Nomads' land

Strut your stuffPeacocksPage 16

KING’S CROSS: FRINGE BENEFITS P8 SPECTRE: IN ROME P10 SPOTLIGHT ON PINNER P34 THE FUTURE IS WOOLWICH P45

Homes&Property

Wednesday 21 October 2015

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Nomads’ landResourceful Londoners use the city’s building sites for pop-up villages

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The best seatin the house

4 WEDNESDAY 21 OCTOBER 2015 EVENING STANDARD

This week: homesandproperty.co.uknews: West Ham ground homes at risk of a red card

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

Find out where at homesandproperty.co.uk/50k

hot homes: Tower Hamlets asking prices hit new record

THE landmark redevelopment of West Ham United’s football ground in Upton Park, east London, is facing rejection by planners.

Newham council is unhappy because it says the 838 new homes planned for the site include only a “meagre” number of affordable homes for young Londoners — many of whom are stuck in high-cost private rental accommodation.

Barratt Homes and Galliard Homes have joined forces to work on the project and have offered to make 185 of the properties, or 22 per cent, affordable.

But the council wants up to half of the new homes to be priced within first-time buyers’ reach.

THANKS to a pre-Christmas rush and a wave of premium-priced new homes, asking prices in Canary Wharf and Wapping have risen £50,000 in a month, despite being in Tower Hamlets, one of London’s poorest boroughs, new data from Rightmove shows. But five London boroughs can still offer homes for first-time buyers averaging less than £350,000, the research reveals.

Fast moving: DLR services and new homes at prime Canary Wharf are pushing up asking prices in struggling Tower Hamlets

It’s all kicking off: the Boleyn Ground site, sold by West Ham FC for housing development, is at the centre of a wrangle over low-cost homes provision

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£1.45 million: here’s your chance to hook one of the top fisheries in the country. Cromwell Lake Carp Fishery in Newark, Nottinghamshire is home to 17 acres of well-stocked waters, a fisherman’s lodge and bait shop netting about £79,000 a year. Set in a further four acres is the chalet-style house, designed to soak up glorious views from generous sitting, dining and kitchen/breakfast rooms opening to a veranda over the lake. Three double bedrooms and two bathrooms are upstairs, while a workshop, office and games rooms can be found above the garage.

Lifechanger of the week fall hook, line and sinker for this fishing fans’ heaven

London buy of the week chic and cheerful apartments close to Bushy Park

Trophy home of the week lavish Chelsea flat is ideal for a festive party

Through Hamptons International (020 7591 7333)

Through Fenn Wright (01206 916034) Through Foxtons (020 7973 2020)

£445,000-£475,000: enjoy the delights of Teddington, with its pretty riverside location, historic Bushy Park and lively high street, at this new boutique development of nine apartments over three floors.

Each flat’s double bedroom has fitted wardrobes, there’s an open-plan reception/dining room incorporating an über-sleek kitchen, plus a chic bathroom, while the two top-floor homes boast fabulous roof terraces.

By Faye Greenslade

Homes & Property | Online

£3.5 million: the key to lateral luxury and exclusivity awaits at this Chelsea Embankment flat within a magnificent Grade II-listed mansion block where you can sit back and soak up views across the Thames.

Arrival to the second floor waterside pad is by lift, into a huge

reception/dining room lit by a wall of sash windows and glass doors to two balconies over the river — the perfect space for a festive soirée.

Opulence continues in two plush bedrooms and their bathrooms, while a mass of storage space will take care of the antiques.

SPECTRE, the 24th James Bond movie, sees Britain’s favourite secret agent, played by Daniel Craig, right, recharge his custom-built batteries in his London penthouse before jetting off to glamorous locations in Italy, Mexico, Austria and Morocco to save the world from a treacherous dictator.

We’ve traced perfect bachelor pads for would-be 007s — from hi-tech hideaways with fingerprint recognition entry systems, iPhone-controlled mood lighting and a helipad, to stylish riverside

penthouses with sky-high roof terraces perfect for sipping vodka martinis and a private jetty for speedboat getaways —not to mention ample garage space for the Aston Martin DB10.

Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/007 ■To buy in Bond’s Rome, turn to Page 10

EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 21 OCTOBER 2015 5

Homes gossipBling is best

The Butts are stars of the show

THE BUTTS conservation area in Brentford, west London, is a popular film location, with credits including Miss Potter and Finding Neverland. The Mr Selfridge crew is the latest to set up camp there, and shooting for series four took place with its star Jeremy Piven, inset, last week.

A classic Georgian former coach house in The Butts is for sale at £1.65 million with Savills. The four-bedroom property’s original features include striking beamed ceilings, while contemporary additions, such as a large skylight in the kitchen, make for a bright, luxurious space.

By Amira Hashish

Got some gossip?Tweet @amiranews

For more celebrity gossip, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/gossip

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Britney gets £3m discount in LA

BRITNEY SPEARS has splashed out £4.7 million on a lavish mansion in California.

The singer, right, is currently performing in Las Vegas but managed to find time to view the property, above and below, in the secluded town of Thousand Oaks, nestled against the Santa Monica Mountains.

She spotted the five-bedroom home after its price had been lowered from £7.7 million. The 13,264sq ft estate has an infinity pool, tennis courts and a golf course.

Spears, 33 — who has homes in Malibu, Beverly Hills and Hollywood but is currently living in rented accommodation — looks set to move into her new place soon.

INVENTIVE owners of a house in Donne Place, Knightsbridge, offer a masterclass in bling basements.

The four-bedroom property, priced at £6.75 million with Ashdown Marks, above, has been revamped to include “double-decker” underground levels and now covers five floors. The lower ground floor is home to a fabulous kitchen, below, while a further basement has a cinema and gym.

The quiet mews has a history of innovative residents. It was once home to inventor Sir Clive Sinclair, who launched the home computer for less than £100. He designed his own property there in the Eighties.

GOK WAN is selling his period Hampstead home for £2.3 million through Portico. The mid-terrace house, opposite the Heath, has three double bedrooms, two reception rooms, a modern kitchen leading to a cosy dining room and a private patio garden.

“There are very few oases in central London where beautiful country walks are literally on your doorstep,” says the star of Channel 4’s How to Look Good Naked, left. “There is a reason why the acclaimed architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner once lived in this house. It is a perfect blend of city living combined with nature’s biggest gift — beauty.”

The celebrity stylist has worked his makeover magic on the house, above, with chic interiors.

Visit homesandproperty.co.uk for more pictures

£1.65 million: a former coach house, right, in The Butts, Brentford, through Savills

Look good naked in Gok’s Hampstead house… for £2.3m

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Homes & Property | New homes

We’re just keeping the

Resourceful Londoners are creating pop-up villages on land waiting for planning permission, reports David Spittles

POP-UPS — short-life busi-nesses in temporarily vacant shops and spaces — have become a conspicuous part of our cityscape, and now

resourceful Londoners are ambitiously extending the trend to empty buildings and derelict plots of land awaiting redevelopment.

With the capital undergoing a prop-erty boom, thousands of sites requiring planning permission lie fallow when they have the potential to become so-called “meanwhile places”.

These are types of areas that some-times wait years for construction work to begin that can, in the meantime, be used as community gardens, outdoor theatre venues, art galleries, music halls, workshops, children’s parks, nurseries and allotments.

It can mean everybody wins — the community does not have to live with an eyesore, while developers save money keeping these sites safe while earning brownie points for allowing their land to have a useful purpose.

A triangular patch of industrial land in Fleet Street Hill, E1, moments from Brick Lane and Spitalfields Market, was an intimidating and unkempt space, of use only to drug abusers, down-and-outs and fly-tippers.

Flanked on two sides by train tracks, the Shoreditch site was owned by Net-work Rail before being snapped up by developer Londonewcastle, which recently acquired planning consent for a mixed-use project of homes and offices for start-up businesses, due to commence next year.

Meanwhile, the plot has been trans-formed into Nomadic Community Gardens, a one-acre multi-use site with 100 free allotments, events and performance spaces, a caravan café and a public park adorned with street art and sculpture.

James Wheale, 33, the energetic force behind Nomadic Community Gardens,

European cities such as Berlin and Amsterdam that try to improve quality of life and bring social change to com-munities.

After leaving school at 16 to become a building labourer, he later trained as a carpenter making theatre sets before going to university in his early twenties and getting involved in green politics.

The company is called Nomadic because it moves on to other brown-

field sites once the temporary leases lapse, using the experience and skills acquired, and the contacts and knowl-edge of the processes gained.

“There are dozens of volunteers and, apart from the allotment users, we get hundreds of visitors every day, espe-cially at weekends when there are walking tours of the area,” he says.

“The central function is food produc-tion, but we run workshops teaching

DIY skills. We hold concerts and networking events and have become a recycling centre for local goods and materials. We have people from all walks of life, from accountants to young out-of-work people.”

