Wednesday 18 April 2018

DESIGN TRENDS Exotic birds: Page 16

THE OFFICE HUB REVOLUTION AFFORDABLE ISLINGTON MY HOME SPOTLIGHT ON CANARY WHARF London’s new way to work First-time buyer flats for £122k A splash of colour New homes for families Page 6 Page 10 Page 22 Page 28

The knowledge Smart renting on the Northern line: Page 8 JULIET MURPHY JULIET 4
WEDNESDAY 18 APRIL 2018 EVENING STANDARD Homes Property | News

THIS WEEK IN... Property search

‘London is proud of its creative new entrepreneurs’ Life changer of Janice the week Give Morley B&B guests four- star treatment EDITOR

£785,000: all the ingredients for OVER the last decade, London’s young the perfect B&B can be found at entrepreneurs have staged a silent Holly House, within walking Trophy home of the week An on-trend W10 gem distance of Hereford city centre, revolution, revitalising the workplace with where the Grade II-listed, £3,695,000: fabrics and textures in on-trend, dark jewel tones star at this seriously cool Notting their brave moves to go it alone. This new Georgian property commands a Hill house just a stroll from all W10 has to offer, including Portobello Road Market and Westbourne prime spot and has achieved a Grove. A trio of copper lights makes a statement above the large island in the bright, open-plan breed of start-ups — tech, design and four-star rating. kitchen/dining space on the lower-ground floor, lit by big sliding glass doors to the decent-size consultancy specialists — have outgrown Oozing original charm, there’s a south-facing garden. One floor up finds a double reception room that’s perfect for entertaining, back bedroom offices and are forming bold red, fanlit front door and with dark walls, pale wood floors and large windows at either end. Five bedrooms, a nanny/guest matching window shutters, while suite and a useful laundry room are on the upper floors. Kensington Memorial Park, with lovely flourishing communities of like-minded inside you’ll find everything from planting and tennis courts, is also close by. Through John D Wood (020 7229 2404). young people. An imaginative new marble fireplaces to ornate archways and polished floor tiles network of London work hubs provides throughout six guest suites, two London buy of the week A seriously cool shared office facilities, cafés, even self-contained apartments and owners’ private living space. hip boutique flat in Dalston’s creative hub gyms, so that these communities can Landscaped gardens, a pretty grow. These young Londoners, terrace and a central patio/deck capitalising on their potential, running are flanked by an impressive £615,000: head east and see newly array of evergreens. Hereford launched De Beauvoir Apartments, their own lives and sharing a vision, are train station is a stroll away. striking boutique homes with hip people to be proud of. Through Hunters (01432 486015). interiors in a redeveloped handsome period building in Stamford Road, where De Beauvoir Town meets the creative hub of Dalston. This one- VISIT homesandproperty.co.uk/rules for details of our bedroom flat showcases slick, high- usual promotion rules. When you respond to promotions, spec details and a palette of inky blue, offers or competitions, the Evening Standard and its pale grey, white and pale wood floors sister companies may contact you with relevant offers in the open-plan living/dining/kitchen and services that may be of interest. Please give your area. The bright, airy feel and luxe mobile number and/or email address if you would like to fixtures continue in the bedroom and receive such offers by text or email. en suite bathroom. Completion is set for next month. Through Hamptons Editorial: 020 3615 2650 International (020 3451 1544). Advertisement manager: Ann Finan Advertising: 020 3615 0538 By Faye Greenslade Homes & Property, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, Kensington, London W8 5TT. News Catchment areas shrink for places at top schools THE pressure to find a place in a popular Palmer school in Camden. Simon Kelman, primary school in Greater London is director at 192.com, says: “In highly intensifying as the capital’s catchment areas populated areas there is more demand and shrink dramatically, writes Anna White. there are not enough schools in areas that In a week when 100,000 families found out have an increasing number of new housing where their children would start their developments.” This issue is particularly education, Homes & Property can reveal the prevalent in London’s inner core in areas of smallest admissions boundary in London is dense housing stock and residential towers. now down to just 200 metres, or 0.11 miles. It Research today from Savills reveals that means parents need to live no more than a last year, almost five per cent of inner

few streets from a school to stand a chance GETTY London primary school applicants didn’t get of finding a place there for their child. Can I have a place, please?: more London into one of their top three preferred schools, New data from FindaSchool, by online children miss out on their chosen primary school compared to 2.8 per cent across England, directory 192.com, names the hardest and that house values within 500 metres of primary schools to get into by distance, and streets between Finchley Central, the North strong-demand schools rose 80 per cent in shows the smallest catchment radius shrank Circular and Muswell Hill Playing Fields. the last decade compared with a 66 per cent by nearly five per cent from 2016 to 2017. The After Manorside, the top five includes London average. average distance for the 20 schools that are Bousfield Primary School in Kensington & In Brent, Camden, Sutton, Kensington & toughest to get into diminished by close to Chelsea, in the residential triangle between Chelsea and Westminster, more than 10 per three per cent over the same time frame. Brompton Road, Fulham Road and the cent of applicants were placed in a primary Manorside Primary School in Barnet, with A3320, with a catchment radius of 205 school outside their borough. an “outstanding” Ofsted rating, had the metres; Bygrove Primary in Tower Hamlets tightest admissions area. With one class per (0.14 metres); St Matthew’s Church of ⬤ See homesandproperty.co.uk for the full year, it sits in the densely populated terraced England in Hillingdon, and the Eleanor Top 10 smallest catchment areas list. EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 18 APRIL 2018
5 homesandproperty.co.uk powered by News | Homes Property

£900 a night to luxuriate like Nat OSCAR-WINNING Black Swan actress Natalie Portman, Homes below, took to Taplow in Buckinghamshire like — well, like a Black Swan to water — when she stayed in this converted barn, above. Now fans can enjoy the stunning home from £900 a night through Airbnb Plus. The seven-bedroom gossip REX property merges historic charm with modern comforts including an outdoor pool, hot tub and gym. This lovely By Amira Hashish Look out over the Queen’s garden village is just a 40-minute train ride from Paddington. IF YOU loved Monday’s ITV airing of The Queen’s Green Planet, which featured her touring Buckingham Palace’s private gardens with veteran broadcaster Sir David Attenborough, then a new super-luxe flat across the road with unrivalled Palace garden views can be yours for £14,000 a week. The flat, at Buckingham Gate, right, bought last year for £18 million, has had the smartest of makeovers from the David Collins Studio, whose clients include Jimmy Choo, Harrods, the Ritz- Carlton Group and The Wolseley. It is available through Beauchamp and comes with three private terraces and 24-hour concierge. GETTY Don’t ask ... you can’t afford it All the family’s welcome at Ben’s new place

A RARE chance has arrived BATMAN actor Ben Affleck seems to be to live in Hanover Terrace, on good terms with his ex-wife, the finest and grandest of American actress Jennifer Garner, who the Nash terraces designed lives with the couple’s three children for Regent’s Park. The last just round the corner from his new house to change hands in house in Pacific Palisades, California. the grand strip was bought In the spirit of moving on, Affleck’s

by celebrity artist Damien GETTY girlfriend, Saturday Night Live Hirst, right, who reportedly producer Lindsay Shookus, pictured paid £40 million in 2014 neighbours include fashion left with the star, is thought to have and has since installed a designer Tom Ford, top. helped him find his family-friendly new yoga room and a swimming Luxuriously decorated in seven-bedroom home. There’s pool. Now a five-bedroom, gold, grey and black, the certainly plenty of space for everyone, Got some five-storey residence has new rental is available via with a cinema, a bar and a walk-in wine gossip? come up for rent at this Arlington Residential for cellar. Affleck paid £13.3 million for the Tweet über-exclusive address, £17,500 a week, or £35,000 traditional estate, which also has a

@amiranews GETTY where other Nash terrace per week for a short let. GETTY guesthouse in the grounds. 6
WEDNESDAY 18 APRIL 2018 EVENING STANDARD Homes Property | Co-working spaces homesandproperty.co.uk powered by

In demand: at Containerville, above, co-working space for creative start-ups off Mare Street, E2, a further 33 recycled shipping containers have been added to the original 45 Young London goes it alone — together

As record numbers of enterprising creatives launch their own businesses, revolutionary new workspaces mean they’re in good company. By Lee Mallett

ED UP with working from your bers who can pop in and out using the kitchen table? Overwhelmed hub café’s tables and sofas to meet or by paperwork that you haven’t work from.” A Casual membership costs enough space to store away? £130 a month. Meeting rooms cost £20 Embarrassed at having an hour. Rents for The Block’s popular Fnowhere to meet new clients? Or maybe smaller suites — and there is a waiting you just miss the camaraderie of office list— are around £52 per square foot. life. Many enterprising young London- ers are abandoning the frustrations of THE HEADHUNTER working from home alone to enjoy new Julian Smith, 44, is co-founder of workspaces designed for people build- recruitment consultant I Am Recruiting ing their own businesses. We meet which finds staff for membership bod- some of them: “Best value near Shoreditch”: Chris ies and the not-for-profit sector. Busi- Swain of Cassius Creative, Containerville ness partner Debbie Hockham runs MUSIC INDUSTRY CREATIVES events arm Memcom. They have co- Chris “Squib” Swain, 30, and his busi- to £1,000 was a big step, but the rent’s working spaces in two buildings run by ness partner Dan Hill, 29, are music all in — electricity, water, wi-fi — and TOG — The Office Group (theoffice- industry production and lighting there are no business rates because we group.co.uk) — which has 31 buildings designers. Last year they moved their get small business relief. in central London. start-up, Cassius Creative, to workspace “It is a cool thing, the container. Our “Six years ago Debbie and I were based Containerville off Mare Street in Tower band clients really get what we are in south-east and south-west London, Hamlets, overlooking Regent’s Canal about. It’s long and thin, but we have working from our homes,” says Julian. (containerville.com). four desks, some storage, we’ve got a “We used to get together one day a week

