The home working challenge Page 6 - Wednesday 25 March 2020 - Homes and Property
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Wednesday 25 March 2020
The home working
challenge Page 6
SHUTTERSTOCK
2 WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH 2020 EVENING STANDARD
Homes Property | News
THIS WEEK IN... Property search
‘People don’t move in
a crisis. But it’s when
bargains can be had’ Lifechanger of
Janice the week Sun
Morley yourself while the
EDITOR
barns make money
£1.7 million: there’s a lot to love
I HAVE just spent two hours trying to about this Devon dream package Trophy home of the week Sleek flat with its own
in the hamlet of Forda, near
connect to my office computer without
Croyde’s glorious sandy beach. art collection is a must-have for the cultured buyer
success — the joys of home working. It is hard The 17th-century farmhouse in
to find a positive in this coronavirus more than nine acres comes with £7.25 million: no need to lock up and leave this über-smart Arts and Crafts-style duplex, forming
a collection of four stone and cob part of a boutique collection of new homes in Primrose Hill, NW3. The super-sleek apartment has
nightmare but there might be a lesson here barns, with planning permission been designed around a modern art theme, providing the perfect canvas for a display of striking
for us home working procrastinators. While to turn them into holiday lets. If work by up-and-coming artists, including pictures and sculptures, available as a package with your
the overall price tag is too high, new home. A generous footprint of over 3,000sq ft covers a double reception room, study, bar and
we are waiting for the computer to wake up you can place a sealed bid for the glam kitchen/dining room opening to a private garden with access to a secure garage. Four
we could find some satisfaction in tackling individual buildings from bedroom suites are reached by a helical staircase, all with bespoke wardrobes and divine
the jobs we’ve put off around the house. Go £250,000. The farmhouse would bathrooms boasting deep tubs and walk-in showers. Through Aston Chase (020 8012 4175).
make a fab B&B with its seven
online and order paint and brushes, then start bedrooms, spacious kitchen/
on that room you said you’d decorate. You’ll breakfast room and beamed
reception. Rolling countryside
London buy of the week Who needs the country?
get exercise, a sense of achievement and a bit
more cash, if you are thinking of selling in
surrounds, while several sandy
beaches and a championship golf
Here’s a cottage with a white picket fence in W13
course are near. Through
summer. And there will be plenty of builders Jackson-Stops (01271 604028). £665,000: staying home will be a
and architects happy to give you a quote, too. pleasure at this whitewashed cottage
in Northfields, W13. A picket fence
Oddly, people don’t move home in downturns
encloses a neat front garden, while the
and financial crises but this is exactly the time pretty pink door opens to a spacious
to do it. Take a virtual house tour. This is when reception room with pale grey walls,
wood floors and a log burner, through
there are bargains to be had — and if you land to a kitchen/diner leading on to the
one, that will lift your spirits. garden. White metro wall tiles and
decorative Victorian floor tiles feature
in a stylish bathroom, while both
VISIT homesandproperty.co.uk/rules for details of our bedrooms have big sash windows and
usual promotion rules. ample storage. The green, open spaces
of Fielding Walk sit just behind, while
Editorial: 020 3615 2650 the Piccadilly line at Northfields is a
Advertisement manager: Ann Finan stroll away. Through Robertson Smith
Advertising: 020 3615 0538 & Kempson (020 8566 2340). By Faye Greenslade
Homes & Property, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street,
Kensington, London W8 5EE
Locked-down buyers in online surge
CORONAVIRUS may have brought
London’s property market to a
standstill — but it has not killed it off
altogether.
The sector’s professional body, ARLA
Propertymark, has been told estate
agents do not count as “essential
businesses” and should close their
offices immediately. Physical viewings
and house moves are also banned
following Boris Johnson’s lockdown
announcement on Monday.
But online viewing activity is starting
to surge as millions of stay-at-home
workers browse property portals, in Take a virtual which is used by London agents such
the same way that they do in the days tour: Matterport as Foxtons, Strutt & Parker and
after Christmas. 3D tech, used by Winkworth, said requests for its
Huge leaps in virtual viewing agents including property scanning service soared more
technology have made it far easier for Strutt & Parker, than sevenfold in the past week. Actual
potential buyers or tenants to take allows for realistic completed scans, with features such as
remarkably realistic “walk-through” “walk-through” letting viewers take measurements of
tours of properties. James Morris- online viewings rooms, are up more than 80 per cent.
