News

We are delighted to announce that we have completed on the sale of one of our client’s off-plan properties.

The property was located in the ArtHouse, Kings Cross. This is in one of London’s prime regeneration areas, with the development due to be completed in November 2013.

Property Inside London was able to sell its client’s contract to acquire a luxury apartment in the development. Having paid c.£265,000, the client received c.£390,000 for the contract, resulting in a profit of c.£125,000 or c.50% on the investment made.

To achieve the sale, Property Inside London worked with its overseas sales teams and local agents. Both the seller and the purchaser are based in the Far East.

We have buyers for similar properties and other developments where we believe similar opportunities exist.

Properties where we are currently appointed include:

–          A new development in Camden Town, “London’s coolest postcode”: £0.8-1.2m

–          Three luxury two bed apartments on the edge of the financial centre of London with stunning views: £1.7-1.9m

–          A three bedroom apartment in Mayfair’s best area: £11.5m

–          A selection of new apartments in Canary Wharf within walking distance of the office complexes and shopping centre

–          New apartments in Greenwich, with stunning views of the River Thames and within easy walking distance of the Jubilee and DLR lines

–          A luxury four bedroom apartment in Kensington: £6.5m

–          Regents Park: a luxury 14 floor apartment in a new development, ready for occupation: £1m

We are able to find other properties to meet your requirements. We also have buyers for a range of properties across London should you be considering selling.

Contact:

angie@propertyinsidelondon.com/ christian@propertyinsidelondon.com

www.propertyinsidelondon.com

Please see this recent publication on prime London residential property

Prime London Guide

* A new village of 980 homes will be built by 2014 at Deptford Creek overlooking the Thames.

* A flagship Waitrose will be opening at New Capital Quay between Deptford and Greenwich.

* Deptford train station and its surroundings are benefiting from a £42 million mixed-used development with 121 apartments and three town houses. Derelict arches are being transformed into workspaces and shops are being renovated.

* A riverside plaza, featuring an art gallery, museum, crêche, design studios, bars and resturants, will be opening at New Capital Quay.

* We find out what the Deptford locals think about the developments

So close: standing on a peninsula at a dramatic bend in the Thames, New Capital Quay will be an easy DLR-commute from offices at Canary Wharf

Deptford is having a Waitrose moment. The middle-class retailer is moving in to offer quails eggs and stylish party canapés where once only jellied eels and jerk chicken found a market. The store’s customers — mostly new arrivals to south-east London — will be able to introduce their neighbours to other Waitrose joys, such as free glass and cutlery hire for dinner parties and those tasteful voile window blinds sold in its new homeware departments.

And there are plenty of windows that will need covering with a new village of 980 homes being built at Deptford Creek overlooking the Thames. This is where Waitrose will open its store, at New Capital Quay, after doing its homework. The company has concluded that Deptford will offer it “ABC1” customers of the sort it already serves in Belgravia, Bloomsbury, Marylebone and Canary Wharf, Blackheath and the prosperous end of Greenwich.

Waitrose believes Deptford will provide sufficient ABC1 shoppers to make its New Capital Quay store a winner

If the food it sells isn’t enough of a hint as to how Waitrose expects its customers to live, the Deptford store will also offer designer furniture and homeware. And if your style palette is still faltering, its sister company, John Lewis, will show you how to put it all together in the showflats at New Capital Quay.

Galliard, the developer of the scheme, is more than content with the flagship Waitrose store being built at a former dock basin near the Cutty Sark, forging a much-needed link between Deptford and smarter Greenwich.

Historic Deptford
The peninsula site occupies a commanding position on a bend of the river and has huge historical significance. Deptford is dripping in history. In 1513 Henry VIII built his first and most important royal dockyard here; it’s where Tudor ships Mary Rose and Golden Hind were constructed and where diarist Samuel Pepys worked as clerk to the Navy Board; where Queen Elizabeth I knighted Sir Francis Drake and where Tsar Peter the Great of Russia spent three months learning the art of shipbuilding in 1698. Later the dockyard was acquired by the East India Company, then by the General Steam Navigation Company, which ran passenger and cargo ships to the Med.

