Wednesday 29 April 2020

No traffic, no noise,

no pollutionLondon gets a taste for the good life

PAGES 2 & 3

FRONT DOORSBe ready when buyers come

knocking again: Page 5

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Homes Property | Lockdown legacy

Average second-hand £/per sq ft, 2019

Zone 1 £1,245Zone 2 £796Zone 3 £637Zone 4 £509Zone 5 £474Surrey £458Zone 6 £454Herts £449Berks £398Bucks £377Oxon £376W Sussex £360E Sussex £349Essex £348Kent £324Hants £320Beds £309Cambs £290

Source: Savills Research using EPC

COMPARE THE PRICES

THE RACE FOR SPACEBeing quarantined at home in London has inevitably encouraged families to consider moving further out of the capital in search of a healthier life and more space.

Over the last month, city-dwellers have experienced life without noise, traffic pol-lution and crowds. Our research shows families are enjoying this healthier lifestyle and are looking for it further afield, finding attractive price differentials that will enable them to afford the extra room they crave.

New research from Savills shows that a modest 500sq ft one-bedroom flat in travel Zone 1 costs £1,245 per square foot, or £622,500. For the same budget you could get almost 1,000sq ft in Zone 3, or more than 1,300sq ft in Zone 5.

When it comes to the home counties, Bed-fordshire is the best-value option. With an average price per square foot of £309, a 1,500sq ft house would cost £463,500 — more than £150,000 less than a one-bed-room apartment in Zone 1.

The most expensive home counties option is Surrey, priced at an average £458 per square foot, so a three-bedroom, 1,500sq ft home would set you back an average £681,000. A similar-sized property in Buck-inghamshire, where the average price per

square foot falls to £377, would cost £565,500. In Essex the average price per square foot is £348, bringing that price down to £522,000.

PROVINCIAL CHARMSLondoners are having plenty of time at home together to discuss the Big Move. Buying agent Edward Heaton, managing partner of Heaton & Partners, reports that moving out is a very common discussion, as his client enquiries are showing. “There is absolutely no doubt that many, many, people are re-evaluating their lives.”

Online property portal Rightmove, mean-while, has noted an increase in searches for more rural properties.

Edward Church, head of Strutt & Parker’s Canterbury office, believes Londoners will search for homes in smaller county towns or in cities such as Bath, where they will enjoy easy access to open space along with plenty of local facilities.

“Being out in the sticks with young children or elderly relatives isn’t necessarily the most practical solution for many,” he says. But long daily commutes will cease as buyers, many of whom have worked from home for the first time, see it as a long-term solution for a better lifestyle.

Quiet London sparks search for healthier homesLockdown has given Londoners a taste of the good life without traffic jams, noise, pollution and Tube trauma. Search stats for homes out of town are rising as buyers re-evaluate how they live and work. By Ruth Bloomfield

£485,000: right, a three-bedroom cottage in Riseley, north Bedfordshire, for sale through Peter Lane & Partners (01480 860400)

£800,000: far right, a five-bedroom detached house in the Cotswolds village of Little Compton. Through Strutt & Parker (01608 510031)

£1,495,000: this six-bedroom detached house in Hockliffe near Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire is on the market with Jackson-Stops (01525 625053)

£795,000: this Cotswold stone six-bedroom detached house in Pitchcombe, Stroud, Gloucestershire, is for sale through Perry Bishop & Chambers (01453 493317)

£950,000: in the popular village of Marsh Gibbon on the Oxfordshire/Bucks border near Bicester, this detached five-bedroom house is for sale through Strutt & Parker (01865 809232)

16 WEDNESDAY 29 APRIL 2020 EVENING STANDARD

Lockdown legacy | Homes Propertyhomesandproperty.co.uk powered by

DO YOUR HOMEWORKDominic Agace, chief executive of Wink-worth estate agents, thinks that post-lock-down many employers will be happy for staff to split their time between home and office. “But the need for a home office may then also become essential which will be another reason to search for more space,” he says. “Living in towns and villages with a longer commute could become more attractive if people are only travelling on three days a week. But good transport links will continue to be important.”