“We were freelancing for eight years, kitchenette and a meeting space. And PUSHINSKY RICK in a booth at the back of a restaurant in working from our flats and in cafés and we’re No 1 in the block.” “It really works for us”: Sabine Zetteler of Zetteler PR says her rented workspace at Soho. Then we found a co-working then we rented two desks in someone Local developer-investor Max Barney The Block on the De Beauvoir Estate in N1 helps her win bigger clients, more business space in Westminster. But it got sold else’s railway arch office,” says Squib. established Containerville next door to and the new owner raised the rents. We “But it’s like renting a room in someone the iconic Bethnal Green gas holders THE PR GURU We weren’t sure we could afford the joined TOG in June 2017. We now oper- else’s house. It’s not really your home. in 2015 as creative space for start-ups. Sabine Zetteler, 35, set up Zetteler PR space, but it has enabled me to win big- ate our two companies out of 91 Wim- “Within three months we realised we Forty-five containers were piled three five years ago, specialising in design ger clients and more business. About pole Street and Henry Wood House in needed our own space. Working with storeys high, to which another bank of clients. She now has nine staff plus 25 per cent of our business is pro bono Riding House Street in Fitzrovia. bands on tour involved endless air 33 have just been added. Rent is £1,000 freelancers. She took a 1,000sq ft unit with charities, like Hackney Winter “We have full co-working member- flights. Now we have expanded and a month. New tenants can save 50 per on the top floor ofthe De Beauvoir Night Shelter. There are loads of young ship and we pay £375 per person per employ freelancers to make sure eve- cent off the first three months’ rent if Block, known as The Block (debeauvoir- people here. We use local cafés, shops, month. That includes everything, apart rything works. We’ll still go to the first they sign up before the end of April. block.com) on the Hackney-Islington pubs and bars, so it has a wider effect.” from photocopying and meeting rooms. night to check it out. Shraga Zaltzman, MD of Containerv- border in 2016. She pays £4,200 a The Block is on the De Beauvoir I reckon the cost of conventional offices “I reckon Containerville is the best- ille, runs the Max Barney Foundation month rent, £1,600 in business rates Estate, owned and managed by the for us would be at least double. And if value workspace near Shoreditch. The which supports employment initiatives and £220 per month service charge. Benyon Estate. Edward Benyon, estate we had to pay that, we’d have to charge amount of co-working space in Hack- around the world. “We were seeing “It’s not cheap, but it really works for manager says: “We have 31 businesses clients more, so it’s cheaper for them ney is huge, but this one works for us small businesses priced out of us. The space is so light with great views. leasing space and 24 co-working mem- and we are more competitive.” TOG is because we have to look at chunky Shoreditch,” says Zaltzman, “and they It has totally transformed how we see bers who pay £300 per month for a one of London’s biggest co-working electrical kit. Going from £450 a month are the lifeblood of the economy.” ourselves and how our clients see us. dedicated desk and 10 ‘Casual’ mem- providers. Of the 31 buildings, 17 have EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 18 APRIL 2018
7 Co-working spaces | Homes Property THIERRY CARDINEAU THIERRY The Office Group: left and above. One of central London’s biggest co-working space providers, TOG has 31 buildings “empowering smaller businesses to compete with bigger ones”

THE RISE OF THE flexible co-worker

OVER the last 10 years, particularly the last five, flexible workspaces have boomed, with easy-in, easy- out terms, co-working and start-up spaces and memberships allowing people to drop in at café hubs. The sector is led by a few major players, such as WeWork, and hundreds of individual operators. A record 2.5 million square feet of flexible workspace was taken in central London last year — a 190 per cent increase on 2016, equal to 21 per cent of all office leasing, according to Co-working 2018, property firm Cushman & Wakefield’s latest report. “Our data shows flexible workspace increased 2.7 times since 2007,” says Elaine Rossall, head of UK Offices Research. “A total of 10.7 million square feet, or four per cent of central London’s 286 million square feet, is now flexible workspace.” Hubble (hubblehq.com) is a digital platform helping small and medium-size businesses rent workspace. Its website lists about 3,000 spaces. “The boom in start- ups and the need for flexible workspace have made

MATT WRITTLE MATT London the world’s largest market for co-working spaces,” says Hubble’s PR chief, Varun Bhanot. “We’ve co-working spaces. All 15,000 TOG “I reckon we’d seen more new workspaces in places like Reading, members can use all the drop-in work- have to pay at Ilford and East Croydon.” spaces and meeting rooms in these least double for buildings. A co-working space is £375 conventional per month, a “Lounge” membership is office space” : £75 per month and a “Virtual” member- Julian Smith of Looking for a walk-to-work ship is £50 per month, which gets you recruitment a mailing address. consultancy I Am home? Start your search TOG founder Charlie Green says: Recruiting, at The “Tech is changing what we do and the Office Group co- on speed we do it at. People want more working building, drop-in spaces, nearer where they live, 91 Wimpole Street and we are a substitute for home work- ing. It is empowering smaller busi- nesses to compete with larger ones.” 8
WEDNESDAY 18 APRIL 2018 EVENING STANDARD Homes Property | Renting Renters must get smart Renting on the Northern line Ruth Bloomfield tracks the Tube stops with the best-value homes in her continuing series on rental hotspots

ORRIFYINGLY expensive Tube fares. The best value is found, and often brutal, predictably, south of the river in negotiating London’s Stockwell. An average two-bedroom rental market can feel like flat rents at £1,779 a month, while a swimming with sharks. typical three-bedroom house would HBut knowledge is power and savvy come in at just over £2,500. And while renters can exploit quirks in the Stockwell is only two stops down the system to save thousands of pounds a line from Kennington, renters will year — or trade up from a flat to a save around £200, whether they opt house without breaking the bank. to rent a flat or a house. New research from Rightmove Piers Mallitte, lettings manager at reveals the average cost of renting a estate agent Marsh & Parsons, says two-bedroom flat and a three- Stockwell’s connectivity is its biggest bedroom house along the length of plus point. As well as the Northern the Northern line Tube, where being line there are Victoria line services willing to explore a new area or move and good bus links to central London. a few minutes down the line can Stockwell’s traditional Victorian make a big difference to costs. houses and flats have been

The most expensive Northern line augmented in recent years by a flurry MURPHY JULIET option in Zone 1 is around Leicester of new-build, so renters have a good Housemates: from left, Lewis Liddle, 22, and Oliver Graham and Ben Wilson, both 21, rent a house near Clapham Common Tube Square, where a two-bedroom flat in choice of houses, while proximity to Soho or Covent Garden will cost an Clapham and Brixton means that a average £4,524 a month, while a rare night out is never far away. ‘I take the Tube straight to King’s Cross’ three-bedroom house will set you “Renters in Stockwell tend to be back £6,000 a month plus. aged between 23 and 28,” says OLIVER GRAHAM, 21, a trainee “We’ve been here for nine months and Pancras and go on to Newcastle or Mallitte. “Stockwell does have some building surveyor at Paragon Building we’re absolutely loving it. Three of us Leeds from there.” All four plan to MOVE TWO MILES, SAVE £40K great bars and restaurants of its own. Consultancy, shares a four-bedroom work in Oxford Circus, which is 30 return to the area on finishing their You could stay in Zone 1 but move to It is a slight shame that most people house with three friends in Cedars minutes door to door, while our other degrees next year, although Oliver says the regeneration zone of Elephant & seem not to explore Stockwell, but Road near Clapham Common Tube housemate works near Moorgate Tube he has seen bigger properties for Castle two miles away. It’s not quite as stick to going to places they know in station on the Northern line. station so he needed to be near the similar monthly rents in Clapham central but still within walking Clapham or Brixton. But Stockwell Each of them contributes £680 rent a Northern line. North, so he could be heading there. distance of Waterloo, Borough and has everything you need.” month plus £30 to cover bills, which is “We considered Notting Hill Gate, He adds that both Clapham North the South Bank. A two-bedroom flat about 40 per cent of their monthly Ladbroke Grove and Clapham and Clapham Common stations can be costs an average £2,098 a month here LEAFY LIVING COSTS MORE salaries, while they complete 12-month Junction, but where we are now is very busy: “But even if you turn up just — representing an annual saving of Renters set on living in one of north university placements. “We wanted to actually more convenient. I have to before eight o’clock in the morning, close to £30,000 — while a three- London’s leafy but central urban enjoy our year in London so location travel for work sometimes, so I can just you will usually beat most of the rush- bedroom house would be £2,689, villages will need deeper pockets. was really important to us,” says Oliver. get the Tube straight to King’s Cross St hour crowd.” saving almost £40,000 a year. Hampstead is the luxury choice, with If Zone 1 remains beyond your price the average flat at £3,111 a month and range but you want to stay central, a house at £5,056. Belsize Park, for a house. But unspoiled, discreet although less in the way of boutiques, with a flat at £1,785 and a house at Zone 2 has plenty of options — but within walking distance of the Heath Highgate, home to Kate Moss and bars and restaurants, is — perhaps £3,273. you’ll have to abandon a “walk and more central, is significantly Jude Law, adjacent to Hampstead because it is a little further out — by If you are up for Zone 3, prices in everywhere” lifestyle and start paying cheaper — £2,662 for a flat and £4,157 Heath and with pretty cafés and pubs, far the most pocket-friendly choice, East Finchley, one stop from EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 18 APRIL 2018
9 homesandproperty.co.uk powered by Renting | Homes Property