New Capital Quay: duplex penthouses and flats
Stand on the riverfront and the domes of Greenwich’s Old Royal Naval College and the shiny skyscrapers of Canary Wharf are in full view. Surrounded by water on three sides, New Capital Quay has 11 blocks, including a curving 14-storey tower with duplex penthouses featuring glazed winter gardens. A tree-lined boulevard leading to a riverside plaza will create a new view of the Thames, and the complex will have an art gallery, museum, crêche, design studios, bars and restaurants. Completion is a year off.

© Graham Hussey

Deptford gallery owner Julia Alvarez wants no talk of the “new Shoreditch”. Her latest show focuses on “artistic hooliganism”

Galliard’s David Galman calls it a “new Butler’s Wharf”, a reference to the fashionable Shad Thames quarter by Tower Bridge. Having slipped off the radar when the old commercial docks closed in the Sixties, the area was rediscovered a decade or so ago when developers targeted Creekside, a hidden industrial waterway running into the Thames. By this time, many of the old warehouses had been colonised by artists and craftworkers, giving Deptford a rough-and-tumble creativity builders were quick to latch on to.

The Goldsmith’s legacy

Deptford was where the Brit Art Movement was born, powered by Goldsmiths College students Damien Hirst and Sarah Lucas. The legacy is a vibrant arts scene, with more artists per square mile than anywhere else in London.

Laban contemporary dance centre, an eyecatching building designed by Tate Modern architects Herzog & de Meuron, gave Deptford an image boost. Listed Mumfords Mill has been split into loft apartments, while the old Seagar gin distillery is being redeveloped. Cockpit Arts, based at Creekside, lets studios and incubator units to artists and design companies. Alliances are being formed between local galleries, Laban, Goldsmiths College, Albany Theatre, Trinity College of Music and the Blackheath Conservatoire.

“People talk about Deptford being the next Shoreditch but locals are cynical about that,” says gallery owner Julia Alvarez, whose current show is “Soda-stream, a group exhibition of artistic hooliganism and bad taste”.

An ex-Goldsmiths student, Alvarez set up her first space in a closed-down pub in order to show her friends’ work. It took off, so she opened Bearspace Gallery on the high street. One of her initiatives is the South London Art Map, which lists all the area’s galleries and events and co-ordinates cycle tours of the venues. She is also involved in Deptford X, a yearly arts festival that brings the area’s creatives together. “We’ve seen big changes during the last 10 years but the sense of community is as strong as ever. It’s a diverse and multi-ethnic place but not them-and-us,” she says.

Waterside flats at New Capital Quay, Deptford’s “new village”

Deptford High Street: £42 million investment
So gentrification is taking a different form and Deptford is clinging on to its unpretentious inner-city character. But for how long?

Lawrence Bent of estate agent New London says Deptford is now attracting white-collar business consultants and media-industry freelances from east and west London. Among the buyers at a scheme of live-work spaces at 124 Deptford High Street are a Covent Garden opera singer and a musician with the London Symphony Orchestra.

The lively high street is one of the few in London not to be cloned by familiar brands. The railway station — London’s oldest — and its immediate surroundings are benefiting from a £42 million mixed-use development with 121 apartments and three townhouses. Derelict arches are being brought back to life as workspaces for creatives, traditional shopfronts and a historic carriage ramp are being restored, and a new public piazza is being created. For more information, visitcathedralgroup.com.

The journey time to London Bridge station, the City’s main commuter hub, is just six minutes. Estate agents predict a new wave of buyers working at the Shard. The eventual aim is to unite the high street with the riverfront by providing a pedestrian flow across Evelyn Street to Deptford Strand.

Paynes Wharf
Until recently, this pocket looked much the same as 30 years ago — a neglected, post-docks waterfront of derelict wharves and sheds blocking off access to the Thames.

