital protection to see less confrontation in family law, of living together. Most don’t bother. cohabiting couples. holds details of family lawyers in your Even if there is no document, a claim Almost every couple will sit down area. Visit resolution.org.uk/findamem- can still be made. If the non-owning before moving in together to discuss ber for more information. partner has significantly contributed how they will divide up household bills financially towards the home — by mak- and this is the ideal opportunity to dis- O Graeme Fraser is a partner at OGR ing the mortgage repayments, for exam- cuss drawing up a Cohabitation Agree- Stock Denton and chairs Resolution’s ple — and it can be shown that there was ment. Think of it as being like life cohabitation committee, which works a “joint intention” that this would result insurance or a Will: it is not something to improve the rights of unmarried in them having an interest in the prop- that you would want to use but it offers parents in England and Wales. He is a erty, then this might constitute the both parties important protection if the commentator on cohabitation matters required beneficial interest. worst should happen. and co-author of Cohabitation Claims The extent of that interest could be in However, do not be tempted to draw (2011) and The Modern Family (2012). proportion to the money invested, or it up a Cohabition Agreement yourselves. Email [email protected] 12 WEDNESDAY 31 JANUARY 2018 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property | First-time buyers ALAMY E is for Ebbsfleet: giant initial at the gateway to Kent’s new garden city, right

ROM Milton Keynes to Moscow, the “garden city” concept of creating model Fnew towns has been the main weapon in the battle against housing shortages. The biggest British garden city project currently under way is finally starting to take shape in the Ebbsfleet Valley, a no-man’s-land swathe of North Kent known by many, up to now, only for its international railway station. Over the next 10 to 15 years, however, Ebbsfleet is to become more than a stop between London and Paris. It is being reborn as a significant new town, with 15,000 new homes on brownfield land close to Gravesend. That these homes are desperately

needed is not in doubt, and Ebbsfleet’s CORPORATION EBBSFLEET DEVELOPMENT No ordinary new town

transport links to the capital make it a realistic option for priced-out buyers. Ebbsfleet is being reborn as a garden city with Unfortunately, the early evidence sug- gests that quality housing is in short 15,000 new homes with buyer appeal — once supply. With so much emphasis on the architecture’s right. By Ruth Bloomfield wellbeing and the benefits of good archi- tecture, it is sad to hear dissenting voices within the council and the com- development, comprising more than the affordability of Ebbsfleet homes. munity claiming that the new homes 6,000 homes, a market square, shops, This month Clarion Housing Group is being proposed are deeply unimagina- bars and restaurants, an education launching a tranche of shared-owner- tive, “off the peg” and predictable. campus and an urban park. Almost ship two-bedroom flats at Castle Hill. simultaneously, plans were unveiled for This is one of Ebbsfleet’s new neigh- DON’T SET THE BAR TOO LOW, a £600 million tram system linking bourhoods and as well as homes will TRY FOR SOMETHING BETTER Ebbsfleet to Gravesend and Dartford. have shops, a school, a community Builders such as Barratt, Charles centre and a health centre, along with Church, Countryside, Persimmon, GREAT TRANSPORT LINKS nearby parkland and sports facilities. Clarion and Wimpey can all build better AND AFFORDABLE HOMES Prices for a 35 per cent share of one of and are setting the bar too low, it has This new transport network will the apartments, which come with park- been claimed. Certainly, a major new enhance Ebbsfleet’s already-impressive ing spaces, start at £91,000. Buyers will town deserves homes that are innova- commuter services. Trains to St Pancras need to raise a £4,550 deposit, and as tive and stylish. Questions need to be International take less than 20 minutes, well as mortgage repayments need to asked before it is too late. and those to Stratford take 11 minutes. budget for rent of just over £387 a month Planning permission was granted in An annual season ticket is costly at and service charge of about £169 a December for the largest tranche of the £5,364, but this needs to be set against month. Visit clarionhg.com for more. IT HAS BEEN A SLOW BURN Right now Ebbsfleet’s future prospects are hard to assess. The project was announced in 2014 but recession jitters and a slow planning process meant the new homes have only just started com- ing up for sale. The Ebbsfleet Development Corpora- tion, set up by the Government to over- see the development of what it describes as a “21st-century garden city”, prom- ises not only homes but a “vibrant new commercial centre” with 500,000sq ft of commercial space, an upgraded bus network, and Thames-side walkways. As it is a garden city, there will be seven city parks, along with new

SIMON TAYLOR schools. Derek Hunnisett, chairman of Castle Hill neighbourhood: in Ebbsfleet Garden City, North Kent Enterprise Zone Dartford borough council’s planning EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 31 JANUARY 2018 13 homesandproperty.co.uk powered by First-time buyers | Homes & Property

From £91,000: a 35 per cent share of a two-bedroom apartment at Castle Hill

committee, has complained that the new homes granted planning permis- sion are worryingly workaday. The idea

SIMON TAYLOR with garden cities is that they should be Ambitions: Anna Sewell and Anthony Swinden have exemplars of quality volume house- bought 45 per cent of a three-bedroom Ebbsfleet house building, sustainable and well designed. Hunnisett claims — and the marketing literature put out by the likes of Taylor ‘We’re aiming for full home Wimpey and Barratt suggests he is cor- rect — that Ebbsfleet is getting standard ownership in 10 years’ time’ off-the-peg stuff. ANNA SEWELL, a PA, bought a 45 per cent share of a There are also few details about how three-bedroom house at Castle Hill in Ebbsfleet last Ebbsfleet town centre will develop. The summer with her partner Anthony Swinden, 38, a mix of retailers, quality of restaurants, delivery driver. “It feels wonderful having a home of our pubs, and cafés, and the aesthetics of Amenities: Castle Hill buyers will have own,” says Sewell, 37. “We couldn’t have afforded a the whole area will make or break this new shops, a school and a park nearby home this big if we were buying on the private market. new garden city. A 160ft-tall white horse We plan to increase our share every two years and the designed by artist Mark Wallinger as a for now but hopefully won’t be perma- aim is to own our home outright in 10 years’ time.” “landmark” for Ebbsfleet and nick- nently mothballed on the £2 million cost named the Angel of the South is stalled grounds. A new town needs identity. 14 WEDNESDAY 31 JANUARY 2018 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property | Events

