Pastels for spring

Design trendsPage 10

LONDON’S 200 NEW TOWER BLOCKS P4 THE Y:CUBE HOMES P7 SECRET SERVICES P26 SPOTLIGHT ON SHEPHERD’S BUSH P30

Homes&Property

Wednesday 12 February 2014

London’s best property search website: homesandproperty.co.uk

House of funOur home: Page 24

SIM

ON

MA

XW

EL

L

2 WEDNESDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2014 EVENING STANDARD

By Faye Greenslade

This week: homesandproperty.co.ukProperty search

in partnership with

VISIT homesandproperty.co.uk/rules for details of our usual promotion rules. When you respond to promotions, offers or competitions, the London Evening Standard and its sister companies may contact you with relevant offers and services that may be of interest. Please give your mobile number and/or email address if you would like to receive such offers by text or email.

Editor: Janice Morley

Editorial: 020 3615 2524 Advertisement manager: Mark Wood

Advertising: 020 3615 0527Homes & Property, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, Kensington, London W8 5TT.

become a judge: 2014 Evening Standard New Homes Awards

Find more details at homesandproperty.co.uk/judge

Visit homesandproperty.co.uk

March 14-30 at Earls Court — 2,000 tickets to give away

hot homes: for lovers

WE ARE looking for 20 people with a passion for property who are avid readers of Homes & Property, and who would like to join the judging panel for the 2014 Evening Standard New Homes Awards.

You will help industry experts to choose the very best homes and developments in London and the South-East and will be a VIP guest at the glittering awards ceremony at The Dorchester hotel in May. A shortlist of schemes will be prepared by the experts, who will visit each site, but our reader judges will make the final decisions and choose all the winners. You don’t need any professional qualification, just a keen eye and that property passion.

Ideal Home Show 2014

£750,000: grab your wellies and head for the Cheshire wilds where you could certainly lose yourself among the 187 acres that come with Dingers Hollow Farm in the unspoilt valley of Wildboarclough. The farmhouse needs a revamp but has great potential with its wonderful setting, four bedrooms and mass of outbuildings. Would you return it to a working farm, create an equestrian centre or run a B&B and holiday lets business? Through Savills.

Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/buyoftheweekhack

WE FIND perfect settings for Valentine’s Day that include charming Valentines Cottages near Plaistow in Billingshurst, West Sussex, and a cosy country retreat in Love Lane, Surrey. Fall head over heels as we take a heart-stopping property tour of romantic hideaways.

TO ENTER : for your chance to win a pair of weekday tickets to the Ideal Home Show 2014, visit idealhomeshow.co.uk and quote the code EVE14 before the end of Friday this week. Usual rules apply.

London buy of the week weave got news for you. . .

Out of town buy of the week bliss is less than an hour from work

Life changer you’ll be grinning like the Cheshire Cat

£475,000: three-bedroom retreat at Valentines Cottages in West Sussex (homesandproperty.co.uk/valentine)

FOR more than a century the Ideal Home Show has been helping to transform British homes. Whether you have a major makeover project in

mind, or simply want to add those finishing touches, the Ideal Home Show, sponsored by Quiet Mark, has all you need.

From kitchens and bathrooms to bedrooms and basements, from fixtures and fittings to fine foods, gardens and the latest gadgets, plus fashion, beauty and gifts, you’ll find everything under one roof at this award-winning, iconic show.

WE’VE teamed up with the Ideal Home Show so that 1,000 lucky readers can each win a pair of tickets to visit this much-loved event for free between March 17 and 21. To enter, see panel, right.

Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/outoftownhadlow

£700,000: you can live in rural bliss yet be only 50 minutes from London by train if you buy this six-bedroom beauty in Hadlow Down, East Sussex.

Set against the perfect country backdrop — in a quiet lane, surrounded by fields and open countryside beyond — the house is a find with its sprawling gardens and bags of family space, including two

reception rooms, an open fireplace, bespoke kitchen with granite worktops and an Aga, plus a fabulous Amdega conservatory providing impressive dining space. This lovely home is available through Freeman Forman.

Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/lifechangerdingers

£700,000: a former textile factory in Hackney cuts a dash with its fashionable new life as a block of 64 loft-style apartments, each with high ceilings, vast windows and eye-catching interiors. This one spans a corner of the fourth floor and comes with a balcony, three double bedrooms, two bathrooms — one en suite — and a 25ft open-plan high-spec kitchen/entertaining space. Completion is due in spring. Through Stirling Ackroyd.

The Grand Prix winner in 2013: Lime Grove Mews in Shepherd’s Bush impressed. You could help choose our New Homes Awards winners this year

Homes & Property Online homesandproperty.co.uk with

...and make it workharder for you!

• Part of the UK’s biggest holiday letting organisation

• Group multi £million marketing budget for promoting your property

• Free additional listing on our popular sister website www.cottages4you.co.uk

• Free photography, free copywriting and free grading to tourist board

standards (UK only)*

• Enjoy the face-to-face support of a friendly Regional Manager

based in your area

Call our Property Recruitment team on 0845 268 8896Email letmycottage@wynvr.co.ukor visit www.letmycottage.co.uk

EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2014 3

East is best for an ’Enders makeover

Got some gossip? Tweet @amiranews

GOODBYE Albert Square, hello Hoxton Square. Revamped with a cast that includes Danny Dyer, above, EastEnders has entered a new era, with a Shoreditch makeover to reflect contemporary east London.

Fassett Square, in Hackney, was the inspiration when the BBC soap started in 1985, but if the new set is to mirror modern times it will need cool cafés, galleries and boys on bikes in skinny jeans. Producers could get ideas at 20 Hoxton Square, below, six new flats and a penthouse in a prime spot, for sale from £1,325,000 (homes andproperty.co.uk/20hoxton).

Join showbiz royalty in Queen’s Park

Talented Alesha’s glammed up in teal to steal the scene

Mariah can sing all the way to the bank on £3m-plus house sale profit

By Amira Hashish

NEW mum Alesha Dixon, currently filming the latest series of Britain’s Got Talent, features in a striking Dulux photo shoot launching teal as top colour trend for this year.

Glammed up in ostrich feathers, she poses against a gorgeous backdrop in the paint giant’s Sea Urchin 1 shade to inspire home owners to turn a bland space into a dramatic, blue-green place. Watch a behind-the-scenes video of Dixon’s teal transformation with Homes & Property.

Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/alesha

NEAR the Queen’s Park home of actress Sienna Miller, left — other locals include screen stars Daniel Craig and Thandie Newton — is a lovely five-bedroom house that overlooks the park and is on the market at £2,795,000 (homesand property.co.uk/harvist).

It boasts a designer kitchen, right, and is a short walk from the boutiques and delicatessens of Chamberlayne Road and Salusbury Road.

Homes & PropertyNewshomesandproperty.co.uk with

MARIAH CAREY and Nick Cannon are selling their California home. The couple, who have two-year-old twins Moroccan and Monroe, have put the super-luxe 11,750sq ft property in Bel Air on the market for £7.9 million.

The Hero singer and the America’s Got Talent host, who married in 2008, bought the property for £4.25 million in the spring of 2009, so they should be looking at a healthy

profit. Their mansion features seven bedrooms, nine bathrooms, a swish cinema and games room and basketball court. If their home is snapped up, the family won’t be short of somewhere to rest their

heads. They also own a retreat in the Bahamas and a three-storey apartment in

New York.

FOR more celebrity news, visit our online gallery at homesand property.co.uk/celebrityhomes

GE

TT

Y IM

AG

ES

DA

VE

BE

NE

TT

4 WEDNESDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2014 EVENING STANDARD

Homes & Property New homes homesandproperty.co.uk with

200 new towers WHAT would Christopher Wre n , t h a t g re a t Georgian architect of steeples and spires, have made of this city

of towers — taller than he could ever have imagined — housing ever more people in the sky?

Two hundred London skyscrapers are being built or have planning con-sent, 150 of them residential towers of at least 20 storeys. During the next decade, the capital’s skyline will be redrawn, with high-rise clusters in Shoreditch, Nine Elms, Greenwich, Elephant & Castle and Croydon joining those in the City and Canary Wharf.

London’s spiralling population and land scarcity are driving this construc-tion boom. Lovers of tall towers say they allow thousands more people to live and be employed in central zones near major transport hubs, and that they have tremendous power to regen-erate the area around them.

“We’re becoming a vertical city,” says Peter Murray, curator at New London Architecture, a forum for urban design and planning. “High-rise flats were once only seen on council estates, but luxury private towers now account for the majority of new homes in the capital.”

SPECTACULAR CITY VIEWSUnlike the discredited local authority concrete towers of the Sixties and Sev-enties, Barbican excepted, today’s skyscrapers appeal to middle- to high-income urbanites who relish the glam-our of tower living and the convenience of hotel-style services — valet parking, 24-hour concierge, security and spas.

Spectacular views are another big draw, and with each new eye-catching skyscraper the vista becomes ever more impressive. Developers have latched on to the value of a view and carefully price each flat according to height, size and aspect.

