future london save time and money antibes and all … · streamlined feel alongside sleek, white...

Wednesday 15 August 2018

Building London’s futureYoung architects bringing quality council homes to their communityPage 6

INTO THE ROUGH Design trends: 6

FUTURE LONDONTake a chance on Mitcham

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SAVE TIME AND MONEYRenting on the DLR

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ANTIBES AND ALL THAT JAZZBuying in the South of France

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SPOTLIGHT ON EARL’S COURTA lively mix in Zone 1

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4 WEDNESDAY 15 AUGUST 2018 EVENING STANDARD

£1.5 million: fancy creating a boutique Brighton B&B — from scratch? This double-fronted four-storey house is in the south coast city’s Norfolk Road, just a few streets back from the sea and an easy stroll from the shops and restaurants of The Lanes.

The lower ground floor is a self-contained flat, which you could let out for some extra cash or use as your private bolt hole.

Upstairs currently has five bedrooms and three bathrooms and masses of potential. The flat roof, for example, could be converted into a wonderful terrace with sea views.

Through Hamptons International (01273 068 003).

Lifechanger of the week start a boutique B&B by the sea in Brighton

£2,499,999: is that City Hall? Is that Tower Bridge? Is that that ugly hotel no one likes? You get to see it all from the luxury of this first-floor apartment at appropriately named Landmark Place, enjoying a commanding position from the north bank of the Thames. Rooms with a view include the generous open-plan living/dining space with wall-to-wall glass capturing some of the capital’s most famous landmarks, including the Shard and the City skyline. The views are just as breathtaking from the south-facing balcony and the flat itself is stunning. The kitchen is all about bespoke Italian cabinetry set around a marble island, the master bedroom has a fully fitted dressing room and en suite with marble vanity benches, while the guest bedroom has use of a sleek shower room. Residents’ perks include a spa and gym, 20-metre swimming pool, cinema, lounge, business suite and 24-hour concierge. Through Barratt London (020 3475 1020).

London buy of the week Soak up park views from two roof terraces

Trophy home of the week Live among landmarks

£320,000: a substantial office building in Gunnersbury Park, sandwiched between Brentford and Chiswick, has been transformed into a collection of studio, one- and two-bedroom flats. This one-bedroom pad has amazing views over 180 acres of Gunnersbury Park through floor-to-ceiling windows in an open-plan living space that sits under 10ft-high ceilings. Smart storage solutions give a

streamlined feel alongside sleek, white kitchen cabinets, while there’s ample space to dine, and a useful, bespoke desk/dresser with built-in shelving alongside the bedroom and bathroom. Perks include two communal roof terraces, a gym, cinema, bike storage and parking, plus concierge. Kew Bridge and Gunnersbury stations are both close by. Through Marsh & Parsons (020 7368 4830).

NEWS

Who can afford a deposit of £115k?

THIS WEEK IN...

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FOR 40 years we have failed on social housing. Margaret Thatcher encouraged sales of council stock but prevented councils from building new homes. Developers, housing associations and charities have tried and failed to house the homeless. The Government’s social housing Green Paper is a much-needed step to giving a voice to tenants and safeguarding the quality of their homes. However, if we want to create thriving communities we first need to tackle the wider issue of delivering an efficient pipeline of housing. As we discover this week, London boroughs are finding ways to build new homes but it is the way they build that must be scrutinised. We should use technology and modern construction methods to provide homes with thoughtful interiors and community space to improve the wellbeing of residents. Poor social housing endangers lives and damages communities. We must not repeat our horrendous recent history.

‘We must not repeat our horrendous recent history’

Janice Morley EDITOR

Property search

By Faye Greenslade

Homes Property | News

LONDON first-time buyers are now putting down deposits big enough to purchase an entire house outright elsewhere in the UK, new

research reveals. An average starter home in the capital costs almost £420,000, with the average deposit an eye-watering £114,952, or 27 per cent, according to the Halifax.

This deposit alone would comfortably buy outright a smart three-bedroom terrace house in the seaside resort of Scarborough, North Yorkshire; a two-bedroom cottage in a Midlands village, or a smart one- or two-bedroom flat in Norfolk or parts

of Essex. Yet the number of London first-time buyers keeps rising, with the luckiest able to borrow heavily from parents. More than 150,000 got on to the property ladder in the last year, compared to 72,700 in 2009 in the depths of the recession. Just over half of all mortgage applications made to Halifax are from first timers.

Meanwhile, the annual rent of an average London property is almost £20,000 per year according to the latest HomeLet index, up more than three per cent in the past year.

Family home for £119,950: in the village of Amblecote, Dudley, West Midlands, this two-bedroom semi has a good garden and an inglenook fireplace. Call Billingham Cooke (01384 737036)

A cottage for £105,000: this very pretty three-bedroom house, right, is for sale close to the town centre in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, three hours from London by train. Call Colin Ellis (01723 315028)

Stylish living for £120,000: it would involve a three-hour commute by car for a London worker but in the Norfolk seaside resort of Great Yarmouth you can buy a stylish and bright one-bedroom waterside flat in this handsome period building, left, at South Quay through William H Brown (01493 493218)

Read Ruth Bloomfield’s full story at homesandproperty.co.uk⬤

EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 15 AUGUST 2018 5

THE Royal Household is said to be getting ready to welcome a new neighbour, as Meghan Markle’s mother Doria Ragland is “preparing to move to the UK”. Ms Ragland, 61, seen left with Meghan, lives in LA, where the ex-Suits actress grew up, but is said to be keen to move near her daughter and son-in-law Prince Harry.

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, might not have to look far for a London base for Mum: this four-bedroom house, above, in Queen’s Gate Mews, South Kensington, is new to the market with Strutt & Parker at £2.85 million. It’s 10 minutes’ walk from Kensington Palace, where Meghan and Harry are reportedly renovating a 21-room apartment next to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

Worth the hitch-hike to Ireland

MADNESS singer Suggs is backing a campaign to secure the future of The Good Mixer pub in Inverness Street as part of Camden’s cultural heritage. Central to the Nineties Britpop movement, Blur band members were regulars in the bar and Amy Winehouse played pool there. However, the building was recently bought by Max Barney Ltd, which runs Containerville self-contained office spaces in Hackney and has applied to the council to turn upstairs staff rooms into “high-quality office accommodation”. Under the plan the downstairs would be maintained as a pub but with a 20 per cent reduction in floorspace.

Mews to amuse Meghan’s mum

Take a chance on Cher’s place for £1.95m

SCI-FI writer and — following the death of Douglas Adams — author of the sixth instalment of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Eoin Colfer is selling his estate in Ireland.

Colfer, above, also known for his series Artemis Fowl, has listed five-bedroom Ballymorris House in Wexford for £1.43 million with Christie’s International Real Estate. He wrote novels, two musicals and a Hitchhiker’s sequel at the house, a former middle-sized 19th-century farmhouse and outbuildings, now transformed into a light-filled modern home with high ceilings and statement windows. It makes the perfect writer’s retreat.

By Amira HashishGot some gossip?Tweet @amiranews

Homes gossip

‘It’s mad to shrink our pub’

News | Homes Propertyhomesandproperty.co.uk powered by

CHER took a break in her filming schedule for Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again to put her home in Beverly Hills on the market. The singing superstar, 72, bought the LA retreat, right, in 2013 for £1.6 million and is now seeking £1.95 million through agents Hilton & Hyland.

Built in 1957, the residence with ivy-covered walls is fashioned in a quintessentially cosy country English style and sits in more than half an acre, surrounded by trees and with a koi pond in the grounds.