1 2 3

Five things to see in February By Barbara Chandler

1 TIMBER RISING: VERTICAL VISIONS FOR 4 THE CITIES OF TOMORROW February 9 to May 19 at Roca London Gallery, Station Court, Townmead Road, SW6 (020 7610 9503; rocalondongallery.com). Admission free. COULD wood replace concrete and steel for high-rise buildings? Yes, suggests this intriguing show, set in a super-curvy bathroom showroom designed by the late Zaha Hadid. Architects, working closely with scientists and engineers, are experimenting with new “engineered” wood and in particular cross-laminated timber (CLT), similar to plywood but stronger. High- and mid-rise timber structures can, it seems, combine lightness and strength with creativity and decrease stress,” says Hannah sustainability, wellbeing and a human touch. Thistlethwaite, Heal’s senior buyer for home. “Wood is an ancient material that has now So what’s on offer? “Arm knitting” is on become one of the most modern,” says co- February 8 and 18, priced £55 — you make a curator Claire Farrow. Pictured is Waugh chunky throw using no needles, just your arms. Thistleton’s mixed-use block in Dalston Lane, A mindful origami workshop is on February 10, said to be the world’s largest CLT building, with priced £22. Here, you can fold your own 10 storeys and 121 units. symbolic crane for “hope and healing”. A massage-oil workshop is scheduled for 2 SURFACE DESIGN SHOW 2018 February 15, priced £20, while ceramic Feb 6, 6pm-9pm; Feb 7, 11am-9pm and Feb 8, painting, pictured, with Japanese artist Miyu 11am-5pm at Business Design Centre, 52 Upper Kurihana is on February 24, at £25. Finally, Street, Islington N1 (surfacedesignshow.com; 020 make your own terrarium — and learn how to 7288 6475). Show this paper, get in free. look after it — on March 1 for £40. BENEATH the spectacular arched Victorian glass roof are 170 exhibitors of surfaces for the home 5 CRAFT CENTRAL’S WINTER SALE from traditional carpet, rugs and wallcoverings February 10, noon to 6pm and February 11, noon to the latest digitally printed porcelain tiles, with to 5pm at Craft Central, 397-411 Westferry Road, a special gallery for stones from around the E14 (020 7538 0819; craftcentral.org.uk). world. This is a trade show for interior designers CLERKENWELL’S Craft Central complex of and architects, but readers showing this paper at designer makers has moved to the Isle of Dogs, the door get in free. into an intriguing architect-designed wooden On the first “party” evening, RIBA president shell, pictured, within a huge listed industrial Ben Derbyshire will lead a panel of experts to building. They’re having a sale and it’s your debate: “A crisis for the next generation — is chance to explore. Find ceramics, glass, prints, London just for the wealthy?” textiles and fashion/home accessories from 20- 70 per cent off. Take a break at the pop-up café. 3 BRITISH CRAFT: THE MIAMI EDIT Until February 23 at The New Craftsmen, 34 North Row, W1 (020 7148 3190; thenewcraftsmen.com). LAST month The New Craftsmen, together with 5 the Crafts Council, curated a show of British talent for the prestigious Miami Art Week — “a new wave of British making,” says Catherine Lock, creative director of The New Craftsmen. Now she has brought the 10 featured artist- craftsmen to her company’s London gallery. They’re mainly ceramicists, including Phoebe Cummings, recent winner of BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour Craft Prize. Woolwich wood- worker Sebastian Cox has partnered with ceramicist Sue Paraskeva from the Isle of Wight to make a “deconstructed dresser” pictured, with hanging clusters of china. 4 MINDFUL MONTH Heal’s, 196 Tottenham Court Road, W1 (0333 212 1915; heals.com/events) “MINDFUL” is a word that has crept up on us, with varied meanings. “But for us, this February it’s a workshop programme to boost 16 WEDNESDAY 31 JANUARY 2018 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property | Exhibition

Ocean cruising today: above, relaxing space aboard Viking Cruises’ ocean- going Viking Star

Luxurious: left, the sweeping staircase in the grand lobby of Cunard’s Queen Mary 2

Right: The QE2, Cunard’s flagship transatlantic liner from 1969 until 2004, retired in 2008

HE age of the great ocean liner conjures visions of elegant passengers wafting CRAFTED Taround glittering interiors enjoying cocktail hours and lavish cuisine, amid shimmering fabrics 0N A GRAND and stunning decor. A new exhibition Ocean Liners: Speed and Style, at the Victoria & Albert Museum, leads visitors SCALE up the gangplank and right into this exquisite fantasy world. Corinne Julius follows in Co-curator Ghislaine Wood reminds us, however, that these enormous ships the wake of the luxury liner were not built originally for luxury and pleasure, but to carry the huddled style masters at the V&A masses emigrating from Europe to the New World. “No one has ever done a show on the history of liners,” says Woods. “Designed by Casson Mann, we have how to promote a dirty and dangerous posters, by building giant display mod- staged it in the most dramatic scenog- 19th-century form of transport into a els of their ships and by publicising the raphy, with more than 250 objects that glamorous, desirable and aspirational luxury passengers could expect. include wall panels, furniture, textiles, one in the 20th century,” says Wood. National identity and political and fashion and elements of engineering, They did it with striking advertising commercial rivalries were played out demonstrating the amazing craftsman- in the engineering and design of each ship and design of the liners. We cover liner as they became ever more luxuri- so many stories.” ous and competed to complete the fast- est crossings. “There was a real politics FOR MIGRANTS, THEN TROOPS of style,” says Wood. “Ships became AND FINALLY LUXURY LOVERS representatives of national identity.” The exhibition is staged thematically, taking in different epochs in the history From early on the Germans sought to of the liner. Between 1900 and 1914, 11 challenge British maritime power. Their million people emigrated from Europe ships, such as the Kronprinz Wilhelm, to the States. Liners were also used to were baroque with heavy woodwork. service the British empire, transporting The British liners sought a comfortable troops, civil servants and mail. It was Arts and Crafts luxury, typified by the only at the end of the First World War, De Morgan wall tiles that form part of when the US toughened its immigration the exhibition. In the Thirties the French policy, that the liner companies sought went for glamour as in the Grand Salon to develop the luxury market. “The of the Normandie, with its verre églo- problem for the liner companies was misé panels like a floating Palace of Versailles. Huge, sweeping staircases £447: Wagenfeld WG 25 GL table lamp allowed women passengers to glide by Tecnolumen, at Aram Store, WC2 down them in their finest gowns. “With EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 31 JANUARY 2018 17 Exhibition | Homes & Property