Imaginative architecture gives shape and character to an area, while in an interior, it lets light flood in via floor-to-ceiling glass walls and year-round enclosed winter gardens. The higher the flat, the more expensive it is, with pent-houses commanding the biggest price premium. Circular towers allow big-budget buyers to purchase whole floors with dramatic 360-degree views — such as one apartment at 49-storey St George Wharf Tower, Vauxhall, which Mark Griffiths, boss of developer St George, calls “a super yacht in the sky”.

His new project is One Blackfriars, a 50-storey skyscraper being built at the foot of the bridge and already smashing price records for South Bank homes — studio apartments cost from £960,000. The glass-clad tower swells out towards the top and when com-plete in 2016 will be similar in height to the Gherkin (visit homesandprop-erty.co.uk/oneblack).

HEIGHT OF FASHIONSouth-of-the-river skyscrapers offer particularly splendid views, big colour-changing skies and shimmering reflec-tions off the water — plus the northern light favoured by artists. The South Bank, from Tower Bridge to Nine Elms, is a skyscraper hotspot with more than 20 towers in the pipeline. City Road, a once unloved, dowdy district between Angel and Old Street, is another high-rise zone, getting a £1 billion facelift with projects such as Silicon Tower, Canaletto (homesandproperty.co.uk/canaletto) and The Eagle (homesand-property.co.uk/eagle).

Posh people often spurn these new-era locations and stick to the safe

prestige of a traditional address. But for a younger breed of web entrepreneurs, fashion designers and media executives, areas such as Bankside, Waterloo and Shoreditch are top of the list.

Sleek skyscrapers are even sprouting up in the Square Mile. The Heron has 285 apartments above a new concert hall and premises for the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and includes a private club and roof garden for residents. Many of the flats have been bought as first homes rather than weekday crashpads — proving this is a place where people want to put down roots. And there are Wolf of Wall Street-style penthouses with retractable roof, gym and cinema. From £3.6 million to £12 million (homesandproperty.co.

IT’S A TALL ORDERWith land at a premium and the population booming, smart skyscrapers are springing up to suit all budgets, says David Spittles

High-rise glamour: inside a penthouse at South Bank Tower, Blackfriars, which has a private roof garden and sky bar. Homes start at £625,000. Call 020 7182 2477

From £520,000: flats at Canaletto, a new tower at Angel’s City Road Basin

From £448,000: barley sugar-twist Baltimore Tower in Canary Wharf

From £390,000: homes at Great West Quarter, Brentford. Call 0844 811 4334

EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2014 5

Homes & PropertyNew homes

uk/heron). Even Centre Point, Lon-don’s original “Pop Art” office tower, built in 1966 and listed in 1995 despite being reviled by many as a concrete eyesore, is being relaunched with 82 private flats. This patch of the West End is undergoing the biggest change since the Sixties, spurred by the Crossrail station being built at Tottenham Court Road where “over-site” development is set to bring more high-rise homes, an upgraded shopping quarter and transform the scruffy public realm.

Mayor Boris Johnson’s London Plan insists the design of new tall buildings must relate well to the existing urban “grain”, especially at ground level, and achieve high standards of ecology, architecture and construction. Public viewing galleries and mid-level sky gardens with bars and restaurants are also encouraged, though the require-ment for on-site affordable housing is being relaxed.

Canary Wharf is in line for a second wave of skyscrapers, with up to a dozen due in the next five years. Baltimore Tower, a distinctive twist design with a cocktail bar at the top, has 330 flats from £448,000 to £1.3 million-plus (homesandproperty.co.uk/tower).

Towers are also rising in outer suburbs such as Ealing, where the high-rise life-style is more affordable. At Great West Quarter, Ealing Road, Brentford, flats cost from £390,000 in a 26-storey tower that features an art installation lighting up the skies of west London — one of the largest light sculptures in the UK (homesandproperty.co.uk/gwq).

In Croydon, where a £1 billion West-field shopping mall is at the heart of a new town centre revival, developers are creating designer flats with all the trimmings. The Tower in Saffron Square has 414 flats plus rooftop ter-race, restaurants, art gallery and shops facing a new one-acre public square. Prices from £240,000. (homesand-property.co.uk/saffron).

THE SKYLINE TIMELINESeveral skyscrapers are due for com-pletion this year while others will begin to make their mark on the horizon. At 42-storey Manhattan Loft Gardens in Stratford, sky gardens built into the structure are designed as a modern take on traditional London garden squares. Homes will be available to buy soon off-plan. Call 020 8534 3318.

Altitude in Alie Street, E1, has 27 storeys and 235 flats. Prices from £658,000 (homesandproperty.co.uk/altitude). One Commercial Street, a 21-storey tower with 137 flats, is nearing completion above Aldgate East Tube station. From £465,000 (homesand-property.co.uk/onecomm). South Bank Tower is another notable project, with 191 flats and one of London’s largest private roof gardens, plus a residents’ lounge and sky bar. From £625,000. Call CBRE on 020 7182 2477.

Elephant & Castle, cheapest Zone 1 location, is on the rise with a cluster of towers including 37-storey One the Elephant, where flats are launching soon (homesandproperty.co.uk/ elephant). And after a long planning wrangle, the Mayor has approved a 335-home, 50-storey tower in SE1, with triple glazing to reduce noise from the Ministry of Sound nightclub next door.

A free exhibition, London’s Growing Up, will run at New London Architecture, 26 Store St, WC1 from April 3 to June 12.

Smart urban living: Canaletto, part of City Road’s high-rise makeover, has 190 flats, a private cinema and a club lounge

Overlooking Regent’s Canal: Silicon Tower in City Road

Pop Art revival: Centre Point homes and shops, right, Tottenham Court Road

6 WEDNESDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2014 EVENING STANDARD

The rich may have the jam but the doughnut is having its day The boroughs on the fringes of prime central London are making the biggest price gains, reports Ruth Bloomfield

Homes & Property Hotspots homesandproperty.co.uk with

LONDON house prices grew by 11.2 per cent last year to an average £403,792, the Land Registry says — compared with an average

for England and Wales of £167,353.Economic forecaster Ernst & Young

predicts that by 2018, the average home in the capital will cost £600,000. Unlike in recent years, the latest price spurt isn’t being driven by prime central London postcodes, but by the “doughnut” of boroughs around them.

LAMBETH WALKS THE TALKLambeth was a hotspot where prices rose 15.1 per cent last year while Kensington and Chelsea, London’s costliest borough, only managed 10.4 per cent. Luke Wooster, managing director of Wooster & Stock estate agents, says Brixton, in Lambeth, saw 20 per cent rises, driven by buyers priced out of Clapham.

“The quality of shops — selling oysters and champagne no less —opening in Brixton Market over the last couple of years has really improved,” he adds. “There is just a buzz about the area.”

A three-bedroom terrace would cost between £600,000 and £700,000 says Wooster, while a two-bedroom flat would be £400,000-plus. These stiff prices are having a knock-on effect in the hinterlands of Norwood and Streatham, currently about 30 per cent cheaper, he adds.

KENNINGTON CUTS IT AND WALTHAMSTOW WINSThe Kennington Triangle, between Lambeth North, Vauxhall and Kennington Tube stations, is identified as a new hotspot by estate agent Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward thanks to its central location, good transport links, and proximity to regeneration zones at Nine Elms and Elephant and Castle.

A top-performing east London borough is Waltham Forest, which, with growth of 16.2 per cent, easily outstripped prime Westminster’s 12.3 per cent. Mahmood Faiz, a director of James Williams estate agents, says the traditionally working-class area is developing middle-class enclaves.

These include Walthamstow Village, a conservation area filled with

Victorian terraces and cottages and a promising array of independent cafés and shops. Expect to pay £425,000 to £475,000 for a two-bedroom cottage, and up to £600,000-plus for a five-bedroom Victorian terrace.

Family buyers are heading to Bushwood, Leytonstone, attracted by its position — sandwiched between a good mix of shops and train stations, while being on the A12, and with miles of open country to the east. Four-bedroom Victorian terraces sell for a comparatively reasonable £650,000.

The other up and coming address is Lloyd Park, close to the William

Morris Gallery, where a two-bedroom purpose-built flat would cost between £325,000 and £350,000.

HAMMERSMITH & FULHAM AND HACKNEY ON A HIGH Other boroughs performing strongly include Hackney, where prices rose 17.2 per cent, and Hammersmith and Fulham, where they went up 15.3 per cent. Haringey, Islington and Southwark all recorded rises of about 12 per cent.

No London borough experienced falls, but Harrow is struggling on a rise of just 2.3 per cent, while Newham managed a lacklustre 3.8 per cent.

Lucian Cook, director of residential research at Savills, points out that half a dozen boroughs failed to match their peak levels of 2007. Barking and Dagenham remains 10 per cent below the peak, while Newham and Bexley respectively recorded nine per cent and 4.7 per cent below their best.

Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster, both 40 per cent above peak levels, are the strongest. Hammersmith and Fulham and Hackney are both more than 30 per cent above their peak, while in Wandsworth, Camden and Islington,

prices are between 25 and 30 per cent higher than seven years ago. “I still think, to be brutal, the more equity-rich boroughs are outperforming and are the strongest,” says Cook. However, he agrees there is “a little bit of a shift out of central London” caused by “a bit more domestic cash coming into the market because of improved confidence in the market.”

Over the next five years he believes affluent but more suburban areas will start to flourish. “I can see areas like Merton, Lewisham, Kingston, Ealing and Barnet perhaps performing most strongly,” he says.

Eastern promise: William Morris Gallery, below, in Waltham Forest borough, which beat Westminster for growth in house prices

Oysters and champagne anyone?: upmarket tastes are reflected in Brixton Village and Market

AL

AM

Y

Town and country: the city farm at Vauxhall, below, one side of Kennington Triangle, a new property hotspot

GR

AH

AM

HU

SS

EY

DISCOVER MORE | LONDONDOCK.CO.UK | +44 (0)20 8917 4040

COMING SOON.

AL

MA

Y

EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2014 7

Why the Y:Cube will help young Londoners It’s a first for London — and these hi-tech, high-spec homes cost only £30,000 to build, reports Philippa Stockley

Homes & PropertyAffordable homeshomesandproperty.co.uk with

MITCHAM in south-west London is to get the UK’s first development of “Y:Cube” homes — designed by Richard

Rogers to help the YMCA’s efforts to house disadvantaged young people.

Y:Cube homes are first built and assembled in a factory before being slotted together in blocks on site. Merton’s development will create 36 homes on a site owned by the YMCA, the UK’s largest provider of supported accommodation for young people. The project provides a ray of hope that London’s housing crisis might eventu-ally be solved in an attractive and affordable way.

The one-bedroom homes will be let at 35 per cent of the market rent, which translates, in Merton, to £140 a week. The first residents are set to move into their new homes in 12 months’ time.

Built on a quarter-acre plot, the homes will be for single people who are former YMCA residents. But future developments will also offer homes to people on the local council’s waiting list, both singles and couples.

TAXPAYER-FRIENDLY PLANLord Rogers’s architecture practice, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, was charged with making prefab homes look and feel anything but dull.

The Y:Cube’s high-spec, energy-effi-cient timber-and-cement panel design took seven years to develop and is a variant of the prototype Homeshell pre-assembled home first revealed by Homes & Property last summer.

The YMCA is finding independent funding for the Merton scheme, which means the project costs the taxpayer

nothing. If the model is quickly rolled out, both in London and nationwide — as the YMCA’s director of housing Andy Redfearn hopes — similar homes could be built for private buyers to invest in. The finances work so well that the homes can repay their investment

in 10 years, excluding land costs. The unit cost is about £30,000. Currently the YMCA is in talks with Kingston and Hillingdon councils about building more.

The Mitcham Y:Cubes will have green outside space, and are a 10-minute

walk from the station. At only three storeys high and surrounded by ordi-nary houses, they blend in well. Design features include full-height glass win-dows, a glass balcony and the highest insulation standards. And, since they last 60 years, a really clever point is that if the Greater London Authority, for example, gives the YMCA a short-term land lease, homes can be disas-sembled, moved on trucks and put up somewhere else.

SO WHAT DO YOU GET?The overall design was inspired by beach huts, which is plain to see and makes them look welcoming. Indi-vidual pods are manufactured off-site, using reinforced panels fixed to a timber frame. They can be made in local factories with semi-skilled labour, ideally drawn from the local area.

Everything is machine-cut to a fan-tastically tight 2mm tolerance, so they are very energy efficient. The homes don’t need deep foundations and the

complete pods are taken to the chosen site fully furnished, to be assembled in two- or three-storey blocks in court-yard formations. Each flat has a double bedroom, plus a living room with sofa, desk, bookshelf and kitchen area, and there is a bathroom. The design is very well thought-out, though at 286 square feet, a unit could house two people.

The GLA is interested in getting involved, and if this ingenious idea works it could make a big difference to the lack of affordable London housing. However, it is hoped the criteria for such homes will eventually be widened to include all young Londoners struggling to buy their own home.

YMCA.org.ukrsh-p.com

Springing up: Mitcham in south-west London is to get the UK’s first Y:Cube homes, designed by Lord Rogers to help the YMCA house young people

Inspired by beach huts: the energy-efficient Y:Cubes are pre-assembled and kitted out in a factory, then taken to the site to be slotted together in two- or three-storey blocks

MIG

UE

L S

AN

TA C

LA

RA

Ph

oto

gra

phy f

or

illu

stra

tive p

urp

ose

s o

nly

.

8 WEDNESDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2014 EVENING STANDARD

Drink in the wild beauty beyond ChiantishireBritons and Tuscany have a timeless love affair. The unspoilt landscape of the Maremma is the new spot for a rendezvous, says Cathy Hawker

UK LINK SHARD DESIGNER’S WINERY

Homes & Property Homes abroad homesandproperty.co.uk with

THE Italians have never quite understood the British obsession with renovating their wrecks — those roman-tic, terracotta-tiled cottages

that pepper the Italian landscape. In Tuscany, where draconian planning rules make renovation particularly challenging, it’s generally British, German and Dutch buyers who are willing to take on the authorities and put the necessary time, effort and cash into creating new homes from old.

Carlo Paracciani is an exception to this rule. After a career working around the world for multinational companies, he lives in Rome with his British wife and three teenage sons but returns regularly to his family estate in the Maremma, an unspoilt coastal swathe of southern Tuscany, where his sister, brother and 87-year old mother also have separate homes.

LOCK-UP-AND-LEAVE HOMES IN UNSPOILT ITALYIn the middle of the family’s rural and peaceful estate, Paracciani has just completed Borgo Santa Chiara, the transformation of a ramshackle farm-house into 10 new three-bedroom townhouses. Classical Tuscan architec-ture meets up-to-date building design in a project that has been a labour of love for him and his family.

“I grew up here and love this place,” he says. “There is a big part of family and heart here for me and I want my sons always to keep a place here.”

In the Seventies Paracciani’s late father began to develop the family farm

by planning a golf course. Pelagone Club, now owned by a European hotel company, has a well-established and popular 18-hole course, one of five in the Maremma. It means that owners at Borgo Santa Chiara live beside a golf course, have access to play there but have none of the costs associated with looking after it.

GARDENS, GOLF, A POOL — AND HISTORIC SIGHTS The two-storey stone and stucco homes of 1,455sq ft to 1,720sq ft are built in two terraces around land-scaped grounds and have wide, chest-nut-wood windows, pale terracotta tiles, underfloor heating and paint-washed ceiling beams. Villeroy & Boch bathrooms are included but, as is usual in Italy for new-build property, kitchens are not fitted.

Outside, each home has a small irrigated garden with pergola and there is a communal pool overlooking the ninth hole of the golf course.

The stunning, historic city of Grosseto is 30 minutes away by car, the nearest beach and marina are within 15 min-utes and lovely hilltop towns, including medieval Massa Marittima, are on the doorstep for perfect alfresco dining.

Prices start from £559,500 with annual service charges including insur-ance and pool maintenance around £1,700. Owners will have an on-site concierge to oversee property mainte-nance and manage rentals.

PROPERTY IN THE MAREMMAThe Maremma stretches from Elba in the north to the Argentario peninsula in the south and is filled with sandy beaches backed by dense forests of Mediterranean pine trees, large national parks and agricultural land farmed by butteri, the traditional horseback herdsmen.

“The Maremma is one hour from Pisa airport yet is still unknown compared with most of Tuscany — but more and

more people are discovering it,” says Nik Barnewitz of Casa in Toscana which is selling Borgo Santa Chiara.

“It offers so much, from water sports at upmarket beach resorts like Punta Ala, to golf, horse riding and of course, some great wineries.” Prices peak around Argentario where villas close to the marinas command seven-figure prices. Punta Ala is also in demand. Casa in Toscana is selling a five-bed-room house with exceptional views over Punta Ala marina out to Elba and Corsica for £1,974,000.

Well inland but with distant sea views, Cluttons Italy has a three-bed-room restored stone house in Scansano, east of Grosseto, for £489,500.

CONTACTSBorgo Santa Chiara and Casa in Toscana, through Savills: savills.com (020 7016 3740)Cluttons Italy: cluttonsitaly.com (00 39 075 845 0100)

RENZO PIANO, architect of London’s Shard, has completed one winery in his career and it is in the Maremma. He designed Rocca di Frassinello as a personal favour to Paolo Paneri, a firm friend and former journalist who first interviewed him in the Sixties.

Rocca di Frassinello is a collaboration between Paneri and Baron Rothschild, with 78 hectares of sangiovese, merlot and cabernet sauvignon grapes planted around an angular concrete and glass

factory-style building with one tall, rectangular red tower. The core of this extraordinary building is the cellar, where 2,500 oak barriques — barrels — line up on all four sides, as though in an auditorium. The room is 130 feet square with no visible supporting columns, and in the centre a shaft of sunlight illuminates the space. “When you get down there and look around you will be moved to tears,” says Piano.