Few people have seen the awesome façade of listed Paynes Wharf, built in 1860 for the manufacture of marine boilers which were loaded on to ships through magnificent Italianate arches. The site is being redeveloped into 247 homes, with most of the original wharf earmarked as an exhibition and commercial space. Prices from £250,000. A primary school and sailing club butt up against the development, bringing a sense of neighbourhood, while the once-notorious Pepys council estate is a less-threatening presence, though an unlikely address for Ocado deliveries.

© Graham Hussey

His and Hers wall art firmly resists the chain store monotony along Deptford High Street

Here’s what Deptford says:

“Deptford and Greenwich have faced away from each other for too long. They need to come together otherwise Greenwich risks tourist-trap stagnation and Deptford risks losing its down-to-earth character.” Darryl, local resident

“People tend to think gentrification is an inevitable force of nature, like gravity, but it’s not. I really like Deptford, even with the lowlights. I’m astonished by the pace of development and concerned about gentrification excluding certain groups.” Laura Crampsie, theatre producer

“No doubt Waitrose will be popular and busy but it will mainly attract people from Greenwich.” Richard Elliott, local resident

“I’m ambivalent about having a Waitrose nearby; I’ll still do most of my shopping in the high street because it’s convenient, fun and cheaper.” Deptford Dame, blogger

“Deptford’s rough around the edges but has bags of character and is hip and funky. I wouldn’t want that element of individuality to slip away.” Paul Wright, local resident

“When estate agents talk about ‘up and coming’, it’s shorthand for over-priced gentrification. We don’t want a place where rents sky-rocket and local businesses can’t survive.” Local trader

“The high street could do with a fresh lick of paint. The worst offenders for ripping out original features and using garish colour combinations are the chain pawnbrokers, money lenders and bookies. Waitrose will probably be more sensitive than they are.” Danielle Clare, local resident

“Deptford is a hotbed of creativity and a slice of real life, I wouldn’t want to lose that.” Julia Alvarez, gallery owner

We are delighted to announce that we have agreed an offer for a client on one of their prime London apartments.

The apartment was marketed by Property Inside London in London, the Far East and the Middle East.

As a result of our marketing strategy we achieved a quick sale at the full asking price.

The property was an apartment in an off-plan development due to complete later this year. Our client had previously agreed to buy the apartment from the developer but through us was able to sell the apartment at a significant profit.

We currently have other properties for sale: http://www.adkl.co.uk/cl/properties-available-for-sale/

If you are considering buying or selling property in London or renting your apartment in London we would be delighted to hear from you.

Contact: angie@propertyinsidelondon.com

Angie Liu

Founder, Property Inside London

我们很高兴地宣布，我们替我们的客户签了一份合约岀售他的伦敦公寓。

我们在伦敦，远东和中东地区销售这间公寓。

我们的营销策略让我们快速地销售这间公寓和满足客户的价格要求。

这间公寓将在年底完成建筑。我们的客户同意向建筑商购买这间公寓，但通过我们，出售公寓,赚了显着的利润。

目前，我们有其他的物业出售：http://www.adkl.co.uk/cl/%E9%94%80%E5%94%AE/

如果你正在考虑购买或出售伦敦物业或出租在伦敦的公寓，我们会很乐意地和你沟通。

联系人：angie@propertyinsidelondon.com

刘安娸
创办人，Property Inside London

St John’s Orchard: new terrace houses and flats in Grove Park, Camberwell

With no Tube, Camberwell remains fairly low profile. However, this pleasant inner suburb, barely three miles from Trafalgar Square, has Camberwell Grove — a conservation area of late 18th-century homes — plus Grove Park and its pretty hilltop square with unexpected sweeping east-west vistas, and clear views of the London skyline from the Eye to Canary Wharf.

A former convent in Grove Park has been rescued from dereliction and turned into a terrace of 4,000 sq ft houses, with new flats alongside.

Meticulously restored as St John’s Orchard, its handsome exterior draws the visitor in. At the heart of each house is an exceptional family living space with a kitchen and dining area below a dramatic double-height void, all framed by a six metre-high window and sliding door, with views on to the garden. A bespoke oak staircase is the spine and leads up to a retracting door giving on to a roof terrace with panoramic views.