£2,300 a NORTHERN LINE AVERAGE RENTAL RATES month: a two- bedroom flat on Property Average rent Property Average rent the second floor of (monthly) Station Zone type (monthly) Station Zone type a well-maintained High Barnet 5 2-bed flat £1,297 Old Street 1 3-bed house £4,775 and secure block High Barnet 5 3-bed house £1,861 Goodge Street 1 2-bed flat £3,545 in Marshall Street Edgware 5 2-bed flat £1,406 Goodge Street 1 3-bed house £5,826 in the heart of Edgware 5 3-bed house £1,922 Tottenham Court Rd 1 2-bed flat £4,113 Soho, is available Burnt Oak 4 2-bed flat £1,350 Tottenham Court Rd 1 3-bed house £6,473 to rent through Burnt Oak 4 3-bed house £1,744 Leicester Square 1 2-bed flat £4,524 Dexters (020 7067 Tot’rdge & Whetst’ 4 2-bed flat £1,551 Leicester Square 1 3-bed house £6,036 2400) Tot’rdge & Whetst’ 4 3-bed house £1,976 Charing Cross 1 2-bed flat £4,367 Colindale 4 2-bed flat £1,535 Charing Cross 1 3-bed house £5,823 Colindale 4 3-bed house £1,771 Embankment 1 2-bed flat £4,261 Woodside Park 4 2-bed flat £1,454 Embankment 1 3-bed house £5,138 Woodside Park 4 3-bed house £1,977 Waterloo 1 2-bed flat £3,560 West Finchley 4 2-bed flat £1,452 Waterloo 1 3-bed house £3,627 West Finchley 4 3-bed house £2,000 Bank 1 2-bed flat £3,604 Mill Hill East 4 2-bed flat £1,445 Bank 1 3-bed house £2,015 Mill Hill East 4 3-bed house £2,063 Euston 1 2-bed flat £2,656 Finchley Central 4 2-bed flat £1,500 Euston 1 3-bed house £5,712 Finchley Central 4 3-bed house £2,046 Borough 1 2-bed flat £2,280 Hendon Central 3 2-bed flat £1,490 Borough 1 3-bed house £2,979 Hendon Central 3 3-bed house £2,062 Elephant and Castle 1 2-bed flat £2,098 Brent Cross 3 2-bed flat £1,646 Elephant and Castle 1 3-bed house £2,689 Brent Cross 3 3-bed house £2,172 London Bridge 1 2-bed flat £2,732 Golders Green 3 2-bed flat £1,765 London Bridge 1 3-bed house £3,192 Golders Green 3 3-bed house £1,917 Warren Street 1 2-bed flat £3,216 East Finchley 3 2-bed flat £1,578 Warren Street 1 3-bed house £5,241 East Finchley 3 3-bed house £2,231 Kennington 2 2-bed flat £1,941 Hampstead 2 2-bed flat £3,111 Kennington 2 3-bed house £2,731 Hampstead 2 3-bed house £5,056 Oval 2 2-bed flat £1,930 Highgate 3 2-bed flat £1,785 Oval 2 3-bed house £2,630 Highgate 3 3-bed house £3,273 Stockwell 2 2-bed flat £1,779 Belsize Park 2 2-bed flat £2,662 Stockwell 2 3-bed house £2,504 Belsize Park 2 3-bed house £4,157 Clapham Common 2 2-bed flat £1,838 Archway 2 2-bed flat £1,835 Clapham Common 2 3-bed house £2,865 Archway 2 3-bed house £2,696 Clapham North 2 2-bed flat £1,782 Chalk Farm 2 2-bed flat £2,491 Clapham North 2 3-bed house £2,644 Chalk Farm 2 3-bed house £5,232 Clapham South 2 2-bed flat £1,822 Tufnell Park 2 2-bed flat £1,853 Clapham South 2 3-bed house £2,513 Tufnell Park 2 3-bed house £2,820 Balham 3 2-bed flat £1,771 Kentish Town 2 2-bed flat £1,977 Balham 3 3-bed house £2,570 Kentish Town 2 3-bed house £2,915 Tooting Bec 3 2-bed flat £1,620 Camden Town 2 2-bed flat £2,496 Tooting Bec 3 3-bed house £2,291 Camden Town 2 3-bed house £5,238 Tooting Broadway 3 2-bed flat £1,474 Mornington Crescent 2 2-bed flat £2,594 Tooting Broadway 3 3-bed house £2,042 Mornington Crescent 2 3-bed house £7,325 Colliers Wood 3 2-bed flat £1,428 Angel 1 2-bed flat £2,455 Colliers Wood 3 3-bed house £1,990 Angel 1 3-bed house £4,183 South Wimbledon 3 2-bed flat £1,509 K Cross St. Pancras 1 2-bed flat £2,617 South Wimbledon 3 3-bed house £2,173 K Cross St. Pancras 1 3-bed house £5,149 Morden 4 2-bed flat £1,224 Moorgate 1 2-bed flat £2,810 Morden 4 3-bed house £1,790 Moorgate 1 3-bed house £4,586 Old Street 1 2-bed flat £2,675 Source: Rightmove

Highgate, drop sharply: a two- the locals call it, boasts the National bedroom flat rents at an average Trust’s Wandle Park, while London £1,578 a month, with a three-bedroom Bridge is less than half an hour away house at £2,231. This represents by Tube. “There are a lot of people annual savings of £2,484 and £12,504 who work in the City who want to be respectively, so for sharers and on the Northern line,” says Karl families the compromise makes Martin, associate director of Ellisons serious financial sense. estate agents. Jeremy Leaf, owner of Jeremy Leaf Renters can expect to find a choice estate agents, rates East Finchley’s of Edwardian maisonettes and quality period housing stock, similar converted flats, and there are also to that of Muswell Hill or Crouch End, Edwardian terrace houses for sharers but cheaper. “The schools are very and families. Sixties eyesore the sought after. There does not seem to Brown and Root Tower, which be the crime that there is in other dominates the horizon and has been areas. It is safe and pleasant, with lots voted London’s ugliest building, was of open space.” Add to that a high recently converted into flats, its black street full of useful shops, plenty of concrete walls now covered with glass cafés, pubs and restaurants, and the cladding. Colliers Wood does have art house Phoenix Cinema, and East some basic shops but the Finchley, while not chichi, is certainly compromise here is that there’s not a worth a look. Its main downside is a lot happening on the doorstep by way lack of a major supermarket. of entertainment, beyond a few neighbourhood pubs and restaurants. HOORAY FOR COLLYWOOD “A lot of people are coming into Back south of the river, flat hunters Colliers Wood,” says Karl Martin. “It is will find the best value in Colliers a natural spillover from Clapham to Wood, by no means a shoppers’ Tooting, to Balham, to Colliers Wood. paradise but you save money on not But there is not the infrastructure as shopping and paying £1,428 a month yet.” There are, however, some for a two-bedroom flat or £1,990 for a interesting pockets worth exploring, three-bedroom house, which is such as Merton Abbey Mills, a significantly less than you’d pay in converted factory half a mile from the nearby Balham, Tooting, or South centre of Colliers Wood, which hosts Wimbledon. Collywood, as some of a craft market, cafés and a pub. 10
WEDNESDAY 18 APRIL 2018 EVENING STANDARD Homes Property | First-time buyers

Right: Camden Passage in Islington is packed with antiques shops and cool cafés

Left: City Road Lock in Islington, where Sunday morning strolls beckon along Regent’s Canal towpath ALAMY LUCY YOUNG LUCY A rare high-spec flat in Islington for £122,000

Shared ownership brings the in Zone 1 with Northern line services from Angel; the City within walking cool delights of N1 within distance; movies at the Everyman Screen on the Green, and theatre at reach for first-time buyers, the Almeida. discovers Ruth Bloomfield The apartments are stylish with white walls, grey woodwork and either wool-carpeted or tiled floors. HE gracious Georgian Large windows maximise light, while terraces and garden squares each flat has a balcony with glass of Islington are not the usual balustrade overlooking the hunting ground of a first- development’s landscaped garden. time buyer with more hopes For affordable housing the spec is thanT hard cash. However, a new high. Kitchens have quartz stone shared-ownership scheme will allow worktops and integrated Siemens first timers to move into N1 for just appliances, while bathrooms feature under £122,000. brands including Grohe, Roca, Vado It is extremely unusual to find and Vitra. affordable housing schemes in this One-bedroom flats through Hyde rarified neck of the woods, within an New Homes start at £121,875 for a 25 easy walk of the bars and cafés of per cent share of a home with a full Islington, and the clubs and galleries market value of £487,500. Applicants of Hoxton. need a minimum household income Admittedly, these homes are not in of £46,000, and must put down a the prettiest of locations — the minimum deposit of £12,200. From £121,875: immediate neighbours are faceless As well as mortgage repayments, 25 per cent of a new-build and local authority flats — monthly costs include rent of £579 one-bedroom flat but you can put up with that for the for the portion of the flat the buyer at Packington chance to buy in Packington Square. doesn’t own, and service charge of Square, below, Plus points include proximity to £110.72. Two-bedroom flats start at with two-bedroom Regent’s Canal towpath for Sunday £169,375 for a 25 per cent share of a flats from £169,375 morning walks; trips to Chapel Street home with a full value of £677,500. for 25 per cent market for fruit, veg and banter; being Buyers must have a minimum household income of £58,000, and the minimum deposit is £16,940. Monthly rent is £635 and service charge is £110.72 a month.

It would be hard to find reasons not to live in Packington Square, part of the £130 million regeneration of the old Packington Estate which was named Evening Standard New Homes Awards’ best regeneration project back in 2012. There’s heavy traffic on the main roads and not much green space around, it’s true — but the worst problem you’re going to have here is getting your name down for one of these flats.

⬤ Visit hydenewhomes.co.uk 12
WEDNESDAY 18 APRIL 2018 EVENING STANDARD Homes Property | Commuting

Right: Ware in Hertfordshire offers pretty pubs, quality houses and good schools, 45 minutes by train from London £525,000: left, this handsome four-bedroom period house is for sale in Green Road, close to Reading University. Through Romans (0118 453 0004)

Offers over £475,000: a three-bedroom semi-detached 17th-century listed thatched cottage in the High Street in the village of Long Crendon, near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire. It’s on the market with Michael Graham (01296

535148 ) ALAMY It’s worth travelling for these prices

Just in time for summer, Ruth Bloomfield finds family houses priced from £350,000 to £600,000 in three thriving home counties spots

