Wednesday 14 October 2020

ON TREND, IN STYLE Sustainable cane and rattan: Page 24

Sales soar in the super suburbs Buyers flock to a safe haven PAGE 18 ALAMY

homesandproperty.co.uk BEST LIFESTYLE NEWS SITE Winner 2020 18 WEDNESDAY 14 OCTOBER 2020 EVENING STANDARD Homes Property | Super suburbs

Sales in super ALAMY suburbs soar propelled by stamp duty holiday As Covid continues to cloud our lives buyers play safe in ‘village’ retreats. By Anna White

WICE as many homes have sold in Above right: London “super suburbs” as in the the Thames at rest of the capital since the intro- Twickenham, one of duction of the stamp duty holiday the top five London in July. Covid anxieties are driving suburbs for house Tbuyers to the leafiest villages in their search price growth this for a period home with a garden near good year schools, plenty of parkland and a bustling Right: Royal high street. Well-heeled families usually Exchange in family drawn to exclusive central London are also favourite Kingston, switching to the super ’burbs to find more where one-bedroom indoor and outdoor space. flats are priced from New data from Hamptons International £575,500 and shows the number of people who registered two-bedroom flats to buy in prime central London was up 12 start at £723,500. per cent this summer following the Chan- Call 020 3944 0193 cellor’s tax break, compared to 31 per cent for details in the super suburbs. “Buyers tell us they want to stay in the capital and yet enjoy what feels like village life,” says analyst David Fell of Hamptons International. Highgate, Chiswick, Wimbledon, Putney, Kew and ham. Prices fell in the more urban of these buy in the home counties, freeing up family even Balham are on the list. areas, namely Hackney (-0.9pc) and Canary homes for those upsizing but determined MONEY MAKERS Property prices reflect the popularity of Wharf (-1.6pc). Values also went down in to stay in the capital and close to work. The top 5 super ’burbs by annual house price growth 2020 search areas. The average value in the super Clapham (-1.2pc), already deemed to be “Since the property sector reopened in ’burbs is £865,000 according to Hamptons, pricey compared to Balham, and Petersham May, London’s prime suburbs have been Average Average Profit in price growth price 2020 versus a London average of £619,000. (-1.3pc) where there is typically slower turn- some of the capital’s busiest markets,” says In the last 12 months prices have jumped over of stock. David Fell. “Here, more than twice as many 1 Balham 7.4% £875,000 £293,000 in 16 out of 20 of these “villages”, rising most There is market momentum in these leafy homes came on to the market in comparison 2 Banstead 7.1% £1,002,000 £229,000 steeply in Balham, by 7.4 per cent, followed enclaves. Those already living in the outer to September last year, with those living in 3 Kingston 6.9% £746,000 £250,000 by Banstead, Kingston, Kew and Twicken- super ’burbs are more likely to cash in and prime suburbs more likely than anyone else 4 Kew 6.2% £893,000 £279,000 to move out of London altogether. 5 Twickenham 5.8% £884,000 £334,000 “Equally, buyer numbers are up by a third, Source: Hamptons International driven both by people looking to trade up within the capital alongside inward migra- tion from prime central London. The super ’burbs have been one of the biggest winners from the stamp duty holiday. With average prices of £865,000, almost all buyers here have enjoyed the full £15,000 saving.” SEARCHES SPURRED BY LOCKDOWN South-west London estate agent Rampton £600,000: a three-bedroom £750,000: a three-bedroom Baseley has recorded twice as many sales flat in Twickenham. Call flat with garden in Balham. over June to September compared to 2019. Knight Frank (020 4502 8066) Call Savills (020 8673 4111) “The fundamentals of the market did not change during the lockdown,” says founder Patrick Rampton. “People did not stop get- in the likes of Kingston or Barnes. West ting married, having children or getting Ewell, on the cusp of Greater London and divorced. In fact, the lockdown was like an HOMES & Surrey, also qualifies as a super ’burb, where extended version of the Boxing Day blues, PROPERTY the average house price is £489,000. where people are stuck at home looking at The most expensive of the super ’burbs is new homes on the internet. When the mar- ONLINE Hampstead, where the average house price ket reopened these people saw a window to Visit our is £1,513,000. move before Covid Part Two potentially “The market has shifted again in the last strikes this winter.” award-winning month as people start to put their homes on The most affordable of the super ’burbs is website at the market speculatively, aware that prices Canary Wharf, with average house prices of homesand are rising for now,” adds Patrick Rampton. £477,000, although residential stock in the “This means more stock for the same num- business district is dominated by apartments property.co.uk ber of buyers — but the sensibly priced and does not have the family scene on offer homes are still selling.” EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 14 OCTOBER 2020 19 homesandproperty.co.uk powered by Property searching | Homes Property Neighbourhoods you never thought of living in: walk the path of discovery