government invested heavily in the ship Clockwise from top: first-class pool on with sleek Art Deco to symbolise the SS Normandie, 1935; Wedgwood De glamour and élan of its nation. Morgan tile panel, 1905; chair from the Hitler commissioned two ships to Normandie’s first-class playroom; 1930 show off the skills of German industry. study for a luxury cabin on L’Atlantique Britain’s response, in 1936, was the Queen Mary. Says Wood: “It was a very CRUISE SHIPS FOR TODAY conservative form of ‘modern’, show- Luxury hotel rooms and a ship’s cabins casing the Empire and nicknamed ‘The are both skillfully created to make small Beautiful Ship of Wood’.” In the same spaces seem larger. Thirties on-board year the Orient Line’s Orion was the first furniture was built in and streamlined. British ship to embrace modernism. Today, a snug yet airy Scandinavian feel Post war, the Italians commissioned is popular. Both styles are easy to repli- ships with very contemporary interiors cate and particularly relevant to the including works by Gio Ponti, Fornasetti smaller scale of contemporary homes. and Capogrossi. America came up with Wendy Atkin-Smith, MD of Viking streamlined modernism by top indus- River Cruises, says: “Our ships are made trial designers such as Henry Drefyuss to feel spacious and bright but also won- more than 40 per cent of passengers in and Raymond Loewy, while later, in derfully intimate, so textures of lime- first class, the Normandie presented an 1969, the British produced the QE2, with stone, granite, glass and natural woods extraordinary vision of opulence and interiors by Dennis Lennon. All relied work with handmade textiles and soft grandeur that was unparalleled in the on exceptional craftsmanship to repre- woollen throws to create comfortable, history of liner design.” The French sent national identity. relaxing areas. Scandi-fresh colours take their inspiration from the sea, sky and the earth.” So popular is it, that they’ve Get the liner look even produced a book, Nordic Style. Aram Store, 110 Drury Lane, WC2 Skandium, 86 Marylebone High NVIRONMENTALISTS might (020 7557 7557; aram.co.uk) Street, W1 (020 7935 2077) and 35 criticise the detrimental YOU’LL find a host of Thirties designs Thurloe Place, SW7 (020 3876 2744; impact on ports — with thou- here: Bibendum chair with black skandium.com) Esands of passengers decanted leather seat and chromed tubular SCANDINAVIAN and modernist into a town who have no steel frame, £3,420; Castellar pieces here include a Knoll need to eat or sleep locally — but the adjustable mirror in chromed steel, adjustable chaise longue, modern holiday cruise is, once again, £1,271; Pailla wall/ceiling lamps in £2,111.40, and Le Corbusier’s LC4 a form of mass transportation. The chromed steel, £236; E1027 side chaise in white leather and chromed Cruise Lines International Association table with chromed tubular steel steel, £3,228.30. says 145,000 more Britons took an frame and clear glass top, £580; St ocean cruise, bringing last year’s total Tropez rug in hand-knotted wool, V&A Shop, at the museum in Cromwell to nearly 1.8 million. £2,660; Blue Marine rug in hand- Road, SW7 (vam.ac.uk/shop) knotted wool, £1,665, all by Eileen POSTERS include the Normandie, O Ocean Liners: Speed and Style, at Gray; Thonet S 411 lounge chair in £30, plus there are Matelot print the V&A in SW7 from February 3 until brown leather with chromed frame towels, £40, and the hardback book June 17 (vam.ac.uk/OceanLiners). and natural beech armrests, £2,678. for the exhibition, Ocean Liners, £35. Tickets £18 (concessions available). 18 WEDNESDAY 31 JANUARY 2018 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property | Our home homesandproperty.co.uk

E CAN’T all live in a palace but when it comes to planning the Wurban housing of the future, one grand exam- ple shows us that well-maintained build- ings with flexible units for rent that can appeal to tenants of all ages could be the solution. Build enough of those and many more of us could live like royals. When news of Princess Eugenie’s engagement to long-term boyfriend Jack Brooksbank broke last week, the celebra- tions were much like those enjoyed by any other young couple: there was an engagement ring, albeit a £100,000 pink sapphire sparkler. There were photos of the happy couple. A venue was announc- ned — St George’s Chapel at Windsor, where Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will also marry, in May. So far, so tradi- tional. What nobody mentioned is how far ahead of the trend Eugenie, 28, and wine merchant Jack, 31, will be in making their marital home in a carved-up old house that accommodates an extended, multigenerational family ranging in age from Princess Charlotte at just two years old, to the Duke of Kent at 82. It’s true that Kensington Palace is not your average London estate. But it repre- sents a type of shared accommodation that could be a model for the urban hous- ing of the future.

Eugenie, the Queen’s sixth grandchild, recently moved into Ivy Cottage from the four-bedroom apartment she shared with her sister Beatrice at St James’s Palace. A three-bedroom house adjoining the rear of Kensington Palace, Ivy Cottage is close to two-bedroom Nottingham Cottage, where her cousin Harry and his American actress fiancée Meghan live. Next door to Eugenie is Wren Cottage, home of the Duke and Duchess of Kent. These build- ings are all in a modest two-storey cluster that once housed palace staff. The royal Across a communal courtyard is a much more imposing quadrangle of buildings. This is divided up into what are officially called apartments, but are really more commune like grand terrace houses. Princess Diana once lived in apartments 8 and 9 — now occupied by royal staff — while apartment It’s the poshest ‘public housing’ project in 10 is the three-storey home of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent. Britain. With all these royals at Kensington In the adjoining quadrangle are the larg- est homes in the palace, the 22-room Palace, this is multigenerational living four-storey apartment 1a, formerly the home of Princess Margaret and now ahead of its time, says Marcus Field occupied by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge — who spent £4.5 million on a makeover before they moved in, adding Starter pad: a second kitchen in a don’t move, improve three-bedroom moment — and apartment 1, home to the Ivy Cottage, left, Duke and Duchess of Gloucester. at “KP”, once the Media coverage of this aristocratic home of a palace “commune” is often critical, focusing on maintenance what is seen as the indefensible privilege man, will be the of young or minor royals living in palatial first home for accommodation at taxpayers’ expense. Princess Eugenie Seen from another perspective, the situ- and her fiancé ation not only makes economic sense but Jack Brooksbank. also provides an inspiring picture of flex- The couple will ible, intergenerational housing. be neighbours to Prince Harry and

Kensington Palace, known at the time as PRESSSNOWDON/CAMERA ALAMY/GETTY/PA Meghan Markle Nottingham House, was bought by William III as a country retreat in 1689. Over the and to a sprinkling of retired military men there that she had become queen. In the following century it was greatly enlarged, and staff. The estate had a £12 million face 1880s she was asked by PM Lord Salisbury with leading architects Christopher Wren, lift in 2012. The Historic Royal Palaces to consider selling the palace to cut her Nicholas Hawksmoor and William Kent board called it “waking up a sleeping costs. She said selling any royal home all playing a role in turning it into a palace beauty”. Or was it preparing for a new didn’t look good for the monarchy. to rival Versailles. It soon became the generation of homeless royals? monarch’s principal London home, It was after George III acquired Buck- VICTORIA, WISE AS EVER replacing decaying Whitehall Palace. ingham House (later Palace) in 1761 that This intransigence turned out to be a wise But the State Rooms that occupy the the real age of multi-family occupancy in move, as the use of the palace as a kind parts of the palace visible from Kensing- Kensington began. Several of his 15 chil- of royal commune has saved subsequent ton Gardens are only half the story. dren made homes in carved-out apart- monarchs the exorbitant expense of buy- Behind these formal areas, now open to ments, including the Duke of Kent, father ing London houses for their descendants. the public, lie extensive and more modest to Queen Victoria. Victoria shared a bed- Among Victoria’s own relatives who lived buildings that have long been home to room with her mother at Kensington until at the palace were her cousin Princess members of the extended royal family, the age of 18, when she received news Mary, mother of Queen Mary, and her EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 31 JANUARY 2018 19 powered by Our home | Homes & Property ALAMY PA Shared amenities: Kensington Palace is a royal oasis in the city, its buildings clustered around the Autumn wedding date: Princess Eugenie and wine merchant tranquil, secluded gardens it is famed for, including the ornamental Sunken Garden, planted in 1908 Jack Brooksbank announced their engagement last week SNOWDON/CAMERA PRESS SNOWDON/CAMERA ALAMY