Interiors have a Scandinavian quality — light-filled with concealed storage and a mix of modern and traditional textures such as polished plaster and timber-clad walls.

Ty Tikari of the architect-developer Bespoke Homes describes the design theme as “Romantic Modern”, a craft-based approach that brings a balance of old and new, retreat and immersion — in short they are delightful family homes with four bedrooms, a music room and library, and sunken basement terrace. The old convent’s orchard has been reinstated to provide 50 metre-long, south-facing gardens. Prices from £1.92 million. Through estate agent Harvey and Wheeler.

Clapham South: 41 new apartments
A “drum tower” was the starting point for a scheme of 41 new apartments alongside Clapham South Tube station. The listed tower once provided access to deep-level Underground tunnels that were used as air raid shelters during the Blitz.

The cylindrical-shaped drum has been done up and its trademark Thirties architecture used as a design reference for the new apartment building — crisp and contemporary, with sleek white finishes outside and in.

The Ipsus07 flats are above average in size, with generous outside space. Prices from £510,000

From £92,000: for a 40 per cent share of flats at Albany Place in Burgess Park

Albany Place, Burgess Park: 261 new homes for first-time buyers
Burgess Park, with its listed buildings and 113 acres of space running between Peckham and Walworth, is one of London’s green zones, blessed with mayoral investment and £6 million from Southwark council. The park, with its Victorian church, library, baths and artisan cottages, has been upgraded with a new lake and 90,000 new plants and trees.

The area is a good hunting ground for first-time buyer homes close to central London. Albany Place has 261 homes, some facing directly on to Burgess Park. Prices start at £92,000 for a 40 per cent share (full price, £230,000). Buyers get free Zipcar membership.

* “Green infrastructure” will unlock inaccessible transport corridors and create linear parks and platforms for pedestrians and cyclists

* New watery spaces proposed are floating gardens on the Thames, a linear lido along Regent’s Canal between Little Venice and Limehouse, and a vineyard spanning the river between London Bridge and Monument

* A new linear park at Nine Elms, where 16,000 homes are planned at Embassy Gardens

* A five-acre “lost river park” is being re-established at redeveloped Earls Court exhibition centre, creating 7,500 homes in four new villages

Part of the new initiative is to unlock inaccessible transport corridors, creating linear parks for pedestrians and cyclists

A new “green vision” for London has been launched by some of the capital’s brightest and best designers, architects and eco-campaigners. The New London Landscape is a powerful initiative to put creative landscaping and nature at the heart of residential communities.
Buyers want green space on their doorstep. With its Royal Parks, garden squares and myriad open spaces, London is already one of the greenest cities in the world. Now developers are being encouraged to weave green space into the fabric of the city — “so Londoners do not have to go in search of it”.

The Mardyke Estate in Havering is being reborn as Orchard Village, with tower blocks demolished and 555 new homes set around a new public park

This includes “green infrastructure” unlocking inaccessible transport corridors and creating linear parks and platforms for pedestrians and cyclists above and alongside railway tracks and sidings.

Among the exciting range of new watery spaces proposed are floating gardens on the Thames, a linear lido along Regent’s Canal between Little Venice and Limehouse, and Grape London, a vineyard spanning the river between London Bridge and Monument.

Olympic woods and wildlife meadows: East Village

The Olympic Park, the largest urban park in Britain for a century, has shown what is possible. Five new neighbourhoods with 8,000 homes are being created. East Village has been unveiled as the capital’s “newest neighbourhood”, with 2,818 homes and its own postcode, E20. Homes will be released for sale later this year.

The wonderful wildflower meadows, one of the highlights of the Games, are just the beginning, according to Phil Askew, project director for landscape and public realm, who says: “We want to create a 21st-century pleasure garden, open 24 hours a day.”