From £795,999: David Spittles left, apartments at Highstone House, completes his Manor Wood Gate, Enfield, search for new within walking distance of homes along the Tube. By Shanly Homes London Outer (01494 683917) Prices from Orbital Path £240,000: below left and right, homes at HE third and final part of Beam Park. This our home search of the 3,000-home new London Outer Orbital Path neighbourhood in — the Loop — on behalf of Rainham, post-lockdown buyers Havering, is Tseeking more space and greenery, getting a new takes us from Cockfosters to Purfleet, station with trains through coveted north and east to the City. Call London suburbs before reaching the 020 3733 1592 raw beauty of the Thames Estuary marshlands. Close to Hertfordshire, on the edge of the green belt, Cockfosters and its prosperous neighbour, , form a hinge between town and country, with several renowned golf courses including one with a Georgian clubhouse set on a hill surrounded by parkland. Highstone House is a traditional- looking scheme of flats in gated

grounds, halfway between the two HAMPSON TOM locations. Prices start at £795,999. Call Shanly Homes on 01494 683917. Purfleet is a key part of the Thames Nearby was a Tudor Gateway development zone hunting ground and is now a smart stretching from Docklands to Tilbury. new address. The 413-acre estate’s It has a big freight terminal but the listed mansion is surrounded by town is a conservation area, too, with nature trails, bike paths, lakes, a military garrison that’s a scheduled woodland and a wildlife sanctuary. Ancient Monument. A £1 billion town Developer Berkeley Homes is centre regeneration has the green building clusters of semis and light from Thurrock council. This will detached houses plus new apartment bring 2,850 new homes, a new train blocks in 56 acres of private grounds, station, two schools and one of while older structures including a Europe’s biggest media villages. former dairy are being converted. A giant coup for the area is the There’s a gym within the original relocation of the Royal Opera House orangery, an outdoor swimming pool, set production workshop and tennis courts and a courtesy shuttle costume centre. Other arty bus to Oakwood Tube station, which GO FOR THE GREENERY on 020 3930 2690. Foreign exchange connected, via the Great Eastern organisations, such as Acme Studios, has 26-minute trains to King’s Cross The Loop continues on to the broker Jamie Monk, 26, works at main line and Central and District which provides affordable workspace on the . suburban strongholds of Chingford Canary Wharf. “I loved the idea of line Tube. for artists, have followed. Prices from £565,000 to £1,995,000. and Chigwell, with giant green “back being surrounded by parkland and The 143-acre waterfront site will get Call 020 3944 1855. gardens” in the form of Epping Forest greenery while still being so well- THE CROSSRAIL BONUS a new boardwalk esplanade, plenty of and the Roding Valley. connected to central London.” He Crossrail is also reaching into this green space and woodland plus new ON TO Oaklands Hamlet, set in 53 acres on paid £275,000 for a one-bedroom flat part of Essex. Havering, London’s flood defences. Homes, to be built by The River Lee and the Lee Navigation the outskirts of Chigwell, has a and expects to trade up to a house. most easterly borough, is getting Swan Housing, will be for rent and for brought industry to Enfield in the tree-lined entrance avenue, a village Past Chigwell, the route meanders three Crossrail stations, at Romford, sale, with at least half of modular late-Victorian period but there’s green and incorporates a new country through woodland and farmland, Gidea Park and Harold Wood. construction, an eco-friendly factory plenty of green space, too, while park. Detached houses cost from making this one of the most rural Onwards to Upminster Bridge, on system that keeps prices more eco-friendly new districts are £699,950. Call Countryside Properties sections of the Loop. Yet it’s still well the District line. For decades the town affordable. The aim is to encourage sprouting up on big parcels of has been shifting from farming to a young families in particular to settle. “brownfield land”. Well connected: garden suburb. To the north and To register, call 0300 303 2500. The biggest of these is Meridian Jamie Monk south is green belt. Follow the River Water, 210 acres next to Lee Valley works at Canary Ingrebourne to Rainham, developed Regional Park, a vast green swathe Wharf and has into a London suburb after the First stretching from Docklands to bought a flat at World War. A new train station is Thinking of Hertfordshire. The £6 billion project Oaklands Hamlet being built at Beam Park, a former is bringing 10,000 homes. A new in Chigwell, Ford factory being turned into a moving? Start railway station opened last year with aiming eventually 3,000-home neighbourhood on the 25-minute trains to Liverpool Street. to trade up to a c2c line connecting the City to the your search on It’s early days but worth exploring. house there. He Essex coast. Prices from £240,000. Elements is a development of 993 praises the green Call 020 3733 1592. homes opposite nearby space and the train station, which links to the transport links to CALL OF THE WILD scheme via a new square. Prices from central London The Loop ends at Purfleet’s awesome £330,000. Call Countryside on 020 riverside marshes and mudflats, one