Make oneself at granddaughter, Princess Victoria, grand- is paid to the Queen each year to fund the He started it all: bronze of King William home: above, mother of the Duke of Edinburgh, who royal family’s public duties and upkeep III outside the palace. He bought the Nottingham lived there himself with her before he of their official homes. Critics often refer property in 1689 and greatly expanded it Cottage, the two- married the Queen. to this as taxpayers’ money but it’s a grey bedroom home area: the Crown Estate is owned by the Diana as “KP” — but there are many of Prince Harry THE AUNT HEAP Queen but managed independently, with positive lessons to learn from it. This big and Meghan In the early 20th century the palace 25 per cent of its revenue going to the old house has been in use by the same Markle, far left. became so packed with Victoria’s monarch and the rest to the Treasury. family since 1689. It has proved highly Also living at descendants that Edward VIII called it None of it comes from direct taxation. adaptable over the centuries and has now Kensington “the aunt heap”. But as the older ones divided well into smaller housing units Palace are Prince died and monarchs had fewer children, GENERATION RENT with shared gardens and parking. We do and Princess the number of occupants greatly reduced. Nevertheless, in 2006 it was announced not know what else the residents share. Michael of Kent, And though the likes of Prince Michael of Prince Michael of Kent would begin to Shared facilities make sense — a commu- the Duke and Kent and the Duke of Gloucester are often pay £10,000 a month rent for his Kensing- nal laundry or heating system, maybe, Duchess of referred to as minor royals, they are both ton Palace home. It has also been like a cool co-housing project. Cambridge with grandchildren of a king, George V, and reported that Eugenie, who works for At a time when there is a lot of debate Prince George, therefore have the same status and rights Hauser & Wirth gallery, will pay a market about loneliness in old age and lack of four and Princess to live at the palace as Princess Eugenie. rent for Ivy Cottage; a two-bedroom interaction between generations, let’s Charlotte, two, Other young royals, Lady Helen Taylor house in nearby Palace Gardens Terrace also hope younger royals enjoy mixing and Princess and Freddie Windsor for example, have is on Winkworth’s books for £3,142 a with their older housemates. Maybe they Eugenie, right of had to find their own digs. month. These rents count as supplemen- eat together, or share an Ocado drop. picture, who will When it comes to the economics of tary income to the Sovereign Grant, but There are other ways in which the set-up live there with funding this historic arrangement the are a drop in the ocean compared with is very modern. Eugenie is now part of Jack Brooksbank details are complex. The Queen owns the £17.8 million spent in 2016-17 on main- Generation Rent. Like Prince Michael, as newlyweds Kensington Palace on behalf of the nation, tenance of official royal residences. The she can’t sell her house or treat it as a but costs of maintaining the building State Rooms at Kensington Palace are run profit-making asset. It is in effect a glori- come out of the Sovereign Grant. This is as a separate charity. There will always fied form of public housing, and when the portion of the income from the Crown be carping about royals living at the best the time comes it will be passed on to the Estate — £42.8 million for 2016-17 — that address in London — known by Princess next eligible resident.
20 WEDNESDAY 31 JANUARY 2018 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property | Design

MY STYLE You have to be quite pragmatic about furniture when you live in an old tower block. We once had to chop the legs off a chaise longue to get it in. My girlfriend and I have bought a heap of Ladderax mid-century modular furniture that breaks down into small units, so we could move it up the stairs. Larger cupboards and cabinets won’t fit, but the minimal aesthetic suits the linear and boxy aspect of the building. Of course, leather-based items and projects are infiltrating the flat. It’s important to have natural textures and tones in a brutalist environment to counterbalance the concrete and metal. My father, Fred Ingrams, is a Fenlands landscape painter, so we have a few of his works dotted

around to brighten the place up. ADRIAN LOURIE

Money no object: Otis wants a rosewood and Coolest eatery: Lee Tiernan, above, in his Black MY FAVOURITE POSSESSION LONDON’S BEST LIFESTYLE STORE suede day bed by BassamFellows — combining Axe Mangal “nose-to-tail” Turkish restaurant in N1 I bought a set of antique leather stitching SCP in Shoreditch has a great selection of “austerity and extravagance” — for £11,000 Talented designer: fabrics from Carmen Machado, tools on eBay, stamped “Beech and Pond 106 furniture and lighting. I bought a Tala Voronoi above right. At home: above far right, Dusk by Fred Old Street”, which on researching turned out to light from there that Joe Armitage designed for Ingrams. Otis has several of his father’s landscapes be an ironmongers on Old Street from 1870- them. It looks great and lasts 15 times longer 1924. There seemed something serendipitous than a normal bulb. about me finding them, as a leatherworker in east London 100 years later. They’re beautiful FAVOURITE LONDON LANDMARK objects and I use them most days. I am always slightly in awe of the Barbican, simply because of the scale and the Utopian MONEY NO OBJECT realisation of having a functioning town within I tend to have phases of obsession when it the City. The Battle of Ideas festival every year comes to designs and objects. At the moment I there is incredible, especially the debates in the am particularly fond of a BassamFellows tropical hanging gardens. suede day bed. It’s pretty perfect in my eyes. I love the combination of its austerity and COOLEST RESTAURANT extravagance: rich colour and texture from the Some of my favourite meals have been at Black rosewood and tan suede, yet such a simple Axe Mangal in Highbury Corner. Run by Lee form. It would cost about £11,000 . Tiernan who worked at St. John, the famous Smithfield restaurant, for 10 years, it combines MOST TALENTED NEW DESIGNER Turkish open grilling, Anatolian flavours with Carmen Machado has produced amazing nose-to-tail eating. A huge, wood-fired oven over textiles for seating, made from pieces of plastic the counter makes incredible flatbreads. The ghost fishing nets that float around in the ocean menu is always stuffed with amazing dishes and wreaking havoc. They are beautiful and playful, the great cocktails, combined with the sound- unlike the dreadful plastic plaguing our seas. track of heavy metal, are always a brilliant mix. My design London OTIS INGRAMS LEATHERWORKER