Visit roccadifrassinello.it

Raise a glass: Renzo Piano-designed Rocca di Frassinello winery in the Maremma

From £559,500: new houses at Borgo Santa Chiara. Call 020 7016 3740

Right next to the golf club: buyers of three-bedroom homes at Borgo Santa Chiara, rural Tuscany, have access to the Pelagone course but none of the upkeep costs

Enviable location: beaches and marinas are within a 15-minute drive of Borgo Santa Chiara

AL

AM

Y

10 WEDNESDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2014 EVENING STANDARD

Homes & Property Design homesandproperty.co.uk with

Design trendsromantic pastels

By Barbara Chandler

THINK sugared almonds and luxurious Ladurée macarons — these are the sweet, mouthwatering, romantic pastel shades for

the home this spring. Not practical for upholstery? You’d be surprised. “So many fabrics are washable now,” says Stephen Nelson, from the home design service at Peter Jones.

If you don’t want to commit to upholstery, invest in soft pink and lime pastel throws, and fill glass bowls with spring flowers.

Shauna Dennison, creative director at wallpaper house Cole & Son, says: “Think of pastels as brave neutrals... plaster pinks, honeyed camel neutrals, warm dove greys and blushing peaches/corals — all enhanced with soft mood lighting.”

London interior designer Nina Campbell, whose clients include royals and celebrities, lined her

Chelsea bedroom walls with a pale-toned chintz of her own design (from Osborne & Little), adding a stronger pink lacquer to the en suite bathroom. “Mix in grey, and plenty of texture. And boost romance with fresh flowers and room scent.”

Get free advice at West Elm, the new US home store on Tottenham Court Road. Rosie Holman, who runs their on-site design lab, favours soft lemon yellow and grey for a sunny look. “Add heavier textures to a pastel mix,” she says, hugging large Mongolian lambswool cushions. For a touch of romance, try velvet and silk.

In Colour Deconstructed, her latest book, decor brand boss Tricia Guild advises: “Add edge with graphic touches. I’m thinking black, white and charcoal to offset sugary shades... a stack of cushions, a soft wool blanket and a deep-pile rug will add depth and warmth.”

Left: Astier de Villatte “Cloud” plate, £85, and bowl, £95, at Liberty (liberty.co.uk)

Right: spring pastels from the Aegean collection at Sanderson include Ios wallpaper (£45 a roll). Daybed is in Sparkle Coral, curtains are in Keros, both £49 a metre. Cushion fabrics are £41 to £69 a metre. For details/stockists call 0844 543 9500 or go to sanderson -uk.com

Left: John Lewis’s grey basket-weave throw £70; Citrine Layers cushion, £28; Lime PomPom fabric, £30 a metre (johnlewis.com; 08456 049 049)

Left: Tesco’s budget pretty pastels include cushions in metallic-print knits and sequined florals for £12, with velvet and rose-print at £8. Go to tesco.com or call 0800 323 4050 for more details and store addresses

Pretty pieces: Habitat packs a punch with its pastels. From left, oak side table with powder-coated metal top in bubble gum pink (£25); Lauto Jacquard bed linen includes pillowcases at £18 each, and Priya small pastel-coloured bowls are £4 each. Stores in W1, SW3, and NW3, or shop online at habitat.co.uk

Right: chair in Phoebe (£68 a metre), piped in Rosebery (£95 a metre); woodwork in Warm White (£39 for 2.5 litres). All from Zoffany (0844 543 4600; zoffany.com)

SALE

EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2014 11

Homes & PropertyDesignhomesandproperty.co.uk with

3

5

DESIGNSPYBy Katie Law

1 SNAP UP a major bargain at Vitra’s one-day sale this Saturday. ID Trim chairs are reduced from £501 to just £1, yellow fabric Amoebe Highback chairs are down from £1,283 to £99, and this Noguchi coffee table is down from £1,150 to £99. Doors open at 9.30am at 30 Clerkenwell Road, EC1 (vitra.com).

2 NEPTUNE, the interiors shop that sells it all, from kitchens and bath-rooms to lighting, furniture and glassware, has opened its first London showroom at 87-93, Wandsworth Bridge Road, SW6 (neptune.com). We like its Imperial pendant lights at £175.

3 A FORMER banker and an ex-barrister set up Bert &May in Bethnal Green, selling reclaimed vintage tiles and wood flooring. From 17th-century Delft tiles to distressed parquet floors, you’ll find it all here. Visit Bert & May at 62 Vyner Street, E2, or shop online at bertandmay.com.

4 GRAB sophisticated French style with this 40cm x 55cm cushion — Croquet cover £63, feather cushion inside £17 — at new interiors shop Caravane, for linens, lighting and furniture, at 38-40 New Cavendish Street, W1 (caravane.fr).

5 FRENCH Connection Home is opening a concession on the lower ground floor of Selfridges in Oxford Street. Think industrial-meets-distressed style, softened with an edge of modern Scandi. This side table is £95 (french connection.com).

6 TRY a spot of Leonine, the new faux leopard skin cotton-velvet print from Shoreditch-based House of Hackney, shown here on a Martello sofa, £2,950. Also at a new concession at Liberty, Regent Street (houseofhackney.com).

1

6

4

2

16 WEDNESDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2014 EVENING STANDARD

The companies listed here are wholly independent of the Evening Standard. Care is taken to establish that they are bona fide but we recommend that 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 homesandproperty@standard.co.uk with “Bargain News” in the subject line. For more bargains, visit alisonathome.com or homesandproperty.co.uk/offers.

Homes & Property Reader promotion homesandproperty.co.uk with

Alison Cork

FOR a quirky accessory, look no further than Orwell and Goode’s three-piece animal cushion set with foxes, badgers and owls. Each cushion measures 40cm across and has a soft feather pad and a piped edge. Orwell and Goode is offering a 10 per cent discount on its website range, reducing the collection to £108. To claim or view the range, visit orwellandgoode.com and use code EVE10 before February 26.

COUCH is a newly launched company offering an exclusive range of 13 contemporary sofas directly from the manufacturer with no high street overheads.

Choose from a variety of coverings including wool, linen or distressed leather. Readers are offered a 10

per cent discount across the sofa range, reducing the chesterfield, above, from £1,360 to £1,224.

To view Couch’s full range of products or to claim your offer using code ES12 before March 17, visit couch.co.uk. Call 01495 717170 to receive the Couch catalogue.

WITH its sleek Scandinavian design this sofa bed is a fine addition to any modern home. The Pablo, from Onedeko, is available as a chair/chaise or three-seat sofa, with elegant wood or chrome legs, and in a choice of fabric or faux leather upholstery. The company is offering a 25 per cent discount on the Pablo,

reducing the price to £995. It features a simple three-stage ratchet function, and can be ordered with or without arms.

To claim, call 020 7377 5900/020 7375 3289, order online at onedeko.co.uk, or visit the showroom in Spitalfields, E1 6EA and quote febsofabedoffer before February 23.

NEW YORK style comes with the Broadway table lamp, a statement piece with wall fittings and a cable-mounted switch. The metal frame has a vintage finish, while eight bulbs (not included) give a moody ambience. It measures L50cm x W13cm x H27cm and costs £89 at Made.com, where readers get £5 off purchases above £50. To claim, visit made.com and use code MADEFORES25 before March 2.

THE Chloe, a petite, scroll-topped, button-backed chair from Alison At Home is available in slate (pictured), grape or truffle-coloured velvet upholstery, while the non-tropical hardwood seat is serpentine sprung for superior comfort and the carved legs are on brass castors. Homes & Property readers get a £15 discount, reducing the Chloe to just £180.

To claim, visit alisonathome.com or call 0800 472 5533 and use code CHL12 before February 26.

Meet Chloe, the petite baroque beautyCut out the middleman to enjoy cut-price comfort

A talking point

Go wild for ’em

Bargain newsA sleek and stylish Scandi sofa bed

BATHROOMSALE/C.P. HART

EST. 1937NOW ON

24 WEDNESDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2014 EVENING STANDARD

Homes & Property Our home homesandpropertyhomesandproperty

whiteHow do you turn a traditional Victorian terrace house into a bright and funky family home and two rental flats? Think outside the box, says Ruth Bloomfield

Technicolor

MATT and Sophie White’s house is unmissable — a contemporary white-render cube with a large central window, sitting

amid workaday red-brick Victorian terrace houses. But this house, though a serious statement in clean lines and minimalist architecture, is very much a family home. The front door buzzer has an LED display that flashes “Hello”.

The fun continues in the kitchen, where shelves bear dozens of neatly aligned white mugs, each decorated with a single letter repeatedly spelling out “I don’t have OCD”. And while white is the prevailing interior colour, one of the many built-in cupboards opens to dis-play a gilded drinks cabinet with a neon sign which reads “Boo!”