3797 1868. TIM ANDERSON of the UK’s richest wildlife habitats. 20 WEDNESDAY 14 OCTOBER 2020 EVENING STANDARD Homes Property | Wood Awards 2020 Versatile and eco-friendly wood is a winner

ROM stunning geometric Dominic Lutyens canopies to hand-carved conservatories and unusual gets to see some of furniture, wood is coveted for its beauty, sustainability, the stunning home Fstrength and tactile warmth. “Wood in buildings was once mainly designs and products limited to veneers and cladding,” says Jim Greaves, a principal at Hopkins shortlisted for the Architects. Greaves has for 20 years been a judge for the Wood Awards, Wood Awards 2020 Britain’s competition promoting excellence in architecture and design using wood. In that time, wood has become highly prized, finding its place in our greener society. The widespread adoption in recent years of cross-laminated Craft-based timber or CLT, a structurally approach: strong, engineered wood that where generous expanses of Nicola and Ty is also environmentally light-reflecting, blond wood Tikari established sound, is a key driver maximise daylight and create Tikari Works behind a trend that’s comforting interiors. This year, 17 architecture resulting in ever more buildings and nine examples of studio, brains ambitious structures. furniture and product design have behind The Rye Wood is used now for been shortlisted in the Wood Awards. Apartments. schools, chapels, theatres The winners — one per category plus above right and increasingly, homes, an overall victor — will be announced at the end of next month.

Quirky highlights in the furniture and product category include The Beehave — a beehive resembling a log on legs, or perhaps an animal. Its natural form and raw texture are designed to appeal to bees more than

conventional, hut-shaped, manmade SPRING LEISINGER, SOPHIA HOBHOUSE, CLAUDIA JACK ERIKSEN, STÅLE beehives. Created by Marlène Huissoud in collaboration with Benchmark Furniture, it was commissioned for a gallery at the Science Museum devoted to exploring the future of agriculture. “Shaped like an animal or a log, it cleverly bridges the human and animal worlds,” comments furniture maker Sebastian Cox, another awards judge. Charlotte Kingsnorth’s tables and stools, called Barking up the Wrong Log, are made of real logs and sliced wood that playfully create the illusion of faux-wood. Kingsnorth charred the wood, then carved stylised nicks into it, revealing paler wood, for an artificial bark effect.