ESIGNER Otis Ingrams, 28, grand- son of Private Eye Dand The Oldie founder, Richard Ingrams, was apprenticed to revered leather craftsman Bill Amberg and now has his own East End workshop. He has just published his first book, LeatherWorks: Traditional Craft for Modern Living (Jacqui Small, £20). MY HOME I live in a tower block on a Fifties estate near Hoxton station. It’s surprisingly quiet despite the bustle of Kingsland Road below. We’re on the seventh of 15 floors and have wonderful views across the city. The balcony faces west so it’s beautiful to watch the sunset over London and see silhouettes of all the buildings, which makes me realise how rich and architecturally diverse the city is, from the Wren churches to the Gherkin. It turns out one of my great- grandfathers, a metalworker, used to bare-knuckle box in Hoxton Square. Perhaps some chancy hipster will try to reinvigorate this tradition. By Katie Law 22 WEDNESDAY 31 JANUARY 2018 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property | Outdoors

LIMBING plants are made for the city. They take up barely any ground space Reach for but deliver dollops of sky-high drama. CThe urban outdoors is dominated by fences, walls and railings begging to the sky be softened with twining stems, colourful flowers and delicious scent. The smaller your space, the more intense the fragrance, especially Climbers perfume and paint from climbers near a seating area or a window where it can waft inside. space-starved city gardens Now’s the time to dream of jasmine over doorways, roses nodding by the bedroom window and honeysuckle over a garden arch. Alex Many, like star jasmine and clematis “Pixie”, grow well in pots. Others, such as wisteria, like Mitchell to spread their glory over a large house front. From neat and tidy to sprawling and romantic, there are scent-sational climbers for every spot.

If you want to cover a large, unsightly wall or fence, bring out the big guns. Try clematis montana, which will quickly cover it in clouds of fragrant white spring flowers. For an evergreen alternative, clematis armandii will soon do the job, too, filling the air with almond scent. And there is little more romantic than a wisteria floribunda “Multijuga” or “Shiro-kapitan” trained up and along the top of a garden wall — your neighbours will love you for it. Got an ugly shed or outbuilding you want to cover? A common jasmine — jasminum officinale

MARIANNE MAJERUS — will swiftly blanket it with soft, white, fragrant “Phenomenal scent”: rose Madame Grégoire stars. A large, sunny garden or house wall looks Staechelin, tipped by top designer Jo Thompson resplendent covered with a climbing or rambling MARIANNE MAJERUS Glorious kerb appeal: wisteria round the door and “White Triumphator” tulips in a London front garden

rose. Chelsea Gold-winning designer Jo And what could be more relaxing than lying Thompson recommends Alister Stella Gray, back in a swingseat beneath pale pink, thornless Cécile Brunner and Sanders’ White rambler. rose Kathleen Harrop? Another bionic scrambler over a sunny wall is If you have a tiny courtyard or a balcony with clematis rehderiana, with pale lemon tubular pots, go for star jasmine, chocolate vine, flowers. On north-facing walls and fences try “Rhubarb and Custard” honeysuckle and honeysuckle “Belgica” or “Serotina”, Madame evergreen clematis “Pixie”. Shelter and warm Alfred Carrière rose, or Purple Skyliner rose. walls strengthen their scent. And don’t forget A romantic way to grow a scented climber is sweetpeas, to grow up obelisks in flower beds or through an existing tree where it combines with large pots. Try Sarah Raven for a fabulous array spring blossom or creates another moment of of seeds from sultry dark shades to cheerful drama later in the year. Try clematis montana or pinks and purples and start sowing them now on flammula, honeysuckle or a rose such as Paul’s an inside windowsill. The only way is up. Himalayan Musk. If neat, compact and controlled is your style, O Sweetpeas: sarahraven.com go for star jasmine. Keep it clipped tightly back O Roses: davidaustinroses.co.uk; classicroses.co.uk to the wall with a shear after flowering and it will O Clematis: thorncroftclematis.co.uk create a neat panel of glossy, evergreen leaves O Arches and obelisks: gardentrading.co.uk and sweet-scented, white, star-shaped flowers. O Commission Jo Thompson: jothompson- Plant it either side of a front door or as a stylish garden-design.co.uk backdrop to a dining area.

Looser and more romantic is a garden arch — or two. Try Garden Trading’s Barrington Rose Arch, £125, planted with a climbing rose on one side and a honeysuckle and common jasmine on the other. With pergolas, flowers that hang down let you see and smell them up close, such as akebia quinata or chocolate vine, with small, vanilla-scented, maroon flowers. Another stunner is almond-scented, purple-and-white clematis triternata Rubromarginata. Jo Thompson’s pergola tip is the rose Adélaïde d’Orléans, with “beautiful clusters of loose

white-ish pink flowers tumbling down”. She also MARIANNE MAJERUS loves the “phenomenal scent” and “big, droopy Roses overhead: swingseat from sittingspiritually. flowers” of Madame Grégoire Staechelin roses. co.uk. Birdbath, Sarah Walton (sarahwalton.co.uk) 24 WEDNESDAY 31 JANUARY 2018 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property | Reader offers Alison Venetian-inspired Cork statement mirror

LIFT your home with the stunning Venetian-inspired Criterion mirror Cosy bedspread in from Alison’s Marketplace. This statement piece measures a classic neutral hue generous 174cm x 85cm with its double-bevelled edge and silver STAY warm through winter and outline. Hang it either portrait- or spring with this gorgeous, ultra-soft landscape-style in a bedroom, cotton Athens bedspread in a minky living room or bathroom with the hue, featuring scalloped edging and two fixings on the back. an intricate design. It comes with up Available for £145 — that’s £31.99 to two matching decorative pillow less than the normal price. Visit covers. Available in single size for £59 alisonathome.com/marketplace or (RRP: £89), double, £79 (RRP: £109) call 020 7087 2900 and quote and king size, at £99 (RRP: £129). ESBN311 before February 6 to To claim free delivery, visit receive free delivery. Look online alisonathome.com/marketplace or for product code YC086. call 020 7087 2900 and quote ESBN311 by February 6. BargainBargrgaggaain nenewnewsewe s