Manuel, vice-president of 3D virtual
viewing tech company Matterport, Read Jonathan Prynn’s full story at homesandproperty.co.uk
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH 2020 3
homesandproperty.co.uk powered by News | Homes Property
Macca gave Heather
this room with a view
A RIVERSIDE apartment previously
owned by Sir Paul McCartney and
ex-wife Heather Mills, right, is for sale.
According to Paul McCartney: The
Biography, by Philip Norman, the
Golf-and-Gagosian flat could make Tiger purr
former Beatle gifted cash to Mills to
buy the two-bedroom apartment in AN APARTMENT that comes with its own rooftop golf
the exclusive Thames Reach course is for sale above the Gagosian gallery in Mayfair.
development, below right, so she The two-bedroom home opens directly on to an expanse
could use it as an office. of turfed garden, pictured, featuring a driving range and
Designed by starchitect Richard lawns with teeing areas, fairways and putting greens.
Rogers, the flat in Rainville Road, W6, The second-floor apartment is in Grosvenor Hill Court, an
a short walk from Hammersmith and iconic nine-storey modernist building. Golfing stars such as
Fulham’s amenities, boasts lovely, Tiger Woods, right, Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy must be
PHOTOGRAPHS: BBC, GETTY
far-reaching views of the Thames from as much at a loose end as the rest of us just now, with
its roomy living space and open-plan major tournaments suspended in the effort to halt
kitchen, above. There’s concierge and the spread of coronavirus — so they might
security on site, while a good selection like to start online shopping for their new
of bars and pubs lines the adjacent London residence.
Thames Path, for when social The flat’s for sale at £3.25 million
distancing ends. It is listed with Marsh through Mayfair specialist estate
& Parsons for £1,275,000. agents, Wetherell.
Homes Serve
Chat show favourite slides off to
the country to work from home gossip brunch
for one
at the
By Amira Hashish bikers’
Got some gossip?
Tweet @amiranews place
SI KING and Dave Myers, aka The £900,000. They cooked for their
Hairy Bikers, below, are usually TV show in the 1,036sq ft
inseparable but coronavirus means open-plan kitchen. The flat caught
they are cooking their dishes from their attention after being
their respective kitchens and sharing remodelled with Fifties units by
them only on Instagram.com/ Paul Metalcraft, the company with
HairyBikers. a pedigree going back to Spitfire
A Shad Thames warehouse flat, component manufacture.
above, used by the dynamic duo as a The bedroom is one of very few
filming location in the days before in the area where you can watch
self-isolation, is on the market for boats glide along the Thames.
There is also a good-sized balcony
and the flat comes with
AMERICA’S top talk show hosts are turning their homes into permission to moor a small
late-night TV studios during lockdown. Jimmy Fallon, boat on the dock below.
Jimmy Kimmel and Ellen DeGeneres are among stars It is on Hamptons’ books
making at-home editions of their programmes. for £900,000.
It offers a rare glimpse into their interior design choices
— and the home of Fallon and his film-maker wife Nancy
Juvonen, left, looks the most fun. Fallon’s main filming
spot, with Juvonen on camera duty, is their ranch-style
games room and play area with a pool table, popcorn
machine and musical instruments. Instead of stairs there’s a
slide, which Fallon whooshes down at the end of each show.
He paid £4.9 million for the 19th-century six-bedroom
farmhouse, above, in the Hamptons nine years ago as a
retreat from New York City. There’s plenty of outdoor space,
where Fallon filmed one show in a giant tent he bought
online. With social distancing in full flow and a young family
to entertain, he seems very grateful for his country escape.
4 WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH 2020 EVENING STANDARD
Homes Property | New homes
Loving the
Lea Valley
Four new town centres with 100,000
new homes on a transformed East End
waterfront can meet a fifth of the city’s
housing needs, discovers Anna White
HE ancient Lea Valley, once space and provide significant
T dubbed London’s “privy,
workshop and backyard”, is
being transformed into a
13-mile stretch of modern
urban waterfront with more than
100,000 new homes and four new
town centres, all helping, long term,
housing,” says Nick Whitten, head of
residential research at JLL.