Surprises with a more practical purpose are found around the house. The upstairs bathroom has a laundry chute to the base-ment utility room two floors below. It’s no surprise to discover that Matt, 41, is an architect. But he was careful not to design a home that “felt too architected”.

“We did, however, want it to feel bigger than it actually is, and we wanted it to be easy to live in, and every room had to be lit by natural light,” he adds.

He and Sophie added colour to the mix for their children — Mia, seven, Daisy, five, and three-year-old Arthur. “And there’s a lot of colour,” says Sophie, ges-turing at the lime green glass kitchen splashbacks. But as well as being colour-ful, fun and very easy to live in, this

family house is also a good investment for the Whites — it is now worth three times what it cost to build.

A WAITING GAMEThe couple married nine years ago and bought a Victorian end-of-terrace house in Shepherd’s Bush with a large, L-shaped garden. However, only the portion of the garden at the back of the house was part of the freehold. The biggest section, to the side of the property, was being sold with a “possessory title”.

This meant that although it had been treated as part of the property for many years, it could, technically, have been taken away if the original owner had come forward to claim it. Because of the complication, the newlyweds got a good deal, buying for £408,000 and with no competition. By 2007, enough time had elapsed for them to formally take full ownership of the whole site.

In the meantime, Matt, who has worked at Foster + Partners and Make, and is the founding partner of Matt Architecture (mattarchitecture.com), drew up plans

Bright and beautiful: the basement’s tidy thanks to cupboards which open to add a pop of colour

Playtime’s sorted: a safe outside area for the children has a climbing wall, far right

Stand-out design: Matt and Sophie White’s contemporary white cube house, above, in Shepherd’s Bush, with its double-height central window. Right, the couple with children Mia, Daisy and Arthur, sit below a wine glass chandelier that works as great storage. It comes into its own when the parents are ready to party

Photographs: Simon Maxwell

EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2014 25

y.co.uk with Homes & PropertyOur homey.co.uk with

for the site. At the end of 2007 he was granted planning permission to convert the property into two flats and build a new family house on the land. A two-year pause followed as the family went to the Middle East where Matt had work to do. In 2010 they returned, living in a rented property, and the terrace house was converted into a pair of two-bed-room flats the Whites could rent out.

In autumn 2011, the couple began to build their home, taking 18 months. It has three top-floor bedrooms, an open-plan living room/kitchen on the ground floor and a large games room in the base-ment, plus a fourth bedroom, utility room and a small study.

To make the most of natural light the house is south facing. Concrete floors overlaid with timber absorb heat during the day and reflect it at night. The prop-erty is super-insulated and low-energy LED lighting is used throughout. There are also rainwater recycling and heat recovery systems.

Clever storage includes the living room chandelier, from After Noah (afternoah.com), an inverted pyramid of wine glasses which comes in handy for parties. An instant hot water tap “saves us two min-utes every morning”, and a master switch at the front door means all the lights can be switched off in one go.

Sophie, 40, managing partner at Matt Architecture, was keen on the cosiness of an open fire, and their bio gel model gives real flames without having to buy logs or clean grates. The bedrooms have

skylights fitted with electronic blinds. A smart glass system from Pro Display (prodisplay.com) is used in the central stairwell which is lit by a double-height window. A remote control turns the glass from clear to frosted for privacy. Coloured LED lighting in the hall fills the window at night with whatever hue the family fancies.

Natural light from the atrium floods the basement and there is a small, walled outdoor space for the children, with a climbing wall. The basement can be closed off from the rest of the house, so that when the kids become teenagers “and only talk to us to ask for money, we can shut the door”, jokes Matt.

Building the 1,711 sq ft home cost £550,000, excluding site, and it is valued today at £1.5 million to £2 million.

THIS house was first featured in Homebuilding & Renovating magazine. The March issue is out now.

Meet editor-in-chief Michael Holmes and editor Jason Orme at The National Homebuilding & Renovating Show,

NEC, Birmingham from March 27-30. Visit homebuilding show.co.uk or call 0844 581 1377.

Neon bright: lime splashbacks in the kitchen. “There’s a lot of colour,” says Sophie

Light and space: the open-plan living/kitchen room makes the most of natural light

26 WEDNESDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2014 EVENING STANDARD

Homes & Property London living homesandproperty.co.uk with

HELPis out there. . .If all those important interiors plans are stacking up, it’s time to call in an expert, says Kate Burnett

LIGHTING

John Cullen (020 7371 5400; johncullenlighting.co.uk)Get advice from lighting design professionals, starting with a single room or for a whole home, at the King’s Road showroom of leading British experts in the field. John Cullen staff will design a lighting scheme for a room for £150 plus VAT. Bring plans and any images of the room to an appointment with a designer. Site visits and revisions are charged at hourly rates. John Cullen has taster evenings where you can see themed lighting. Call for details.

PERSONAL SHOPPING

Design Centre Chelsea Harbour (020 7352 1900; dcch.co.uk)When you’re decorating, the sheer range of quality products can be overwhelming. Design Centre Chelsea Harbour offers a personal shopper service — free of charge — to get you past that bewildered feeling and introduce you to leading brands, of which it has more than 500 in 95 showrooms. “The Harbour” is one of London’s key design destinations, something of an insider’s secret and well worth a visit. Caroline Hughes and her personal shopping team are based in the elegant surroundings of the members club, where they will discuss your requirements and then give you a personalised tour of the three domes that host the majority of companies. Caroline has 20 years of experience as a design professional. There’s no time limit. Just call to make an appointment.

COLOUR SENSE

Farrow & Ball (01202 876141; farrow-ball.com)Colour is one of the mysteries of design that can baffle even the smartest home owners. Farrow & Ball’s colour expertise needs little introduction and its paints and papers have won huge popularity over the last decade. The company’s specially designed Colour Consultancy service is offered to clients in their homes. Trained consultants call in for a relaxed, informal visit to come up with ideas for paint and paper, while assessing the space, light and architecture. Clients then receive a colour fan with details of the shades, finishes and quantities recommended during the visit. As well as the call from a consultant, clients can request a visit from Joa Studholme, the company’s respected lead colourist. Joa’s visit is charged at £225, colour consultant visits are charged at £175.

TOTAL MAKEOVERS

Marianne Cotterill (07917 788969; mariannecotterill.com)Marianne Cotterill, a leading UK stylist, also creates iconic advertising campaigns for top design brands. Her private clients include many celebrities and she can source unusual, even unique, furniture, lighting and art. “It can be a complete redesign or just a makeover, where I change or add colour and find

interesting pieces for a space,” she says. She supplies a story board. Fees start at £850 for a home visit.

FLOWERS

McQueens (mcqueens.co.uk; 020 7251 5505)BASED in Clerkenwell, McQueens is one of London’s most creative florists, selling flowers to the public but also serving many corporate clients. There is a wide range of McQueens services available to private clients, with a programme of lessons and lectures for new and experienced floristry devotees. Private classes are available for small groups as well as one-to-one tuition for individuals, with a private one-day class costing from around £650. The company also offers flowers for the home with prices starting at £75 for a “focal vase”. A service can be purchased covering the entire year, with McQueens florists coming to your home with a new arrangement every week.

INTERIOR STYLING

Skandium (020 7823 8874 ; skandium.com/interior-design)If Scandi-chic home styling is what you want, Skandium has the products and skills to create a transformation. Chrystina Schmidt, co-founder and creative director, leads the company’s interior design service, which starts with her home visit to discuss your needs and assess the space. “For private clients, we would advise on how to maximise an interior with key pieces, how to treat awkwardly shaped rooms and then source the right furniture, lighting, wallpaper, paint and floor coverings,” says Schmidt. “We find workmen, building materials and handle deliveries and installations.” A home consultation with Schmidt lasts two to four hours, from £600 including VAT, followed up with a written and visual summary.

BUILD & DESIGN

LJS Property (020 7237 6575; ljsproperty.com) LJS Property is run by Lucinda Sanford who will rebuild your home. A mother herself, she specialises in transforming family properties, doing it all from initial plans to the finishing touches and interior design. She charges in staged payments — for example, a recent project was a four-bedroom home in SW10, bought with separate basement flat that needed integrating and some rebuilding. Planning cost £2,800, with project design and interior design at £9,500. A monthly fee was applied to cover on-site project management visits.

Blooming marvellous: McQueens teaches floristry and supplies the home

Scandi-cool: Skandium will tell you how to transform decor, lighting and furnishings

Pale and interesting: Farrow & Ball gives expert colour advice

EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2014 27

Homes & PropertyOutdoorshomesandproperty.co.uk with

Gardening problems? Email our RHS expert at: gardenproblems @standard.co.uk

buy itBuy it: RHS aquilegia collection

Pattie Barron

Grow your own flavours of the MedThyme, rosemary, oregano, sage — all these culinary essentials flourish in the tiniest space

ELEGANT perennials with distinctive flowers that appear in late spring, aquilegias — or columbines — work well in the herbaceous border or with naturalised planting schemes.