Banish hard water at home Perfect cutlery gift MANY London homes suffer from hard water a thing of the past and ENJOY fine dining with the Stellar hard water problems and the protect your home for the future. Rochester 58-Piece Gift Box Set, common effects include limescale on An astonishing 95 per cent of available for only £180. Made from surfaces, clogged shower heads and people who take the three-month high-grade 18/10 stainless steel with a inefficient appliances. If you have Harvey Water Softener trial keep the lifetime guarantee, this fabulous purchased household items over device. Now you can try it for cutlery set offers six place settings, Christmas, a Harvey Water Softener yourself by visiting harvey.co.uk or with table knives and forks; dessert Retro dining set with cool Scandi styling can make them last longer. Make calling 01483 924033. knives, forks and spoons; soup spoons; teaspoons and two FOR contemporary dining furniture 136cm. Perfect as a kitchen or open- generously sized serving spoons. with style, look no further than the plan set, the Dansk is ideal for homes ■ The companies listed here are wholly independent of the Evening Standard. A 44-piece set is also available, Dansk extendable dining set from where space is at a premium. Get Care is taken to establish that they are bona fide but we recommend that you priced just £157. British furniture designer Out & Out £200 off the Dansk with code carry out your own checks prior to purchases and use a credit card where Get free delivery when you quote Original. Available in white or grey, “Scandi299”, reducing the price possible. To offer feedback on any of these companies, email homesand ESBN311 before February 6 at this compact dining set comes with from £499 to £299 with free two-man [email protected] with “Bargain News” in the subject line. For more alisonathome.com/marketplace or four retro-style chairs and a smart delivery. Visit outandout.com or call bargains, visit alisonathome.com or homesandproperty.co.uk/offers call 020 7087 2900 to order. 106cm oak table that extends to 020 3772 8752 by February 21 to claim. 26 WEDNESDAY 31 JANUARY 2018 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property | Property searching

Off Blackhorse Lane: Niall McCart at Retrospective Scooters Spotlight on Walthamstow Young families are flocking to E17’s great schools, good-value homes with gardens, village shops and green spaces, says Anthea Masey

NLY in Walthamstow would of E17 almost as popular as Waltham- you find a firm of estate In Walthamstow stow Village. “Walthamstow is chang- agents who ride around on ing,” says Goad. “I have lived here all Obranded bikes. Waltham- today Rightmove has my life and the demographic is getting stow is so hip that locals younger. The older generation is retir- call it #awesomestow. It’s also where 503 homes to BUY ing and moving to Essex and people in young Stoke Newington and Hackney and 428 to RENT their mid-twenties and early thirties families come looking for good primary are moving in, followed closely by bet- schools and a house with a garden. ter pubs, restaurants and independent Not so long ago, buyers were only shops.” interested in Walthamstow Village a Walthamstow is 12 miles from central short walk east of the town centre, with London with Chingford to the north; its ancient church, quaint almshouses, Epping Forest and Woodford to the a fine medieval timber-frame house, east; Leyton and Leytonstone to the streets of pretty cottages and Orford south and the Lea Valley and Totten- Road’s independent shops. The rest of the estate agents with the branded ham to the west. Walthamstow was considered rough bikes. The restoration of Lloyd Park It’s in Zone 3 — but the Victoria line around the edges. and the William Morris Gallery six whisks commuters to the West End in These days it has caught up, says years ago, coupled with some excellent no time and there are trains to Liver- Andrew Goad from The Stow Brothers, primary schools, have made this part pool Street for the City.

The maker revolution: at Blackhorse TRAVEL Workshop, far left, you can build or fix items WALTHAMSTOW Central and from bikes to Blackhorse Road stations are at one furniture with end of the Victoria line so a seat in the help on hand morning rush hour is pretty much from skilled guaranteed. There are trains to technicians, Liverpool Street from Wood Street, grow your own Walthamstow Central and St James start-up business Street, while Blackhorse Road and or do a DIY Walthamstow Queen’s Road are on the course Overground Gospel Oak to Barking line. Wood Street is in Zone 4 and an annual travelcard to Zone 1 costs £1,960. All other stations are in Zone 3 and an annual travelcard costs £1,600. Photographs: Daniel Lynch EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 31 JANUARY 2018 27 homesandproperty.co.uk powered by Property searching | Homes & Property

Far left: Gareth homesandproperty.co.uk powered by Reid, founder of Wood Street Coffee, at its new pop-up opposite Blackhorse Road station. It has a STATS CHECK full evening bar WHAT HOMES COST with local Wild BUYING IN WALTHAMSTOW Card craft beer (Average prices) One-bedroom flat £310,000 Left: the retail Two-bedroom flat £387,000 mix in Two-bedroom house £524,000 Walthamstow Three-bedroom house High Street is £576,000 broad, while a Four-bedroom house £712,000 £3million council Source: Rightmove face lift includes RENTING IN WALTHAMSTOW bike stands and (Average rates per month) quality paving One-bedroom flat £1,134 Two-bedroom flat £1,384 Two-bedroom house £1,512 Three-bedroom house £1,772 Four-bedroom house £2,077 Source: Rightmove Right: Walthamstow is blessed with FOR MORE, VISIT plenty of open space including homesandproperty.co.uk Europe’s largest O Use our School Checker to find urban wetlands catchment areas and inspection reports for local schools O The best Walthamstow shops and restaurants THE PROPERTY SCENE O Local arts, leisure and sport O Walthamstow’s best streets — and up-and-coming spots to watch HOUSING stock in Walthamstow is Marlowe Road Estate, where the Ever so sweet: mainly Victorian and Edwardian. A council and developer Countryside Cassie Payne, particular feature of the area are are demolishing 338 homes and manager at Local Victorian “Warner” purpose-built building 436 new ones, with 246 for Honey Man in flats. They look like terrace houses private sale, 150 for social rent and Sutherland Road. but have two front doors — one for 40 for shared ownership. The first It produces five the upstairs flat and one for the residents move in this summer and varieties of raw downstairs flat — and each flat has its the scheme will complete by the end honey and five HAVE YOUR SAY: own garden. of 2024. From £371,000 for a one- types of Warner flats can be found bedroom flat. Call 020 3909 7088. naturally infused WALTHAMSTOW throughout Walthamstow but there is Eclipse is a Taylor Wimpey scheme honey, all from a concentration near Lloyd Park. of 499 one-, two- and three-bedroom hives in LOCALS TWEET THEIR TIPS There are new flats in the town flats in Blackhorse Lane. There are 91 Walthamstow, centre and the regenerating now being sold off-plan, with people Hackney Wick, @SarahlProudfoot Blackhorse = Blackhorse Lane area. moving in at the end of the year. From Haggerston and E17’s worst-kept secret: the Wetlands, £446,000 for a two-bedroom flat. Call Chingford Blackhorse Workshop courses & ■ NEW-BUILD HOMES 020 3780 3096. coffee, Lockwood Wild Card Brewery, Plans for 500 new homes and a Eclipse lies within the scope of the ■ AFFORDABLE HOMES ■ WHO RENTS HERE? Blackhorse Lane Ateliers denim redesigned town centre got the green Blackhorse Lane Area Action Plan, Help to Buy is available at Feature17 Nathan Barrow, lettings manager at light before Christmas. Developer where there are plans for a creative (as before) and there are 18 shared- The Stow Brothers, says single @Mbilla_Arts @Inky_Cuttlefish Capital & Regional, which owns the industries zone and up to 2,500 new ownership flats in the current phase. professionals, couples and families printmaking studio, courses & fine art shopping centre, proposes to build homes. Legal & General is building Call Redloft on 020 7539 3745. Help rent locally and homes close to the for sale; @GnomeHouseCIC music, four tower blocks, including one of 29 440 flats at Blackhorse Mills for to Buy is also available at Gainsford station are prized. The two-bedroom drama and dance workshops 4 all storeys that will be the tallest in private rent, while Telford Homes Road E17, with 45 one-bedroom flats Warner flats near Lloyd Park rent very ages; + new kid on the block Waltham Forest by 14 storeys. Critics has permission for 337 new homes at south of Forest Road by micro flat easily at about £1,500 a month. Fizzy @armstrong_audio cafe, great coffee objected to there being only 20 per Equipment Works in Forest Road, specialist Pocket Living, which claims Living has acquired a block of 100 flats & friendly welcome from Shamil cent affordable homes. and Transport for London, Barratt to sell at a 20 per cent discount to near Blackhorse Road Tube station In the Wood Street area, Feature17 Homes and housing association L&Q similar local homes. Prices start at and Legal & General plans 440 flats, @EleanorL1 Bell Corner for is the new name of the regenerating plan 350 homes opposite the station. £264,000. Call 020 8012 7829. also for private rent, in the same area. @WMGallery @buhlerandco @ ItalianDeliE17 Lloyd Park and enjoy café’s Star breakfast — it’s great