EVERYONE’S A WINNERHayley Edwards, who runs Roving Café from a Piaggio van parked at the gar-dens, says: “The place is so full of life.

says: “When I approached Londonew-castle, I had no architect’s model or fancy brochure to show them, but they believed in what we were doing.”

Wheale negotiated a temporary-use lease for peppercorn rent, was given £1,000 to get the ball rolling and put £7,000 of his own money into the not-for-profit social enterprise company.

He is an eco-activist, inspired by “urban agriculture” projects in

Bright ideas: eco-activist James Wheale, driving force behind Nomadic Community Gardens in Shoreditch

All rise: planned Camberwell Arts Quarter will provide 164 new flats, including warehouse-style conversions

Clockwise from above: visitors can play giant chess at Nomadic Community Gardens, E1; new homes at Hale Village, Tottenham; Hayley Edwards and her mobile café at Nomadic Community Gardens, and children playing at the once-fallow plot


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site warmThere’s a big mix of people and the atmosphere and energy are fantastic. People pop in to watch the graffiti art-ists, while parents bring their kids to play in a converted fishing boat.”

A spokesman for the Spitalfields and Banglatown neighbourhood policing team says it reduces antisocial behav-iour. “It’s had a positive impact on the community. People have helped turn bare land into an urban oasis.”

Nomadic Gardens’ lease expires in December, when Wheale and his team will move on to another site in Canning Town.

East London and Docklands are ripe territory because of the number of housing developments in the pipeline. Londonewcastle will be building 34 mixed-tenure low-rise homes at the Fleet Street Hill site. A new public square will link with a new pedestrian

route from Brick Lane. “We are talking to other landowners and developers to promote meanwhile uses,” says sales and marketing manager Natalie Hall.

The company has a track record of freeing up pre-development land for community and cultural uses. Its White Cube-style project space in Redchurch Street, Shoreditch, is a notable arts and exhibition venue. Plans have been submitted to build 80 warehouse-style apartments on the former printworks, and the site will continue to have a gallery space.

ARTY PROJECTSCamberwell Arts Quarter is a forth-coming scheme of 164 flats, comprising new builds and retained warehouse-

style conversions, as well as artist studios and shops. It will also offer 43 shared-ownership flats.

Hadley Property Group received planning consent last February, since when the site’s dilapidated warehouses have been used for fashion shoots, music videos and art installations.

“We wanted to tap into the creative vibe of nearby Camberwell College of Arts. The buildings offered an edgy and vibrant urban backdrop, and have been really well used,” says Hadley’s Matt Rimmer.

There are also meanwhile spaces at Hale Village in Tottenham, where there is a rolling programme to build more than 1,000 homes. Lee Valley Estates, owner of the 12-acre site, is

considering “mobile” homes for people in housing need on parts of the site, while infrastructure is installed.

“It’s a sensible and cost-effective solu-tion,” says chairman Michael Polledri. “The homes could be stacked up like shipping containers and plugged into all the services.”

Photographs: Daniel Lynch

SALES SUITE NOW OPEN


Homes & Property | Regeneration

Try just around the corner for a bargain Clever buyers move next door to regeneration areas to find the best deals and faster price growth, says Ruth Bloomfield

YOUNG home buyers should head to the fringes of central L ondon re ge nera t ion projects to find good value. While investing in one of the

capital’s huge regeneration schemes is often seen as a wise move, research shows that finding an older property on the fringes of such a project can be the smarter plan.

In four months’ time, homes at the multibillion-pound King’s Cross regen-eration programme will go on sale — 144 eagerly awaited new flats set inside a trio of gas holders that once dominated the area’s industrial skyline. The flats overlook Regent’s Canal and interest in the new circular buildings is expected to be high.

However, research by property data analyst LonRes shows that new flats in the regeneration area have performed less well than homes in more estab-lished nearby streets.

These “second-hand” homes might not be shiny and immaculate, but buyers don’t have to pay a premium, and the price growth of older homes can be strong — especially after a bit of smart interior improvement.

The new homes at King’s Cross are priced at an average £1,520 per square foot — compared to the £979 per square

Iconic setting: in February, 144 new homes will be launched in a trio of landmark gas holders at King’s Cross. Prices are expected to top £1,520 a square foot while older homes nearby — still close enough to enjoy the buzz of the King’s Cross revival — sell for about £979 per square foot

Key position: new homes in The Plimsoll Building, King’s Cross, are priced from £1.11 million to £3.46 million, though flats are available in slightly older schemes nearby and in surrounding Victorian streets from about £800,000


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MAKING WAVES DOWN TOWNANOTHER notable regeneration scheme is under way at Woodberry Down, close to Manor House station in N4, where an ex-council estate has been transformed with more than 1,000 new homes already built out of a planned total of 5,500.

There is a gym and spa on the luxury development, and a water sports centre at neighbouring West Reservoir, although the area does still lack the sort of thriving café culture that buyers love.

Berkeley Homes (berkeleygroup.

co.uk) is selling one-bedroom flats at Woodberry Down from £532,500, and two-bedroom homes from £630,000.

But fringe hunters should look nearby, where you can buy a two-bedroom flat in a period conversion from between £425,000 and £525,000 — two bedrooms for the price of one at Woodberry Down. On the back of the success of Woodberry Down, older properties in N4 are also likely to rise in value, and probably at a faster rate.

£1.25 million: buys a classic three-bedroom Georgian house in Keystone Crescent next to the King’s Cross regeneration zone. Nearby two-bedroom flats are £600,000

foot commanded for older homes nearby. Marcus Dixon, head of research and data analysis at LonRes, says: “Dur-ing the five years that the regeneration project has been running, surrounding streets have increased in value by 60 per cent, much higher than the 41 per cent achieved across Camden in the same period and 36 per cent across Greater London.”

Argent, the developer behind the King’s Cross project, says prices of the first homes sold on the site — the ArtHouse block, launched in 2011 — have increased 16.5 per cent from £890 a square foot to about £1,050 today.

It is true to say that both old and new properties in King’s Cross have done well, but older homes have edged it. Priya Pannu, a partner at estate agent Knight Frank, says the neighbour-hood’s price performance has far out-paced areas such as Belgravia and Knightsbridge.

“In 2013, prime central London prices grew eight per cent, and in King’s Cross by more than 17 per cent,” she says. “Last year, prime central London grew five per cent, and King’s Cross grew 12.8 per cent.” The secret of King’s

Cross’s success is its well-conceived overall plan embracing excellent and varied architecture, and healthy mix of use for the buildings. Google has relo-cated to the area, and it has been joined by Central Saint Martins college, whose fashion students give the area a youth-ful vibe. There are also good restau-rants and unmatched transport links.

“The area has a huge range of housing stock, ranging from under £400,000 up to luxury apartments priced at over £1.5 million,” says Martin Bikhit, managing director of Kay & Co.

Buyers keen to coat-tail on King’s Cross’s popularity could buy an ex-council two-bedroom flat in Somers Town, just to the west, for about £500,000 or look towards leafier Barnsbury, on the Islington side of King’s Cross, where two-bedroom apartments are priced at closer to £600,000.

Daniel Omell, a partner at estate agents Knight Frank, particularly rec-ommends Keystone Crescent, where a three-bedroom terrace would cost about £1.25 million, or Ice Wharf, an older development where two-bed-room flats sell for about £800,000 to £850,000. New homes in The Plimsoll Building are priced from £1.11 million to £3.46 million.

Brought back to life: fountains at historic Granary Square, King’s Cross

£739,995: a three-bedroom flat in a fine period property in Portland Rise, Finsbury Park, N4, close to Woodberry Down but £185,000 cheaper. Through Hunters (020 8012 0927)

From £925,000: for a three-bedroom flat at Woodberry Down, N4. The Berkeley Homes development overlooks more than 42 acres of open water


Homes & Property | Homes abroad

And the Oscar goes to… RomeBuyers fall for the Eternal City thanks to the movies, says Cathy Hawker

ROME sparkles in Spectre — the latest outing for James Bond, set for release on Monday — just as it has stolen the scene in many iconic films. Think

of Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck’s Vespa in Roman Holiday, Anita Ekberg jumping in the Trevi Fountain in La Dolce Vita and Matt Damon forlornly contemplating the ancient Forum and his own disintegrating fortunes in The Talented Mr Ripley.

“Buyers fall in love with Rome through the cinema,” agrees Cristina Casacci, of Knight Frank’s Roman asso-ciates. “The city has been the backdrop for so many films, thanks to its wonder-ful history and architecture, but it is also home to high fashion and multina-tional hi-tech companies.”

Inspired by those cinematic scenes, second-home buyers want to be in the city centre, ideally with a traditional Roman view.