O YOU dream of trading in ANCIENT AND URBAN WARE your well-located but small If you seek a slightly more urban feel, London flat for a thatched try Ware, Hertfordshire, an ancient cottage in a pretty village? town on the River Lea, with average Or perhaps you hanker 45-minute trains to London and an Dafter a solid period villa in a leafy annual season ticket priced £3,720. suburb with price growth potential? This is a proper working town with Or a spacious family house with a big good schools and quality houses. garden in a thriving market town? A Most of Ware’s primary schools new Hamptons International study have a “good” Ofsted report, though a finds all this and more for £500,000- couple “require improvement”. For £600,000 in the home counties, less seniors, Presdales School and The than 70 minutes from London. Chauncy School both get top marks from the education watchdog. POSH SUBURBAN READING Ware is great for sporty types, with a A typical four-bedroom house costs swimming pool, lido, golf course, just under £507,000 in leafy Earley, with cafés, a butcher, a post office and £500,000: a football and rugby clubs and a leisure one of Reading’s poshest suburbs. a general store. There are several very pretty period centre. The high street has a good mix There are half-hour Paddington trains pubs plus the AA-recommended two-bedroom of independent and chain stores and and with Crossrail it will be possible Angel Restaurant. For more facilities detached cottage pretty pubs — but it is an A road, next year to make a seven-minute hop the market town of Thame and larger in Church Street, slightly marring the provincial to Reading to pick up fast services to village of Haddenham are close and Ware, Herts, is for charm. the West End and City. An annual Oxford itself is only 15 miles away. sale through The average house price in Ware is season ticket costs from £4,464. Long Crendon boasts a semi-rural Ensum Brown £557,498, which would buy a four- Crossrail-related investment in feel without being completely in the (01920 750005) bedroom Thirties semi or a three- Reading’s post-war town centre has wilds and you are well connected. bedroom Victorian semi. A brought better shops and restaurants. The average train time to London is two-bedroom Victorian cottage — Two-and-a-half miles away, Earley 50 minutes and an annual season some of which have lofts crying out offers good-quality homes from ticket costs £4,092. The village school for conversion into a third bedroom Victorian terraces to Thirties semis, gets an “outstanding” Ofsted rating, — would cost £350,000 to £375,000. good schools and parkland, plus while seniors are in the catchment handy access to the M4 and a couple area of Aylesbury’s grammar schools of parades of shops. A three-bedroom or the “outstanding” Lord Williams’s bay-fronted semi in Earley would be School in Thame. about £500k, with a three-bedroom Locals run a library in the village Thinking of Victorian terrace about £350,000. A and there are regular football and moving? detached four-bedroom Seventies cricket matches on the recreation house would cost up to £600,000. ground, plus several kids clubs. Start your Property ranges from chocolate-box SCENIC GEM: LONG CRENDON thatched cottages to Victorian semis, search on Countryside fans should head to the and the average price for homes Buckinghamshire/Oxfordshire served by Haddenham & Thame borders where Haddenham & Thame Parkway station is just over £588,196. Parkway station serves a clutch of That would buy you a three-bedroom good villages led by pretty Long cottage or a four-bedroom post-war Crendon. The village square is lined house. EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 18 APRIL 2018
13 homesandproperty.co.uk powered by Homes abroad | Homes Property

Breathtaking project: Palazzo Volpi above and above right, a short walk from St Mark’s Square, restored by Fred Tubau and Anna Covre, right. The husband-and-wife designers stripped the roofless, abandoned Venetian palazzo back to its bones and created top-quality apartments for rent Enjoy the fruits of their labour

A couple who courageously restored a palazzo are an inspiration to those who buy in Venice. By Cathy Hawker

ENICE has plenty of crumbling palazzos on its canals, yet the thought of restoring property built on a lagoon, beset by spiralling costs and Italian bureaucracy,V leaves most of us cold. However, Paris-based husband-and-wife designers Fred Tubau and Anna Covre have completed a breathtaking project at Palazzo Volpi, just a 10-minute walk from St Mark’s Square. They took a roofless palazzo, empty for 70 years, and stripped it back to the exterior walls to create four beautiful, top-quality apartments, now available to rent. The couple have designed for major brands including Armani, Lancôme and £390,000: a one- on the beach, touring the markets.” Anna YSL but the palazzo was their first bedroom apartment adds: “We have created high-quality experience of property restoration. It took that would rent well homes, something we felt was missing in four years, with one year just to get all the in the Dorsoduro Venice. People are adding quality all over necessary permissions, and included dry university district, the city now. There’s a greatly improved lining the basement and adding a lift — a with a balcony airport terminal, more arts and real rarity in Venetian palazzos. overlooking a canal. commercial events and upgraded “Twenty years ago Anna introduced me Through Savills restaurants.” to her home city of Venice and it was always our dream to buy a home there,” says Fred. ‘There is A VENETIAN HOME Savills associate Views on Venice offers a LUXURY AND ROMANCE such restoration service, managing the full Palazzo Volpi is a homage to the city they process and all paperwork, and then both love. Black and white marble, beauty arranging rentals if required. A typical brushed oak parquet flooring and layers of request from buyers is for a property in Travertine are teamed with Rubelli fabrics here. It’s the Dorsoduro university district, or in and elegant wrought ironwork to create vibrant San Polo or laid-back Santa Croce, the ultimate Venetian rental pads. an easy for £700,000 to £1 million. Buyers like the There is linen from Frette, super-sized lifestyle secure, if unspectacular, rental yields of French mirrors and silk rugs from India, three to four per cent and the knowledge while the lighting, designed by Anna and with that no more homes will be built on the Fred, was made by Venetian craftsmen. lagoon. The romance of this “modern classic” simple A 753sq ft one-bedroom first-floor flat design clearly works — their very first with air conditioning, parquet floors and a guests were Londoners who promptly got pleasures’ balcony above a canal in Dorsoduro looks engaged at Palazzo Volpi. good value at £390,000. A quiet two- The palazzo is in a large, airy square in bedroom loft apartment in San Marco, Castello, a truly local area with older five minutes from Accademia Bridge and residents meeting each morning next with a wonderful wooden roof terrace, is door at Rosa Salva, Venice’s oldest bakery, £688,000, both through Savills. and young children filing into school. “We walk everywhere, it’s impossible to ⬤ Palazzo Volpi rentals: one- and three- rush,” says Fred. “There is such beauty in bedroom apartments start from £390 a the churches, the architecture and the night including daily maid service and water. It’s an easy lifestyle with simple concierge (palazzovolpi.com) pleasures of sitting on a terrace, walking ⬤ Savills: savills.com (020 7016 3740) 14
WEDNESDAY 18 APRIL 2018 EVENING STANDARD Homes Property | Design

Clockwise from above: 100 per cent pure linen Biella reversible emerald and teal bed linen from Designers Guild, from £25 to £190, with a double duvet cover at £170 (designersguild.com; 020 7351 5775); Arles Collection Charcoal Stripe table runner £32, cushions £28 each, tea towel £16 (thelinenworks.co.uk; 020 3744 1020); on the seats, Broad Stripe Top Stitch fabric in Dove Grey, and in Chinese Yellow, seen far right, both £76 per metre, from Volga Linen (volgalinen.co.uk) Love linen

London’s big stores and the V&A are celebrating linen with fresh designs and a new show. By Corinne Julius

HERE is much to love about at the end of life. Linen is easy to care cool, enduring linen. Use of for and can be machine washed, this favourite fabric dates steamed or dry cleaned. back some 36,000 years, as Flax, the source of linen was once proved by dyed flax fibres grown extensively in Ireland, though and fashion, we even have a chopping foundT in a cave in what is now today almost none is harvested there, board made from flax. As a business, Georgia in Eastern Europe. Ancient with 80 per cent of the world’s supply we love it as a material because of its Egyptians used linen for clothing and grown in Normandy and the northern versatility, so much so that we now mummification. Today it is a staple coasts of France, Belgium and the grow flax at the John Lewis for homes, from curtains, bed and Netherlands. The flax plant is grown Partnership’s Leckford Estate and use table linen and upholstery, to its with no irrigation, no genetic the material in our Natural Collection newest format of sturdy, lightweight, modification and no waste. Its eco- mattresses.” shock-absorbing composites for use credentials are enhanced by linen’s At Skandium they are equally in love with sporting equipment, car parts, excellent colour absorption qualities, with linen, collaborating with Lapuan stereo speakers and even guitars. The which means low-environmental Kankurit, run in Western Finland by world’s oldest fabric, linen is now its impact dyes can be used. passionate fourth-generation weavers most eco-friendly and progressive. Jaana and Esko Hjelt, to produce a Linen never fades from fashion, but Often associated with soft tones, window installation at the Skandium is currently being celebrated in the today linen also comes in bold Townhouse, which also stocks their capital in a month-long I Love Linen colours and decorative patterns. It bath and bed linen. Karen Lester, campaign, in which retailers can be woven, knitted, combined with head of buying at Skandium, says: including Peter Jones, Skandium and other yarns such as silk or cotton and “Their designs and quality are so Designers Guild highlight the joys of can be treated to be flame retardant beautiful, it’s a very striking contemporary linen. It also stars in a and water repellent for outdoor use. collection. We have tea towels, bath new show at the V&A, entitled John Lewis and Peter Jones are robes, towels, a sauna collection and a Fashioned from Nature. Curator spearheading the I Love Linen dual-purpose blanket and tablecloth. Edwina Ehrman says: “During our campaign with window displays by They are super soft and if you look research we discovered ever more designer Philippe Nigro. The atrium after them they last a lifetime.” about linen’s special qualities and of Peter Jones features a seven-storey how it can be grown in harmony with sculpture of coloured linens and the Sharing the passion, Designers Guild nature, enriching design while store takes customers through the has Brera Moda, a new, updated drawing on centuries of tradition.” manufacturing process from flax heavyweight and luxurious texture in Linen is remarkable; durable, seeds, via real flax bales to end- 40 colourways from soft-washed resistant to moths and carpet beetles products. Elizabeth Sladen, colour to vibrant hues. and naturally thermoregulating, upholstery buyer for John Lewis, says: Northern Ireland, once the centre of insulating against the cold and “Linen is an incredible material that Irish linen, is home to one of the few moisture wicking in hot weather. It is we know our customers love. remaining companies there, John hypoallergenic, promoting relaxation “Not only is it a really sustainable England, which produces a variety of and sleep. It acquires an attractive resource, it has a multitude of uses. fine and upholstery linens and linen patina as it ages and is biodegradable We use it in products across home mixes with interesting floral and lace EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 18 APRIL 2018
15 homesandproperty.co.uk powered by Design | Homes Property

Left: Lapuan Kankurit’s Kuura Blanket from Skandium in petroleum and white, £81 (skandium.com; 020 7935 2077) Right: linen hand- printed using natural dyes, with samples from £15, by Madder Cutch & Co at Tissus d’Hélène, Chelsea Harbour (tissus dhelene.co.uk; 020 7352 9977)

prints on linen, available online. Above: expensive linen you can just do one Design Centre Chelsea Harbour is a Plain Weave Linen chair or a few cushions in it to treasure trove of textile specialists (on cushions) in a spectacular effect.” with some amazing linens. Helen variety of colours, Cormack of Tissus d’Hélène is a £35 per metre Also at Chelsea Harbour, Rubelli distributor for many leading from Volga Linen produces intriguing designs such as companies working with linen. These (as before) Dominique Kieffer’s Acquerello, include the Franco-Irish company where inkjet printing is used to create Sequana, producer of tartan, damask, a spreading pattern in different leaf-patterned, herringbone and shades of the same colour, or their check linens, and at the other end of Vasarely trompe l’oeil fabric, which the scale, Madder Cutch run by has a geometrical 3D effect. British Nicola Cliffe in Lincolnshire, who firm Lewis & Wood’s elaborate range makes her own natural dyes and of highly decorative printed patterns, prints in her garden. from delicate florals to bold Uzbecki Helen Cormack says: “Our prices Ikat designs, are largely woven in range from £40 to £300 for hand- Scotland and printed in Stroud in blocked prints. If you go for an Gloucestershire.