BUILDING ON AN
INDUSTRIAL LEGACY
The River Lea rises on Lea Common
in Bedfordshire and runs 50 miles to
to lead the city out of the coronavirus the Thames. Often described as
crisis. London’s forgotten river, it was
Running from Ponders End in teeming with trade as early as the 11th
Enfield down to the Thames at Bow century when its flowing waters were
Creek, and along the edge of the used to power flour mills and to
10,000-acre Lee Valley Regional Park, transport timber.
the area accounts for just three per In 1878, the Gas, Light and Coke
cent of the Greater London footprint, Company laid out a small factory
yet its pipeline of residential schemes town at Bow Common with terrace
is set to form a fifth of the capital’s streets, factories and a school. Only
new homes over the next 20 years. the warehouses remain. The east
A new report by property group JLL bank was home to the Thames
reveals that a 105,300 homes will be Ironworks which built HMS Warrior,
built along the Lea Valley by 2040, the first iron-clad battleship.
with 23,500 homes due to complete “The area became one of intense busy roads. There are pockets of Above: bounded centres, adds Tottenham Hale,
within the next five years. noisy, smelly activity where factories silence before paths branch off in to by water on two Ponders End and Lea Bridge as local
The former industrial basin is one of produced toxic chemical products to bustling urban areas such as Stratford sides, Sugar House districts set for major growth.
the most sparsely populated areas of supply the world with paint, varnish, and Walthamstow. Island in E15
London but housing density will printing ink, oil, gum, resins, soap It is home to Edmonton EcoPark covers 26 acres. Meridian Water: Enfield council is
change from 1,600 homes per square and glue,” a report by Historic which burns rubbish from seven Forty per cent of leading a £6 billion, 20-year
kilometre to 2,500. England reads. London boroughs to generate the new flats and regeneration scheme over 86 acres
“The regeneration of the Lea Valley Today, this special stretch of London electricity for the National Grid, while houses will have with the developer Vistry Partnership.
presents a huge opportunity to make is where industry meets wilderness its 13 reservoirs supply London with three or more The first phase of homes is being
full use of its waterways and green and overgrown towpaths run under much of its drinking water. bedrooms built around the new train station and
the second will bring 250 affordable
NEW WATERSIDE TOWNS homes and a makers’ workspace.
The JLL report highlights four new The north London council wants to
town centres that are coming to the From £376,500: create a “24-hour” scene with theatre,
Lea Valley: Bow Creek & Aberfeldy below, homes by pubs, restaurants and live music
Village, TwelveTrees at West Ham, Mount Anvil and venues while a new boulevard will
Sugar House Island and Meridian Peabody at Three connect to the Lee Valley Regional
Water. Waters, where Park over the waterways.
“Over the next 20 years, Lea Valley Bow Creek, the
prices are forecast to rise by more River Lea and Sugar House Island: planning
than 90 per cent,” says Whitten, who, Limehouse Cut permission was received only last
in addition to the four new urban meet in E3 week for a new two-form entry
primary school which will accompany
1,200 homes on the Three Mills River.
There will be new riverside walks and
bridges as Sugar House Island, a short
walk to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic
Park, is bounded by water on two
sides. The one-, two- and three-
bedroom flats and three- and
four-bedroom mews homes will be
set around garden courtyards.
Global publisher Phaidon will be the
first business to relocate to the
624,000sq ft of office space. The first
phase of rental homes will launch this
year.