For £295,000, you can buy a 540 sq ft city centre apartment, or one double that size three miles further out. Both would have cost closer to £370,000 five years ago. “The market is much more realistic post-recession, with prices anywhere from 25 to 35 per cent below 2007 levels,” says Casacci.

Prices peak in Piazza Navona, around the Spanish Steps and the prime shop-ping streets of Via Condotti and Via Veneto, home to the US Embassy and famed bars including Harry’s Bar and Café de Paris. A one-bedroom, two-level apartment in central Trastevere, on the bank of the Tiber, is £582,000, but further out in the heart of Pinciano, a two-bedroom apartment in a lovely Art Nouveau building is reduced to £479,000, both with Knight Frank.

Further east in the Trieste area, a three-bedroom, fully restored and furnished apartment with two balco-nies is £1.1 million. It is close to Villa Ada — one of Rome’s largest parks, where Italian royalty once lived — and is also on Knight Frank’s books.

“The Rome property market remains strong, with buyers from Europe,

America, and increasingly from the Middle East and Far East, looking to purchase in the historic centre,” says Gemma Bruce of Casa & Country.

“Buyers tell us that Rome has an ‘eter-nal appeal’,” she adds.

A one-bedroom, 645 sq ft second-floor apartment in the historic centre, with high ceilings and wooden floors, is £590,000 through Casa Travella.

Also in the centre, Sotheby’s Interna-tional Realty has a one-bedroom flat in delightful and elegant Via Margutta, bes ide the Spanish Steps, for £1,024,000. The light, modernised apartment is on two levels with a generous terrace which featured alongside Hepburn in Roman Holiday. The view from there is, as they say in Rome, fantastico.

Knight Frank: knightfrank.com (020 7861 5269)

Casa & Country: casaandcountry.com (020 7993 2967)

Sotheby’s: sothebysrealty.com Casa Travella: casatravella.com

(01322 660988)

Film classics: Anita Ekberg in the Trevi Fountain in La Dolce Vita; Matt Damon’s Mr Ripley; Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck take a spin around the Eternal City in Roman Holiday

£479,000: a two-bedroom apartment on the second floor of an Art Nouveau building in Pinciano (Knight Frank)

£582,000: a one-bedroom apartment in a former convent with a courtyard, in Trastevere (Knight Frank)

ANNE LINE HANSEN (inset) is the founder of esensualliving.com, an e-boutique selling homewares and artisan goods sourced worldwide.

Here, she reveals some of her favourite shops in the Italian capital.

Fratelli Bassetti Tessuti, Corso Vittorio Emanuele II:A vast, extensive treasure trove of furnishing and clothing fabrics. (fratellibassetti.com).

Alternatives, Via della Chiesa Nuova:Experimental jewellery from established and new designers (alternatives.it).Urushj, Via Margutta: Japanese furniture, including delicate lamps constructed from handmade kozo fibre paper(urushi.it).Vertecchi, Via della Croce:

Stationery shop with leather desk accessories, pens and exquisite wrapping paper. (vertecchi.com). Delfina Delettrez, Via del

Governo Vecchio: Exceptional craftsmanship

and innovative jewellery from an elegant Rome-based designer, part of the Fendi family. Delfina sells her jewellery across the world, all handmade in her Roman atelier (delfinadelettrez.it).

ROME: INSIDER TIPS

Scene-stealer: Daniel Craig cuts a dash in the new Bond movie Spectre, set in Rome

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Homes & Property | Furniture

because it was considered too “special-ised in use” and too expensive to make. However, they admired its “striking, good-looking and inventive” moulded construction. La Chaise finally went into production in 1950 and is now one of the couple’s signature works.

In 1945, the pair began designing Case Study House No 8 — now the Eames House — on a wooded bluff overlooking the Pacific in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles. Construction began in 1948.

THINK of a chair that epito-mises design sophistication and it is likely to be the Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman designed in 1956

by Charles and Ray Eames. The husband-and-wife team are more

famous now than when they were alive, their work the ultimate examples of mid-century style. But Catherine Ince, curator of a retrospective show at the Barbican, says there is more to the Eameses than interior design.

“A mid-century lifestyle choice is not what they were,” she says. “Their pioneering and influential work was about much more. It covered not only furniture, product design, architec-ture, exhibition and interior design, but graphics, photography, film, multi-media installations, new models of education and a whole way of seeing the world.”

Ince has spent much of the past three years studying archives that cover 750,000 photographs, drawings and papers, including personal and busi-ness correspondence. The search revealed the way the couple thought about design, expressed in the pithy maxims they so loved — “to provide the best for most, for the least”, resulting in “way-it-should-be-ness”.

Ince says: “Their approach was about satisfying the needs of the user. They aimed to produce designs that were better to use, which took account of spiritual and emotional needs.

“For them, design was the expression of an objective and a process of action — a problem to be solved by applying a curious intellect and engaging with the surrounding technologies and social conditions.”

Charles trained as an architect and Ray as an artist. They met at Cranbook Academy of Art in Detroit in 1940, married in 1941 and moved to Ray’s native California. Charles collaborated with Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen on a chair for the Organic Design in Home Furnishings competi-tion held by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. This led to Ray and Charles developing the use of laminated ply, firstly to make an air-craft nose cone, then to make new lightweight splints for the military and ultimately a ply-laminated chair in 1946 — all are on show at the Barbican.

They were invited in 1948 to enter the MoMA Low-Cost Furniture Competi-tion. Their design, La Chaise — inspired by Gaston Lachaise’s 1927 sculpture Reclining Nude and nicknamed after the artist — was rejected by judges

Practical magic: the couple’s Lounge Chair and Ottoman (1956), made from moulded ply and leather

Design pioneers: right, the couple, who met at Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1940, select slides for a project

Striking stuff: left, the Eameses’ modular bookcase remains so fresh because makers can produce it in ever-changing colourways and materials; La Chaise, below, was inspired by a sculpture of a reclining nude and though it failed to win prizes when it was entered into a 1948 furniture competition, it is now one of the few chairs from the 5,000 entries still in production and is one of the couple’s signature works

Box of delights: the Eames House in Los Angeles, where the couple lived until their deaths, has become a place of pilgrimage for architects and design enthusiasts


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EamesEamEameesmesteam

Design superstars Charles and Ray Eames are celebrated at a new exhibition at the Barbican, reports Corinne Julius

MUST-HAVE MOD

Made of prefabricated panels and glass, the couple lived there and entertained many leading contemporary designers, architects and film-makers. It became a place of pilgrimage for generations of architects and design enthusiasts and is still influencing ideas of modern living nearly 70 years on.

The Eameses, led by Ray, created a dynamic theatre of household objects curated with the utmost care, regularly changing them and their locations as a backdrop to family life. They were influenced by their appreciation of other cultures and simple objects they found in everyday use in places such as

Mexico and India. They afforded equal importance to folk objects, pieces of the natural world — such as pebbles or dried seed heads — their own radical new furniture designs and Ray’s colourful fabrics. This attention to detail included the carefully planned table settings for their “informal” entertaining.

In 1943, they set up their design practice, the Eames Office. Their furni-ture designs were manufactured by Herman Miller, for whom they devel-oped the fibreglass chair — the first one-shell moulded chair — in 1949, followed by other enduring designs such as the aforementioned Lounge Chair and Otto-man in moulded ply and leather, and the Aluminium Group (1958).

Their furniture took centre stage in a number of mould-breaking exhibi-tions. Their iconic room set, For Modern Living, featured in a show in Detroit and included objects from their own home — this has been recre-ated for the Barbican retrospective. The couple designed numerous exhi-bitions for IBM, including its pavilion at the New York World’s Fair (1964-5). For the American government, they created Glimpses of the USA (1959) in Moscow, while Indira Gandhi commis-sioned them for the 1965 exhibition, Nehru: His Life and his India.

A major element of their work was both their photography and their films. They carefully photographed all kinds of seemingly mundane objects in detail. They developed the idea of the multi-screen, producing 125 short films of incredible beauty and diversity such as Powers of Ten, which depicts the relative scale of the universe.

“Communication of ideas was central to everything they did — a transition from object to idea, a journey of per-petual discovery,” says Ince.

To most people, the Eameses’ films, photography and educational ideas are far less well-known than their furni-ture, but the exhibition will provide a crash course not only in the proactive view of designing, but also in the visual world of the couple who lived by the mantra: “Look at things as though for the first time.”