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From old garages to new homes: left, King Henry’s Drive will offer a two- to three-storey block with a house and seven flats for affordable rent if Croydon’s Brick by Brick development company gets the green light

Homes Property | New homes homesandproperty.co.uk powered by

A new breed of builders vows to get it rightAs the Government releases its new strategy to boost social housing, the capital is on the cusp of a council-led construction revolution. By Anna White

SOCIAL MOBILITY is at the heart of a new government Green Paper, published yester-day, which pledges to give council tenants the chance to

springboard into home ownership. The paper’s authors say no tenant

should feel stigmatised as a council renter and suggest allowing tenants to buy as little as one per cent of their home each year to begin home owner-ship. The plans have been criticised for failing to find extra funding but they come at a time when many London councils have started to look at new ways to provide more homes.

The capital needs to build 200,000 homes to keep up with its burgeoning population, yet last year managed to complete just 27,000, falling far short of Mayor Sadiq Khan’s target of at least 66,000 a year. However, plans laid out by 22 of the 32 boroughs are set to give the capital 25,000 new council homes over the next five years. That compares with just 2,100 new council homes completed in the past seven years.

A report from the think tank Centre for London has analysed each borough by the pipeline of homes it plans to deliver, either itself or via a subsidiary, and found that the councils are enthu-siastic about getting back into house-building. The busiest are named as Newham, Hackney, Croydon, South-wark and Barking & Dagenham.

“This resurgence of interest is driven by an increasing awareness of the urgency of London’s housing chal-lenges, as well as a desire to take more control of housing delivery and poten-tially to generate revenues when finances are lean,” says Richard Brown, Centre for London’s director of research. Only last month newly elected Haringey council members scrapped a

£4 billion property deal with the global developer Lendlease that would have delivered 6,400 homes over 20 years, transforming the Broadwater Farm and Northumberland Park estates. “The council members were concerned that they would be surrendering too much control to Lendlease,” an industry expert told Homes & Property.

However, property consultant JLL’s Adam Challis warns that councillors must enter the challenging world of housebuilding fully conscious of all the risks. “In thepast, local authorities were let down by private developers in get-ting schemes built that met the needs of the local people and this has moti-vated councils to create a new breed of council-led building firms,” he says. “But there are negatives.”

Challis cites the Haringey-Lendlease saga: “In pulling away from Lendlease the council has accepted full responsi-bility for housebuilding in their area and when things get inevitably delayed, and the snagging has to be done, they will have to cope with the complaints to a disappointed public. The ugly and difficult issues will now land on their doorstep.”

ALL NEW IN NEWHAMNewham council in east London set up its arm’s length development company in 2014 and since then it has delivered three schemes of affordable rental homes. It has pledged the largest number of homes to be delivered by any council directly at 1,000, with 3,000 by its development firm Red Door Ven-tures, in the next five years.

Future schemes include affordable rental, shared ownership and private rent. One-and two-bedroom apart-ments are available at Cheviot House in Commercial Road, Whitechapel. The

WHILE local authorities have been the sleeping giants of the construction industry, one charitable housing association has been building in London since 1963.

L&Q works in partnership with different borough councils and is run

as a commercial enterprise but all funds go back into building more affordable homes. The social company owns and manages more than 90,000 homes across London and the South-East and is involved in the 10,000-home, 30-year regeneration of Barking Riverside, in partnership with Barking council.

Stephen McDonnell and Kirsty McLachlan bought their two-bedroom apartment in L&Q’s Quebec Quarter in Canada Water,

Southwark, through the shared-ownership scheme.

The couple, both in their thirties, work in the property and fashion industry respectively and put down a five per cent deposit of £8,000 for a 25 per cent share. The property is worth £640,000 and their monthly costs are around £1,400.

“We can’t believe that we’ve not had to compromise on the location,” says Kirsty. “We’re going to be so central and so well-connected.”

‘We’re central and so well-connected’

Depost of just £8,000: Stephen McDonnell and Kirsty McLachlan are buying a shared-ownership flat in Canada Water


New homes | Homes Property

Thinking of moving? Start your search on

WHAT BOROUGHS ARE SET TO BUILDLondon borough

New council homes to be built in next five years

1 Newham 4,0002 Hackney 3,0003 Croydon 2,5004 Southwark 2,1005 Barking & Dagenham 2,0006 Ealing 1,4507 Waltham Forest 1,4258 Tower Hamlets 1,3009 Camden 1,10010 Hounslow 1,10011 Lewisham 1,00012 Enfield 72513 Wandsworth 60014 Harrow 52015 Barnet 50016 Bexley 50017 Islington 50018 Lambeth 50019 Greenwich 25020 Havering 10921 Sutton 9322 Merton 77 Total: 25,350 Source: Centre for London

Vision: the Common Ground Architecture team, the architecture arm of Croydon council’s Brick by Brick development company, is designing a series of housing projects on small sites in the town, including a 14-home development in Station Road, South Norwood, which recently won planning permission

Art Deco former council office now houses 97 apartments — the cheapest available is a ground-floor, one-bed-room flat for £1,250 per calendar month.

BARKING & DAGENHAMBe First, the development firm of Bark-ing & Dagenham council, is proposing a £2 million redevelopment of down-trodden Barking town centre into what is being nicknamed “a mini Manhattan”. The new-look district will include 6,000 new homes over 10 years, along with

shops and an art house cinema. During the next five years Be First will be directly responsible for the construc-tion of 2,000 units, and rents will be discounted on 40 per cent of these homes.

The 60-home Weavers Quarter in Barking has one- and two-bedroom apartments to rent starting from £880 per calendar month, which is 20 per cent lower than the market rate. Ten-ants must sign a one-year introductory agreement but after that can commit to five years.

‘Quality affordable homes for locals’

BRICK BY BRICK was established in 2016 by the London borough of Croydon. Up to this point Croydon was delivering just 16 per cent affordable housing but this has doubled to 32 per cent including private developer schemes, with Brick by Brick reaching 48 per cent.

“There was market failure here,” says Colm Lacey, chief executive of Brick by Brick. “New homes were not of the right quality or being built at the required rate.”

Brick by Brick specialises in building on small sites and Lacey stresses his aim is to deliver stylishly designed schemes that improve the look and perception of Croydon. It has 43 sites in planning and is investing £30 million into the redevelopment of Fairfield Halls, the town’s old arts and conference centre. Local people have the exclusive rights to buy Brick by Brick properties for two months when each scheme launches, with the first scheme due to go on sale next month.

Ravensdale and Rushden, above and below, is a mini urban estate of homes, comprising terraces of 15 two- and three-storey houses and a tower of 15 flats. There is currently a public consultation under way to turn a collection of old garages into new family homes in King Henry’s Drive.

From £1,250 a month: rental flats at Cheviot House, an Art Deco former local authority office transformed by Newham council’s developer, Red Door Ventures

Future Barking:Be First council development firm aims to turn Barking town centre into a “mini Manhattan”, with a preserved tabernacle amid skyscrapers and affordable flats in redeveloped Crown House

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Homes Property | Future London

Get more for your money in MitchamA slightly longer commute buys three times more home in a town with big plans. By Ruth Bloomfield

MOVING down the line is the familiar formula for affording a bigger home. By adding a few minutes to their commute, buyers

living in Balham or Clapham, say, can get about three times as much house for their money as they head to the fringes of Surrey.

Mitcham has plans for its future that could make it a useful option for buyers with imagination. In pre-industrial days Mitcham was a rural idyll of rolling lavender farms, most of which were eventually overwhelmed by urban sprawl. Now a £435 million plan to reinvent two local housing estates could be the boost the area has long needed.

Clarion Housing Group has permission to transform the estates with 1,000 new homes to rent and to buy. The biggest challenge is 17-acre Eastfields Estate, where the number of homes will rise from 466 to 800. About a third will be affordable and earmarked for first-time buyers and squeezed renters. A new linear park will run through the heart of the estate, and there will be 3,000sq ft of shops, offices, and amenities. Work on this massive project starts next

year and will carry on until 2030. The £75 million reboot of the Ravensbury Estate will begin this year and finish in 2026. There will be almost 300 homes on the 11-acre site, plus a new community centre. The first homes at Ravensbury are expected to go on sale in 2023.