I LOVE LINEN CHELSEA HARBOUR Now until May 13 Rubelli/Donghia: Design Centre East, Chelsea John Lewis: Oxford Street, W1 (020 7629 7711: Harbour, SW10; (020 7349 1590). johnlewis.com). Tissus d’Hélène: 421 Design Centre East (020 Peter Jones: Sloane Square, SW1 (020 7730 3434; 7352 9977). johnlewis.com/our-shops/peterjones.com). Lewis & Wood: 105-106 First Floor, Chelsea Designers Guild, Marylebone High Street, W1 Harbour, SW10 (lewisandwood.co.uk). (020 3301 5826); King’s Road, SW3 (020 7351 5775; designersguild.com). FASHIONED FROM Skandium: Marylebone High Street, W1 (020 NATURE 7935 2077); Thurloe Place, SW7 (020 3876 2744). Skandium Townhouse: also Thurloe Place (020 Catch the new exhibition in the Fashion Gallery at 7584 2066; skandium.com). the Victoria & Albert Museum in SW7 from John England: Northern Ireland (028 4062 0400; Saturday until January 27 (vam.ac.uk/ johnengland.com). FashionedFrom Nature). 16 WEDNESDAY
18 APRIL 2018 EVENING STANDARD Homes Property | Interiors

Left: Londoners have of necessity become used to screeching flocks of parakeets, celebrated here Trend: birds on an exotic chair by Jacky Puzey, who specialises in combining traditional Exotic birds are the designers’ favourite embroidery skills with digi-tech to design this spring for stunning interiors, and produce for interiors and discovers Barbara Chandler fashion. It costs from £2,340. See it at the Design- Nation display Left: an amusing overview of during London Craft British birds on a tea towel, part Week which runs from of the Collective Noun range by May 9-13 in homewares, greetings cards and Bermondsey gifts design duo Jill Perkins and (jackypuzey.com; Jan Morley. Priced £9.99 (shop. designnation perkinsandmorley.com) showcase.co.uk)

Right: south London designer and illustrator Lorna Syson grew up in the countryside and British birds inspire her, with great and long- tailed tits, bullfinches, robins and wrens peppering her wallpapers, fabrics and gifts. This charming pattern is inspired by a wren she spots in Brockley Park as she walks her dog. Wren and Cherry wallpaper is £140 per roll, with fabric £68 a metre, cushions £59 and lampshades £69.50 (lornasyson. co.uk; 020 8465 981)

Right: using pen and ink, London artist Rory Dobner gives birds an eccentric twist then prints them on to homewares that include tiles, candles and bone china tableware. This Number One Prize Pigeon tile is £38. Dobner’s range also features a cheeky Lovebird pattern on fine bone china plates and cake stands edged in 22-carat gold, from £36 (rorydobner.com) EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 18 APRIL 2018
17 Interiors | Homes Property

Left: wildlife artist and printmaker Robert Gillmor, who has illustrated more than 100 books since 1958, loves birds and has served on the council of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the British Ornithologists’ Union and the British Trust for Ornithology. Now a vivid selection of his portfolio is printed on to cotton/linen blend fabric at We Love Cushions. Priced £31.99 for a cushion 45cm square, or 50cm x 40cm, including pad (welove cushions.co.uk; 020 8801 5491)

Right: British bird clocks by design duo Jill Perkins and Jan Morley cost £28, and measure 25cm across (shop. perkins and morley. com)

Above: Birds In Chains wallpaper shows designer Kit Miles’s gift for capturing the strange beauty of nature. Priced £325 per roll (Kit Miles Studio, 384 City Road, EC1; kitmiles.co.uk)

Above: in rural Herefordshire, Peta Darnley collects the feathers she finds on walks around the family farm, where birdlife has become more diverse thanks to an environmental preservation scheme adopted five years ago. Now a range of bone china, screen-printed in Stoke-on-Trent, celebrates the buzzard, jay, guinea fowl and Reeves’s pheasant. The Feathers mug is priced at £13, the dinner plate is £25 and the side plate is £20 (hydeinside.co.uk) 18
WEDNESDAY 18 APRIL 2018 EVENING STANDARD Homes Property | Design Adding interest Our home For colour, pattern and fun, the owners of this totally restored end-of-terrace north London Victorian family house called on interior designer Suzy Hoodless. Emma J Page reports Sitting room and library: above, the mirrored coffee table is from Mint. The Hans J Wegner Papa Bear Chair in vivid green adds colour, while a cushion in Albert Indigo by Sister Parish on the other armchair picks up the soft geometrics of the rug. The library beyond has bespoke shelving

HE owners of this four- Dining area: and bolder hues before.” Hoodless storey townhouse in north above, the owners took her lead from their furniture and London turned to designer added a generous rugs and scaled up, adding simple but Suzy Hoodless for conservatory at eye-catching lines, including Fritz contemporary inspiration to the back of the Hansen’s classic Favn sofa and a Hans Toffset their classical architecture after house, featuring J Wegner Papa Bear Chair in vivid the year-long renovation of their three sets of chartreuse in the sitting room, Victorian home: “We had a beautifully French windows. complemented by leopard print and traditional backdrop, but we wanted Muuto Nerd graphic cushions. to mix things up a bit.” chairs expand the In the basement dining area, Muuto Being end of terrace, they benefited palette and a Nerd chairs in a range of hues expand from light on three sides. They monochrome rug the colour palette, while above the decided to play to that strength by helps tie the look marble-topped kitchen island hangs a having a large side extension built, together (muuto. trio of Michael Anastassiades pendant complete with east- and west-facing com) lights. Spikes of colour everywhere terraces, adding a conservatory at the include a vivid blue painted mural in rear. Internally, they returned the the son’s room, offset by calm with kitchen to the basement and created soft greys in the main bedroom. an elegant sitting room and library Son’s bedroom: It was a matter of adding in places space on the ground floor. below, a painted and pulling back in others to get the Throughout, cornice was returned, mural disguises balance just right, explains Hoodless. doorways were widened and, with floor-to-ceiling She clearly succeeded. Her client says three children, plenty of hidden storage. Curtains living with bold, graphic print “gives storage was added. The owners like in Breakwater by me pleasure every day”. mid-century pieces and share their Christopher Farr taste with Hoodless, including an Cloth add a playful ⬤ Suzy Hoodless: (020 7221 8844; appreciation of the works of Giò Ponti lemony zing suzyhoodless.com) and Fornasetti. “But the owners (christopher ⬤ Architect: Liam O’Connor (020 7250 hadn’t really lived with print, pattern farrcloth.com) 1983; liamoconnor.com)

Photographs: Elsa Young Locations editor: Liz Elliot

See the full feature in the May issue of House & Garden, on sale now 22
WEDNESDAY 18 APRIL 2018 Homes Property | My home homesandproperty.co.uk powered by Pattern House: the clue is in the name

Fashion accessories designer Carolina Wong radically redesigned her Victorian home in Southwark, filling it with rich, warm colour and plenty of light, says Dominic Lutyens

OME people favour help of an architect to realise her vision. a neutral, mono- “Marco posted an ad on the website, chrome, minimalist Servicestart, which puts clients in touch home — but not with architects,” she says. “We wanted fashion accessories to hire a young architect rather than an designer Carolina established practice, which is more S Wong, who bought likely to impose its aesthetic on clients. her two-bedroom So we chose Aleksa Studio.” Victorian house in Southwark with her “We clicked,” chips in Aleksa Risova, Italian husband, Marco, a banker, in its director. “This project was deeply 2015. “I wanted a space that didn’t feel personal for her. We’ve used a mix of too plain,” says this outgoing, Hong design details to reflect her taste.” Many Kong-born designer, dressed, when we pieces of furniture, accessories and meet, in an apple green jacket embroi- finishes were sourced by Wong in dered with hot-pink peonies. “I wanted Morocco, making the interior-design pattern and warm, rich touches. I think aspect of the project highly collabora- we’re seeing a backlash against stream- tive. Her finds include beaten brass lined, Scandinavian-style interiors.” bowls used as washbasins in two bath- She adds: “In fashion, people aren’t rooms. looking to minimalism now.” She cites Gucci, which, for several seasons, has “I wanted pattern”: porcelain tiles laid herringbone style cover the ground floor Wong wanted much more light into wowed the fashion fraternity with its what had been a gloomy, light-starved bonkers mix of Chinese-style embroi- house. This meant a radical redesign of dery and clashing floral prints. the ground floor and the addition of a At Pattern House, as Wong’s three- new rear dormer window, which houses storey home is known, she has certainly the new swanky top-floor bathroom, achieved her ambition. One of its most complete with windows and big sky- striking features is the floor made of light. porcelain tiles in a herringbone pattern “The floors were rotten and were that zigzags from the street-facing liv- replaced, as were the sash windows; the ing room, then to the kitchen-cum-din- new ones are in the same style but dou- ing area and finally the back garden, ble glazed,” says Risova. with its non-slip tiles. The kitchen units, The old kitchen — an extension that not that you’d ever guess, are Ikea car- reached the rear boundary wall — posed turned down, the kitchen extension casses customised with a decorative, the first major challenge. This was would be automatically refused, too. black scallop pattern studded with flanked on one side by a narrow patio. Fortunately, we secured permission for brass handles. A cream marble worktop Aleksa Studio suggested demolishing the ground-floor extension first time is striated with swirling olive green and the existing kitchen and replacing it round. The roof dormer application was cream veins, adding another layer of with a new one with a rectangular patio initially refused, but permission was rich pattern. beyond it. granted through appeal because it A new extension, topped with a sky- doesn’t extend the full width of the roof Pattern resurfaces in the luxuriously light, was built in place of the old patio. and is fairly hidden from view.” Building spacious top-floor bathroom, which Customised: Ikea kitchen carcasses with scallop-pattern fronts and marble worktops This is now part of an open-plan work began in late 2016. Other adjust- has a theatrical feel with a roll-top, free- kitchen-cum-dining area, which fea- standing bath sitting centre stage. Floor tures a whitewashed brick wall that tiles in bold black-and-white marble are reflects more light into the room. bordered on one side by wooden floor- A large shower room that adjoined the boards, providing a dry area and linking old kitchen was replaced by a small loo, visually to wooden flooring in the main yielding yet more space. Floor-to-ceiling bedroom, guest room and Wong’s stu- glass doors front the new kitchen. And, dio downstairs. The bathroom also with the herringbone floor connecting boasts a marble-topped vanity unit on indoors and out, the sense of space has slender brass legs. been greatly enhanced. “We only plan to have two children so we didn’t want a third bedroom,” says Risova admits that applying for plan- Wong, who studied woven textiles at ning permission for the dormer exten- Chelsea College of Art and Design, and sion was risky. “The house is in a set up her business designing hand- conservation area, thanks to its cohe- bags, hand-made by artesans in sive mid-to-late 19th-century architec- Morocco, two years ago. “We thought, ture, and Southwark council has strict why not create a fabulous bathroom? policies against roof dormer extensions We hang out here for half an hour at a here. We sought planning advice time, and Marco reads and checks his through a pre-application consultation emails there.” with the council. They advised us to While Wong had strong views about apply for each extension separately the interior she wanted, she needed the Lots to look at: plants and intriguing, arty treasures are used to break up white space because, if the dormer extension were Blend: period house, modern styling EVENING STANDARD
23 My home | Homes Property