The World of Charles & Ray Eames, Barbican Art Gallery, EC1, starts today and runs until February 14. Tickets: £14.50 (adults); £12 (OAPs and unemployed); £10 (students); £8 (ages 14-17); £5 (Young Barbican members); free to under-14s (excludes tickets bought online). Visit barbican.org.uk/artgallery

FAMILIAR CLASSICSTop, the plastic DSW dining chair is a genuinely iconic design; above centre, the 1958 Aluminium EA chair is a must-have component of the modern office; above, the DAX “bucket chair” is in its 65th year of continuous production

Spheres of influence: the Eameses’ use of plastics inspired other designers such as George Nelson, who created his iconic Ball Clock, left, in 1948

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Homes & Property | Interiors

Design trendsDesigigign trereeendndsspeacocks By Barbara Chandler

WITH their eye-like iridescent feathers, peacocks were exotic motifs in art and deco-ration at the end of the

19th century, beloved by the outré London artists of the Aesthetic Move-ment, which was sending shockwaves through polite society.

There was, indeed, a scandal when the artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler splashed peacock images all over a room (painted 1876-77), though the rich client, shipping magnate Frederick Richards Leyland, had simply commis-sioned a touch-up to some valuable sixth-century Spanish painted panels.

Peacock feathers are back in the news and celebrated in a charming exhibi-tion called Liberty in Fashion, which is running at the Fashion and Textile Museum in Bermondsey Street, SE1.

The show celebrates the 140th anni-versary of the world-famous depart-ment store opened by Arthur Lasenby Liberty in Regent Street in 1875.

Liberty’s original peacock feather fabric was called Hera after the Greek goddess. First sold in 1887, Hera is one of Liberty’s most-loved patterns and stars in its own section at the show. Dennis Nothdruft, the curator of the

exhibition, says that with growing interest in exotic decoration, “the peacock’s feather-eyes and glittering aqua shades fit in perfectly”.

Hera was reissued for Liberty’s 1975 centenary, and has been in production ever since — currently on Tana Lawn, a lightweight cotton, for £22.50 a metre, and on linen union for £75 a metre (liberty.co.uk).

This season, the colours of peacock — aqua, turquoise, indigo and plum —

are spreading across furnishings in exclusive boutiques and on the high street. Marks & Spencer has even launched an intricate furnishing fabric called Lasenby in honour of the Liberty founder.

Elsewhere, these sea-like blues shine out from tropical palm fronds and birds in flight on wallpapers and fabrics. The theme is etched in coloured glass, on glitzy glazes and even on baths.

Aesthetic designer and philosopher William Morris, a leading member of the Arts and Crafts movement which began around 1880 in Britain, also loved peacocks and paired them with dragons, weaving them into a favourite wool fabric. It is on show at the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow, and is also available to buy (william-morris.co.uk).

Today, fashion designer Matthew Williamson is nearly as famous for peacocks as he is for butterflies, embla-zoning them on furnishings for King’s

◄ Peacock colours feature in this wallpaper, Cranes In Flight, by Harlequin. It is £58 a roll. Palmetto and Belvedere velvets, pictured, are £76 a metre. Call 0845 123 6805 for stockists, or visit harlequin.uk.com


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Road label Osborne & Little, whose penchant for exotica dates back to the Sixties when a youthful Peter Osborne — father of Chancellor George — and his pal Antony Little kick-started a swinging wallpaper revolution.

Williamson’s latest designs have looser, less precise artwork, with jagged fronds, but the colours, such as vibrant aqua, remain. “Aqua makes a strong statement and is very versatile,” says Sue Hardie, head of design at Osborne & Little. “It sits well with neutrals, and you can add those bright pops of colour that lift a room — think fire and ice, aqua and orange.”

Interior designer Joanna Wood suggests pairing gold colours with turquoise, evoking images of ancient Egypt. Add plenty of warm textures, such as slubbed silk, mohair and alpaca, to add depth. Wood has filled her shop in Pimlico with aqua-coloured glass this autumn. It looks dramatic at Christmas mixed with red.

At Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, the Harlequin brand, loved for its affordabil-ity, is using turquoise for its figured velvets and leafy prints entwined with feathers, butterflies and dragonflies. But surely the most poetic is a sweep of cranes with outspread wings, flapping through clouds of graded blue.

Designer Becky Brown says: “The feel for 2015 and beyond is dreamlike and enchanted.” Bring on the seascapes, jungle and hanging gardens — and the peacocks.

Covering a wall in the Liberty exhibition is an Indian landscape, lov-ingly detailed by mural artist Melissa White, with peacocks strutting though temples, and available as a

wallpaper from Zoffany (zoffany.com).

Digital printing gives peacock-inspired design a sharp, fresh edge. At new digital wallpaper agency Feathr, for example, Japanese-born Aoi Yoshizawa lets a pure peacock blue sing through huge brushstrokes. And at Dutch brand Moooi, founder/director Marcel Wanders has produced a rug with jagged ice-blue shards radiating in a kaleidoscopic circle, printed at

76 dpi (dots per inch), which is about the same resolution as a computer screen, giving the pattern an incredible clarity and colour definition.

Liberty in Fashion celebrates the 140th anniversary of Liberty, with more than 150 garments, textiles and objects on display. It runs until February 28 at the Fashion and Textile Museum, 83 Bermondsey Street, SE1. Visit ftmlondon.org

◄ Peacock woodcut (1908) by Allen William Seaby, from the National Galleries of Scotland collection, is translated into a wallcovering by Surface View. This 170cm x 170cm version costs £185 (surfaceview.co.uk)

▲ Tropicana wallpaper, by Matthew Williamson for Osborne & Little, costs £59 a roll, with the fabrics pictured from £49 a metre. The showroom is at 304 King’s Road, SW3 (020 8812 3123; osborneandlittle.com)

▲ The Crystal Ice Rug by Marcel Wanders for Moooi is 350cm wide, priced £2,020 from Chaplins, at Design Centre Chelsea Harbour in SW10 or 477-507 Uxbridge Road, HA5 (020 8421 1779; chaplins.co.uk)

▼ The Eltham chair in Lasenby fabric, by Marks & Spencer, is £649 and the Garden cushion is £25. They are available from the flagship Marble Arch store, W1 (020 7935 7954; marksand spencer.com)

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Get the look Page 28

INTERIOR designer Charlotte Crosland firmly believes two is always nicer than one. “Pairs are to do with symmetry and balance — it’s a Georgian principle,”

she says, studying a pair of curved metal garden benches facing each other in her newly sculpted west London garden, which looks as if it could win at Chelsea Flower Show.

The Yorkstone paved garden, with osmanthus, cherry trees, Japanese anemone, lavender, and white camellias, leads to a boxy design studio featuring Crittall windows across the end of the garden. “Those windows cost an arm and a leg, but I had to have them,” she adds.

Crosland now runs her successful interior design business from this new studio, and loves walking across the garden to go to work.

The pairs theme is repeated inside the house, a west London Victorian terrace. From two great lamps in the hall to bold glass lamp bases in the family room, this home is both smart and comfy.

A BRAVE MOVE PAID OFFCrosland’s home and studio show off ideas she has been developing since setting up her practice in 2000.

Gracious lines dominate and Crosland sets much store by using good-quality fabric such as linen, hard-wearing floor coverings like lino or wood, and premium paints — 80 per cent of what she uses is Farrow & Ball.

She is also keen on elegant storage, which she designs herself, with attractive knobs and hinges. Her interiors are never bland, but they are not brash, either.

Having studied interior design at Chelsea College of Arts, Crosland worked for an architect for two years to gain structural knowledge and then joined an interior design firm.

At 29, she went solo, working from her flat in Clapham, which she then did up and sold. “I bought, refurbished

PERFECT BALANCEColour and symmetry meet in Charlotte Crosland’s home, where a garden work studio takes centre stage. By Philippa Stockley

and sold houses once a year, so picked up teams of builders, knowledge, and clients,” says Crosland, who has three grown-up children — Billy, 23, Edie, 20, and 17-year-old Max — with husband Charles Wood.

Before their youngest was born, the couple spotted a run-down house in the then no-go part of Ladbroke Grove. It was meanly divided into 10 flats.

“The area was horrible, Rachman-esque,” says Crosland, referring to the notorious Notting Hill slum landlord. “Nothing like it is now.”

BOUTIQUE STYLINGIt took just six months to tear down the partitions, add balconies or terraces, and open up right into the roof to create, at the top, one huge high room with a generous en suite bathroom.

This serene space away from family activity below is for parents only. The glamorous bath designed by Crosland has an iroko surround with a radiator built stylishly into the side. It’s like a boutique hotel, complete with a rug by her sister, textile designer Neisha Crosland, whose amazing silver wallpaper features in another bathroom, with her prints in the family TV room downstairs.

Once the couple had completed their changes to the house — including, years later, knocking through into the flat next door to make a kitchen of epic proportions, Crosland could concentrate on work.