“When complete there will be 100 hectares of green space, with more than 4,000 trees, 127,000 shrubs and a million herbaceous plants. Part of the legacy is making the space feel accessible. We hope it will inspire people. We are taking the best bits of London parks and bringing in new ideas about meadows and biodiversity.”

New York’s much-praised High Line project, a mile-long aerial greenway on an elevated section of disused railway, is the inspiration for a linear park at Nine Elms, London’s biggest regeneration zone, where 16,000 homes are planned. Five major projects are under construction.

The park will be the pedestrian spine of this district between Vauxhall Bridge and Battersea Power Station, passing through Embassy Gardens, a complex of 1,982 homes that will form a horseshoe around the new US Embassy.

Buildings of varying height and character are influenced by the architecture of Manhattan’s Meatpacking District and London’s Edwardian mansion blocks — constructed of brick rather than glass and steel to suggest permanence and solidity, with communal courtyards and planted roofs. It will have a resort-style spa, a private club and business centre plus bars and a restaurant. Prices from £349,000.

“We want to start a conversation about London, to change the way that Londoners think about their city,” says Sue Illman, president of the Landscape Institute, which is promoting a design competition and also encouraging public feedback through its new londonlandscape.org website. “All kinds of amazing ideas are possible. We need city-wide strategies. A dynamic and integrated approach to our limited land resource is crucial because of global warming and population growth.”

Earls Court redevelopment: 7,500 homes and four new villages

A five-acre “lost river park” is being re-established at redeveloped Earls Court exhibition centre. This project aims to bring, 7,500 homes, two million sq ft of commercial and retail space and add 23 acres to the public realm by reclaiming under-utilised land at the complex. The masterplan by architect Farrell & Partners envisages four new villages and a new high street.

The four areas comprise the upmarket Earls Court Village (“smart, elegant and genteel”), the family-focused West Brompton Village (“leafy and tranquil”), the more urban North End Village (“vibrant and multicultural”) and West Kensington Village (“a dynamic commercial hub”).

The first phase backs on to the Brompton Cemetery and Eardley Crescent conservation areas and comprises eight modern mansion blocks and terraces of townhouses linked by new streets and garden squares.

Apartments will be bigger than average, complying with the Mayor’s new space standards. Typical two-bedroom flats will be 900 sq ft while townhouses will range up to 2,750sq ft. There are 14 different “house types” and only a small proportion of homes will be studios (of which the Earls Court area has many).

From £490,000: apartments at Goodman’s Fields in Aldgate, which is being turned into an urban green enclave with new public squares

Goodman’s Fields in Aldgate: a green urban retreat

Goodman’s Fields, by Aldgate, is a 10-minute walk from the Bank of England and even closer to Tower of London. In the Middle Ages, the land was a farm, supplying the area’s food needs. Before the banking collapse in 2008, it was a gated business estate occupied by Royal Bank of Scotland.

Berkeley, the new owner, is opening up the seven-acre site and building 920 homes plus a hotel, boutique shops and eateries. Within the estate, landscape architects Murdoch Wickham are creating an “urban retreat”, with public park, squares and lusciously landscaped courtyards.

The scheme brings a fresh dimension and scale to City-fringe living, where most residential developments are squeezed on to smaller plots. Apartments have projecting glass-walled winter gardens. Interiors by Johnson Naylor are characteristically swish and tasteful, space-efficient, with concealed storage. Silk House, the first phase, is due for completion in September 2015. Prices start at £490,000.

Take a barge walk in Docklands

Well-received ideas include a barge walk in Docklands, a park alongside the New River running between Alexandra Palace and Sadler’s Wells, and a reinstated Fleet River channel as a new low-line park. The subterranean river, below Fleet Street in the City, has been covered since 1769. It would be opened up below street level, with pedestrian footpaths either side.

Another proposal is Suburban Kiss, which involves landscaping a section of the A20 arterial road through Greenwich and Bexley to provide a “green ribbon” between the city and the Green Belt.