The RHS is offering three of each of the following aquilegias, supplied as plug plants, for £9.99 each: Aquilegia Louisiana, with a central ring of white petals and an outer ring of deep claret-coloured sepals, held on slender, leafy stems, grows to 60cm; Aquilegia Florida, with bell-shaped yellow flowers that have long spurs and a collar of creamy-lemon sepals, lasts well in cut flower displays, grows to 75cm, and Aquilegia Swan Lavender, which has an abundance of lavender and white flowers on upright, branching stems, grows to 60cm.

You can buy all three collections for £19.98, saving £9.99, but Homes & Property readers can save a further 15 per cent by entering code 280214 at the checkout at rhsplants.co.uk. Offer closes midnight March 4

Late spring charmer: Aquilegia Swan Lavender

See it: rare orchids in Kew’s rainforestVISIT a tropical rainforest this weekend in the Princess of Wales Conservatory at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and discover rare and beautiful orchids, forming walls and cascades of vibrant colour. Children will love the explorers’ camp in the pond area, with floating canoes bulging with plants destined for distant places, echoing Kew’s rich plant-hunting history. The exhibition runs until March 9. There will be half-term explorer tours for children, tropical nursery tours, including carnivorous plants, and the chance to meet orchid experts and buy a new, exclusive fuchsia orchid. For details, see kew.org.uk

Tropical treat: orchids bloom at Kew

A HERB garden is a delight to plan, plant and enjoy, right through the seasons. Bring in the shrubby perennials and you have, at a stroke,

the Mediterranean culinary basics: thyme, sage, rosemary, oregano.

Actually, it’s not that simple, because there are tough decisions to be made. To choose citrussy tangerine or lemon thymes, wonderful with roast chicken, or dainty Silver Posie variegated thyme, to sprinkle on salads? These are just three of about 20 available thymes, bushy or carpeting, all smothered with flowers come summer.

Sage might be elegant, narrow-leaved Salvia lavandulifolia, which makes an excellent tea, the highly aromatic broad-leaved sage, perfect for stuffing, or perhaps Tricolor, with green leaves that are attractively splodged pink, cream and purple. Rosemary can be bushy, as in Rosmarinus officinalis, for which allow plenty of space, or well-behaved, as in Miss Jessop’s Upright, or one of the prostratus varieties, which tumble becomingly over the edges of a raised bed or tall container. My rosemary, in a pot, has been flower-ing right through winter, and brings a flavour of Sicily to roast potatoes, lamb and courgettes. Greek oregano is pun-gent, wild and woolly, not for the faint-hearted; Aureum has golden aromatic leaves, lovely to sprinkle on pizzas, while Origanum Kent Beauty is a deco-rative dazzler, with extravagant whorls of pale pink and apple green flowers.

IT’S ALL IN THE PLANNING Add fragrant, blue-flowered hyssop, another Mediterranean subshrub, and the herb garden really starts to hum, with even more bees and butterflies, come summer. Blame it on those nec-tar-rich, pink, blue and mauve flowers that are produced in abundance by all these versatile and aromatic plants.

How can you harness these great herbs into one space? Plan your herb garden on paper first, and look to the classics for inspiration: a circular design seg-mented like a cartwheel, edged and

divided by bricks; four quarters of a rectangle, with a topiary olive or bay at the centre, edged in a low hedge of compact lavender such as Hidcote, or perhaps wall germander Teucrium lucidrys, which has foliage like tiny oak leaves. Chives make a great edging, too, and can be chopped back brutally after flowering to grow again the following year. You could buy a raised bed kit or even have a tabletop herb garden on the patio — harrodhorticultural.com has a great selection of both.

Whatever you choose, site it in a sunny, open spot, and make sure the soil — or compost — is free-draining. Grit, not manure, is what these drought- loving plants need. Don’t waste your money on large specimens. Instead, this spring, buy three 9cm pots of each variety, plant them in a triangle, spaced about 20cm apart, mulch with pale grit or gravel, then watch them grow into an abundant clump, in just one season.

LEAVE space for annuals, too: basil, tucked in here and there when frost danger has passed, a few dill or fennel plants for their delicate good looks and

winning ways with fish, and borage, so you can have authentic Pimm’s when the powder-blue flowers bloom in high summer. Buckler-leaved or French sor-rel, with its tangy, acidic leaves, is great in leafy salads, as is wild perennial rocket. Both thrive in shade.

Mint, another shade-lover, is compul-sory but needs to be contained or it will run riot. Choose Moroccan mint for tea, pineapple mint to decorate desserts and chocolate peppermint — yes, really! — just for fun. To keep your potted mint garden in check, and to ensure generous handfuls, a stash of galvanised builder’s buckets, holes punched into their bases, are just the job.

Herbs on high:rosemary thrives in an oil drum, above

Boxed in, left: woven willow boxes contain runaway mint

Prettily paved, right: bay trees make a formal herb garden

Photographs:: Marianne Majerus

DE

SIG

N D

EL

BU

ON

O G

AZ

ER

WIT

Z

DE

SIG

N F

RA

NC

ES

HA

INS

WR

OT

HD

ES

IGN

DIA

RM

UID

GA

VIN

30 WEDNESDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2014 EVENING STANDARD

Homes & Property Property searching homesandproperty.co.uk with

SpotlightShepherd’s Bush

Love the culture, shop ’til you drop

With retail therapy at Westfield and plenty of good-size homes, this arty spot has become a family favourite, says Anthea Masey

WHAT THERE IS TO BUYShepherd’s Bush houses are mostly Victorian terraces. Many of the larger properties have been converted into flats but there is also a good supply of family houses. Prices range from over £2 million for a five-bedroom terrace house down to around £200,000 for a studio flat. For example, estate agent Bective Leslie Marsh (homesandprop erty.co.uk/con) has a five-bedroom ter-race house in Coningham Road for £1,595,000 while estate agent Faron Sutaria is selling a studio flat in Devon-port Road for £209,950 (homesand property.co.uk/devonportrd).

The district is an arty one, having attracted a large number of BBC work-ers over the years. The Television Centre building was sold to developer Stanhope in 2012 and much BBC output has moved from White City, but these design-conscious owners left a legacy of attractively modernised houses. The area attracts: according to Dylan James of the local branch of estate agent Faron Sutaria, price per square foot in Shepherd’s Bush is between

A SEPIA postcard shows what looks like an opulent, ala-baster compound, perhaps the home of some Indian prince during the days of

the Raj. There are gleaming colon-nades, onion domes, canals and lakes. Today, this same spot is home to West-field London shopping centre where Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Miu Miu and Prada echo the extragavant past.

Westfield London was built on a long-derelict plot in Shepherd’s Bush and no one alive remembers the wonders that went before. This was the site of the Franco-British Exhibition of 1908, which was mounted to celebrate the signing of the Entente Cordiale four years earlier. It occupied 140 acres, attracted eight million visitors and sat next to a stadium built for the 1908 Olympic Games. The stadium was demolished in 1985 to make way for a new BBC centre.

All those white buildings became known as the White City, which is how the area north of Shepherd’s Bush got its name. The site went on to host another four international exhibitions before the outbreak of the First World War when it was turned over to the war effort, never to be restored to its former glory.

Shepherd’s Bush is four miles west of central London and sits south of Westway and north of Hammersmith, with Holland Park to the east and Acton to the west. It was probably the place where drovers rested their flocks on the way to Smithfield Market.

At the heart of Shepherd’s Bush, the Green — marooned by surrounding traffic — recently had a £2 million facelift. Two new playgrounds were installed and a tree-lined boulevard was created, while the listed war memorial was reset on a granite plinth.

£700 and £900, which is cheaper than nearby Fulham. Many home buyers who start their search in Fulham end up in Shepherd’s Bush, happy to find themselves in a cultural hotspot with excellent transport links.

Buyers are mainly first-timers, inves-tors and couples with young families, although there is now a smattering of international buyers who like the idea of being close to the Westfield mall.

The prospect of massive regeneration in the White City Opportunity Area is also attracting buyers to Shepherd’s Bush. This 20-year plan could see up to 4,500 homes built and plans are afoot for a new Imperial College cam-pus and an extension to Westfield, including a John Lewis store. The former BBC Television Centre is to be transformed into more than 1,000 homes and a hotel after plans were approved in December.Staying power: a strong surge in local house prices — 12 per cent last year — has led some families to sell up and move out of Shepherd’s Bush.