MITCHAM’S GOOD POINTSMitcham is three miles south-east of Wimbledon with two train stations, Mitcham Eastfields and Mitcham

Junction. Services to Blackfriars or London Bridge take less than half an hour and commuters can be at Victoria in 18 minutes. An annual season ticket costs from £1,348. There are also tram services to Wimbledon and Croydon.

There are good schools. Buyers who come to Robbie Pitt, sales manager of Townends estate agents, tend to be families. Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Primary School, St Mark’s Primary School, St Thomas of Canterbury

Catholic Primary School, and St Mark’s Church of England Academy (seniors) are all rated “good” by the Ofsted education watchdog.

Open space is ample, with 460 acres of Mitcham Common including the golf club and a network of ponds. Morden Hall Park is also lovely, while Mitcham Cricket Club is based at a ground that has been used for the sport since 1685. “Buyers are coming from Clapham and Balham looking for a family home,” says Robbie Pitt.

“Obviously you can more than double or triple your space in Mitcham.” Four-bedroom family houses, mostly dating from the Thirties to the Fifties, sell for about £750,000, and four-bedroom semis or terrace houses go for £450,000-£550,000. A two- to three-bedroom red-brick cottage can be had for £300,000-£450,000.

The grandest homes are around the common and come at a premium. Barnard Marcus has a two-bedroom flat in a handsome Victorian house in St George’s Road at £350,000.

A key area to search is the oldest part of Mitcham, the Cricket Green conservation area, where Barnard Marcus has a two-bedroom flat in London Road for £335,000. Buyers on a budget could bag a two-bedroom maisonette or purpose-built flat for about £250,000 to £300,000.

MITCHAM’S DOWNSIDESThe bad news is Mitcham’s high street: mostly betting shops and takeaways. The town has suffered from bad luck and bad planning. In Elizabethan times it was much posher. The poet John Donne and the explorer Sir Walter Raleigh had homes in the area, known then for its fields of lavender, and Queen Elizabeth I was a regular visitor.

With industrialisation the lavender farms were slowly replaced by mills and factories, and the arrival of the railways in the 19th century brought suburbanisation. After the Second World War a series of vast housing estates were built to rehouse bombed-out Londoners. The high street was pedestrianised in the Nineties, a well-meaning decision that backfired, as shoppers abandoned it in favour of Wimbledon, Croydon, the internet and central London.

Since 2015 the Mayor’s Outer London Fund and Merton council have spent some £6 million trying to lure shoppers back, smartening up shopfronts and investing in Mitcham Market. Transport for London recently opened a dedicated “bus street”, which might improve transport links into Mitcham. But is it worth the journey to walk around pound shops and takeaway chicken shops?

Robbie Pitt agrees the town centre could do with help. “The biggest downside is the lack of nightlife,” he says. “There is nowhere to go.”

Investment: £6m was spent in Mitcham centre by the council and the Mayor’s fund

Smartening up: moves are afoot to lure shoppers back to Mitcham’s high street, now dominated by betting shops and takeaways

Looking ahead: artist impression of new homes in Mitcham planned over the next decade. Two estates are to be transformed with 1,000 new homes to buy and rent

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Renting | Homes Property

Ruth Bloomfield looks at renting costs along the Docklands Light Railway

Look around: compared with the Tube, DLR trains, like this one crossing the river at Canary Wharf, can feel like a breath of fresh air

The Tube is not the only game in town

Looking for the ideal rental home? Start your search on

COMMUTING via the Docklands Light Railway offers plenty of choice, from the old East End to London’s new financial

and regeneration zones; from historic riverside enclaves to locations that even born-and-bred Londoners might find hard to identify on a map. With frequent services, quiet electric trains and most stations above ground, the DLR can be a breath of fresh air compared with the cramped Tube.

Most of the line is either in Zone 2 or the strangely conceived Zone 2/3 — which is treated as Zone 2 for journeys into London but Zone 3 for journeys heading out to the suburbs.

Renters whose priority is proximity to Canary Wharf will find the best value for money at Bow Church, where two-bedroom flats rent for £1,637 a month on average, with three-bedroom houses for £2,217, according to exclusive research by Rightmove. Devons Road is similarly priced, with two-bedroom flats at £1,638 and three-bedroom houses at £2,115 a month.

Property wise, there is little to choose between the two. Houses seem good value but there are very few of them. About 90 per cent of rentals on offer are flats, the vast majority in new-ish, no-frills develop-ments. For on-site pools and gyms you need Canary Wharf itself and these are reflected in the prices; a two-bedroom flat in the wharf would cost an average of almost £2,400 a month.

If you want a period home, Bow Church has streets of Victorian houses, many subdivided into flats, around Thames magistrates’ court, and also wins on local character. “It is proper East End,” says Roberto Rausa, lettings manager of Hamptons International. “You have got Roman Road Market within walking distance

and all your local amenities on Roman Road itself.” The beauty of this area is its connectivity. As well as being handy for work Mile End Park is half a mile to the west, and Victoria Park a mile to the north. The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is closer but getting across the A12 and the railway lines that score the area means it’s faster to take the DLR there.

There’s an increasing number of bars and restaurants around Mile End including gourmet hamburger joint The Greedy Cow, or you can head for Victoria Park and the lovely gastro-pub The Morgan Arms. There are loads of cafés along Roman Road, although its seething traffic means it’s never going to be the place for a relaxed alfresco brunch.

STRATFORD’S COMPETITIVERenters looking specifically for a house should consider Stratford. Since the 2012 Olympics, Stratford has been one of London’s busiest building sites but there is more to this area than small, modern flats. Within a quarter of a mile of the High Street are back streets full of neat two- and three-bedroom houses.

“There are still plenty of Victorian townhouses which are very competi-tively priced,” says Tom Crowe, lettings manager at Harrisons estate agents. Among Stratford’s spaghetti

junction of train lines there are three DLR stops, all close to the Olympic Park, Westfield, and the High Street. The average rent for a three-bedroom house in this area is about £1,800 according to Rightmove, standing up well against a two bedroom flat.

Renters might get a slightly dated property for about £1,550 a month, but could pay above £2,000 for a brand-new flat. “We don’t get many families looking for houses as this isn’t a very family-oriented area,” says Tom Crowe. “We get younger sharers in their twenties and a lot of students, because it is just so well connected.”

DEPTFORD, OLD AND NEWDeptford Bridge station is the gateway to both Deptford High Street and the cutesier charms of Green-wich “village”, as well as Greenwich Park and Blackheath. An average two-bedroom flat rents at £1,602 a month, says Rightmove, with a typical three-bedroom house in this Zone 2/3 location costing £2,019 a month.

The area has been the focus of considerable investment over recent years, so there are flats to be had in nearly new schemes such as Distill-ery Tower, on Millbank Lane, or The Crescent, on Seager Place, as well as period conversions including Mumford Mills, a former Victorian flour mill close to Deptford Creek.

£1,625 a month: a new two-bedroom flat at L&Q’s Faircharm Dock in Deptford, with storage and en suite (020 8012 0315)

£2,100 a month: three-bedroom house with a garden in Shirley Road, Stratford, near Westfield. Outlook (020 8012 2655)

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Homes Property | Homes abroad

Go for glam and all that jazz in AntibesIdeal lock-and-leave flats and penthouses with pools are launching in gated grounds. By Cathy Hawker

Bag a berth on the Riviera: luxury yachts moored at Port of Antibes, plus the Provençal market and cobbled Old Town streets, blend to provide the perfect French destination

Old Town and Port. This convenient location is a major attraction, says Olivier Maugery-Pons of Savills. “While most residents in Cannes require a car to get around, in compact Juan-les-Pins everything is within walking distance. The town is fantastic in summer especially with festivals, concerts and a great party atmosphere.”