Christopher Scott, Hamptons Interna-tional area sales director for Banbury, agrees: “If home working becomes the new normal, we could see younger people moving that bit further out, still close enough to travel into the capital when they need to, but far enough out to buy a better lifestyle.”

THE OCADO FACTORThe experience of trying to fill your fridge in the crisis will highlight a location’s deliv-ery options. Londoners won’t move to areas without the appropriate facilities and con-nections, says Becky Munday, MD of estate agents Munday’s. “We guide them to areas which will serve their needs. Fast broadband will, as ever, also be a must-have.”

WILL TRAINS FEEL THE STRAIN?Time spent working at home or on furlough will have been a wake-up call to commuters.

“Although there has always been a pull for buyers to look further out to maximise space, this crisis has made us appreciate family time so much more,” says Andrew Groocock, regional partner at Knight Frank. “The move

to working from home has shown just how many hours of your day you can claim back by not commuting. I expect that once out of lockdown we will see a shift whereby people want to limit their commute.”

Guy Bradshaw, head of London residential at UK Sotheby’s International Realty, says that in the early days of lockdown his office

was “inundated” with requests from families wanting to get out of central London quickly for more space. But he feels most will only consider locations with a swift train journey. “The draw to London will always be there — culture, shopping, friends and work — so places like Henley, Beaconsfield and Surrey will be on the map because of the under one-hour commute opportunities.”

SINGLES WILL STAY IN THE CITYBuying agent Nina Harrison of Haringtons says: “We will likely see the young, single professionals remain in London and con-tinue to buy flats in new developments. There are going to be some great deals to be had over the coming weeks.

“They have worked hard to get a job and a place to live in London, and for them that’s still the ultimate achievement. But even these people will have had a shift of mindset. They will look for new homes with thought-ful, well-designed communal areas, land-scaped gardens, and homes with terraces and large balconies.”

Property finder Rebecca Stott, of Found it London, specialises in seeking out starter homes. She says she has had enquiries from younger buyers who now see how living further out could work well for them.

Historic beauty: the River Avon in Bath. With open space and plenty of amenities, the city is poised to pull in London buyers post-lockdown

River Stour, Canterbury, Kent: home working could allow Londoners re-evaluating their lives to move further out in search of peace and space

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EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 29 APRIL 2020 17

18 WEDNESDAY 29 APRIL 2020 EVENING STANDARD

Homes Property | Property searching

FIRST-TIME BUYER HOME ⬤ At first sight: a two-bedroom

period conversion flat in a Vauxhall townhouse in Heyford Terrace, priced at £475,000 (kfh.co.uk).

⬤ The brochure: the kitchen and the bathroom are dated and there’s no sign of radiators so it probably needs new heating and double glazing. The flat is being sold leasehold so you need to know the length of the lease, the cost of ground rent and how maintenance charges are calculated.

⬤ The floor plan: at 581sq ft the flat is small for a two-bedroom place. The second bedroom is just over 5ft wide, so it’s a tight fit even for a single bed. It would work better as a study for a home worker. The kitchen, main bedroom and living room are all a reasonable size but look at Google Streetview and you’ll see the main bedroom is at the back of the flat and set fairly close to the house behind, so it could be dark or even overlooked.

⬤ Google Street View area guide: Heyford Terrace has character as a narrow backstreet off busy South Lambeth Road. Some of the houses look cared-for and modernised with plantation shutters, alongside plenty of grubby nets — a classic indicator of an up-and-coming area.

The nearest Tube is Vauxhall, a 10-minute walk past local shops, cafés, pubs and a leisure centre. Nine Elms regeneration will encourage improvement, while Vauxhall Park is an oasis of greenery amid the towers. The approach to the station is pretty desolate but next year transport options will increase with the

opening of the Northern line extension, with stops at Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station, which will have new shops and restaurants.

The neighbourhood displays no obvious blights apart from general city noise and there’s plenty to do within a 20-minute walk, including café culture in Pimlico, cricket at the Oval, culture at Tate Britain and strolls along the Thames Path.

⬤ Potential: this flat undoubtedly needs upgrading but the potential lies in its location on the fringes of a massive regeneration zone.