£2,475,000THIS stylish four-bedroom house in Godolphin Road has a pretty patio garden. Though Foxtons.

homesandproperty.co.uk/godo

£800,000A LOVELY, two-bedroom, raised ground-floor flat in an imposing period house with private garden in Stowe Road, for sale though KFH.

homesandproperty.co.uk/stowe

£1.5 MILLIONRECENTLY refurbished four-bedroom period house in sought-after Warbeck Road. Through Dexters.

homesandproperty.co.uk/warbeck

£400,000A BRIGHT, one-bedroom flat in gated Havilland Mews, with off-street parking. Through Faron Sutaria.

homesandproperty.co.uk/mews

*Prices correct at time of going to print

Prices from £599,995*Ravenscourt Gardens, London, W6 OTU

lindenhomes.co.uk/ashlarcourt

EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2014 31

Homes & PropertyProperty searchinghomesandproperty.co.uk with

THE INFORMATION

The best schools

The best shops and restaurants

The latest housing developments

The lowdown on the rental scene

Smart maps to plot your property search

GO ONLINE FOR MORE:

For all this and more, visit homesand property.co.uk/ spotlightshepherdsbush

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGEWhy does Shepherd’s Bush feature in every history of the Fab Four?Find the answer at homesandproperty.

co.uk/spotlightshepherdsbush

■WHAT HOMES COST:BUYING IN SHEPHERD’S BUSH (Average prices)One-bedroom flat £365,000Two-bedroom flat £530,000Two-bedroom house £692,000Three-bedroom house £907,000Four-bedroom house £1.43 million

Source: Zoopla.co.uk

RENTING IN SHEPHERD’S BUSH (Average rates)One-bedroom flat £1,266 a monthTwo-bedroom flat £1,714 a monthTwo-bedroom house £1,718 a monthThree-bedroom house £2,279 a monthFour-bedroom house £2,915 a month

Source: Zoopla.co.uk

NEXT WEEK: Muswell Hill. Do you live there? Tell us what you think @HomesProperty

HAVE YOUR SAY SHEPHERD’S BUSH@williambethell as a resident of over 20 years I can confirm that I moved here because it was “up and coming”. And it still is!

@BeingNatalie look beyond Westfield & support the local restaurants +pubs, some fab spots

@beccaxp can recommend Hummingbird Café on Oaklands Grove for great coffee, cake & home-cooked food #shepherdsbush

@HousePresso Shey Bu? Cooke’s Pie & Mash, Westfield, that brilliant section of 50mph road. Love it there.

@UrbanSandL great restaurants and travel links & best of all the Empire and Apollo on your doorstep

Westfield, the other in the W12 shop-ping centre. The nearest council-owned swimming pool is the Janet Adegoke pool in Bloemfontein Road. Queens Park Rangers football team, based at Loftus Road Stadium, are standing second in the Championship this season.Travel: Shepherd’s Bush has excellent transport links and all stations are in Zone 2 with an annual travelcard to Zone 1 costing £1,256. Shepherd’s Bush is on the London Underground Central line, the London Overground to Clap-ham Junction, and Southern offers fares to Milton Keynes and between

East Croydon and Shepherd’s Bush. White City Tube station is on the Central, Hammersmith & City and Circle lines, while Wood Lane, Shep-herd’s Bush Market and Goldhawk Road stations are on the Hammersmith & City and Circle lines.

Bus services include the C1 that runs to Victoria, the No 49 to Kensington High Street and Chelsea, the No 94 to Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus, and the No 148 to Marble Arch and Westminster. Council: Hammersmith & Fulham council is Tory-controlled and current Band D council tax is £1,060.90.

Typically, young couples stay for three to five years, moving further west or north in search of more green space when they start a family. Best roads: families make a beeline for houses in Boscombe Road and the Con-ingham and Lime Grove conservation area, the triangle of streets between Uxbridge Road and Goldhawk Road. Ashchurch Park Villas in the Raven-scourt and Starch Green conservation area is particularly desirable. The most expensive house in Boscombe Road sold last year for £2 million and in Ashchurch Park Villas the top price was £2.95 mil-lion, reached in October 2012.Up and coming: gaining popularity is the “flowers estate” south of Westway and east of Old Oak Road, a garden estate of simple Edwardian houses where street names include Wallflower, Daffodil and Orchard Streets. Faron Sutaria has a six-bedroom house in

Foxglove Street for £580,000 (homes andproperty.co.uk/foxglove).Open space: Ravenscourt Park has a walled flower garden, a bowling green, children’s playground, café and tennis courts. Holland Park and riverside walks along the Thames are close by. Otherwise green space is in short supply locally.

LEISURE AND THE ARTSShepherd’s Bush is a cultural hotspot. The Bush Theatre, renowned for new writing, has relocated to the old library building in Uxbridge Road where cul-ture vultures also find music venue Bush Hall.

Next door The Music House for Chil-dren holds music classes and individual tuition covering a range of instruments. The Shepherd’s Bush Empire is a lead-ing music venue on the Green and there are two multiplex cinemas, one in

Girl about town: Alice Siva, three, tours revamped Shepherd’s Bush Green with her mum Hayley

Interval: duty manager Kendall Feaver at the Bush Theatre café, left. The theatre is known for new writing

Photographs:: Graham Hussey

0844 417 0820To book your appointment to view call

36 WEDNESDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2014 EVENING STANDARD

MONDAYIt’s cold and drizzly, so I’m thankful that I only live a stone’s throw from the office. Like the rest of the Strutt & Parker Fulham team, I find it really helpful to live on “the patch” as it gives you the edge in terms of local knowl-edge. The morning starts with a team meeting to go over last week’s develop-ments, including a couple of speedy sales. Although the start of the year isn’t traditionally seen as the best time to market property, demand is sky-high out there, with new instructions selling like hot cakes. The shortage of stock is causing prices to rocket, so we’re thankful to see an influx of new pro-spective sellers come through the doors this afternoon looking for appraisals.

TUESDAYWe enjoy a working lunch in Mayfair with our Surrey and Sussex offices. It’s a thriving partnership for us as so many of our clients — parents in their thirties and forties with young families — are selling up in Fulham in order to find more space and bigger gardens for the same money out in commuter belt loca-tions like Guildford and Farnham. Now’s the perfect time to make this kind of move and capitalise on the buoyancy of the London market.

There’s a mad dash to a client’s house this afternoon to retrieve a buyer’s lost diary. It’s surprising the things people forget when they are in the throes of a

successful property viewing. I round off the day with a couple of evening viewings at a three-bedroom maison-ette in Mirabel Road which is attracting a lot of attention.

WEDNESDAYPouring rain in SW6 again and after three viewings and the same number of dashed trips to the parking meter, my shoes are very soggy and I am beginning to look a bit bedraggled. Who said working in property was

glamorous? Luckily the rain holds off a little in the afternoon while I tour all our new properties with an applicant who has been looking for a while. As with many Londoners, she feels the market is running away from her, so I show her a selection of five very differ-ent homes to give her a wide choice.

THURSDAYIt’s a far from ordinary Thursday. Despite not being much of an Arsenal fan, I spend the day at the Emirates

Stadium for our biennial residential AGM — a fantastic conference attended by 300 Strutt & Parker agents from across the country.

The day provides a great opportunity for us to share stories and hear about successes from all corners of the busi-ness. Particularly inspiring is a motiva-tional talk from Richard Branson’s protégé and restaurant manager of the year, Peter Avis. As estate agents there is so much we can learn from the high-end hospitality industry in terms of impeccable customer service, open body language and immaculate presentation.

FRIDAYIt’s a frantic end to the week with the phones ringing non-stop to request property viewings for tomorrow. Most of the calls are coming in from working professionals who find it hard to get out to viewings in the week. They include bankers and doctors priced out of Kensington and Chelsea who want to be a part of Fulham’s fab village community. It looks as if we are all set for another hectic Saturday.

Diary of an estate agent

Squelch this way and I’ll show you around

Roseanna Keith is a sales negotiator at Strutt & Parker’s Fulham office (020 7731 7100).

Homes & Property Inside story homesandproperty.co.uk with

40 WEDNESDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2014 EVENING STANDARD

Homes & Property Ask the expert homesandproperty.co.uk with

WHAT’S YOUR PROBLEM?IF YOU have a question for Fiona McNulty, please email legalsolutions@standard.co.uk or write to Legal Solutions, Homes & Property, London Evening Standard, 2 Derry Street, W8 5EE.We regret that questions cannot be answered individually but we will try to feature them here. Fiona McNulty is a partner in the residential property, farms and estates team at Withy King LLP (withyking.co.uk).

These answers can only be a very brief commentary on the issues raised and should not be relied on as legal advice. No liability is accepted for such reliance. If you have similar issues, you should obtain advice from a solicitor.

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

Can I make neighbour share the drive?

Q I SHARE a drive with my neighbour. We both have garages at the end. Two cars can just about pass on

the drive but now my neighbour wants to put a fence down the centre to make two separate drives.

This could be a problem as the title plan has a dividing line between the properties that gives her more of the drive and cuts across part of our side. If the fence follows that, we won’t be able to get into our garage. What can I do?

A YOU may not have “shared” a driveway at all — you have simply been driving over her land to get to your garage.

Look at your title deeds to see if there is a right of way over your neighbour’s land to afford you access to your garage. If there is, there may be an obligation on you to contribute to the maintenance and repair of the driveway, and there may be a covenant preventing either of you from parking or otherwise obstructing the driveway. However, if

your neighbour owns most of the driveway and there is no right of way for you to use it, then she can erect a fence on her land, if she so wishes. Determine, too, whether boundary ownership is mentioned in the title deeds.