Parc du Cap has a much higher price point than homes immediately outside, agrees Maugery-Pons, who adds: “That’s because it ticks all the boxes. It has good security, services, facilities and top build quality.”

CONTACTSParc du Cap: caudwellcollection.

comSavills: savills.com (020 7016 3740)Leggett: frenchestateagents.com French Entrée: frenchentree.com

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ANTIBES perfectly sums up the two sides of the South of France. On the one hand it is big and brash, awash with superyachts in the

marina and multimillion-pound villas on the rarefied Cap. On the other it is typically French, from the smells and sounds of its Provençal fruit and vegetable market to its cobbled Old Town streets.

Antibes has always piled on the glamour. Its famous open-air jazz festival, headlined this summer by Lenny Kravitz, has run annually since 1960. John Caudwell, the UK-based mobile phone billionaire has invested heavily in and around the resort and is launching Parc du Cap at Juan-les-Pins, the first of a series of schemes dubbed the Caudwell Collection. When completed, the pioneer project will offer a high-quality gated modern complex of 88 apartments and two villas.

Parc du Cap is in five acres of beautifully planted grounds with exceptional facilities including indoor and outdoor pools, a spacious gym, spa and sauna and a tennis court. There is full-time security, secure underground parking and a concierge, ideal for a lock-and-leave holiday home.

One- to three-bedroom flats start from £524,000 with four-bedroom penthouses complete with huge roof terraces and pools from £4,418,000. A two-bedroom apartment would have typical service charges of £580 a month and could achieve a weekly rent in high season of £2,200-£2,600, says the Caudwell Collection’s Matthew Murison. “So far, a third of apartments and all the three-bedrooms are sold,” he adds.

REVIVING THE STARS’ FAVOURITE BOLT HOLECelebrities have long enjoyed Antibes. Charlie Chapin, Pablo Picasso, Coco Chanel and Winston Churchill among them, and many chose to stay at Le Provençal in Juan-les-Pins on the western side of Cap d’Antibes. This palace hotel beside the Med, built in the Twenties, heralded an era of elegance and style. In 1976 it closed for refurbishment and never reopened. Today it stands derelict, a vast, Art Deco landmark.

“Juan-les-Pins certainly had a reputation for glamour but the closure of Le Provençal had a detrimental effect on the town,” admits Murison. “In the Seventies

both Saint-Tropez and Cannes were on the up and they rather stole the limelight.” Now a new era has dawned for Juan-les-Pins and this landmark hotel. After various stop-start attempts to refurbish Le Provençal it is set to join the Caudwell Collection

with long-term plans to create 35-40 ultra high-end apartments there. “We aim to launch Le Provençal in 2022-23,” says Murison. “Already we have been working on it extensively, underpinning the basement.” From Parc du Cap it is an easy walk to the

shops, restaurants and beachfront of Juan-les-Pins, while a 20-minute stroll takes you across the Cap to Antibes

Gallic charms: Antibes Old Town offers charming cobbled streets, far leftLeft: Antibes’ Provençal marketRight: a cute 270sq ft studio flat in the heart of Antibes Old Town, priced £143,000 through Leggett (frenchestate agents.com)

From £524,000: apartments at gated Parc du Cap in Antibes, above left and above (caudwellcollection.com)

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Twice the bean bag for half the price

POUF DADDY is offering the daddy of all deals — up to 50 per cent off The Daddy, its extra-large, extra comfort flexible bean bag. Ideal for lounging or sleeping, The Daddy’s hardwearing fabric is suitable for indoor or outdoor use and is double stitched with a lifetime stitching guarantee. Usually £129, selected colours are available for £64.50 and everything else has 33 per cent off when you quote DADDY18 before August 31. Visit poufdaddy.co.uk or call 0845 544 3055.

THE MADRID ottoman bed combines a simple, elegant design with roomy storage space for a welcome addition that is both stunning and practical in the home.

With a Bonnell sprung mattress included, the Madrid lifts up to reveal a large storage area that’s perfect for extra bedding. Choose from double in either grey or white at £499, and king size in natural oak or white at £599.

To place an order with free delivery, visit alisonsmarketplace.com/press or call 020 7087 2900 and quote the code ESBN158 by August 21. Look online for product code MAD.

Handsome bed with ottoman storage

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

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Bargain news By Alison Cork

GIVE your garden an illusion of extra space with the Theo rustic Gothic-look wall mirror from Alison’s Marketplace. Made from metal with a distressed finish, the glass is frost-protected, making it suitable for all weathers. Choose from H115cm x W50cm (£119: RRP £149) or H161cm x W72cm (£189: RRP £239). Fixtures not included. Search for product code GMA002 at alisonsmarketplace.com/press or call 020 7087 2900 and quote ESBN158 before August 21 to get free delivery.

Gothic garden glass

THE Delano garden lounge set, with a three-seater sofa, two armchairs and a waterproofed storage coffee table, is down from £499 to £279. Choose from matt graphite or taupe, pictured left.

In 100 per cent UV-stabilised resin, it is maintenance free. To claim your discount and free delivery, quote Heatwave279 before September 5 at outandout.com or call 020 3772 8752.

For long, hot summer lounging in style

DOWN from £179.99 to £109.99, this Adirondack folding chair from Plant Theatre is made from sustainably sourced acacia hardwood, with paddle-style arms for perching your drink. A matching cushion (down from £59.99 to £37.99), table (down from £49.99 to £39.99) and footstool (down from £59.99 to £39.99) are available. Flat-pack assembly. Call O845 218 0258, or visit plant-theatre.com to order. Free mainland delivery.

Relax for £70 less

Homes Property | Reader offers

14 WEDNESDAY 15 AUGUST 2018

Photographs: Ingrid Rasmussen for Habitat

THINK of a pair of fashion designers and you might expect a couple of moody egotists. Not so with Catherine Teatum, 35, half of rapidly rising award-winning fashion duo Teatum Jones. With

her fashion partner, Rob Jones, Catherine creates bold, colourful, pattern-based designs. Maybe hardworking Catherine is extra grounded because she’s one of five siblings. Her brothers Tom, 47, and James, 37, are architects with their own practice, specialising in stylish homes to let.

Catherine and her brothers get on well and know each other’s tastes so it was not sur-prising that Tom and James took on the redesign of her small mews house in Shep-herd’s Bush. They gutted the 870sq ft two-storey house, opened it up, added an extra floor with one room and a roof terrace, and reversed the normal living arrangement, putting two bedrooms and a bathroom on the ground floor, with a generous live/work

space above. This sunny room is a joy, sleek with pale birch ply and coloured concrete, and packed with hideaway storage because Catherine has lots of stuff, including books. At the top of the birch stairs, a sculptural birch tower contains a nook with charging stations on one side and a drinks cabinet on the other, by the built-in seating area. The

house is bold and clean-lined, calm where it needs to be and full of well-considered colour — Catherine’s speciality. On the ground floor, dark green and rough-cast concrete in the main bedroom creates a soothing, forest-like atmosphere. But upstairs, a specially mixed and arty pinkish-red floor, swirled like strawberry water-ice,

My brothers got it just rightFashion designer Catherine Teatum’s architect brothers redesigned her mews house to suit their ‘little’ sister’s lifestyle perfectly, says Philippa Stockley

They know me so well: Catherine Teatum with architect brothers Tom and James, who overhauled her small mews home in Shepherd’s Bush

Homes Property | My home

Opening the place up to the light: the brothers opened up the space, right, to give double height and varied the roofline to add an extra floor and a roof terrace. A glass wall in the top room allows vital extra light down into the sunny live-work floor below

— quickly — into a place with the superb daylight she needed to design, and a calm atmosphere. Like most working Londoners she adds: “I don’t have time for admin. I wanted it up and running: wi-fi, streaming, phones, everything.”

For light and space, it was vital to open up the house and add a top floor. The brothers showed the planner aerial photos of the local area in which 50 per cent of rooflines had been altered. The planner agreed, as long as the roofline was only one metre higher, with a black steel screen of a parapet at the front, to hide everything from the street.