TwelveTrees at West Ham: Berkeley
Homes is due to start construction
work transforming dead car parks
between West Ham station and
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH 2020 5
homesandproperty.co.uk powered by New homes | Homes Property
Left: flats at
London City Island
in E14 start at
£535,000
Right: Sugar
House Island near
Queen Elizabeth
Olympic Park will
be a new
community, with
1,200 flats
including rentals, a
new school and
624,000sq ft of
workspace
PHOTOGRAPHS: JACK HOBHOUSE, JONATHAN PERUGIA/GAIA VISUAL LTD, PRECONSTRUCT 2016
From £316,500: apartments in 21-storey Lock 17,
overlooking the River Lea at Tottenham Hale
Bromley-by-Bow. The TwelveTrees
scheme will comprise 3,800 rental WHERE TO BUY NOW
and sales homes, retail and office
space and 26 acres of green space Gallop to Blackhorse Road
with new bridges that run from the
site over the railway to West Ham
train station. Early estimates put the WALTHAMSTOW has long appealed to
starting price of its studios below the first-time buyers who head there after
£400,000 mark. renting in Hackney where they cannot afford
to buy, says Saima Razaq of Foxtons.
Bow Creek & Aberfeldy Village: But this trend has pushed up prices. Better
Developer Ecoworld, with architects value can be found along Blackhorse Road,
Levitt Bernstein, have redeveloped where a two-bedroom Victorian terrace can
the post-war Aberfeldy housing estate be had for about £550,000. Razaq recently
on a pocket of self-contained land sold a four-bedroom period house there,
between the A12, A13 and the River with exposed brickwork, bifold doors,
Lea. Disused warehouses have been extension and a garden, for £706,000.
made good and new routes will link “This area was lacking lifestyle but that is
the site to the outside world. One- and starting to come along now,” she says, citing
two-bedroom homes are on sale, the popular Blackhorse Workshop, a café
from £415,000. Call 020 3993 9158. with creative space that runs metalwork and
Mount Anvil and Peabody are woodwork courses.
creating 300 homes at the Three Cycling lanes are being created along the
Waters scheme as part of Bow Creek stretch, too, which will flow into the 26 miles
regeneration. Prices start from of existing bike paths throughout the valley.
£376,500 for a studio flat. Call 020 Lock 17 at Tottenham Hale overlooks the
7776 5755. River Lea and a park called The Paddock.
London City Island in Bow Creek, a Two new pedestrian bridges will link to the
new neighbourhood on the site of an Lee Valley Regional Park. Homes in the
old margarine factory, offers flats, 141-unit 21-storey tower start from £316,500
cafés and restaurants, an arts club through JLL. Call 020 3553 6811.
and gardens with an outdoor For those who want to buy in the well-
swimming pool and new HQ for established Olympic town of Stratford, L&Q
English National Ballet and London has launched 22 one- to three-bedroom
Film School. Prices start from shared-ownership homes in the Stratford
£535,000. Call 020 3944 1610. Works scheme, part of the wider Chobham
Good Luck Hope is the Farm 1,000-home masterplan.
neighbouring scheme. Prices at the Prices start from £93,750 for a 25 per cent
collection of warehouse-style one-, share of a one-bedroom apartment. Visit
two- and three-bedroom apartments lqhomes.com/newstratfordworks for more
and townhouses start from £390,000. information.
Call 020 3993 9158.
6 WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH 2020 EVENING STANDARD
Homes Property | Interiors
Left: the versatile Right: the
String workstation SKARSTA sit/
system in white stand desk, £215,
with white floor from Ikea (ikea.co.
panels, from £72 uk)
(johnlewis.com;
utilitydesign.co.uk)
Right: a String
system chest with
two drawers in
oak with black
panels, from £42
(utilitydesign.
co.uk)
Work
from home
Bedsits, flats and houses must adapt to
a raft of new round-the-clock needs,
says Barbara Chandler
HERE’S been a run on small at £150. Three-drawer storage units
T inexpensive desks — “not as
bad as toilet rolls, but
definitely an upsurge,” says
Robert Pearce, director of
the Futon Company, where a mini
desk costs £99. Equally compact is its
oak Zed standing desk — good for a
start from £90. Blue Spot Furniture
has its own factory in Yorkshire —
and a website packed with advice
(bluespotfurniture.com). “Meticulous
measuring up” is the mantra: “Use
masking tape to outline a proposed
desk’s footprint on the floor.”
multi-tasking parent doing quick
screen checks (futoncompany.co.uk; Cables typically are spaghetti
promotions change weekly). junction, so good desks have “cable
Habitat’s desk sales, meanwhile, are management” while printers and
up 70 per cent for some models in the keyboards can now be wireless. Find
past two weeks. The Cato, at £150, has neat ways to organise your cables at
proved a big seller (habitat.co.uk). officereality.co.uk. A wifi booster/
extender can fix poor wifi — all is
For more serious desks, visit SCP in explained at mobilesignalboosters.