GET THE LOOK

Client: Carolina Wong (carolinawong.co.uk) Architect: Aleksa Studio (aleksastudio.co.uk) Structural engineer: Design ID (designid.co.uk) Approved building control inspectors: Shore Engineering (shoreengineering.co.uk) Builder: Tomasz Zmelty Building Ltd (tzbuilding.co.uk/gallery.php) Glass doors in kitchen-cum-dining area: ID Systems (idsystems. co.uk) Porcelain floor tiles: Mandarin Stone (mandarinstone.com) Timber flooring: Barham & Sons (barhamandsons.com) Brass switches and sockets: Buster + Punch (busterandpunch. com/) Kitchen doors, plinths and handles: Superfront (superfront.com/uk) Kitchen cabinets: Ikea (ikea.com) Kitchen marble worktop and bathroom marble vanity unit tops: The Marble and Granite Centre (themarbleand granitecentre.co. uk) Micro-cement wall finish: Polished Concrete Plus (polishedconcrete plus.co.uk) Sanitaryware: Imperial (imperialbathroom.com/uk) Timber sash windows: Lomax + Wood (lomaxwood.co.uk) Pendant lights: by Monika Mulder from Pholc (pholc.se) Kitchen table and bench: Bois Jolie (boisjolie.co.uk)

WHAT IT COST Cost of original house in 2016: £795,000 Cost of extensions and full refurbishment: £240,000 Value of house now (estimate): £1.4 million

Magpie eye: left, the living space in the Southwark house Carolina Wong shares with husband Marco features stunning contemporary style. The shelving with a brass curtain pole frame was sourced by Wong; below, the fashion accessories designer in her home work studio

ments included removing a door sepa- the bespoke elements took longer to sourced by Wong. While browsing rating the hall from the living room to install than expected,” says Risova. It’s online, her magpie eye also spotted the create a more open space. The ceiling not surprising when you consider that Norfolk-based craftsman who supplied of the main bedroom was lowered the herringbone-pattern floor tiles the rough-hewn kitchen dining table. slightly to give the top-floor bathroom incorporate six textures. But this level “He had a raw piece of oak in his extra height. A new skylight in Wong’s of craftsmanship and detail ultimately garage and cut it down to the size I studio has transformed it into a well-lit gives the house its character. wanted,” she recalls. “I could have gone workspace. Another unusual feature is a shelving for a black table but wanted one that “We were supposed to finish in May unit with a scaffolding-like frame made wasn’t too matchy-matchy with the 2017 but didn’t until September because of brass curtain poles, ingeniously other colours in the room.”

Theatrical: the luxurious top-floor bathroom, left, with free-standing bath, bold black- and-white marble on the floor, a slim, elegant vanity unit and — from Wong’s Moroccan travels — a beaten brass bowl to serve as a washbasin

Photographs: Juliet Murphy 24
WEDNESDAY 18 APRIL 2018 EVENING STANDARD Homes Property |Outdoors Get out of the city and into a bluebell wood

Celebrate spring with over 60,000 tulips, bluebells and rhododendrons — all in bloom and so near London

BEST FOR TULIPS Alex Tulip festivals in recent years have caught the imagination of several Mitchell public gardens. The team at Emmetts planted 4,000 bulbs for this year’s show, battling the badgers that

especially like to dig up the red ones. MASON IMAGES/LEO TRUST NATIONAL Hever Castle in Kent promises its FTER the long, cold winter 20,000 bulbs will be based around a Spring in their step: visitors take in the and a soggy spring, why not colour scheme inspired by the mural beautiful carpet of bluebells at Emmetts head out of town this of a Jimi Hendrix album cover Garden, Sevenoaks, Kent, above weekend to find some painted on a Moroccan café wall. Left: tulips at Hever Castle near gardening inspiration just Head gardener Neil Miller says: “The Edenbridge, Kent, where 20,000 bulbs aA short journey from the capital? rainbow colours of the artwork are have been planted for this year’s Tulip There’s also a very good chance there wacky and free-spirited.” Festival, opening today will be home-made cake for tea… In Surrey, down the A3 just 20 miles Right: Rhododendron ‘Halopeanum’ in from London, there’s a rare chance to the Wild Garden in Spring at the Royal BEST FOR BLUEBELLS visit the private gardens of Horticultural Society’s Wisley Gardens in If anything sums up Britain’s fragrant, Dunsborough Park, the estate where Surrey gentle spring, it’s a woodland celebrated gardener Penelope carpeted with bluebells. These Hobhouse designed the borders, and precious bulbs are opening right now where the late Hollywood queen Liz

so don’t miss them — but leave them Taylor spent one of her eight wedding INGRAM RHS/JASON in the wood. Bluebells are not for nights. Now owned by Baron and London gardens, and especially not Baroness Sweerts de Landas Wyborgh Bloms Bulbs are on site to take your M25. There is something fabulous INSPIRATIONAL SPRING the Spanish bluebell, which spreads of the Netherlands, the estate opens order and will send the bulbs out to about these shrubs planted en masse GARDENS NEAR LONDON uncontrollably. Nearby bluebells can its gates for an annual tulip festival you in October when they will be on a lavish scale, but even small Emmetts Garden: nationaltrust.org. be found at Sydenham Hill Wood, with a Dutch garden and an achingly ready to plant. gardens may have space for one. uk/emmetts Dulwich, while just outside the M25 romantic tulip meadow. Cliveden: nationaltrust.org.uk/ near Sevenoaks you’ll find no Most acclaimed of all the tulip BEST FOR RHODODENDRONS, BEST FOR TREE BLOSSOM cliveden shortage at Emmetts Garden, the festivals is perhaps that of Pashley CAMELLIAS AND AZALEAS RHS Wisley offers romance with its RHS Garden Wisley: rhs.org.uk/ woods around Ightham Mote, Manor, just off the A21 at Ticehurst Flowering from May onwards these cherry blossom teamed with lilac, a gardens/wisley Riverhill Himalayan Gardens and on the Sussex/Kent border. This splashy evergreens groan with huge stunning trained fruit tree orchard Riverhill Himalayan Gardens: Chartwell, once Churchill’s home, year’s festival promises the most blooms in shades of bright pink, and a new wisteria walk, plus 170 riverhillgardens.co.uk now a National Trust property. tulips yet, with 120 varieties and a orange, yellow and red. Emmetts different peonies which will erupt late Great Comp Garden: visitkent.co.uk/ West of London, head to Cliveden. staggering 40,000 bulbs. I can only Garden is king of the “rhodies” with next month. Not sure which magnolia great-comp-garden The grounds of this gracious country salute the skills of the head gardener’s 80 rare and endangered specimens to buy for your London garden? Get estate roll down to the Thames. Pick osteopath. As well as enjoying the beautifully showcased in its grounds. inspiration at Great Comp Garden TULIP FESTIVALS NEAR LONDON up a leaflet for the Spring Walk that sheer spectacle, there’s inspiration, Scrabble around for the olde-worlde which has 52 different varieties. Pashley Manor Tulip Festival: April 24- takes you through acres of cowslips, too, for small-space gardeners since metal labels buried somewhere at At Cliveden don’t miss a detour to May 8 (pashleymanorgardens.com) snowy wood anemones, dog violets most of the bulbs are planted in their base and get ideas. Not far away, the Water Garden, where dusky-pink Dunsborough Park Tulip Festival: April and bluebells, with panoramic views modest-sized “garden rooms” and Great Comp Garden and Riverhill flowering cherries and creamy-white 19, 21 and 28 (dunsboroughpark.com) over the Thames Valley and Berkshire pots. Spot a tulip you particularly like have great rhododendrons, as does magnolias are reflected in the lake, Hever Castle Tulip Festival: today until countryside. and Chelsea-winning bulb specialists Wisley, a few junctions around the beside 2,000 pale blue camassias. April 27 (hevercastle.co.uk) 26
WEDNESDAY 18 APRIL 2018 EVENING STANDARD Homes Property | Reader offers Bargain news By Alison Cork Make celebrity hens the clucky stars of your outdoor show HAVE fun with garden accessories when you buy one of Alison’s Marketplace celebrity hens priced at just £49.99 each (RRP: £59.99). Choose from Audrey Henburn, Sophia Laurhen, Doris Lay, Maid Marihen (pictured) and Hennifer Lawrence. Get free delivery when you buy two or more hens and quote ESBN184. To claim, order at alisonsmarketplace.com or call 020 7087 2900 before April 24.