⬤ Development: billions are being spent at Battersea and Nine Elms, which should give the wider area a lift over the next few years. Lambeth council planning register (southwark.gov.uk) shows no current planning application in Heyford Terrace or nearby to sound alarm bells.

⬤ Price: a fully refurbished, very smart two-bedroom flat with a small garden in Rita Road, just around the corner, sold last November for £715,000, or £809 per square foot, Rightmove records show (rightmove.co.uk/house-prices). The Heyford Terrace flat’s price drills down to £817 per square foot. Meanwhile, KFH is also selling a two-bedroom maisonette in excellent condition in Heyford Terrace for £625,000 — working out at £790 per square foot.

⬤ Verdict: this is a great little area but buyers would need to weigh up the cost of improvements. Don’t stretch yourself beyond the selling price of an improved property in your street.

Learn how to stay out of troubleOnline property details only tell half of the story. Ruth Bloomfield shows you how to sniff out the truth

£450,000: a new one-bedroom balcony flat at Lock No 19 in Hackney Wick, for sale through JLL (jll.co.uk; 020 8012 0809)

FAMILY HOME

⬤ At first sight: below, a red-brick, four-bedroom, Victorian semi in Dukes Avenue, Finchley Central, N3, at £1.1 million (bennett-hall.co.uk; 020 8346 2208).

⬤ The brochure: you don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to realise this house needs a makeover. A structural survey on a house of this age will be crucial. There are original features though, including the stained-glass front door and sash windows.

⬤ The floor plan: at 1,870sq ft the house is roomy and the main reception room is a good size, as is the 50ft garden which is east-facing, so it gets the morning sun. An obvious tweak would be to knock the kitchen and dining room through into a great open-plan space. Upstairs there is only one bathroom, and the fourth bedroom is tiny. You need to spend money turning the box room into a second family bathroom.

⬤ Google Street View: a well-tended, leafy street full of chunky houses, with Victoria Park at the end, this is a no through road and likely to be quiet. The 10-minute walk to the Tube is well-lit, along a high street with plenty of cafés and restaurants, a supermarket and a good range of everyday shops. No obvious local blights.

⬤ Potential: the large front garden could provide an off-street parking

space, while a loft conversion is a possibility for an extra bedroom. The rear garden is large enough to take an extension. A quick search of Barnet council planning portal (barnet.gov.uk) shows numerous successful planning applications for lofts and rear extensions in the street in the past few years.

⬤ Development: a wider search of council records throws up no sign of any nearby schemes. The most contentious local plan is for 560 new homes next year at the station car park. Critics say this will add to rush-hour crowds — but it will smarten up a scruffy corner of the area and bring in some new shops.

⬤ Schools: two of the three nearest primary schools have “outstanding” Ofsted reports and the third is “good”. Local senior schools include the “outstanding” St Michael’s Catholic Grammar.

⬤ Price: a similar four-bedroom house in the same road sold for £1,395,000 last spring, Rightmove says.

⬤ Verdict: this could be a great family buy but a good-standard full renovation costs about £200 per square foot. On this basis, doing up and extending the house would cost £350,000 to £400,000, so if you can’t cover the costs, don’t buy it. In a wobbly market you can’t rely on underlying price rises to cover your spending.

LOCKDOWN has put physical house hunting on hold, yet property portals report a huge spike in traffic as Londoners search online. A search will

bring up the particulars of a home but if you don’t properly understand the information, you could be getting a false picture of exactly what is for sale, what the area’s like and whether the location will fulfil your needs.

It’s time to turn house detective and look beyond the details. There is as much to learn from what is not written down, as there is from what you can see. While you have the time you can do strategic online searches to discover what is planned for the area. You can forensically study the floor plans — which are not always measured accurately — and go far beyond the brochure. You can work

out if the property has potential for creating extra space, and what room there is for improvements that have been carried out by neighbours. You can discover whether the home you are interested in is south-facing and where light falls around it.

It’s a chance to do your homework fully, discovering whether your walk to the station is safe, and if the area offers you the lifestyle you seek with good schools, shops, bars and bistros.