To achieve the low roofline the brothers decided to drop all the ceiling levels. Fortu-nately, the ground floor was very tall, which made this possible.

They also suggested putting bedrooms below in order to get one big light room above. Catherine was dubious: “I’m a bad sleeper.” And at first, she also wasn’t sure of their idea of a dark green bedroom, includ-ing the bedroom shutters and also in the bathroom, with self-coloured MDF. But she

found she enjoyed it and the street is quiet at night, especially with the shutters closed. Finally, the brothers put pocket doors eve-rywhere, to maximise space.

Catherine okayed all their material and colour ideas, being very sensitive to materi-als, texture and colour. They found it easy to agree. Catherine suggested the quite deep grey of the studio walls, and her eye is fault-less, because in such bright light it is a great foil for the red-pink floor and luminous birch ply.

The building was stripped back to bare brick in just 16 weeks last year, followed by a three-month fitout. Considering the huge quantity of bespoke joinery, that’s impres-sive.

And so is the result. The brothers have added almost 50 per cent extra space and achieved a total transformation. “I just couldn’t believe the sheer difference in the space,” Catherine grins.

“And my second thought was, how can I keep it this clean and tidy?”

EVENING STANDARD 15

My home | Homes Propertyhomesandproperty.co.uk powered by

contrasts with a beautiful pink concrete worktop and splashback for the bespoke run of kitchen cabinetry.

Above it, a big cut-out allows light from the new floor and adds double height. This top floor is reached by another stair, with a birch library alongside. Finally, the big surprise is a perforated steel walkway in lacy powder-

coated white steel, which scatters dappled light. The walkway gives on to sliding glass doors to the terrace that spans the building and provides plenty of space for a table, chairs and plants. A glass side wall to the small living room up there allows more light into the main room below.

The brothers bought the mews house in a row of similar properties in 2001. The former coach house had been converted in the Seventies into a boxy, two-storey home with living rooms below and three small bedrooms above, and a flat roof. “It was small and carpeted, it made you wince,” James says. But architects always find potential. And even though there were no roof extensions in the street, they were sure they could buck the trend.

Being in central Shepherd’s Bush, it was easy to let the house as it was. Then in 2015, Catherine took it over. Working night and day on collections, she came home to sleep. But eventually she had a powwow with Tom and James over how they could transform it

WHAT IT COST870sq ft two-storey mews house in

2001: £262,000Cost of works last year (including

fees): £290,000Estimated value now of property with

1,100sq ft of floorspace: £1.28 million

GET THE LOOKArchitects: Tom and James Teatum at

teatumandteatum.com for their company Noiascape

Special colours: by fashion designer Catherine Teatum at teatumjones.com

Builder: NMB Developments (nmbdevelopments.com)

Joiner: Village Cabinets (villagecabinets.co.uk)

Birch ply: James Latham (lathamtimber.co.uk)

Oil-based sealant for ply: bona.comSelf-colour MDF: from Valchromat

(valchromat.pt)Concrete floors (ground floor): by

Steyson (steysonconcretefloors.co.uk)Hand-trowelled concrete and resin

floor in living room: by Puur (puurfloors.com)

Concrete worktop: by Paul Davies (pauldaviesdesign.co.uk)

Sliding windows: Velfac (velfac.co.uk)Traditional sash windows: by TMA

Joinery (tma-construction.co.uk)Brass shower head and taps: from

Aston Matthews (astonmatthews.co.uk)Hexagonal micro tiles: from local

stockist European Heritage (europeanheritage.co.uk)

Wall paint in Urban Obsession (grey) and Chrome Green: from Dulux (dulux.co.uk)

Perforated steel staircase and walkway: by Diapo (diapo.co.uk)

Underfloor heating: thermotecuk.com

Catherine features in Habitat’s Coolest Habitat blog, at habitat.co.uk

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Steal the style: the Tabitha black metal lounger, £275, is also available as a dining chair, priced £150, both from Habitat (habitat.co.uk)

Going up: the stair to the top floor, right, runs beside a birch ply library shelf. A perforated steel walkway in lacy powder-coated white steel scatters dappled light and gives on to sliding glass doors to the roof terrace, with its table, chairs and plants

Colour flair: Catherine suggested the deepish grey for the walls in the first-floor live-work space, right, and it works beautifully because in such bright light it is a great foil for the red-pink floor and luminous birch ply fixtures


Homes Property | Design

Love a bit of rough

Texture is in, polish is out. Furniture and décor are having a touchy-feely

moment, says Dominic Lutyens

Different strokes: Palette wallpaper in a digitised huge brushstrokes design can be custom printed at any scale. By New York brand Calico Wallpaper, £270 per square metre (calicowallpaper.com)

FROM wallpapers evoking misty sea spray to furniture with intriguingly rough finishes, we’re witnessing a widespread revolt against all things

polished and supposedly perfect. Whether handcrafted or digitally manufactured, homeware need no longer look smooth and slick to be covetable.

One influence on this is a perennially popular fascination with wabi-sabi — the Japanese philosophy that believes beauty can be found in the imperfect and unfinished. Another is high-profile Belgian interior designer and antiques dealer Axel Vervoordt, champion of colour-washed walls and antiques with rich patinas. Moreover, many designers are keen to highlight the experimental, sometimes bizarre processes behind how their products are made. Such techniques aren’t always easy to control, often producing surprising results.

Another inspiration is nature — designers are emulating its organic, wildly asymmetric forms, creating irregular textures that seem to have a life of their own. “Textural complexity is akin to the natural world since there are few smooth surfaces in it,” says James Shaw. “I suspect my

upbringing in Devon and the granite and twisted hawthorn I saw on Dartmoor has inspired me. I like to celebrate materials in their raw form rather than bully them into a shape that doesn’t suit them.” His Plastic Baroque table with a viscous-looking cobalt blue base made of recycled polyethylene will be in the Future Heritage exhibition at the Decorex design fair at Syon Park this autumn.

Shaw has also made a lamp with a fuzzy papier-mâché surface similar to New York-based Lindsey Adelman’s brass Drop light, treated with salt and ammonia and with a verdigris finish: both come in a copper-sulphate blue. “My designs appear to be living, interacting with their environment,” she says. “I’ve always been drawn to lichen growing on fences and bark darkening with time.”

When Adelman recently discovered that fellow New York brand Calico Wallpaper also experiments with corrosive chemical reactions, the two decided to collaborate, exhibiting together at Milan Design Week this year. Calico Wallpaper showed its panoramic Oceania wallpaper, built up from a watercolour wash scattered with salt. “The salt dissolves, leaving crystalline traces that capture seawater’s soft texture,” explains co-

founder Rachel Cope. Calico Wallpaper has also co-produced a wallpaper called Topographies with Brooklyn design studio Snarkitecture, made by randomly tearing layers of paper to create a 3D effect resembling topography. Another Calico Wallpaper design, Palette, features gigantic brushstrokes. These designs are then digitised so they can be custom-printed at any scale and are durable. The impact of rough textures is perhaps maximised on expansive

All fired up: Making Guns lamp with papier-mâché surface by James Shaw, £800 (jamesmichaelshaw.co.uk)

Rough-hewn: right, the yellow Rustic stool by Mark Laban, £1,042 from Adorno (adorno.design)


Design | Homes Propertyhomesandproperty.co.uk powered by

walls, for example, at Copenhagen florist Tableau, designed by Studio David Thulstrup, with its walls stripped to reveal layers of concrete and stone. Designers Guild’s Corneille wallpaper mimics distressed plaster streaked with flashes of fuchsia and yellow, while its Sakiori design simulates bark. Neptune stocks a paint called Old Rose that lends itself to rustic effects. “Plaster your walls with a rough skim, encouraging cracks and pits,” advises Neptune’s product director, Nicky Line. “Then apply watered-down Old Rose as a wash.”