The nominated architecture projects Top: plywood THE RYE APARTMENTS include a new conservatory for a walls in the Two Another contender, The Rye Apartments home in Islington, designed by and a Half Storey in south London is a development Tsuruta Architects. Its roof had to be house, by George comprising 10 stylish flats and duplexes. lower than the height of the wall Bradley and Ewald Designed by Tikari Works, its bordering the neighbouring house Van Der Straeten, superstructure and internal walls were and rainwater needed to drain from it below constructed using CLT. Its interiors easily. The solution was a roof made Above: Islington feature whitewashed ash floors, as well as of Accoya, a modified wood, and glass conservatory with walls lined with exposed CLT, their pale featuring low, unobtrusive pitched diagrid roof, by tone helping to maximise the daylight elements that allow rainwater to run Tsuruta Architects pouring in through big windows off. Accoya is made from a fast-grow- Entirely wood-lined internal walls, a ing pine sourced from managed recurring theme of the shortlisted forests, which is subjected to buildings, look set to be a major trend. acetylation, a process that makes it water resistant. TWO AND A HALF The conservatory roof forms a STOREY HOUSE diagrid, comprising diagonally Designed by Bradley Van Der Straeten intersecting wooden beams Architects, this home also features wood enclosing double-glazed panes. A walls — this time of plywood, with a particularly interesting aspect of pleasingly unifying, homogeneous this project is its unusual surface. “Wood is now a mainstream eco-design and construction, says building material,” says Jim Greaves. Jim Greaves: “A complex 3D design “At a time when everybody is aware was sent from a computer to a of climate change and the CNC-milling machine, environmental performance of which cut the compo- buildings, wood has found its nents precisely. These place. Every student fresh out of were then fitted college is motivated to deal with together without using today’s pressing environmen- screws or glue.” tal issues.” EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 14 OCTOBER 2020 21 homesandproperty.co.uk powered by Homes abroad | Homes Property

From £315 per night: Ferragamos’ rooms with breakfast at Il Borro in Tuscany, the Tuscan retreat restored estate of the Ferragamo fashion house is a family affair family Weekend in these special country hotels and return to your palazzo flat in Florence, says Cathy Hawker IL BORRO, FRANCESCA PAGLIAI FRANCESCA BORRO, IL

USCANY’S green valleys are was the private summer home of the filled with abandoned brand’s founder, Salvatore Ferragamo hamlets, echoing with rural (1898-1960) and his wife Wanda. village life. In the Eighties Viesca, simple and charming, has a Ferruccio Ferragamo, of the main hotel with 14 rooms and also TFlorentine fashion dynasty, rented a seven fully staffed villas. These neglected estate as a holiday home handsome, contemporary-design and fell in love with the old stones homes can be rented privately and and crumbling history. In 1993 he sleep between six and 18 guests. bought and restored the place. There is a swimming pool, tennis Tuscany’s Valdarno valley between courts and a courtyard restaurant Florence and Arezzo is an agricultural using Il Borro’s organic produce. area of oak forests, gentle hills and Both Il Borro and Viesca offer steep ravines. Less fêted than prime socially distanced breaks, well placed Chianti but with excellent road access for day trips to Siena and Florence, or thanks to the motorway linking Rome for relaxing in Tuscany’s ever-green and Pisa, it has a calm, rural beauty. countryside. This valley is home to Il Borro, the beautiful, 2,700-acre Ferragamo ⬤ Il Borro: rooms from £315 per night estate, an hour from Florence airport. with breakfast (ilborro.it) Records date the property back to the ⬤ Viesca: from £125 per night bed 13th century with previous owners and breakfast (viescatoscana.it) including the Medici family and Dukes of Savoy. BUY INTO A GLORIOUS Now part of the Relais & Châteaux FLORENTINE REVIVAL. boutique hotel brand with 68 rooms Standing in the shadow of Florence’s and suites, Il Borro is the perfect magnificent Duomo, Palazzo retreat for anyone seeking rural peace Portinari Salviati, dating in parts to and comfort. Run along passionately the 13th century, is being restored as organic lines, it draws on its farm for luxurious, contemporary homes. fresh produce. There’s a family The palazzo is located in an atmosphere, with friendly staff from immensely historic part of this local villages. There’s a pool and spa, compact city and was once home to hiking, e-biking, cookery classes and Beatrice Portinari — the muse of poet golf. The restored historic medieval Dante — and later to Lucrezia de’ village is a warren of cobbled paths Medici, grandmother to the first and tall houses, while the main Grand Duke of Tuscany. manor house, destroyed by German When finished it will provide 18 bombs, is back to its former glory. freehold apartments for sale and 12 Ferruccio’s eldest son, Salvatore, is Dimora Residences for guests. Prices chief executive and in charge of start from £595,900 for the one- to producing delicious white, red and four-bedroom homes of 750sq ft to rosé wines — 200,000 bottles a year. 4,000sq ft. The penthouse, priced Daughter Vittoria looks after the £7,792,000 has two separate terraces organic garden and 44 horses at the with picture-perfect views of Renaissance: equestrian centre. “Il Borro is our Brunelleschi’s magnificent red dome Ferruccio family home and passion as well as on the Duomo, a masterpiece of Ferragamo our business,” explains Salvatore. “My Renaissance architecture. restored the father’s plan to create a working farm There’s a complete management medieval and hotel is ongoing. We make olive service, on-site maintenance, village at oil, honey, grow vegetables and this excellent security and a rental pool. Il Borro and autumn we have 300 sheep arriving The palazzo will have an indoor created a to make pecorino and ricotta cheese.” pool, wellness area and concierge and working farm a public Michelin-quality restaurant. that provides Ferruccio opened another family Completion is expected in 2022. produce for property to the public two years ago. the Relais & Viesca, 30 minutes from Florence, ⬤ Knight Frank: (knightfrank.com) Châteaux hotel 22