From £850,000: apartments at One Tower Bridge will have green zones and showpiece water features

Subterranean waterways: One Tower Bridge

One Tower Bridge, a 353-home development alongside City Hall, will have three green zones, a mix of hard and soft landscaping, each with a showpiece water feature, one of which will be a spectacular “water clock” with vertical jets which visitors will be able to control by interactive floor pads.

The cluster of eight buildings includes a 20-storey tower with just one apartment on each floor. Prices start at £850,000

At Chelsea Creek, part of the giant Imperial Wharf development in south-west London, new parkland plus navigable canals with moorings are being created. The creek is for the most part a subterranean stream that flows in from the Thames.

The new canals and dock will be linked to the tidal Thames via rebuilt locks and a tunnel. Homes are being built alongside the waterways and tree-lined avenues. Prices start at £2,274,950, with cheaper homes coming soon.

The Metropolitan Police will soon be embarking on its most radical reform since it was founded in 1829. The new era won’t just mean changes in policing but could provide up to 3,000 new homes.

The big idea, from Deputy Mayor for Policing Strephen Greenhalgh, is “bobbies not buildings.” New Scotland Yard will be sold, along with nearly 200 other Met properties.
Mr Greenhalgh says far fewer people report crimes by visiting police stations these days, so London needs fewer station counters, though it is stressed that each London borough will retain at least one police station open round the clock.

Officers will be encouraged to eat their meals in local cafés rather than in police canteens. There are six firing ranges at present and some of these will close but a new one will open at the Peel Centre in Hendon, which the police say will create better training facilities.

The aim is to reduce the £205 million a year the force spend on running its buidings. It is the intention to reduce this to £140 million as nearly three million square feet of land is sold off. Sales of buildings will also reduce debt and interest payments. Having been largely immune from property asset management for the past couple of centuries, the Met are suddenly in for a property pruning.

New Scotland Yard alone is almost half a million square feet. If this iconic building gains change of use – from commercial to residential – the value will rocket. Barnet Council, the Greater London Authority and other interested parties are already discussing the future of The Hendon police college in Barnet, which is close to Colindale Tube Station, and could provide significant housing while still accommodating any ongoing requirements of the Met.

Marylebone Police Station in Seymour Place has significant potential. The site is owned freehold by the Portman estate who have a pre-emption right to acquire back the Met’s long lease. Hampstead Police Station in Camden will be a hot property although listed, a conversion and partial new-build scheme could provide homes.

Jonathan Glanz is presiding over this sale of the century. He is the adviser for Property & Estates to the Mayor’s Office for Policing, the Director and Chairman of property company ‘45West’ and a councillor in Westminster where he is Cabinet Member for Housing and Property.

Glanz says police property will be sold to allow the Met to re-invest in their properties, reduce overheads and provide much needed homes for Londoners. The police cell of today could be the bijou West End residence of tomorrow.

The budget yesterday provided greater clarity on property taxation.

Expert advice is needed to ensure that the tax liability is properly managed. Property Inside London provides clients with leading advice.

Below is the text of an announcement from Mishcon de Reya, Solicitors

“The Government’s aim is still to penalise owner-occupiers who own their property through a company. To discourage them, a new annual charge (referred to as the “Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings”) will apply from 6 April 2013 to companies owning a residential property worth over £2m. CTG at 28% will also apply to companies that dispose of a property worth over £2m and only on gains that accrue from April 2013 onwards. For genuine property development and investment businesses, there are reliefs and exemptions, including reliefs from the 15% SDLT rate introduced in March 2012. Disappointingly, the Government failed to bring forward the SDLT relief, which will only apply from Royal Assent of Finance Bill 2013, likely to be July this year. This leaves an unwelcome limbo period between now and July where developers and landlords, who would otherwise be able to claim relief and pay a reduced 7% rate of SDLT on new purchases, will remain stuck with the 15% rate. Expect a quiet few months in the prime residential investment and development market. As for £2m+ residential properties held in existing corporate structures, these should be examined now action taken to avoid the new tax charges.”

Please click here for a link to their tax summary guide (Tax guide ) and Knight Franks summary and analysis (Summary ), both of which were issued before the budget.