WHEN the children no longer needed a big garden to play in, she decided it was time to build her dream

studio. You would think it would be easy to install a box at the end of a garden, but a gigantic protected oak tree meant laying 23ft-deep foundations to stop the tree toppling over. That’s higher than a double-decker bus. Huge amounts of soil had to be moved — about 100 skips — as

part of the process. Crosland raised the ground-level of the office to help, stepping the garden up to it.

“I didn’t want it to look too office-y,” she explains, and she has succeeded. The deeply coffered ceiling has six window lights. There’s also task lighting, wall lighting to soften things, and pendants that just look good over the central steel work tables.

To help give a homely atmosphere, the floor is made of Herringbone oak, a modern take on parquet.

The walls are painted in Farrow & Ball Elephant’s Breath, a soft, warm neutral, and there’s a fabulous copper sink with reclaimed French taps that the builder balked at. Reflecting that colour, all the files are sizzling orange.

Looking out on to the garden through wide-open glass doors, this fresh, colourful place is an ideal environment to design in, inspired by lime green parakeets flitting among the young trees.

WANT SOMETHING SIMILAR? All bespoke studio projects differ in the cost, but to build and kit out a studio similar to Crosland’s, you should budget for £100,000.

Functional — yet wonderfully stylish: the kitchen is of “epic proportions”, and was created by knocking through to the flat next door

In the frame: the Crittall studio windows “cost an arm and a leg” but open up the garden, with its striking twin giant lanterns

Photographs:: Jake Fitzjones


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Welcome to my world: left, Charlotte Crosland in her garden work studio, where task lighting enhances the natural light. Right, living space with Crosland’s essentials — balance and plenty of lamps

Calming palette: restful neutrals with the odd colour pop of plum is the choice for this bedroom, right

Mirror image: Crosland’s love of symmetry is evident in the elegant yet cosy family TV room, right

Rachman-esque to ravishing: Crosland and her husband created their smart and comfortable home, left, from a run-down house divided into flats


Homes & Property | My home

Get the lookInterior design: Charlotte Crosland at charlottecrosland.comWallpaper: Hollywood Grape metallic wallpaper by Neisha Crosland at neishacrosland.comRugs: made by Veedon Fleece at veedonfleece.comPaint: Farrow & Ball colours include Pointing, Elephant’s Breath and Hague Blue at farrow-ball.comTaps: from Aston Matthews at astonmatthews.co.ukBedroom drawings: Magnolia series in bedroom by Jonathan Delafield Cook at jonathandelafieldcook.co.ukLamps and some furniture: from Julian Chichester (020 7622 2928) or visit julianchichester.com Colourful sisal stair carpet: from Sinclair Till at sinclairtill.co.ukLinen curtains: Roger Oates at rogeroates.comBlack and brown linoleum in kitchen: Sinclair Till, as beforeGarden design: Sean Walter at theplantspecialist.co.ukBespoke slatted garden trellis: from Trevor Hinkley at trevorhinkley.co.ukGarden benches: Studio Forge at studioforge.co.ukOrange folders in the studio: from Leitz at leitz.comBronze wall lights: Holloways of Ludlow at hollowaysofludlow.comBronze cupboard knobs: Chloe Alberry at chloealberry.com

CROSLAND’S DESIGN TIPSUSE COLOUR: “Don’t be scared by it, but do use good-quality paints. The colours are better, it goes on better and gives a better finish.” It takes at least as much time and effort to paint a wall in cheap paint and sometimes longer, for a worse result, so value your own effort and use good materials. Crosland likes Farrow & Ball because it is consistent, with a great range of colours. She also uses Little Greene (littlegreene.com), Papers and Paints (papers-paints.co.uk), and the Paint Library (paint-library.co.uk). When she first moved into her house, she painted the place white. You can do that, and then decide on colours gradually as you get used to the space. But if you know what you want, go for it from the start.

STORAGE: cupboards and wardrobes have a big effect in a room, so if you are building them in, make them attractive. They don’t all have to be the same, but they should suit the room. “Even if you are on a budget, change the knobs and the hinges — it makes a huge difference.” FABRICS: “Use natural fabrics and fibres. They last really well and keep looking good, especially in a family home. Good-quality linen, linoleum and sisal last longer than carpet.”

SOFAS: “They have to be comfortable or there is no point. Spend a bit more money if needed.”

◄ ▼ LIGHTING: “It is so important, yet people still don’t put in enough low-level lighting, such as table lamps,” says Crosland. “Always put in five-amp circuits at the start, with dimmers. Then you can put on all your lamps in a room at the flick of a switch and turn them off the same way — and control the level for variations in mood.”

► LANDINGS: (right) they can be “dead space”, says Crosland. “Use them for a chest of drawers or a chair and desk.”

◄ RUGS: “Add rugs at the beginning of redecorating and then build the whole colour scheme around them, or right at the end,” says Crosland. “They don’t always have to be expensive. Rugs are like works of art. Buy something you love.”

Far right: metallic wallpaper by Crosland’s sister, Neisha (neisha crosland.com)

Left: Magnolia drawings in a bedroom by Jonathan Delafield Cook (jonathan delafieldcook.co.uk)

... continued from Page 27

Details matter: Crosland puts a lot of effort into getting the small points of styling just right. Good taps can make a bathroom, above left — in her home, they come from Aston Matthews (astonmatthews.co.uk), while file boxes in bright orange, above, from Leitz (leitz.com) provide storage in her new studio


Homes & Property | Outdoors

Pattie Barron

How to pick the perfect rose Glorious scent and colour can be yours — even with poor soil in a north-facing garden

SMART gardeners browse the rose catalogues right now so they have the pick of the crop, sent bare-rooted, this winter. Beware the perfumed trap,

though, of being seduced by looks alone, or you could be landed with climbers that soar metres above their moorings, shrub roses that sulk in soil they dislike or great beauties that, for three heady days in June, give their all, then nothing at all.

London’s predominantly clay soil suits roses well, but if you have thin, sandy or otherwise poor soil, a rugosa rose is the one for you and, as a bonus, that attractive apple green foliage shrugs off blackspot. If you think rugo-sas are short on glamour, check out Roseraie de l’Hay when it’s in full bloom — the large, ruffled, velvety crimson flowers, richly perfumed, are nothing short of sensational.

North-facing or shady walls are tricky for roses, but some will be quite con-tent, if flowering a little less prolifically. Shell pink New Dawn is a good choice and Madame Alfred Carrière, the

antique French beauty with full, frilly blush-white blooms, is an even better one in my view. On a white north-facing wall, vigorous Danse du Feu, aptly also known as Spectacular, will deliver a striking and long-flowering contrast of bright vermilion double flowers on glossy green leaves.

You don’t need to choose a twee miniature variety for a container, but you do need a compact, bushy show stopper that flowers through summer and ideally has a luscious fragrance that can be enjoyed at close quarters. Many of the smaller David Austin Eng-lish roses, such as rich pink Princess Alexandra of Kent, deep wine Darcey Bussell and butter yellow Charlotte tick

Handsome French charmer: Madame Alfred Carrière suits a north-facing wallShort and sweet: Phyllis Bide will flower for months over an arch

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all these boxes, making ideal choices. Rose of the Year 2015 is For Your Eyes Only, a little heartbreaker at less than a metre high, with sunset-shaded flow-ers that are blotched crimson at the base. New primrose yellow Eye of the Tiger has a similar crimson centre and promises to be as tough as it is enchant-ing because, like For Your Eyes Only, it is bred from Rosa persica, the wild red-centred yellow rose that grows in the deserts of central Asia. Give these beau-ties your sunniest spot next summer.

Looking for a rose to fill an awkward corner or cover a tricky slope? Low-growing and low-maintenance, ground-cover roses will romp obligingly over a spare patch of ground, smothering it with small flowers for weeks on end. What they lack in perfume, they make up for in flower power.

If you need convincing, grow any of the aptly named Flower Carpet series, and just watch them go. For a large dollop of scarlet, plant Suffolk, the classic groundcover red rose with golden stamens that are followed by vermilion hips. The outstanding

Grouse 2000, meanwhile, has the dainty charm — and the disease-resist-ant vigour — of a soft pink wild rose.

If you need a rose for an arch, choose one that will swarm but not swamp, and that will keep on throwing out flowers through summer. Ramblers tend to have neither quality, but short and so-sweet Phyllis Bide is an excep-tion, bearing masses of lemon and pale pink flower sprays for months.

Veilchenblau is less compact, but is perfect for a pergola, and few roses can compete with those extravagant trusses of unusual white-streaked lilac flowers that smell distinctly of oranges. Climb-ers have a stiffer growth and most, such as New Dawn and white Climbing Ice-berg, will flower all through summer.

Summertime, unlike many climbers with bare stems at their base, produces sweet-scented lemon flowers from top to toe. If you want a compact climbing rose with real impact, Warm Welcome, which throws out masses of sizzling orange flowers for weeks on end, is the one to choose for a pillar as well as a pot — short, sassy and very versatile.