NEW-BUILD HOME ⬤ At first sight: a smart, light,

one-bedroom flat at Lock No 19, a development in fashionable Hackney Wick, for sale with a guide price of £450,000 through JLL (jll.co.uk).

⬤ The brochure: it’s a good-looking place — but they are computer-generated images. There’s a good-sized terrace overlooking the Olympic Stadium at Stratford and a residents’ garden. The scheme’s due to be completed in early summer. There will be a monthly service charge, so it’s crucial you find out what that will be.

⬤ The floor plan: at 588sq ft the flat is small but there’s a generous open-plan kitchen and living room, leading to the balcony. The modest bedroom has built-in wardrobes.

⬤ Google Street View: this is an area of building sites and warehouses, with new homes sprouting up in clusters along the River Lee Navigation. Hackney Wick station, along with venues Crate Brewery and Silo London, are half a mile away, but you might not like to walk it in the dark. Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is a six-minute walk, while Victoria Park is a 10-minute walk in the opposite direction. There are a couple of local food shops but for a supermarket you’ll have to walk over to Stratford.

⬤ Potential: if you like it, you just move in.

⬤ Development: the wider area will be a bit of a building site for several years, with no real local amenities. But Stratford is on the doorstep.

⬤ Price: this home costs £765 per square foot. There are cheaper new homes for sale in Hackney Wick, notably Taylor Wimpey’s Aspext in Wick Lane, where one-bedroom flats start from £415,000. However, these are smaller at 541sq ft, and more expensive by square foot at £767.

⬤ Verdict: with Help to Buy London, buyers “only” need a £22,500 deposit to buy at Lock No 19, an attractive scheme with iconic views and Zone 2 links. The big issue here is whether Hackney Wick will benefit from sensible central planning to give new residents a good local lifestyle.

EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 29 APRIL 2020 19

Home décor | Homes Propertyhomesandproperty.co.uk powered by

FIRST impressions count, so if you want to attract potential home buyers, the best place to start is by sprucing up your front door. It’s not a big job

— but it really can transform the look of your home.

A recent study by housebuilder Harron Homes found that 43 per cent of buyers have made up their minds about a property within five minutes of seeing it. The nuts and bolts of door decoration are easy but can be time-consuming if you are going to do the job properly.

1 In wet or humid weather, paint takes longer to dry, while in very hot conditions it can blister. You

need something in between.

2 Before you start, remove your door furniture if you can. If this isn’t possible, cover it well with

masking tape to protect it. You will also need to cover any glass panels.

3 If the door is in really bad condition you’ll have to strip off the old paint. Don goggles and

gloves, use an old paintbrush to apply paint stripper and wait for it to be absorbed, before scraping it back to the bare wood, using a flat scraper for flat surfaces and a shave hook for mouldings. Then wash the surface down with either white spirit or water — check paint stripper instructions.

4 The newly naked wood — or your existing paintwork — will need a good rub down with

sandpaper. B&Q advises using a medium-grade sandpaper wrapped around a piece of wood or a sanding block. Always work in the direction of the grain. Then go over the door a second time using fine-grade abrasive paper, before wiping down to remove dust. If there are any cracks in the door, use wood filler to repair them.

5 When it comes to painting you’ll need to start with a coat of primer on bare wood to stop

the paint flaking. Then use either exterior wood gloss, or eggshell if you want a more matte look, painting raised panels first then the rest of the door. Go slowly. If you are the clumsy type, a foam roller might be easier than a brush. Check the paint instructions and if more than one coat is required, make sure the first is thoroughly dry before adding the next, to avoid a lumpy finish.

Paint your door and clinch that sale

First impressions count when it comes to selling your home and a smart front door is transformative. So prep yours for when lockdown lifts and the buyers come back, says Ruth Bloomfield

Celestial Blue: £35 for 1L of Intelligent Exterior Eggshell, from littlegreene.com

SHINY black à la No 10 Downing Street, or a nearly black shade, are classic front door choices that won’t scare the horses, particularly on white stucco houses, while rich, deep reds and smart navy blues are timeless and work well with red-brick properties.