@DebsHewitt The playgroups, the parks, the cafés, co-working spaces, wetlands, community, culture and neighbourhood spirit. It’s a great place to live and bring up a family

@We_R_HighamHill Brunch by @ woodstcoffee in the @BlackhorseWS followed by a walk in @E17Wetlands

£775,000 £1.1 MILLION £675,000 £450,000 @TobyBrundin A FOUR-BEDROOM house in Somerset NEAR Wood Street station, this smart WITH off-street parking, this four- A TWO-BEDROOM flat in a Victorian 1. 5* homemade Vietnamese Hoa Road, E17, close to Walthamstow four-bedroom house is in Walthamstow bedroom house is in Forest View Road, house in Grosvenor Park Rd. Through Phuong, Hampton St Village. Portico (020 8012 1366). Village. Call Foxtons (020 3858 3226). E17. Through Foxtons (020 3858 3226). The Stow Brothers (020 8012 4768). 2. Great coffee, fresh juice & empanadas at @LaChaticaUK 3. Top grub and beer at The Beehive, Carter Street To find a home in Walthamstow, visit 4. Home-made nan bread at E. Street rightmove.co.uk Market For more about Walthamstow, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/walthamstow 5. 24hr Caribbean from Ossie’s 28 WEDNESDAY 31 JANUARY 2018 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property | Ask the expert Surely 100-year-old rules don’t apply now?

Fiona WHAT’S MY BOYFRIEND and I have been living YOUR together for a while in his flat. He now has a McNulty PROBLEM? Qbuyer so we would like to buy a house IF YOU have a together. We are both going to put money OUR LAWYER ANSWERS question for into the house and have the mortgage and house in YOUR QUESTIONS Fiona McNulty, our joint names. As we are not married, is there please email anything else we should think about doing? My Dad I AM buying a semi- legalsolutions@ keeps talking about me being sure to protect my detached house that has a standard.co.uk interests. Qnumber of restrictive or write to Legal covenants dating back Solutions, Homes IF YOU both pay the same towards the deposit nearly 100 years. I want to build & Property, and monthly mortgage instalments, it would an extension but I think these London Evening Aseem fair to hold the property in equal shares. restrictions could stop me. What Standard, 2 Derry However, should one of you pay a greater amount options are there to remove these Street, W8 5EE. towards the purchase price than the other you may wish covenants? And what happens if I We regret that to have unequal shares in the house — for example, shares build the extension anyway (with questions cannot of 60-40 per cent — in which case you need to hold the planning permission) and it is be answered property as tenants in common. later discovered I have breached individually, but It is usual for co-owners who are not married or in a civil the covenants? we will try to partnership to hold the property in this way. It means that I can see why these covenants feature them on death, the individual’s share will pass under the terms might have had some purpose all here. Fiona of their Will or under the rules of intestacy and does not those years ago but they have no McNulty is a automatically pass to the surviving co-owner. The function today. solicitor position is different if you hold the property as joint specialising tenants. THE age of the restrictive in residential Furthermore, if you hold as tenants in common you can covenants is irrelevant. If property. have a written declaration of trust setting out your shares A they are enforceable and you in the property, responsibility for outgoings, procedures breach them, then the application can be made to the Upper restrictive covenants seeking to to follow if one of you wishes to sell their share, and so on. person who owns the land that Tribunal (Lands Chamber) for the enforce them. Before putting such A restriction should be registered against the property at benefits from those covenants could restrictive covenants to be insurance in place no approach can HM Land Registry to indicate there is a tenancy in apply for a court order requiring discharged or modified. You might be made to whoever benefits from common, you should each make Wills and consider you to remove the extension and be able to argue that the covenants the covenants — and therefore you having a Cohabitation Agreement. pay compensation. are obsolete or unreasonable — but won’t get a chance to strike a deal — If the owner can be identified, it this can be a costly process. as indemnity insurance is unlikely to More legal O These answers can only be a very brief commentary on may be possible to negotiate a release Another possibility is indemnity be available in that case because Q&As the issues raised and should not be relied on as legal advice. or modification of the restrictive insurance covering the risk of the notice would have been given of a Visit: homesand No liability is accepted for such reliance. If you have similar covenants. Alternatively, an person having the benefit of the possible future breach. property.co.uk issues, you should obtain advice from a solicitor. 30 WEDNESDAY 31 JANUARY 2018 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property | Letting on