Furniture in this vein also includes Mark Laban’s wooden Rustic stool, stocked by Danish digital design store Adorno. It’s made using a computer-controlled machine whose software is manipulated so that the wood is only roughly hewn. South Korean designer OK Kim’s Merge stools and tables, from London shop Mint, are slathered with lacquer that forms ridges. Some pieces in Studio Furthermore’s Replica collection are produced by saturating sculpted foam in liquid clay, then firing the foam so it vaporises, leaving behind fired ceramic in the shape of tables or vases. Paris-based designer Jean Grisoni fashions bronze vases and chairs with nubbly surfaces. And Atkin and Thyme’s mango wood Ashanti sideboard has a coarsely carved yet elegant front. Nicole Toldi’s vases are cast from plaster moulds made from tree trunks, while Olivia Walker’s Collapsed bowls bristle with sharp shards of porcelain. Habitat has also embraced the trend with its pitted, asymmetric black and bilberry blue Cranley vase.

Fired ceramic: left, Replica table, £3,936, and vase, £756, by Studio Furthermore (studiofurthermore.com)

South Korean designer: Merge tables and stools by OK Kim, from £2,950 at Mint, are slathered with lacquer that forms ridges (mintshop.co.uk)

French connection: fashioned in bronze, the Murtoli chair, below left, by Jean Grisoni, around £6,260 from Ibu Gallery in Paris (as before)

Nubbly jubbly:bronze vases by Paris-based designer Jean Grisoni, about £895 from Ibu Gallery in Paris (ibugallery.fr)

Blue period: Plastic Baroque table, below, by James Shaw, with recycled polyethylene base and mirrored glass top, £1,000 (jamesmichaelshaw.co.uk)


Homes Property | Outdoors

Ramp up the Zen with a water featureA Barnsbury garden makes the most of the soothing — and invigorating — power of running water

Contemporary stream: above and left, a rill runs beside the patio flanked by Japanese forest grass and Rodgersia, with star jasmine scrambling over the wall

Plunge in: amid acer and ferns, the whirlpool spa sits at the house end of the garden

Alex Mitchell

THERE’S nothing like the sound of water to take the heat out of a city garden, and this summer we’ve craved it more than ever.

Even a simple wall fountain can make you feel cooler and reduce the temperature of the air around it.

London garden designer Stuart Craine works wonders with water, from pebble moats surrounding “floating” terraces to shiny water walls for roof gardens. He loves the extra dimension water brings. “It’s nice as a focal point and you get beautiful reflections. Clients love it. It’s incredibly relaxing. In London the sound of running water can reduce the sound of traffic and other distractions.”

In a garden in Barnsbury, Craine installed a magnificent stone rill running all the way down one side, plus a sunken plunge whirlpool in a more private area near the house. One of his tricks is to surround water with planting that you associate with waterside habitats, adding to the feeling of lushness. Here, he used large-leaved Rodgersia, persicaria and arching Japanese forest grass, keeping the palette green apart from a large acer palmatum tree near the plunge pool for amazing autumn colour.

Most of us don’t need water we can get into, just some that we can hear and maybe trail a hand in. Craine’s advice is to be practical: “Avoid placing it underneath trees where foliage can fall into it.” Go for materials in keeping with the style of your garden and house. He suggests stainless steel has been “overdone” and blends in less well with most London properties than more natural

materials such as bronze, copper or slate. In small spaces such as courtyards, basements or balconies, a simple, wall-mounted, self-contained fountain pouring water into a half bowl can be incredibly restful. Since the water will recirculate there is no need to plumb it into the mains.

Craine has reused stone ornaments in this way in a courtyard garden and recommends looking in reclamation yards for characterful pieces. Or try stone experts Haddonstone (haddonstone.com) whose simple cast stone Green Man weighs only 5kg, so it’s easy to attach to a wall.

With mains pump and an Arcadian half bowl, it’s under £600.

For an even lighter set-up, designer Claire Mee (clairemee.co.uk) used the fibreglass Great Dolphin Bowl from Capital Garden Products (£501, capital-garden.com; pump not included) in the terracotta finish in a

London garden. “If you grow climbers like trachelospermum or ivy around it, it looks quite natural,” she says. “As with any water feature, in hot weather don’t forget to top up your reservoir or you might blow your pump out.”

With battery- or solar-powered wall fountain sets you don’t even need an outside plug. Simply hang like a picture, fill with water and listen to the soothing sound. The Small Lion Head Wall Fountain by Ambienté (primrose.co.uk, £49.99) in polyresin with a rust finish won’t fool anyone close up, but in a small courtyard at night, with low lighting surrounded by planting, who’s going to notice?

If you require more than just the sound of water to cool the city heat, the Aquart Lux Outdoor Garden Shower (madeindesign.co.uk, £195), with copper piping and a cement base, is freestanding and connects straight to your garden hose.

Commission Stuart Craine: stuartcraine.com⬤

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By Fiona McNultyOUR LAWYER ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS

Can neighbour stop my plans for adding value?

Q I LIVE on the top floor of a purpose-built block of 20 flats. We all have a share of the

freehold. The directors of our freehold company agreed that I could buy the attic space and part of the communal landing to convert it into extra living accommodation. However, they are now telling me that they cannot sell to me after all, because one leaseholder objects to my plans.

Are they allowed to do this to me? I may just have wasted thousands of pounds paying for plans to be drawn up and for the freeholder’s structural engineer’s and surveyor’s costs.

A IT APPEARS the directors of your freehold company thought they had the power to sell those

communal areas of the building to you but then subsequently discovered that they

did not have that power. Property management companies are common in cases like yours where the freehold has

been sold to the leaseholders, who each have a share in the company that is

responsible for the management of the building.

The leaseholders therefore retain control of the company.

Unfortunately, such companies are often involved in disputes as

leaseholders frequently disagree on matters. For this

reason, the articles of association of the company should state clearly how decisions are to be made on its behalf. There may also be a shareholders’ agreement detailing the decision-making process.

In relation to your proposed purchase of communal parts of the building, you need to check whether such a decision has to be made unanimously by all shareholders, or by a majority of them, or if the directors have been given the power to make such a decision.

This important point should really have been addressed at the outset.

Q MY FRIEND and I are trying to buy a house together as that is the only way we can get on the

property ladder. We plan to pool our savings and get a joint mortgage. The estate agent has said we won’t pay stamp duty. Is that correct?

A THERE has been relief from stamp duty for first-time buyers since November 22 last year, to help

lower the initial costs associated with purchasing a new home.

A first-time buyer of a home that costs £500,000 or less can claim this relief, provided that the property is to be occupied as their main or only residence.

To qualify as a first-time buyer, neither you nor your friend can previously have acquired an interest in a dwelling anywhere in the world. Accordingly, if neither of you has ever owned, inherited or been gifted residential property, or received residential property as the beneficiary of a trust, then you should qualify as first-time buyers and as such will pay no stamp duty if you buy your first home for £300,000 or less.

If the purchase price is over £300,000 but not more than £500,000, you will pay five per cent stamp duty on the amount over £300,000.

If you buy a property costing more than £500,000, then you will receive no stamp duty relief at all and will pay the tax at the normal rates.

More legal Q&As: visit homesand property.co.uk

WHAT’S YOUR PROBLEM?

Email [email protected] or write to Legal

Solutions, Homes & Property, Evening Standard, 2 Derry Street,

W8 5EE. Questions cannot be answered individually, but we will try

to feature them here. Fiona McNulty is a solicitor specialising in residential

property.

Homes Property | Ask the expert


EARL’S COURT is in the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea and while not as grand as Kensington, it does possess

its fair share of fine period architecture including noble terraces and squares and tall, red-brick Victorian homes, and has made the effort over the last 20 years to renovate some of its run-down hotels and bedsits.