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⬤ The companies listed here are wholly independent of the Evening Standard. Care is taken to establish they are bona fide but we recommend you carry out your own checks prior to purchases and use a credit card where possible. To offer feedback on any of these companies, email [email protected] with “Bargain News” in the subject line. For more bargains, visit alisonathome.com or homesandproperty.co.uk/offers 28
WEDNESDAY 18 APRIL 2018 EVENING STANDARD Homes Property | Property searching Spotlight on Canary Wharf

This global financial powerhouse now welcomes walk-to-work families with thousands of new homes, new schools, shops and Crossrail. By Anthea Masey

LITTLE over 30 years has seen Canary Wharf Today in Canary transformed from an industrial east London Wharf Rightmove wasteland left to rot after theA closure of the docks, to one of the has 1,481 homes world’s leading financial centres, to BUY and 1,607 home to the European operations of many top banks and other business to RENT institutions. This hub of glass-and-metal towers rose five miles east of central London at the edge of the Thames, built for business, not family life: frenetic from the early hours but with lights out at night, and hauntingly quiet at work. The largest of many schemes is weekends. However, a recent policy Wood Wharf, a 23-acre waterside site change has brought new family where the masterplan includes 3,600 homes. Canary Wharf’s shopping new homes including up to 900 centres and the new restaurants in “affordable”, plus two million square Crossrail Place — the stunning Foster feet of offices, 380,000sq ft of shops, + Partners-designed development restaurants, community facilities, a above the new station for the east- new primary school, a GP surgery and west London link — buzz with eight acres of green space. families out enjoying themselves, At the western end of West India while watersports and a growing Quay, Chinese developer Greenland social scene are on the doorstep. Group is building Spire London, the Canary Wharf is welcoming new tallest residential tower in Europe at residents like never before. Eighties 771ft and 67 storeys. The £800 million office blocks are being replaced by tower will have 861 flats. gleaming residential towers, includ- Local Chestertons estate agent ing Europe’s tallest. Over the next Tushar Wadhwani notes a big switch couple of years, thousands of flats will from “buy-to-let” investors. “We see a be built, of which 25-35 per cent will lot of first-timers with budgets of up be “affordable”. This will be a “people to £600,000 deciding to live in Canary place”, with homeowners valuing the Wharf or the Isle of Dogs rather than chance to live where they can walk to residential south-west London.”

WHAT THERE IS TO BUY

£525,000 £999,995 A TWO-BEDROOM first-floor flat in The Watergarden, in Narrow A RIVERSIDE flat at New Providence Wharf, with Street, E14, with its popular restaurants and bars. Limehouse station two bedrooms, open-plan interiors and a roomy and Westferry DLR are both close. Hurford Salvi Carr (020 8012 6969). wraparound balcony. Dexters (020 7517 1199). To find a home in Canary Wharf, visit rightmove.co.uk For more area guides, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/area-guides EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 18 APRIL 2018
29 homesandproperty.co.uk powered by Property searching | Homes Property

PROPERTY SCENE homesandproperty.co.uk powered by MODERN flats dominate but there are pockets of period homes and some warehouse conversions. The most expensive home for sale now is a four- bedroom penthouse duplex in Belgrave Court, Westferry Circus, at £4.3 million. The most expensive STATS CHECK period house is a four-bedroom Victorian terrace in Manchester Road, What homes cost for £2 million. At Port East BUYING IN CANARY WHARF Apartments, a warehouse conversion (Average prices) in West India Quay, flats are for sale One-bedroom flat £470,000 from £625,000 to £1,325,000. Two-bedroom flat £692,000 NEW-BUILD HOMES Two-bedroom house £504,000 One Park Drive, centrepiece of Wood Three-bedroom house £807,000 Wharf, is a 58-storey tower with 483 Four-bedroom house £1.1 million homes. Studios from £665,000, with one-bedroom flats at £775,000, two- bedroom flats at £1.08 million and RENTING IN CANARY WHARF (Average rates) three-bedroom flats at £1,625,000. Three-bedroom “sky lofts” with big One-bedroom flat £1,642 a month balconies on the 32nd floor start at Two-bedroom flat £2,301 a month £2.75 million. Call 020 7001 3800. Two-bedroom house £1,957 a month Spire London, overlooking West Three-bedroom house £2,338 a month India Quay, will be Europe’s tallest Four-bedroom house £2,626 a month residential tower at 771ft and will have a 35th-floor club with residents’ gym, Source: Rightmove infinity swimming pool, bar and Up on the roof: Crossrail Place Roof Garden, an enclosed cinema. Studios/one-bedroom flats space open to the public daily, with exotic planting, community from £665,000; two-bedroom flats activity programmes and a 60-seat performance venue from £1,193,500 and three-bedroom flats at £2,020,000. Completion 2020. Through CBRE and JLL (020 3841 6565; spirelondon.com). South Quay Plaza by Berkeley Group, in Marsh Wall, has 1,338 homes in one 36-storey tower and a 68-storey block TRANSPORT Crossrail Place: of 722ft. There will be shops, eateries, a above, five storeys 2.6-acre park and a residents’ club. CROSSRAIL will boost Canary Wharf include eateries, Studios from £780,000, one-bedroom hugely as a place to live and work. shops and a roof flats at £855,000, two-bedroom flats at From December the Elizabeth line will garden atop the £1,187,500 and three-bedroom flats at slash the journey to Liverpool St from new Canary Wharf £1.55 million. Call 020 3468 7975. 21 minutes to six and to Paddington station, from Also in Marsh Wall, EcoWorld from 33 minutes to 17. From December where Elizabeth Ballymore’s Wardian has 764 flats with next year the trip to Heathrow airport line trains will run private “sky gardens” in two towers, will be cut from 55 to 39 minutes. from December. one 50 storeys, the other 55 storeys. For now, Canary Wharf depends on Restaurants Studios from £623,000, one-bedroom the Docklands Light Railway with include Big Easy, flats from £726,000 and two-bedroom stations at West India Quay, Canary left, a crabshack, flats at £980,000 (wardianlondon.com; Wharf, Heron Quay and South Quay smokehouse & 020 7436 1222). with trains to Bank, Tower Gateway BBQ with live Completing in 2020, Harbour and Stratford. Canary Wharf is also on music Central has 642 studios, one- to three- the Jubilee line and is six stops from bedroom flats and penthouses in five Bond Street. London City airport is two buildings including 42-storey Maine miles away, reachable by DLR. Thames Tower in Mastmaker Road. Off-plan Clippers ferries go from Canary Wharf sales of one-bedroom flats start at pier, taking half an hour to Waterloo. £725,000, with two-bedroom flats at All stations are in Zone 2 and an annual £1.1 million and three-bedroom flats at travelcard costs £1,364. £1.2 million. Call Galliard Homes on 020 7620 1500. The Madison in Meridian Place is a 53-storey block by LBS Properties. From £589,000 for a studio, £765,000 for a one-bedroom flat, £973,000 for a two-bedroom flat, £1,418,000 for a HAVE YOUR SAY: three-bedroom flat and £1,733,000 for CANARY WHARF penthouses. Completion mid-2020. Locals tweet their tips Through JLL on 020 3797 4529 (themadison.co.uk). Chalegrove Properties’ Landmark @nickjstamp Giant Robot, with Pinnacle at South Dock, completing street food, craft beers, cocktails 2020, will also be one of Europe’s and shuffleboard, has to be in tallest residential blocks, with 75 there floors, 822 flats and 162 serviced flats, @thegundocklands A rare piece a garden, play area, two dining rooms, of serenity on the Isle of Dogs a gym and a top-floor terrace. From with a quiet drink by the Thames £595,000 for a one-bedroom flat to on The Gun’s river terrace ;) £1.55 million for three bedrooms (020 @GoOffMarket For a great day 3905 6826; landmarkpinnacle.com). with countryside vibes without leaving E14, go to @mudchute HOMES TO RENT Farm & Park, 32 acres of country Buy-to-let investors have piled into in the heart of east London new build, as many people working @home_luxy The Gun pub, on locally on short-term contracts want the river at Coldharbour. Closed short-term lets. Longer term, you’ll pay at the moment for a refurb, but a about £400 a week for a modern one- real hidden gem with fantastic bedroom flat, ranging up to £1,800 a food and away from the main Little street food patch: in South Quay Square are six vintage week for a three-bedroom flat at Pan hustle and bustle of the Wharf vehicles, each with a different speciality to tempt your taste buds Peninsula in Marsh Wall. EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 18 APRIL 2018 31
Letting on | Homes Property

£500 a week: packed with original features, this two-bedroom apartment is part of a church conversion in South Bermondsey, SE1. It’s in peaceful Lynton Road, but it’s still convenient for the buzzing Bermondsey quarter. This one-off home is available to rent long term — call Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward (020 8012 2032). It’s a tenant interview — not a blind date

when the girls would be out so that I could check him out first. I was sitting The accidental in my car outside the flat when I saw him approach, but before he knocked on the door he got out his phone and Landlord held it up, as if taking a selfie. Then I realised that he was checking out his reflection in the front-facing camera, A string of men smoothing down his hair and turning his head from side to side. apply to share a “Oh Lord,” I thought, “looks like he’s prepping for a blind date.” The chap flat with three wheeled round when I leapt out of the car and a look of disappointment shot female students. across his face. He was expecting to Funny that, says be greeted by a hot young student. He didn’t look so young, either. In Victoria Whitlock fact, I would say he was more late thirties than early twenties. We UST wondering, is it legal to started the tour in the living room, ban men and anyone over a where the girls had left their freshly certain age when laundered undies strewn on drying advertising for someone to racks. “Yes, well, as you can see, the fill an empty room in a flat tenants use this more like a laundry occupiedJ by three young female than a living room,” I said, quickly students? It feels like the sort of steering him back into the hallway. blatant discrimination that would fall “That’s not a problem,” he grinned. I foul of the Equalities Act, but as my knew then that the girls wouldn’t tenants aren’t keen to share their want to live with this chap because living space with a man or anyone they wouldn’t feel comfortable “old”, it would avoid wasting people’s leaving their undergarments hanging time if I just stated that in the advert. round the flat. Instead, I’ve simply put that I would prefer a female tenant aged between I hurried through the rest of the tour 18 and 25. In any event, I have still and ushered him to the front door. received two or three enquiries from Turning on the threshold he said: middle-aged men. I was tempted to “I’m actually very disappointed not to contact each of them and ask what have met my new flatmates tonight.” they found appealing about sharing a What did he think this was — blind flat with three women in their date night? twenties, but instead I just clicked on It would be easier if my tenants the “decline” box. advertised for a new flatmate themselves. Then they would be I did agree to show the flat to one allowed to specify that they wanted to guy who told me he was in his mid- share only with a woman — as they twenties because he was very are the ones living in the flat, that persistent on the phone and aside would be their right. from his gender, he ticked all the boxes. I really couldn’t think of any ⬤ Victoria Whitlock lets four way to avoid showing him round properties in south London. To other than telling him it was because contact Victoria with your ideas or he was a man, so I arranged a time views, tweet @vicwhitlock EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 18 APRIL 2018 35
Ask the expert | Homes Property

Should size really matter?