23

24 WEDNESDAY 14 OCTOBER 2020 EVENING STANDARD Homes Property | Design

Left: Throwback New cane and rattan coffee table with rattan shelf, £495 (loaf.com) Far left: Waska light and natural beside cabinet £150, and below, sliding door capture the mood cabinet, £625 (laredoute.co.uk)

UCH LOVED and super means an item is woven, typically sustainable, cane and from cane, rattan, willow or seagrass. Below left: “capsule” collection, styled by rattan tap into the Most garden furniture described as Laguna low chair, Hannah Weiland of fashion brand present vogue for all rattan or wicker is made from £215 (grahamand Shrimps. Key pieces are a chunky things natural. They’re durable, woven synthetic strips. green.co.uk) cubist rattan armchair, a cane lamp Mall over the shops this autumn, with Inset left: shade on a hand-painted base, and a pared-back black frames in stained Cane added a natural touch to those Sungkai woven neat little rattan cupboard (habitat. wood or iron sporting sleek, blonde, cantilevered modernist seats at the cane and mango co.uk). Weiland says: “It’s strong and slim woven panels at affordable end of the Twenties by Bauhaus wood cabinet, sturdy but has a natural, soft texture Dunelm (dunelm.com) and H&M maestros Mies van der Rohe and £850 (rockett that feels so calm and positive.” Home (hm.com), writes Barbara Marcel Breuer — still made today by stgeorge.co.u k) Chandler. Knoll (knoll-int.com), with On a mission to preserve cane Web fashion brand La cheaper versions widely craft in Britain is Lulu Lytle, of Redoute is also doing available. In the Seventies, Soane Britain in Pimlico well-priced chic cane Antonia Graham, founder Road (soane.co.uk). She furniture (laredoute.co.uk). of Graham & Green bought Angraves, England’s Renters love these pieces, furnishing boutiques last cane workshop, in 2010, too, because they’re light (grahamand where staff had dwindled to and easy to move. green.co.uk), had a two. Just published is her Cane is the outer bark and basement in Notting Hill magnificent tome, Rattan: A rattan the tubular core of stuffed with the kitsch World of Elegance and the same tree-like tropical curlicues of Peacock Charm (Rizzoli New York, vine that scrambles chairs. Today, the G&G £50). upwards over other plants rattan edit is sleek and “There is hardly a movie before falling back to snake minimal, with black star or luminary who hasn’t over the ground. Mix cane metal frames. “Rattan is at some point posed in a and rattan with ceramics, raw brilliant for small rooms, Peacock chair,” Lytle observes. timber, linen and dried grasses as its open weave lets light “for the natural look of slow through for a sense of ⬤ Go to canestore.co.uk for woven living”, suggests Dan Rawlings, airiness and space,” says sheets of cane and other materials senior furniture designer at Graham. And rattan is the that make great radiator covers — John Lewis. “Wicker” simply darling of Habitat’s latest or glue them to furniture fronts. 25