Pam Gruhn, founder of Frenchic Furniture Paint says the online store’s Al Fresco Inside/Outside range has seen an almost 500 per cent increase in sales since lockdown began. It can be used on PVC and uPVC doors as well as timber, and can also brighten up everything from flowerpots to benches (£17.95 for 750ml at frenchicpaint.co.uk). “Our most

popular colours at the moment for doors are either greys such as Smudge, Stormy and Greyhound, or the crème shades such as Cream Dream or Cool Beans,” says Gruhn. “Bright pastel shades are becoming more popular, such as Parma Violet, Dusky Blush and Wise Old Sage.”

Joa Studholme, colour curator at Farrow & Ball, says the company’s best-selling door colours are traditional dark shades such as Railings — black, with navy undertones — dark Studio Green and rich navy Hague Blue (farrow-ball.com). “I personally think people are going to change their view and go for

lighter colours, such as Matchstick (off-white), Mizzle (pale grey/green) and Drop Cloth grey/beige),” she says. “They are soft and inviting, and still very traditional.” Studholme recommends painting frames as well as the door, to make the door look bigger and more imposing, and says it’s wise to consider the surroundings: “If you are in a street where everyone has got frightfully tasteful blues and greys, you do not want to be the one with the bright yellow door.”

She lives in the country and, taking her own advice, her front door is Black Blue, an archive shade: “It matches the cows in the field.”

Finishing touches

Pick a colour with kerb appeal

IF YOU plan to upgrade your door furniture at the same time as giving the front door a fresh lick of paint, it might be a good idea to move away from shiny chrome, which is rather dated. Look instead for a richer finish, for example bronze if you can afford it, or brass.

There are endless period-appropriate designs to

choose from, as well as more contemporary options. If you want something a bit quirky,

Black Country Metal Works (blackcountry metalworks.co.uk) has a solid brass

pine cone door knocker which is

pleasingly tactile and on sale at £30.39. Or its simple, elegant brass octagon, priced at £29.60, is unusual without being too showy.

Handcrafted home furnishings supplier Jim Lawrence (jim-lawrence.co.uk) specialises in classical design, such as its centre door knobs in antiqued or polished brass, including the Shaftesbury, inset below, £58.30. To avoid shine totally, Suffolk Latch Company (suffolklatchcompany.co.uk) has traditional cast-iron door furniture in classic designs, from doorbell plates to numbers.

If you have a fanlight above the door and would like your house number etched in the glass, you can either wait until the end of lockdown to organise it, or you could cheat now with a bespoke clear or frosted house number sticker. Get a realistic result from decorative film specialists brume.co.uk for about a tenner.

Thinking of moving? Start your search on

20 WEDNESDAY 29 APRIL 2020 EVENING STANDARD

Homes Property | Design

Grab your phone and shop the range: visit my-furniture.com for live showroom video chats

Above: John Lewis home design stylist Lottie Monk, usually at the White City store, can help from home (@jl_lottie)Below: recycled silk curtains, £65 a metre (stitched.co.uk)

Above: Tres Erve wood flooring by Kahrs, £54.99 a square metre (carpetright.co.uk)Right: Canopus table, £1,295, Koyari cushion cover, £55, Shagreen Print tableware from £35 (oka.com)Below: eight-seat Arundel table, £2,250; four-seat bench, £715 (neptune.com)

HOME interiors stores are creating new ways to help customers. To the rescue come new-style video briefings on multiple platforms, including Zoom, Facetime, Snapchat and Microsoft Teams, plus innovative website “hubs” packed with ideas and information.

“We’ve got to serve a new virtual Brit-ain,” says Peter Cross, customer expe-rience manager at John Lewis. Each with their own Instagram handle come 11 consultants, taking bookings direct for one-hour “live” and free interiors briefings, with follow-up styling notes, a moodboard and shopping list. Also on tap are nursery advisers — “a baby won’t wait” — and wardrobe stylists.

Lottie Monk (@jl_lottie), usually based in the John Lewis White City store, is now working from a dining table in her shared flat in St Albans. “Demand is crazy, she says. “I’m fully booked for a week now. People are at home to explore new looks and put them into place. They like our flexibility and con-venience. And many feel more com-fortable and less shy.”