MY FLATMATE and I are thinking of buying a house Q together for us to live in. If we pool our savings we would have enough money for a deposit and our joint income should be enough to get us a mortgage. However, we are not in a relationship — so can we do this, and what do we need to think about? By Fiona McNulty The only people we know who have OUR LAWYER ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS bought houses together are either married or in a relationship and cohabiting. I AM trying to remortgage my studio flat so I can extend OU can buy a property jointly Q my lease. The lender’s valuer with whoever you want but has measured the flat as 28 square More legal Q&As: Y make sure you choose metres but it needs to be 30sq m to visit homesand someone you get on with and who qualify to remortgage. When I property.co. uk you feel you can trust. bought it four years ago the mortgage Calculate how much you can each valuation measured it at 30sq m and I afford for the deposit and for your have the paperwork showing that. monthly mortgage repayments. My freeholder also says the flat is Then try to obtain a mortgage in 30sq m. Will the size of the flat affect principle. the price for the lease extension, and There would be joint and several what can I do about my remortgage? liability for your joint mortgage — meaning that each of you IF YOU haven’t already done would be jointly and so, it would be wise to seek individually liable for the A advice from an independent mortgage debt. So, if your chartered surveyor specialising in flatmate fails to pay their lease extensions, who will be able to share of the mortgage advise you regarding the value of the repayments, your lender extension and can also measure your could pursue you for all the flat for you. funds due under the There is a complex procedure for mortgage. calculating the premium payable for a Agree matters with your lease extension and several factors flatmate such as how payments are taken into account — for example, will be shared for utility bills, the reduction in value of the how maintenance and repairs landlord’s interest in the studio flat; will be funded, what will the landlord’s loss of ground rent happen if one of you wants to sell during the extended term of the new their share in the property, or if lease; the value of the property, and one of you wishes a partner to the length of the unexpired term of move into the property. Record the lease. your agreement in a declaration of Some lenders will not lend on studio trust. Hold the property as flats. However, most of those that will tenants in common so often require the flat to be a WHAT’S that on death of one YOUR PROBLEM? minimum size of 30 square metres. party, the property Email legalsolutions@ If you are using the same mortgage standard.co.uk or write to Legal doesn’t lender for your remortgage, point out Solutions, Homes & Property, automatically to them the discrepancy in their Evening Standard, 2 Derry Street, pass to the valuer’s measurements and remind W8 5EE. Questions cannot be survivor but them of the content of their original answered individually, but we will try passes in valuation. to feature them here. accordance with A few lenders will lend on studio Fiona McNulty is a solicitor the deceased’s flats of less than 30sq m, so you could specialising in residential Will, or if there is apply to one of them if your current property. no Will, under the lender will not oblige. rules of intestacy. 36 WEDNESDAY 18 APRIL 2018 EVENING STANDARD Homes Property | Inside story

Rules made to confuse

two-bedroom apartment with a west-facing balcony. This type of property rents well and it will be perfect for some professional Diary of an tenants on our database, for sure. Estate Agent WEDNESDAY I arrange to take Sandrine, one of my senior consultants, out to lunch today with Jonathan MONDAY Hudson, founder of our agency, Hudsons The lettings market has been a little busier Property, as she is due to have her first baby than usual over the last few months. Although next week. She is a real trooper with a strong property transactions have dropped, fears work ethic and wants to make it to the end of that people will leave London over Brexit the week as she has some deals to finalise. seem to be unfounded. Often when the sales Meanwhile, my colleague Laura has already market is slower, the lettings market picks up been busying herself with our new — Londoners need to live somewhere. instruction on the Rathbone Square I receive a visit today from the landlord of a development. She shows the apartment to a large three-bedroom mansion flat, as we are professional couple who began looking for trying to resolve an issue with Camden somewhere to rent at the start of the week. It council over three new tenants wishing to ticks every box and they offer on the spot. move in. The problem centres around the council’s complicated policy with regard to THURSDAY housing in multiple occupation, or HMO. No Sandrine this morning and we all have Camden says that if you have a property our fingers crossed that everything is going with more than two tenants who are not from well. I head into the office and chat to our the same family, then this is classed as an sales department. Spencer and Simon have HMO. However, this creates havoc as many agreed a deal on a flat we have managed for leases in the borough do not allow for HMO the last 16 years. With me losing another lettings. This means we need to get special long-standing client I check with them about relief granted for the landlord — which slows any new landlord-buyers, but since the down the process of moving tenants in. The additional three per cent stamp duty levy on landlord is pleased we are dealing with it for second homes there has been a noticeable him, as he didn’t know about Camden’s slowdown in landlords buying to rent. policy. Keeping aware of legislation is a big challenge for landlords, who can unwittingly FRIDAY get into trouble. Fantastic news — Sandrine has had a healthy baby girl. We all can’t wait to meet the new arrival. Back to business and it’s on to the TUESDAY final touches for our Student Fair, which There seems to be a small rise in tenant happens on the University College London complaints when they move into some new- campus at the beginning of May. This is build properties. On occasion, the heating where we meet second-year and third-year and plumbing technology has not been fully students and offer advice on how to go about tested as the property has yet to be lived in, so renting after their first year in halls of we are now undertaking checks to make sure residence. The secret is to get in early. everything is working before a tenant comes The sun is out as I head to a valuation in to move in. Covent Garden, where the pubs are busy with I visit a new instruction today at Rathbone alfresco drinkers enjoying a rare spring-like Square on the site of the old postal sorting afternoon. I’ll see who I can persuade to join office in Fitzrovia. This scheme is now me for an end-of-the-week drink later. finished and has Facebook as its main commercial office tenant, which has made ⬤ Robert Burwood is director of lettings at the new retail units very attractive for Hudsons Property in the West End (020 7323 creative businesses. I inspect a third-floor, 2277). 42
WEDNESDAY 18 APRIL 2018 EVENING STANDARD Homes Property | New homes Cricklewood is a new hotspot

CRICKLEWOOD joins the latest Cricklewood came of age in the 1880s hotspots on the back of a £4.5 billion when Midland Railway Company Smart moves redevelopment of Brent Cross that moved its locomotive works from will also bring a new Thameslink Kentish Town to the new Brent station connecting the area to St Sidings and built an estate of worker By David Spittles Pancras in less than 15 minutes. cottages, now prized private homes. Young families priced out of West Redevelopment of railway lands at Hampstead are already setting their Brent Cross will create the new sights on relatively affordable houses station, 6,700 homes, three schools, in NW2, less than four miles from four parks, lots of office space, a new Marble Arch, but new flats for singles shopping centre and a green route and couples have been in short across the thundering North Circular supply. However, launching next to Barnet. Gladstone Park is a prized Arty homes in month is The Broadway, with 101 local green space and at Gladstone flats priced from £425,000. The Village, a new micro neighbourhood scheme isn’t in bustling Cricklewood nearby, housing association Octavia Broadway, it’s in Cricklewood Lane, Living has four-bedroom houses from but still in the thick of things. Call £895,000, with flats to come later. prime London Fairview Homes on 020 8023 8517. Call 020 8208 8355.

HE Royal Borough of bricks and powder-coated metalwork, Kensington & Chelsea has yet the architecture does not jar with more than 150 blue plaque the handsome townhouses alongside. properties dedicated to The flats have unfussy, open-plan artists, far exceeding any interiors and roof lights. Prices start otherT London council. Impoverished at £1.35 million. A new conventional- painters have long since left this looking four-storey corner house with prized area in search of cheaper 3,000sq ft of space forms part of the accommodation elsewhere in the scheme and costs £9 million. Call capital but the architectural legacy of Banda Property on 020 7937 9600. traditional artist studios endures. The Arts House is the boutique Rosemoor Studios, a scheme of conversion of a mansion in nearby sleek Scandi-style flats in the Sloane South Kensington into 11 flats that Ranger heartland near Harrods, make the most of original period reinterprets those bright, airy spaces decorative architecture, overlaid with of the 18th and 19th centuries within contemporary design. A pair of a classic period streetscape. It is a duplex penthouses have private roof bold design statement, with a façade gardens. Prices from £1.69 million. From £895,000: four-bedroom houses, Gladstone Village NW2, by Octavia Living of pre-cast Portland stone, Flemish Call Knight Frank on 020 3826 0673. EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 18 APRIL 2018
43 homesandproperty.co.uk powered by New homes Homes Property Help turn the Cally into the new King’s X

IT WAS only a matter of time before into an area on the up,” she says. “I regeneration at King’s Cross spilled hadn’t set my heart on a new-build over to scruffy Caledonian Road. property but the more I thought Sliced through by train tracks, “the about it, the more sense it made. My Cally” has a down-to-earth, flat is not going to be ready until multicultural character, still largely 2019, but buying off-plan gives me working class, and what it lacks in time to organise the move and I’ll be architectural beauty it makes up for better placed to get a mortgage. ” in location and connectivity. London Square Caledonian Road Hayley Marler, 33, who works for a homes are in nine low- to mid-rise property law firm in the West End, blocks clad in pastel-coloured bricks, has spotted these pluses. Currently with metal window frames and full- renting locally, she’s seen the area height glass, set around landscaped smartening up and has put down a courtyards and play areas. The flats deposit on a one-bedroom flat at a have balconies and underfloor new development of 150 homes in heating, and there’s an on-site gym the Market Road Gardens and 24-hour concierge. Prices start at conservation area. “I feel I’m buying £625,000. Call 0333 666 0109.

Flats from £625,000: Hayley Marler, £90K SHARED OWNERSHIP above, is buying a new home at London Square Caledonian Road. For more about Buy in so-handy Sydenham the scheme call 0333 666 0109

Prices from A 17-MINUTE train commute to London £1.69 million: Bridge is perhaps one reason to buy a Looking for a elegant boutique home in Sydenham. Having to put down a apartments at deposit of only £4,500 could be an even new-build home? The Arts House, stronger incentive for first-time buyers. right and above, Shared-ownership flats priced from Start your search in South £90,000 for 25 per cent are on offer Kensington through So Resi, an offshoot brand of on Prices from Thames Valley Housing association. £1.35 million: Purchasers of shared-ownership Scandi-style apartments pay a five per cent deposit only open-plan flats at on the proportion they buy, making the Rosemoor Studios, homes much more affordable. For more left, in Chelsea £90,000: 25 per cent of a So Resi flat in Sydenham information, call 020 8607 0550.