BEST OF THE ROSE NURSERIESDavid Austin: davidaustinroses.com; 01902 376300Peter Beales: classicroses.co.uk; 01953 454707Harkness: roses.co.uk; 0845 331 3143C&K Jones: jonestherose.co.uk; 01829 740663

One for the pot: Rosa Eye of the Tiger, like For Your Eyes Only, can be ordered from thompson-morgan.com

Above left:rugosa Roseraie de l’Hay thrives on poor soil; above, For Your Eyes Only is bred from a desert plant

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£1.1 MILLIONA CHARMING period four-bedroom family house with an impressive frontage in a quiet, leafy setting in Moss Lane, HA5, is for sale through Gibbs Gillespie of Pinner (020 8866 2777).

£799,950THIS three-bedroom house in Lyndhurst Avenue, HA5, has a stylish interior and is close to both Pinner town centre and its railway station. For sale through Foxtons (020 8429 6600).

£450,000A GROUND-FLOOR apartment in Elm Park Court, HA5 — an eye-catching Art Deco block less than half a mile from Pinner town centre. There’s no onward chain. Through Hamptons (01923 375 332).

@Pinner_HA5Definitely @carpentierandco and @daisysinthepark for best cafés. Best restaurant is @pinnerfriends

@David_BuckleI’d vouch for @carpentierandco, @K5Lounge and @pinnerfriends @Pinner_HA5

@David_Buckle... also, two great pubs to recommend — @QueensHeadPinn and @OddsPinner

@thesageyThe Ideal fish & chip shop is a brilliant traditional and friendly place — chips sold with amusing anectodes

To find a home in Pinner, visit rightmove.co.uk/pinnerFor more about Pinner, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/spotlightpinner

Spotlight PinnerThis pretty town has a film star high street and is only 30 minutes from London. By Anthea Masey

WITH a clutch of fine timber-framed build-ings, Pinner High Street, a remarkable survival of a medieval

village, is also a café culture hub and a star in its own right, so picturesque that it is often used as a filming location. Eddie Redmayne was spotted there shooting the Stephen Hawking biopic The Theory of Everything, for which the young British star scooped this year’s best actor Oscar.

Considered the wealthy side of the London borough of Harrow, Pinner has a strong sense of community, with four key events each year. There are cele-brations in April for St George’s Day, then comes Pinner Fair in May — granted charter status in 1336 by King Edward III — the Pinner Village Show in Pinner Memorial Park on the second Saturday in September, and Pinner Pantomime Evening, on the last Thurs-day of each November.

Development came to Pinner in 1842 when London and Birmingham Rail-way opened a station at Hatch End. The Metropolitan Railway followed in 1885, with a station in Pinner itself. However, wide-scale development had to wait several decades. It wasn’t until the Twenties and Thirties that Pinner became one of those areas forever linked with Metro-Land and the out-ward expansion of London along the Metropolitan line.

WHAT THERE IS TO BUYThis historic town predominantly offers detached, semi-detached and terrace interwar properties, but there are also medieval cottages in Pinner Village, Edwardian houses and more modern flats. One-bedroom flats are mainly in modern blocks and vary in

price from about £230,000 — which is the asking price for a one-bedroom flat in need of modernisation off Pinner Hill Road — to £299,950, the asking price for one in The Avenue in the Hatch End area.

Two-bedroom flats, either period house conversions or in period or mod-ern blocks, vary from £285,000 for a modern home in Pinner Grove to £499,950 for a mansion flat in Cecil Park, both of which are within walking distance of the Tube station and town centre.

There are two-bedroom period cottages in Pinner Village, while two-bedroom bungalows are scattered throughout the district. Two-bedroom bungalows currently for sale vary in price from £425,000 in Mount Park Road to £585,000 in Lyndhurst Avenue. There are two-bedroom houses in the Pinnerwood Park Estate conservation area. This estate was built along garden suburb lines in the Arts and Crafts style. A two-bedroom house in Latimer Gar-dens is for sale for £499,950.

Pinner has an abundance of three- and four-bedroom family houses built in the Twenties and Thirties. Three-

HAVE YOUR SAY: PINNERLOCALS TWEET THEIR TOP TIPS

Feeding the ducks: Pinner Memorial Park has 13 acres of open space and is very popular with young families

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STATS CHECK WHAT HOMES COST

Use School Checker to find catchment areas and inspection reports for schools near your home

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BUYING IN PINNER (Average prices)

One-bedroom flat £271,000

Two-bedroom flat £359,000

Two-bedroom house £460,000

Three-bedroom house £603,000

Four-bedroom house £867,000Source: Rightmove

RENTING IN PINNER (Average rates)

One-bedroom flat £971 a month

Two-bedroom flat £1,313 a month

Two-bedroom house £1,574 a month

Three-bedroom house £1,803 a month

Four-bedroom house £2,399 a monthSource: Rightmove

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TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

Photographs: Daniel Lynch

What is the connection between this Potsdam palace and Pinner? Find the answer at

homesandproperty.co.uk/spotlightpinner

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

bedroom houses vary from £425,000, the asking price of a modern home in Farthings Close, to £875,000 for a detached Metro-Land house in Moss Lane. The town also has some very old houses left over from its rural past, including a Tudor cottage for sale in

Wiltshire Lane for £695,000. Four-bed-room houses range from £565,000 for a terrace house in Rickmansworth Road to £1.35 million for a detached house in Grange Gardens in Pinner Village. The largest family homes range from £665,000 — the price of an extended five-bedroom interwar semi in St Michael’s Crescent — to £3,995,000 for a six-bedroom detached house in Park View Road in Pinner Hill Estate.The area attracts: estate agent Liam Byrne of Gibbs Gillespie says the mix is one of local buyers and incomers, with primary school catchment areas in high demand. Staying power: Pinner has a strong local following, although some families move further out towards Beacons-

field, Gerrards Cross, Chesham, Den-ham and Rickmansworth.Travel: in Zone 5, Pinner is on the Metropolitan line and it’s a 25-minute ride to Baker Street. An annual travel-card costs £2,188. Hatch End is on the

Overground in Zone 6, and trains to Euston take 38 minutes. An annual travelcard costs £2,344.Council: the London borough of Har-row is Labour controlled. Band D council tax for this year is £1,529.36.

Reeling ’em in: Omar Omar, manager of Ideal Fish Bar in Marsh Road

Conservation area: historic Pinner High Street, a filming location for top movies

Ticket to history: Hatch End railway station dates back to the 19th century

Delightful: fine timbered medieval buildings line Pinner High Street, at the heart of the pretty town centre

Animal magic: Linda Halmai, Lia Costa, Suzanne Aarons-Hirst and Montse Peula of Groomerz dog salon in High Street

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MONDAYEven the rain beating against the window of our office in Fulham Road can’t dampen our spirits, following a busy day of Saturday viewings that results in a string of offers today — and the first deal for our newest recruit.

After agreeing a price adjustment on a three-bedroom flat in Fulham Broad-way with a client, we receive a flurry of phone calls and manage to book 10 viewings within a couple of hours.

I then set off for my first appraisal of the day — an immaculately refurbished top-floor flat — but I instantly regret wearing heels for what feels like a climb to the summit. I pause for breath to appreciate the view across Queen’s Club Gardens — and make a mental note to cancel my gym session.

TUESDAYThe day starts triumphantly. We win the instruction on the top-floor flat, along with that of a beautifully renovated fam-ily house in the Peterborough Estate. Within minutes of announcing the news to my team, they hit the phones to arrange viewings with tenants.

Business draws to a close for the day and we make our way in convoy to South Kensington. As the exclusive UK affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate, we are excited to be attending one of the auction house’s late-night

events exploring art, interior design and collecting, which we are sponsor-ing. Tonight’s Old and New exhibition features sabre-toothed tiger skulls, woolly mammoth tusks and medals awarded to Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton.

WEDNESDAYRunning in and out of the office on appointments really makes the day fly by. The positive energy among the team is contagious — I hear the words “This is my week” muttered as another offer comes through the door and, just like clockwork, the price reduction on the flat in Fulham Broadway is a suc-cess and another offer is agreed.

THURSDAYThey say that in showbusiness, you should never work with children or animals. Well, today seems to prove it is also true in this business.

My first appointment is at a house in Farm Lane, revaluing it for a relaunch. The tenants’ children are boisterous

and, much to their parents’ annoyance, pull out all the toys that are carefully stored away in boxes and proceed to show them to me, thinking I am here to keep them entertained. They are disap-pointed when I ignore Thomas the Tank Engine bashing against my feet.

Moving to my next appointment, I have an utterly delightful and endlessly energetic puppy to contend with. I try desperately to remain professional while it jumps up to lick my face, chew my fingers and destroy my pen. I man-age to stay calm. Me 1, Puppy 0.