VERY so often you get a £2,400 a month: tenant who you just can’t a three-bedroom please, no matter how hard Frosty woman flat in Blackhorse Eyou try. When that happens Lane, E17, less it’s best to cut your losses than 20 minutes and give them the option to break from central their lease and leave. London, is My friend had a tenant who asked just won’t thaw available to rent her, within hours of moving into a unfurnished period cottage, to replace all the through Fizzy original timber windows with Living (020 8607 modern double-glazed units. 0555). Of course, the tenant was aware A tenant demands double-glazing, sends a bill for the windows were single-glazed when she agreed to rent the place, draught excluders and still says she’s cold. There’s and she had been shown a copy of no pleasing some folk, says Victoria Whitlock the Energy Performance Certificate, so she knew before she signed the lease roughly how much it would applying for a newly reintroduced cost to heat. The Green Deal loan, provided by energy Nevertheless, she complained that companies to cover the cost of the house was cold, so she emailed installing double glazing. However, my friend a list of demands which accidental the property wasn’t eligible because included adding more loft and the cost of new windows would have cavity wall insulation, in addition to landlord far outweighed the energy saving. replacing all the windows. My friend contacted her local council to see if she was obliged to She also sent her a bill for several idea of living in a chocolate-box go along with the tenant’s demands hundred pounds-worth of draught character cottage, you have to and was alarmed to hear that the excluders that she’d bought before accept that from November to March tenant had gone behind her back she moved in and without consult- you’ll be wearing your overcoat and made an official complaint to ing my friend, and she warned her indoors. them. Fortunately, the council that she expected her to pay for accepted that my friend had done thicker curtains and other heat- From this April, the Government is everything she could to make the saving measures. Unless the introducing a minimum E energy cottage as warm as possible and the windows were replaced and the performance rating for all rental complaint was never followed up. £550 a week: a two-double bedroom first-floor flat in Hamlet Gardens, insulation was improved, said the homes. Landlords with properties Hammersmith, furnished and with an eat-in kitchen plus a parking permit, is tenant, she would move out. that fall below this will have to make The tenant then threatened to reduce available to rent through Hamptons International (020 3151 7531) My friend paid for the draught- improvements before they can re-let her rent to compensate her for the proofing and added more loft them, but my friend’s cottage is fact that she would need to spend There’s now an elderly gent living in O Victoria Whitlock lets four insulation, but replacing all the already above standard. more than she had budgeted on her the cottage. He hasn’t complained properties in south London. windows simply wasn’t affordable. Nevertheless, just to keep her energy bills. At that point, given the once of being cold. In fact, he says he To contact Victoria with your ideas Get real. If you fall in love with the tenant happy she looked into option to leave, the woman did. loves the place. and views, tweet @vicwhitlock 32 WEDNESDAY 31 JANUARY 2018 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property | Inside story Diary of Great pubs an estate clinch it for agent downsizers MONDAY can offer a similar service to me, so it’s them, and today we are hosting a buyer As soon as my alarm goes off I am up imperative that I build long-standing networking event for a new develop- checking my emails and messages. It’s and trusted relationships. Later in the ment in central London. lucky I am a morning person — because day I receive a call from a client offering The event is a tremendous success a lot of my clients, buyers and col- on two apartments in Canary Wharf, for the team, and our client at the leagues will already be halfway through following viewings last week. I quickly development is really happy with the their working day on other side of the put forward the offer to the developer, result. world. who accepts — it’s my first deal of the At the weekly Monday sales and week. FRIDAY development consultancy team meet- The weekly team quiz is a Friday morn- ing we catch up on the previous week’s WEDNESDAY ing fixture, and it always puts everyone activities and plan the week ahead. Battersea is the location for my site visit in a great mood. Then it’s back to my Then it’s on with the job. This after- first thing today. It’s great to get a feel desk to follow up with the prospective noon I’m dashing off to a viewing with for the area as regeneration progresses, buyers I met at yesterday’s networking an American client who likes the flat I and every time I visit I see something event. show him in Southbank but needs to new here. Then it’s off to a viewing with While booking the follow-up viewings speak to his wife about it, so we arrange a couple who are retiring and looking into my diary for next week, I get a call a second viewing for next Monday. to downsize. I show them a beautiful from the couple who looked at the two-bedroom apartment in west Lon- downsizer apartment on Wednesday. TUESDAY don, which they seem to love. It is They put in an offer, which is immedi- First thing, I meet with a new business located on the river, so it’s perfect for ately accepted by client. Everyone associate who has some clients looking long walks and great scenery — not to involved is thrilled — particularly the to buy a home in London. We run mention some of the best pubs the buyers, who are really excited about through the residential development capital has to offer. the next chapter of their lives. It’s a portfolio and focus on the schemes his great end to the week. clients might be interested in viewing. THURSDAY I really enjoy meeting other profession- Meeting the buyers looking to purchase O Elina Doviborova is a sales als and building relationships with property in London is just as important negotiator with CBRE based in the them. There are plenty of people who as having the bricks and mortar to offer West End (020 7420 3016). 34 WEDNESDAY 31 JANUARY 2018 EVENING STANDARD Homes & Property | New homes By David Spittles SmartSmartmoSSmSmamartmartmmarartmoaartrt moo Croydon: the city IT CAN be quicker getting to your workplace in London ROYDON has a spring in its from a home counties com- step after the go-ahead for muter town than from a a sparkling £1.4 billion Looking for a Zone 3 or 4 address. CWestfield shopping centre. new-build home? Woking is one such spot, The local council has a top 10 commuter town announced plans for 9,500 new Start your search based on average property homes and is trumpeting Croydon as price, rail fares and London’s “third city” after the West on journey time to London, End and Square Mile — a key business boosting its popularity, location on the edge of the capital, according to a commuting Complete village with with 27 trains an hour into the centre guide by estate agent Yopa. and a through-the-night rail service to With a 25-minute train a super-fast commute Gatwick airport. service to Waterloo, it’s no With the town’s commercial heart surprise that Woking is minutes’ walk from the getting sorted, residential developers among the South-East’s heart of picturesque West are stepping forward, spotting a gap and will be crowned by a rooftop sky busiest commuter stations. End village near Woking, in the market for smart flats with garden. There will be a residents’ New apartment schemes The Maltings, above and “lifestyle extras” such as concierge, private dining room and, at ground have pepped up the town top, is a scheme of 57 secure parking, gym, private cinema level, a hotel-style foyer and a wifi- centre, bringing cafés, houses with a traditional and on-site café. enabled co-working space or business bars, an arts complex and style set in 12 tranquil Croydon came of age in the Sixties, lounge. From £350,000, with low- other amenities that are acres. The village has a when concrete ruled, and Leon deposit Help to Buy available. Call attracting London-bound primary and a secondary House, right, is one of the finest Countrywide on 020 8689 9434. professionals, yet the school, a church and a surviving examples of mid 20th- surrounding Surrey noted gastropub. Prices century modernist architecture. The From £350,000: right and far right, countryside is the favourite from £569,950. Call Savills former office tower is undergoing a flats with sky garden and co-working with families. A few on 01483 796810. sensitive conversion into 263 flats, space at Leon House in Croydon EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 31 JANUARY 2018 35 homesandproperty.co.uk powered by New homes | Homes & Property

From £799,000: new four-bedroom townhouses with private gardens at Elm Park Gardens, SW2 PRICED out of the market both in the throes of a TOWNHOUSES in Brixton? You are not makeover. Into this IN BRIXTON AT alone. Many can no longer Victorian streetscape have afford a home close to been slotted six new four- FAMILY-FRIENDLY Brixton Market and the bedroom townhouses, PRICES Victoria line. But head just above, affordable for up the hill towards second steppers who are Streatham and you’ll find moving to achieve more Elm Park Gardens, family space. Prices from halfway between the two £799,000. Call Pedder on town centres which are 020 7738 6839.