This is where Diana Spencer was given a flat in Coleherne Court by her father as an 18th birthday present. It is also where one of London’s most ambitious developers, Capital & Counties Properties — Capco — has had to put the brakes on the £12 billion regeneration project it called “a new district for London”, on the site of the former Earls Court exhibition centre.

The Sir Terry Farrell masterplan received outline planning permission in 2013. It envisaged four urban villages linked by a 21st-century high street, with ambitious plans for more than 7,500 new homes, 10,000 new jobs, £450 million-worth of community benefits and over seven acres of green space. But today the former exhibition centre site remains a pile of rubble.

Following the slowdown in the demand for London luxury homes and a change of political control at Hammersmith & Fulham council, with the possibility that the West Kensington and Gibbs Green council estates might be removed from the masterplan, Capco and its joint

£2.75 MILLIONA SUPER-SMART flat with four double bedrooms in Collingham Place, SW5, plus a key to Collingham Gardens. Through Carter Jonas (020 8012 6687).

WHAT THERE IS TO BUY AND RENT

£475 PER WEEKA TWO-BEDROOM flat with wood floors and a roof terrace in Old Brompton Road, Earl’s Court, is for rent through Dexters (020 7244 7711).

£531 PER WEEKA LARGE one-bedroom flat with high ceilings and a balcony, for rent in Warwick Mansions, Cromwell Crescent. Through Chestertons (020 8012 6471).

£550 PER WEEKWITH a front balcony, a part-furnished two-bedroom flat in Longridge Road, SW5, is available to rent through TLC (020 7370 4000).

With foodie choices galore, good schools and Zone 1 travel, renters love this area but rich buyers have backed off, discovers Anthea Masey

Spotlight on

Earl’s Court

Today in Earl’s Court Rightmove has 802 homes to BUY and 1,292 to RENT

Homes Property | Property searching

venture partner Transport for London have gone back to the drawing board. Capco says the project has received interest from potential partners and end-users for various parts of the site, some of which are under consideration. Beyond that Capco is not forthcoming as to what will emerge from the rethink, beyond running with the bone that Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has thrown it in his draft London Plan, backing the view that Earl’s Court is “ready to grow,’’ and needs more housing.

The first development is Lillie Square. Capco and its joint venture partner here, the Hong Kong-based Kwok family, have plans to build 808 homes on the former Earls Court car park in Seagrave Road next to West Brompton station. By the end of next year 420 homes will be completed.

The good news is West Brompton Crossing, the retail scene being developed along Lillie Road close to Lillie Square, is very jolly with brightly coloured façades designed by leading architects Waugh Thistleton. The Prince pub has the prettiest outdoor terrace with seating for over 400 and direct access to four takeaway kiosks: Patty & Bun for burgers; Begging Bowl Canteen — an offshoot of Peckham’s favourite Thai restaurant; Coqfighter expanding its fried chicken empire beyond the confines of the Shoreditch and Croydon Boxparks, and Foley’s for its bao buns and yakitori grill.

There are shops, too, supporting start-up businesses. The Crossing is a free-to-use space available to local businesses, entrepreneurs and

students for exhibitions or to try out new business ideas; The Hoarder is a greengrocer and coffee shop; there’s fashion label War & Drobe, and CanDo Coffee is expanding from its Paddington base. Earl’s Court is three miles south-west of central London

with Kensington to the north, South Kensington and Chelsea to the east, Fulham to the south and West Kensington and Hammersmith to the west. Estate agent Dan Carrington, head of sales at Savills in Earl’s Court says the area is popular with young professionals, families and downsizers. “Once here buyers tend to stay, particularly families due to the number of highly rated schools. Last year just under 30 per cent of our buyers were upsizers, many of them young families needing more space, and it’s not uncommon for renters to go on to buy.”

Carrington says around half of his buyers in the last year have been from the UK, “although with the Lycée so close there is strong demand from European, especially French, buyers and renters”.

To find a home in Earl’s Court, visit rightmove.co.uk For more area guides, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/area-guides


PROPERTY SCENE Plenty of period and some new build, tooAWAY from the masterplan area, Earl’s Court has grand terraces of five-storey houses, mostly divided into spacious flats, and red-brick mansion flats in garden squares to rival those in Kensington and Notting Hill.

There are mews houses and a pretty enclave of pastel-coloured smaller houses in Child’s Place, Child’s Street, Wallgrave Road, Redfield Lane and Kenway Road, with some of the houses in the latter three streets sharing a secret tiny communal garden known as the Providence Patch.

The price per square foot for the best homes can be in excess of £1,800, but is generally just over £1,000, according to Dan Carrington of Savills.

The most expensive house currently for sale is a six-bedroom, five-storey house in Philbeach Gardens priced at £5.5 million. The most expensive maisonette has four bedrooms and is over first and second floors in Bramham Gardens, priced at £4.75 million.

Flats on one level spread over two buildings are a feature of the area. One such flat in Courtfield Gardens has four bedrooms and is for sale at £3.95 million. A straight-off-the-street four-bedroom house in Child’s Place is on the market for £2.25 million. For those with smaller budgets, studio flats start at around

£400,000 and one-bedroom flats at around £500,000.

NEW-BUILD HOMESHomes in the second phase of Lillie Square off Seagrave Road are currently selling off-plan. One-bedroom flats start at £820,000 with two-bedroom flats at £1.3 million, for completion at the end of next year. Call 020 7381 9800 or visit lilliesquare.com.

HOMES FOR RENTEarl’s Court has long been a popular place to rent. The most expensive house on the market in Earl’s Court, the six-bedroom Philbeach Gardens property, is also the most expensive home to rent, with an asking price of £15,167 a month.

Large families are catered for locally, with four-bedroom flats available in Bramham Gardens, including one for £8,450 a month, and Barkston Gardens, with one at £4,117.

One-bedroom flats available for long rentals range in price from £1,278 a month for a home above a shop in Earl’s Court Road, to £2,925 a month for a flat with a mezzanine floor, created from a former ballroom in Earl’s Court Square.

BUYING IN EARL’S COURT(Average prices)One-bedroom flat £695,000Two-bedroom flat £1.11 millionTwo-bedroom house £1.77 millionThree-bedroom house £2.49 millionFour-bedroom house £3.41 million

RENTING IN EARL’S COURT(Average rates)One-bedroom flat £2,000 a monthTwo-bedroom flat £2,912 a monthTwo-bedroom house £3,133 a monthThree-bedroom house £5,182 a monthFour-bedroom house £6,108 a month

Source: Rightmove

STATS CHECKWhat homes cost

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TRANSPORT EARL’S COURT Tube station is on the District and Piccadilly lines in Zone 1 and an annual travelcard costs £1,364. West Brompton Tube, on the Wimbledon branch of the District line, is also on the Overground with trains to Clapham Junction and Stratford, and there are mainline trains to East Croydon and Watford Junction. West Brompton is in Zone 2 and an annual travelcard to Zone 1 costs £1,364. There are two useful commuter bus routes: the No 74 along Cromwell Road goes to Baker Street via Knightsbridge and the C1 along Old Brompton Road goes to Victoria via Knightsbridge and Sloane Square.

Above left:: Earl’s Court Road bisects the areaAbove: The Prince pub seats 400 on its pretty terrace, with access to funky takeaway food kiosks

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Right: Brompton Cemetery, one of the “Magnificent Seven” grand Victorian London cemeteries, is now a wildlife haven with a programme of historic toursLeft: stop at Over Under Coffee in Hogarth Road

Hot to shop: brightly coloured retail and foodie outlets at West Brompton Crossing, a new “destination” Elegant neighbourhood: pastel-painted Regency houses in Redfield Lane, handy for Earl’s Court Tube

Photographs: Daniel Lynch

Specialist: owner Sonal Mehta at The Smoking Jacket tobacconist, Earl’s Court Rd


Spencer Botchin is a director at Hudsons estate agents in central London (020 7631 8703).