FRIDAYOur end-of-week meeting with the prop-erty management team to discuss main-tenance issues across the portfolio is disturbed by a colleague in his socks, looking mortified and carrying his shoes at arm’s length.

He has just discovered he stepped in “something nasty” while on a tour with a client and only noticed when they got into his car. Thankfully, it’s nothing a change of clothes and shoes can’t fix, and he is back out to continue the tour within minutes.

The fascination with Fulham’s Parrot Man never tires. He walks past the window twice a day with a Hyacinth Macaw resting on each shoulder. The birds are free to fly if they choose, but they never do.

Friday afternoon is fast approaching, so no time for distractions before the weekend. I am already mentally select-ing which tipple will be first.

Diary of an estate agent

After all that work I deserve a medal

Stephanie Nash is head of Fulham lettings at Strutt & Parker (020 7731 7100).

Homes & Property | Inside story


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

Beautifying a cottage with a salon in the loft

Q MY SON owns a tiny listed mews cottage that we helped him buy a year ago by giving him

the £75,000 deposit.His girlfriend, a beautician, has

suggested he does a loft conversion so that she can move in and use the extra room as her salon.

I realise that he may need planning consent but, not having been involved in anything like this before, where should my son start?

A WITH regard to the proposed building works, you will need to look at the title to the cottage. Generally, people

think of houses as having a freehold title, but your son could have a leasehold interest in the property.

The title needs to be considered to see if there are any covenants prohibiting such building works and also preventing the use of the property for business purposes.

If the property is leasehold, the landlord’s consent is likely to be needed for the proposed building works. The landlord may also demand a premium, as the

cottage is likely to increase in value. Building Regulations and Listed Building consents will be needed and probably planning permission, too.

Assuming your son has a mortgage for the property, the lender’s consent to the building works should also be obtained. Your son’s

buildings insurers should also be notified of the works. I hope that you and your son sought legal advice at the time of your generous gift of £75,000 for the deposit.

He and his girlfriend should also now consider entering into a cohabitation agreement if she is going to move into the property.

Q I MARRIED for the first time in 1992 and my first wife and I had a son, but we separated in 1995 and went on to divorce in 1998. Our house was repossessed by the bank and

there was no financial settlement. I married again later that year and I also have

children from this marriage, the eldest of whom is 16. I am now doing well financially. However, someone told me that my ex-wife can claim a share of my assets. Is this correct?

A YOUR ex-wife has a potential claim against you because there was no financial settlement at the time of your divorce. Only a Clean Break Order would guarantee that there are no further claims

between you.However, having said this, your first wife’s ability to

bring a claim might be limited, particularly if she has remarried since your divorce, or has been declared bankrupt following the repossession of your house.

Even if she did bring a claim against you, the fact that you have been divorced for 17 years would be a relevant factor for the judge.

Your ex-wife would need to demonstrate a compelling reason why she should be entitled to a share of assets that you have accrued since you separated. This would not be easy.

The Supreme Court recently considered this very question in a case where an ex-wife made a claim more than 20 years after divorce. She was warned that she would face “formidable difficulties” in pursuing her application after such a long time had elapsed.

Fiona McNultyOUR LAWYER ANSWERSYOUR QUESTIONS

Ask the expert | Homes & Propertyhomesandproperty.co.uk powered by

WHAT’S YOUR PROBLEM?IF YOU have a question for Fiona McNulty, please email [email protected] 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 legal director in the real estate team of Foot Anstey LLP (footanstey.com)


The accidental landlord

I want a new bed and I want it nowVictoria Whitlock races round as the shops close so new tenants will have somewhere to sleep... but it’s a fool’s errand

JUST 24 hours after placing an advert for my new rental flat on Rightmove, I got an offer from a young Australian couple, but there

was one problem.They had to leave the room they

were renting straight away because they had only taken it on a short-term basis, but as I had only owned my flat for 48 hours, I hadn’t had time to furnish it.

However, the couple offered to immediately transfer to my account the first month’s rent and six weeks’ deposit, and they showed me glowing work references and a referral letter from a previous landlord. They seemed like the perfect tenants and I didn’t want to lose them.

Foolishly, I promised I would buy them a bed that night so they would at least have something to sleep on, but it was already after 4pm. What was I thinking? Where the hell was I going to get a bed at that time?

I dashed around every furniture store within five miles of the flat to see if anyone would sell me a bed that I could somehow shove into the back of my car.

I had no luck at the first two stores I went into, with both of them insisting — unreasonably, I thought — that all their beds were made to order.

By the time I arrived at shop number three, I was so desperate that I pleaded with the manager to let me walk away with one of his display beds. “Surely you don’t need all of these,” I asked him, frantically sweeping my arm around the shop. “None of our beds are available

today, madam,” he insisted, and I’m sure I saw him nod to the security guard at the far end of the shop.

I was that desperate, I wasn’t going to be so easily fobbed off. “What about this one?” I said, bouncing on a double. “Or this one? You must have one bed I can take away?”

The manager looked again towards the security guard, who this time started to walk towards me, so I made a speedy exit. I felt like I had ended up in a particularly ridiculous episode of The Apprentice.

Still determined that I wouldn’t let my tenants down, I screeched into the car park of the last bed store in the area just as the manager was closing up.

And there, at last, I found a bed. Tucked away in a dimly lit corner at the back of the store, it was reduced

to half price and the manager seemed as delighted as I was to find someone to take it off his hands.

It wouldn’t have been my first choice — the frame was a bit naff — but hey, it was a bed. He quickly dismantled it, told me it would be a breeze to put back together again and loaded it into my car.

An hour later, after a long struggle with an Allen key, the bed was up. Delighted, I called the tenants to tell them the good news and check that they had managed to transfer the funds.

“Oh, err, yeah — about that,” said the guy, casual as you like. “We’ve realised we can’t transfer the money immediately as our account is still in Oz, and we can’t get enough cash out of the bank.”

He said they were planning to spend the night at a B&B and move into my place “in a few days” once they had sorted out the transfer.

I wanted to kick him in the shins. Instead, I collapsed on to my new, naff — but comfy — bed.

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

Homes & Property | Letting on

£395 a week: in Streatham High Road in south London, Savills has this bright two-bedroom flat with a private balcony available to rent. Call 020 8012 5628.

Ask Martin.Ask free on 0800 302 9396 or visit martinco.com/askmartin

£375 a week: in Alexandra Gardens in Muswell Hill, Hamptons International has a smart one-bedroom flat with a private garden available to rent. Call 020 8012 1183.


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

Smartmoves

By David Spittles

Step into the Beatles’ boots

FAMILY HOMES RELAX IN THE PERFUMED SUBURBS

CAMDEN was a destination for creatives long before Clerkenwell and Shoreditch arrived as fashionable addresses. Since the Sixties,

architects and media companies have been targeting the area’s canalside buildings and its cobbled courtyards and mews.

But, after a few years out of the spotlight, Camden is on the up again, partly due to a backlash against the over-corporate atmosphere of the

City fringe. “It’s incredibly diverse — everyone from pop stars and rich lawyers to destitute writers and drop-outs live there,” says Matt Cobb, director of Hatton Real Estate.

The developer has unveiled The Anello Building, a new scheme of 22 loft apartments in a Fifties factory, named after the famous firm of theatrical shoemakers once based there. Anello & Davide has been making shoes for a century and still makes footwear for dancers

THE outer London borough of Sutton has had a “purple patch” since the 18th century, when magnificent lavender fields feeding off the chalky free-draining soil of the North Downs became the centre of a worldwide industry.

These floral fields can still be seen today at pretty Carshalton Beeches, where an environmental charity is helping to keep the tradition alive.

Historic Carshalton Village has a listed church and splendid Grove Park, with ornamental gardens alongside the River Wandle. Young developers Ed Marsh and Tom Mees,

who cycle around London at weekends seeking new opportunities, found that Carshalton’s property prices are a bit cheaper than many suburbs, yet trains to Victoria and London Bridge take only 25 minutes.

Grove Park Villas, above, the duo’s new scheme of four-bedroom townhouses, is aimed at young families. Prices from £550,000. Call 020 8773 4412.

Lavender Crescent, which is also in Carshalton, is part of an £83 million regeneration project bringing 346 homes by the banks of the River Wandle. Prices from £212,000.

GE

TT

Y


New homes | Homes & Property

Head away from the river in high-flying SE1

and ballerinas in Covent Garden. Its past creations include stilettos for Marilyn Monroe, suede brogues for actor David Niven and the famous Beatle boots for a certain Fab Four.

Its former factory is flanked by a pair of elegant stairwell towers with sleek columns of glass, and the exterior shines with the huge metal-frame windows that are so

reminiscent of the era. Prices from £625,000. Call 020 7101 2020.