Presumably you have used the driveway to access your garage for the whole time you have owned the property. You may wish to consider what you were told when you bought

the property. Did the previous owner use the driveway to access the garage? Depending on how long the driveway has been used to gain access, and if the neighbour has not objected, you may be able to claim you have established a right to use it. You should, however, take legal advice regarding this.

In any event, the first thing to do is to discuss the situation with your neighbour.

Q MY PREGNANT daughter and her husband sold their flat and moved in with us along with their toddler son while awaiting the completion date of January 28. The buyers

gave notice on their rented property where they are living out of boxes, as all their stuff is packed and ready. They tell us they are calling their solicitor every day in an effort to move things along.

My daughter’s solicitors say they cannot believe the buyers’ solicitors are so slow. We are all at a loss as to what to do. Please help with this nightmare.

AYOUR daughter and her husband have not sold their flat yet, as they have not exchanged contracts and there’s no legally binding contract until that has happened. Their solicitor should

have told them this, and they should have been warned of the risk of moving before exchange of contracts.

The buyers should have been advised by their solicitors of the risk of giving notice on their rental property before exchange of contracts. They say their solicitors are refusing to hand over the deposit, though they ring them daily. But there must be a reason why the buyers’ solicitors are not exchanging contracts at this stage. Perhaps the buyers’ mortgage offer is not yet in place, or there is a condition in the offer which the buyers are still trying to satisfy. Your daughter should speak to the selling agent, if there is one, to query the delay and her solicitors should be asking questions of the buyers’ solicitors, and doing all in their power to establish the reason for the hold-up.

Fiona McNultyOUR LAWYER ANSWERSYOUR QUESTIONS

42 WEDNESDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2014 EVENING STANDARD

Find many more homes to rent athomesandproperty.co.uk/lettings

The accidental landlord

Be hands-on or prepare to be ripped offVictoria Whitlock says she is far too picky — and much too stingy — to fall for those extortionate maintenance bills

£470 A WEEKThis fabulous one-bedroom penthouse off Upper Street in Islington comes with wonderful views from its wraparound terrace and is available for rent through Faron Sutaria. Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/upper for more details and pictures

HALLELUJAH! At last the boss of a property maintenance company has blown the whistle on letting agents, some of

whom, in his words, are “burning the pockets of landlords” with rip-off charges.

Will Davies, of aspect.co.uk, says some agents “milk” landlords of properties they manage by demand-ing up to 20 per cent commission from any contractors they hire. Contractors then load this on to the landlords’ bills.

Mr Davies implied that not all agents inform landlords of this practice and alleged that even if they do, it’s sometimes tucked away in the small print of their terms of business. He admits aspect.co.uk used to work for agents who charged 15 per cent commission but stopped a few years ago following complaints from landlords — a decision that coincided with one agent allegedly raising its commission to 20 per cent.

Not all letting agents demand commission, says Mr Davies. He now only works with those that don’t.

Regular readers of this column may remember that a year ago I wrote about the launch of The Happy Tenant Company, which promises landlords a “hassle-free” property management service. Crucially, it doesn’t charge contractors commis-sion, only passing on to landlords the true cost of any work carried out.

Throughout last year, at their request, I put The Happy Tenant team to the test, letting them manage my four-bedroom rental property. True to the company’s word, it dealt promptly with three problems — a broken loo flush, faulty light fitting and two broken wall lights — and the charges, though not cheap, weren’t excessive. Best of all, I didn’t have to do anything.

For a while, I was happy. However, I was peed off when I was charged £66 by a heating engineer to loosen the valve on a radiator. Given that the engineer was already at the flat carrying out the annual gas safety check (for which I paid another £66),

and the second job shouldn’t have taken more than 10 minutes, this was ridiculous.

When I queried the charge I was refunded £66, but I was concerned that The Happy Tenant had let it slip through in the first place. It also sent me a £354 estimate from a heating engineer to re-pressurise the boiler — a two-minute job — and replace a broken bath screen, which it was said was beyond repair but in fact simply required a new £13 hinge.

While I was relieved the company sought my approval before replacing the screen, I thought it ought to have sourced more than one quote. Of more concern to me was that it allowed the annual gas safety check to be carried out a week late, leaving me without a valid record, which is a legal requirement for all landlords.

ALSO, it gave me only 10 days’ notice that my ten-ants were intending to leave at the end of their contract, which wasn’t

enough time to re-market the property. Following my feedback the company has hired a dedicated property systems manager to ensure no more slip-ups on things like gas safety inspections, and says it will monitor contractors more closely. With these better systems in place The Happy Tenant (the happytenant.co.uk) may prove to be a good option for landlords who can’t manage their own properties, but this experiment has shown me that I’m way too picky (not to mention far too tight) to let anyone manage mine.

Victoria Whitlock lets three properties in south London. To contact Victoria with your ideas and views, tweet @vicwhitlock

Homes & Property Letting on homesandproperty.co.uk with

Glass act: floor-to-ceiling windows give the Islington penthouse an abundance of natural light. Through Faron Sutaria (as above)

44 WEDNESDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2014 EVENING STANDARD

The word from the streetDavid Spittles

Buy a home and a Bentley in one trip

For the tycoon with tots or teens, a family penthouse D

EVELOPERS could learn a lot from luxury car dealers in terms of feel-good customer service, and house builder St George’s

swish new showroom alongside the Bentley dealership in Berkeley Square is a step in this direction.

Behind the discreet Downing Street-type high-gloss black door is a marble-floored space with interactive models of the company’s London projects that can be viewed on a giant screen.

The service is by appointment only, and a liveried London taxi will pick you up from home, your hotel, a train station or airport to visit the showroom and chosen schemes.

“The showroom’s the first of its kind, designed and furnished like a

private members club,” says managing director Ross Faragher. “We aim to catch people who are usually too busy to visit sites when they are in town.” Would-be buyers can study specification details and floor plans and even get simulated views from certain apartments, such as those at Chelsea Creek (homes andproperty.co.uk/creek) and Fulham Reach (homesandproperty. co.uk/reach) Call 0808 178 2000.

Next month St George launches a new quarter, London Dock, on the old News International site at Wapping, with 1,800 homes, paths to the river and a secondary school.

Homes & Property New homes homesandproperty.co.uk with

THE term “family penthouse” may seem a contradiction but a bespoke Clerkenwell home proves top-floor luxury isn’t just for bachelor bankers and rock stars.

The 2,884sq ft duplex in Britton Street “has the most wonderful combination of fluid and double-height spaces”, says David Salvi of estate agent Hurford Salvi Carr.

A circular, open-plan living and entertaining

space has 360-degree views, including of St Paul’s Cathedral, while the 1,300sq ft roof terrace is bigger than most new three-bedroom flats.

Tycoons with toddlers might fancy buying, but could face competition from Mad Men types. Advertising agency giant Saatchi & Saatchi is moving from the West End to a new HQ next door. Price £4.25 million (homesand property.co.uk/britton).

Get real: hi-tech wizardry recreates Chelsea Creek view for buyers

Going up in the world: the Britton Street penthouse’s open-plan living and entertaining space could suit family life

www.gmv.gb.com 020 8305 2712 Marketing Suite open every day 10am-5pm

Greenwich Millennium Village is a joint venture between Countryside Properties and Taylor Wimpey in association with the Mayor of London.

TERRACE APARTMENTS NOW RELEASED

A SUPERB RANGE OF 2 BEDROOM APARTMENTS ARE NOW AVAILABLE IN THIS ICONIC BUILDING

PRICES FROM £425,000You really can enjoy the pleasures of village life just one stop from Canary Wharf, and just see what’s on offer:

1044 sq ft

Ecology Park

We also have 1 bedroom apartments available from £299,950

EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 12 FEBRUARY 2014 45

GET SET. . .OLYMPIC HOMES

Homes & PropertyNew homeshomesandproperty.co.uk with

NEW-BUILD homes are, on average, six times more energy-efficient than older ones — so possibly, the premium for new homes pays off in the long run.

The message to build green has been embraced by niche developer Richstone Properties, which has resourcefully squeezed four houses and two apartments on to a back garden plot in East Sheen — and won plaudits from green-minded local Tory MP Zac Goldsmith.

Set in newly landscaped and gated grounds off Colston Road, right, the crisp architecture mixes brick, render and timber to provide a clean-line, Scandinavian feel.

Flexible and thoughtfully planned interiors have high ceilings, pocket doors that slide back into the wall, allowing spaces to be opened up, and light-filled basements. Prices from £1,395,000. Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/green.

FAMILY houses to rent have been unveiled at East Village, London’s newest neighbourhood, within the Olympic Park at Stratford.

The purpose-built village has buildings designed by 16 world-renowned architects and a high-quality “public realm” of civic squares, parks and landscaped courtyards. There is also a health centre and primary school.

On-site landlord Get Living London manages the homes and there are no reference or inventory fees to find, only utility bills. Tenancies can last for up to three years, and rental on a three-bedroom flat is £495 a week (homesandproperty.co.uk/evillage).£515 a week: four-bedroom homes at East Village, Stratford

Go green in East Sheen with Scandi-style new build