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Oh no! Some drip let the bath overflowDiary of anEstate AgentMONDAYAfter a weekend of browsing by poten-tial customers, Monday morning is when new enquiries arrive and the qual-ity of these is normally a sign as to how the week is going to go. Although we are in August, the enquiries both on sales and lettings are good, so we all get on with calls and viewings.

It is certainly warm out there on the streets. I’ve been working in the West End for 25 years as an agent and I really can’t remember such a sustained period of fine weather. I’m off to value a pent-house apartment in Covent Garden so I nip through Seven Dials. We were recommended by another agent that didn’t cover this area. There is direct lift access to the fourth floor where there are three bedrooms and bathrooms, with stairs leading up to a huge living room and open-plan kitchen-dining area. There’s also a south-facing roof terrace that’s perfect for entertaining.

TUESDAYI have been agreeing a few deals over the last week, the first being a two-bed-room flat in a red-brick portered man-sion building with a feature circular

turret dining area. There have been a lot of viewings and we have attracted offers. The highest one is from a buyer who has a property to sell, so we have been instructed on that, too.

The second deal is a smaller studio flat over in the Bloomsbury/King’s Cross borders. We had a buyer who wanted this as a buy-to-let investment, but they decided not to proceed. Fortunately we have a back-up buyer, but their offer is still a little short and we need to get it to an acceptable level.

WEDNESDAYBoth of the deals from yesterday are agreed this morning, making a great start to the day. Now I am heading back to the mansion building with the buyer to measure up. But as I open the door, the smell of damp hits me — it looks like a flood from an apartment above. It has ruined the ceiling in the hallway and bathroom. Shock horror.

I race upstairs and knock on the neigh-bour’s door, and we discover it’s the familiar old nightmare of the owner overunning the bath. I advise the seller and smooth over the buyer’s concerns. Insurance is in place as Hudsons man-ages the block, so we can fix it all quickly enough.

Over the years I have acted for a range of buyers and sellers and some require the utmost discretion. Today I get a call from a football agent who I last dealt with about three years ago. One of his

clients is moving to a Premiership club and needs somewhere to rent initially, with the option to purchase in six months’ time. I know of a great place

near Regent’s Park that ticks a lot of the boxes, including porterage and under-ground parking. We arrange to see it tomorrow morning.

THURSDAYThe footballer and his agent meet me outside the apartment block. The view-ing seems to go well and the player asks lots of questions about the block and the local area. I’ve sold the majority of apartments in here over the years so I am able to answer all of his queries. Just as we are saying our goodbyes, out of nowhere we get “papped” by a group of photographers. Maybe my face will be in the papers tomorrow, but I’ve no idea how that got leaked.

FRIDAYFlicking through the morning papers to see if the snappers captured my best side, I realise fame hasn’t come calling today, as they caught the player and his agent but cut me out of the pictures.

After a meeting in Mortimer Street with another client I head back to the office to update my sellers on this week’s activity. Viewings so far this month are up year-on-year but I also need to pro-vide strategic, honest feedback to own-ers of properties that are not attracting the levels of interest they expect, so I suggest improvements for them to think about. Sometimes changing the descrip-tion or photos can be all that’s needed.

All jobs ticked off, I think some evening refreshments are in order…

Homes Property | Inside story


Walthamstow’s gone awesome

For superfast broadband head for Nine Elms or Chelsea Island

CHIC HOMES IN BOOMING BALHAM

THE spotlight continues to shine on well-connected Walthamstow in Zone 3, with 20-minute trains to the City and also on the Tube.

For many years this good-value east London area was associated with the bottom rung of the property ladder. But steady improvements, including a town centre facelift, new cafés, late bars and a farmers’ market are encouraging people to settle. Artists priced out of inner east London are also moving in.

One of the area’s highlights is the William Morris Gallery, historic home of the influential Victorian designer and poet. Walthamstow has a history of crafts and manufacturing and a new “people’s workshop” in

Blackhorse Lane aims to encourage more locals to learn skills such as furniture making. Walthamstow Gateway, a new scheme of 79 flats, is next to the Victoria line Tube station, which has been given a makeover. The homes are a step up for the area, with Leicht kitchens and oak flooring. Buyers also get a two-year Zip Car membership. Prices from £385,000, with Help to Buy available. Call Strettons on 020 8520 8022.

Up the road, the former Essex Brewery has been swallowed by 158 new flats priced from £429,995. Call Crest Nicholson on 020 3437 1603. For well-priced Walthamstow period housing, check out the Warner Estate and listed cottages under £600,000 around St Mary’s Church.

Live like a star in your super-suburb flat with heated pool

Smart moves By David Spittles

Thinking of moving? Start your search on

From £1.2 million: Chelsea Island flats at Lots Road, with Hyperoptic broadband

From £385,000: apartments at Walthamstow Gateway, next to the Tube station, with low-deposit Help to Buy available

Homes Property | New homes

A SWIMMING POOL is the must-have accessory this summer for better-off buyers. And with global warming now part of the picture, demand is likely to extend into many summers to come.

While housing schemes often have communal pools for the exclusive use of residents, it is rare to get a development where apartments have their own private outdoor pool.

They are for sale in smart and prosperous Hadley Wood, the north London “super-suburb” that is on the edge of the green belt and has a tennis club and a renowned local golf course with a Georgian clubhouse set on a hill surrounded by parkland. Gin-and-Jag mansions and Edwardian villas are popular with celebs and Premiership

footballers: Arsenal FC has a training ground there. Into this world has arrived a scheme of nine grand apartments set in landscaped grounds and 10 acres of woodland. Ground-floor lateral flats have a private heated

pool and a terrace leading to a lawned area. The homes also come with a storage room in the basement car park. Prices at The Residence start from £1,595,000. Call estate agent Statons on 020 8441 9555.

BALHAM spent much of the 20th century asleep in run-down respectability — until the Noughties property boom, when buyers priced out of Clapham started to look further down the Northern line. Prices have jumped 25 per cent in five years.

SW12 is now popular with young metro types who fill the gastropubs and delis along the lively High Road. Right on this patch is The Tramyard, top left. This former depot and petrol station is now a big, sleek new build with 70 flats including penthouses and three-bedroom duplexes. Prices from £495,000. Call 020 8767 3655.

Away from the bustling main roads, Balham is fringed with greenery and impressive family homes from the

Victorian and Edwardian eras. New townhouses are for sale at St George’s Gate, below left. From £840,000. Call Bellway on 0333 577 5878.

SUPERFAST broadband is as indispensable as hot water for a new generation of home buyers. More than two thirds of people check the broadband speed before moving home, according to a survey by Rightmove, with fast broadband given higher priority than local transport links, good neighbours, outside space, an extra bedroom or a gym.

Hyperoptic, a specialist company collaborating with more than 100 residential builders, provides fibre broadband up to 27 times faster than the typical speed in the UK. Cables are laid direct to individual properties, rather than to a central distribution point, allowing a speed of 1Gbps, meaning a high-definition movie can be downloaded in 60 seconds as

opposed to an hour and 40 minutes. One such fibre-friendly address is The Residence, next to the US embassy in in the Nine Elms regeneration zone. It has 324 flats in five blocks set around public gardens and a park. Apartments have full-height glazing plus there is a 24-hour concierge, gym, media lounge, meeting room and podium gardens. Prices from £615,000. Call Bellway on 020 3092 9677.

Chelsea Island, at Lots Road, is another Hyperoptic scheme. This has 89 flats in blocks with communal roof gardens designed by “couture florist” Neill Strain. Each home comes with a Bang & Olufsen home automation system, underpinned by superfast broadband. Prices from £1.2 million. Call 0800 540 4377.

From £429,995: flats set around a courtyard at The Essex Brewery. Crest Nicholson’s E17 scheme also includes shops and eateries

future london save time and money antibes and all … · streamlined feel alongside sleek, white...

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