There is a wider development plan for the creation of Camden Lock Village, which will include 170 flats and a covered market with rooftop pavilions linked by walkways.

The local council has also agreed an overhaul of Camden High Street, which is depressingly shabby in some parts, while overcrowded Camden Town Tube is to get a major upgrade.

From £625,000: The Anello Building houses 22 flats in a former shoe factory

Thriving: Camden Lock Market, left, is at the heart of a diverse community

TWO decades of regeneration along the South Bank has shifted the capital’s centre of gravity and catapulted the SE1 postcode into property’s premier league.

The riverside strip is a waterfront “string of pearls”, adorned with world-famous landmarks and attractions such as Tate Modern as well as head-turning new homes that are, alas, too expensive for many buyers.

So the development focus is switching to the less-glamorous hinterland, a triangular wedge of land between Waterloo, Elephant & Castle and Borough.

Part of this neighbourhood’s charm is its unvarnished urban residential mix. Away from the swish river-facing flats are delightful Victorian terraces, charitable and church housing, factory lofts, live-work units for creatives, well-maintained public housing and niche private developments.

Valentine Place is a low-rise scheme of 42 apartments and mews houses tucked away moments from the Old Vic and Young

Vic theatres. Set around a tranquil central courtyard garden, the restrained architecture blends brick and warehouse-style windows, and retains the original façade of the former bakery and dairy that occupied the site. Offices are part of the mix. Prices from £730,000.

Developer Crest Nicholson is soon to unveil two other SE1 schemes — Snowsfields Yard and Brandon House. Call 020 3640 7577.

From £730,000: Valentine Place, left, blends modern interiors with traditional architecture

Up and coming: Snowsfields Yard, below, is a new boutique development yet to be unveiled


Turn on to switchingChanging energy suppliers is just one of the many ways you can slash bills, says Steve Lodge

Homes & Property | Finance

E.on Uswitch Fixed 1 Collective Oct 15 £831

GB Energy Premium Energy Saver £837

Extra Energy Fresh Fixed Price Dec 2016 v4 £849

Green Star Energy Rate Saver 12-month Fixed 1510 £850

Extra Energy Bright Fixed Price Dec 2016 v2 £850

Cheapest supplier

HOW TO CUT ENERGY COSTS

Source: Energy Saving Trust

Annual cost

*Based on dual fuel, medium energy user (e.g small family in three-bedroom house or large flat. Source: Uswitch.com, October 15

More ways to cut heating costs

Potential saving

Use a programmable room thermostat

and thermostatic radiator valves £70 to £150

Insulate pipes between hot water cylinder and boiler £10

Draught-proof windows and doors £35

Install radiator reflector panels £15

Cavity/solid wall insulation (for a three-bedroom semi) £160 to £260

energy expert at comparison service Moneysupermarket.com.

This means that, while a typical household on a standard tariff is now paying about £1,100 a year for dual fuel, the cheapest tariffs charge £850 or less — a potential saving of more than 20 per cent.

FIND THE BEST FITLow energy users, commonly single people or couples living in smaller flats who are out at work during the day, could pay less than £600 a year with the cheapest deals, says Uswitch.

Most of the lowest-cost tariffs are fixed for a year. Fixed tariffs protect customers from price increases for the plan’s term, although the size of your bills will still vary with usage. And, at the end of the fixed-price period, you need to switch again to avoid paying the supplier’s standard tariff.

Paying your energy bill via a fixed monthly direct debit can also save up to £90 a year, say experts.

Although your existing supplier may have a cheaper deal that you could switch to from your current tariff, online comparison services can identify the best deal from a wide range of suppliers in just a few minutes. Sites will detail potential savings compared with your current plan and usage, and some will even give cashback if you complete your switch through them.

Moneysavingexpert.com’s Cheap Energy Club, for example, pays £30 for dual-fuel and £15 for single fuel switches.

NEARLY half of Londoners are paying about £200 a year more than they need to for their gas and electricity by not

switching to cheaper suppliers, according to new government figures.

An estimated 1.4 million households are missing out on £280 million of potential savings by sticking with their existing energy provider, says the Department of Energy & Climate Change, which is running a campaign called Power to Switch encouraging consumers to transfer to cheaper energy tariffs.

While a typical household currently pays about £1,100 a year for energy, online comparison services say that switching suppliers could slash bills to £850 or lower.

SHOP AROUNDLondoners are the least likely to switch energy providers in the UK, according to data from comparison service Uswitch.com, partly because of the high number of rental properties in the capital.

Landlords often bar their tenants from changing suppliers, says Uswitch, despite rules from energy regulator Ofgem saying that if the tenant pays the gas and electricity bills directly, rather than through the landlord, they have the right to switch.

Lack of awareness of the available savings may also deter many people from switching. The research found that fewer than one in 10 Londoners knew they could save £200 or more by changing suppliers. The

Competition and Markets Authority watchdog, which has been investigating the energy market for competition failings, says that because many households do not shop around, energy suppliers can get away with keeping prices higher for these customers.

Most households are on standard variable-rate tariffs with British Gas and other big energy companies. But despite substantial falls in wholesale market prices — particularly gas — over the past year, these firms have generally passed on only limited reductions to such customers.

And while there has been a 17 per cent drop in the price of the cheapest energy deal on the market in the past year, the so-called “big six” suppliers have reduced their dual-fuel standard tariffs by an average of just two per cent, says Uswitch.

“Prices are being reduced, but only for customers who engage with the market,” says Stephen Murray,

‘Londoners are the least likely people in Britain to change their energy supplier’

Smart sums: Londoners could save more than £200 a year


First-time buyers | Homes & Propertyhomesandproperty.co.uk powered by

Primed for housing boomWoolwich is in the throes of a revival, with 5,000 new and affordable homes transforming this historic munitions town. By Ruth Bloomfield

ABOUT £1.5 billion is being lavished on rejuvenating Woolwich — but first-time buyers can find a home in the area for less than

£100,000 through shared ownership. You need faith, however, as Woolwich is not yet a thing of beauty. Even Tesco architects had problems finding much to inspire them — delivering a store that was quickly dubbed Britain’s ugliest new building last year.

But rejuvenation is a wonderful thing. In recent years, 2,000 new homes have been built in Woolwich’s key development zone, branded Royal Arsenal Riverside, with 3,000 more to come.

And, while prices for private homes beside the Thames have reached almost £2 million, the 75 one- and two-bedroom flats at Drummond House from Notting Hill Housing (notting hillhousing.org.uk) are reserved

for low-income buyers priced off the private housing ladder.

A 25 per cent share of a one-bedroom flat will cost from £83,750, with a full market price of £335,000, while a quarter share of a two-bedroom home starts at £99,375, with a full market price of £397,500.

Priority will be given to people

already living in Greenwich or its neigh-bouring boroughs, and the flats will be ready to move into early next year.

REACHING ITS POTENTIALThere are few areas of London with a history as rich as Woolwich or a future more promising. The problem is what it is like right now. Its history began

when King Henry VIII visited more than 600 years ago and decided it would be the ideal place to build warships. Later it became home to the Royal Arsenal, where munitions were made to supply British soldiers for more than two cen-turies — and where workers formed what later became Arsenal football club. Its 21st-century story is one of a

new neighbourhood for London — with the crucial benefit of excellent trans-port links. Woolwich Arsenal Dock-lands Light Railway station is less than half a mile from Drummond House, and services from Woolwich Dockyard railway station to Cannon Street take 24 minutes.

The area will also be served by Cross-rail, so from 2018 there will be direct services to Canary Wharf, the West End and Heathrow. “This new express route is going to make Woolwich a real trans-port hub,” says Hopkin Man, head of sales at Notting Hill Housing.

“It is going to create demand for the area and turn it from what is really a forgotten corner of London into a new riverside community.”

But the magic of Crossrail is a few years away and, while a lot of work has already gone into Royal Arsenal, the

town is still yet to fulfil its potential. While new residents move in every week, there is not a huge amount for them to do locally other than to walk over to Greenwich. “There are shops, cafés and restaurants, but it is all quite new so it has not got that mix of inde-pendents and bigger firms that people really like,” says Man.

In the future, however, there are plans for a new cultural quarter with art galleries, theatres and museums, many more shops, a hotel, a town square, and new pedestrian walkways linking Royal Arsenal to Woolwich town centre.

Right now, while there are smart new homes, plus some magnificent Victo-rian buildings to admire — relics of the heyday of the Royal Arsenal — the area also has eyesores. Those who buy into it are going to need patience.

From £83,750: for 25 per cent of a one-bedroom flat, above, at Drummond House, part of the Royal Arsenal Riverside redevelopment of Woolwich. The area’s Victorian naval buildings are being restored, left, creating new public spaces

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