Stylist Bethan Harwood (@jl_Bethan), also at White City, says many clients ask for relatively small tweaks. “People used to social media adapt easily to our ser-vice, but it’s very simple for anyone.”

Customers want a nice background for their Zoom calls with friends, says OKA of Chelsea (oka.com), with 11 more stores nationwide for rattan furniture, a huge choice of table lamps, ikat tex-tiles and fab faux flowers. A “staging and styling” chat is free, for example on setting a pretty table, updating cush-ions, restyling your balcony or adding a table lamp, while garden furnture sales are booming. A “remote” whole-room interior design service is now £150, down

from £350. Email designservice@oka.com or call 03332 400744. OKA is doing safe deliveries, with the first one free, and 60 days for returns.

Oozing relaxed chic, Neptune offers furniture, low-key paint shades and impeccable kitchens from 26 stores nationwide, including three in London. “Our virtual doors are wide open,” they say, “whether it’s a video session with a designer, a phone chat with a home specialist, or just a second opinion by email.” Meet your local store staff through neptune.com.

Design shops with staff on call include Heal’s on 0333 212 1915 (email advice@heals.co.uk; “live chat” on heals.com). Aram Store is on 020 7557 7557 (email aramstore@aram.co.uk). SCP in Shoreditch is still running its uphol-stery workshop (020 7739 1869; email info@scp.co.uk).

Showroom video chats are available at My Furniture (my-furniture.com; 0800 092 1636). Sophisticated tools for “smart furniture shopping” and room planning are at PepperSq. where design consultations are free (peppersq.com; 020 8243 8559). And sales of Vitsoe shelving made in small UK workshops are booming (vitsoe.com).

Loaf can now do “safe non-contact deliveries for large in-stock items with a two-man crew”. So you can get a sofa during lockdown (020 3141 8300; loaf.com). For curtains, the virtual reality app at Stitched (stitched.co.uk) lets you

experiment on your phone with different styles and colours using an image of your own window. Fabrics start at £22 a metre made from recycled plastic bot-tles to £59 a metre for wool. Small curtains from £180. Making blinds to measure,

with live webchat i s B l i n d s 2 g o (blinds-2go.

co.uk).“Virtual survey-

ors” advise and m e a s u re u p a t

Carpetright (car-petright.co.uk). Sales

are big there in artificial grass at £33 a square metre.

CONSULT THE STYLE GURUS

WITH business now booming, some established online interior design services were ahead of the curve…

⬤ At Topology Interiors (topologyinteriors.com) Amy Brandhovst and Athina Bluff will redo a room for £150, with virtual consultations, moodboards, scale drawings and product sourcing with trade discounts.

⬤ Book an initial phone chat with designer Rabia Tuwir at Haru Design (haruinteriordesign.com).From £150 for a project like fitted joinery; single rooms at £300.

⬤ Zoom that Room is bang on trend. Designer Benji Lewis will do a half-hour makeover for £35 (zoomthatroom.com; 07807 281956).

⬤ Wayfair, selling a mix of British and European brands online, has a new Happy at Home hub at wayfair.com with neat notions for small gardens, virtual dinner parties and more, plus links to its Instagram stylists sharing friendly, accessible tips with live Q&As on @wayfairUK

Free interiors advice online

Online design sales boom as TV takes us into stars’ homes and gives us ideas. By Barbara Chandler

Live consultations with experts

TELEVISION is one long interiors reality show right now. Lockdown means we can snoop the rooms of politicians and stars, from

Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s red-painted picture gallery to singer Taylor Swift’s swirly wallpaper — while video-chatting friends and family also put homes on show.

All this has sparked ideas in viewers’ minds. Online design sales

are booming, with doorstep deliveries of tableware, cushions, lighting and small furniture. Larger pieces such as beds and sofas are somewhat stalled, but stores can “hold your hand” by video as you assemble kits and flat packs.

Garden stuff is flying out, with online sales more than double this time last year. Most brands can assemble bulky outdoor furniture if there is access to your outside space.