Shoreditch where featured designers co.uk
include Matthew Hilton, Sarah Kay,
PearsonLloyd and Terence Woodgate A half-size classic Anglepoise lamp
with prices from £499 to £2,500. Find can plug into a USB port and costs
dozens of genuine vintage models £99 from John Lewis or SCP (as
from £300 at PAMONO (pamono.co. before). Find cordless rechargeable
uk; 0203 1371 002). For a handmade lights and a huge choice of desks at
industrial style in wood and metal, try Wayfair (wayfair.co.uk). You’ll also
Steel Vintage in Bristol (steelvintage. need a chair which properly supports
com; 01454 413 329). your body. Inevitably these are not
An affordable icon is the String wall very homely, so add a sheepskin or a
storage system, designed in 1949 by a small throw.
pair of architects as shelving for a
public library. Its minimalist ladders What about your routine? “Designing
can support storage and a desk your life is as important as designing
(johnlewis.com; utilitydesign.co.uk). your space,” says Will Knight,
Visit stringfurniture.com/build-your- currently consultant to the London
own and find an online planner. Design Fair and previously of London
Well-established Office Reality Design Festival and 100% Design.
(officereality.co.uk) has basic desks “Get up, have breakfast, shower and
from about £110 with corner models change into something more than
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH 2020 7
homesandproperty.co.uk powered by Interiors | Homes Property
Left: the San
Francisco Ash
“smart” charging
desk has a QI
wireless charger
hidden under its
white glass top,
two USB ports
and Bluetooth-
compatible stereo
speakers. Price is
£399.99 from
Wooden Furniture
Store (wooden-
furniture-store.
co.uk)
Right: MICKE
desk £70, KALLAX
shelving unit, £75
at Ikea (ikea.com)
pajamas. Have a routine, with family Above: Cato sage renters, was reissued recently with
time factored in. I really would hate green compact the new title of Insta Style for Your
now to be tied to an ‘office’, though a desk, left, and Living Space (£9.99, Cico Books). It’s
getaway space is useful.’’ Before you Kirby desk, both packed with creative ideas to negate a
go stir-crazy, “get up and stretch £150 (habitat.co. “soulless cubicle”.
regularly and exercise, go the park, go uk) Thornhill’s ideas for desks include a
for a run”. flush door placed on two trestles,
Sabine Zetteler, whose east London glass on top of it cut to size, perhaps;
agency is listed this year as a best or an old kitchen table with useful
company to work for by The Dots drawers; or a foldaway drop-leaf
social network (the-dots.com), set up table. Storage boxes could be vintage
remote working for her five staff two or wicker crates, old mini trunks (try
weeks ago. She sent them home with Made.com) or big woven
a “care package” of an office light, shopping baskets.
stationery, books and coffee.
Add some artwork. Museum
Don’t forget that video posters are not expensive and
conferencing puts your plants add a feel-good factor.
home on show. Cara Ward, Helen Maxfield, assistant
of PuRe PR, foresaw events buyer at John Lewis, gives
three weeks ago, and put IT more tips on its website.Just
systems in place for her published is Mad About the
staff of 20, with home House: 101 Interior Design
access via VPN, Answers by podcaster/blogger
underpinned by Kate Watson-Smyth (Pavilion, £20).
WhatsApp, Skype and Zoom. She chats about where to site your
“Video calls to clients need an home office: in a spare bedroom if
uncluttered spot — no views of you have that luxury. She has ideas
unmade beds or piles of dirty dishes.” about desks to store in a wardrobe, if
Baskets and boxes can keep things it’s not stuffed with clothes. So use
under control. this time as an opportunity to
declutter.
“You get style freedom
when you work from
home,” says author Match it to your colour scheme:
Joanna Thornhill, whose Kartell Maui Soft Swivel Armchair,
2014 Home for Now, a £514. Available in a range of shades
popular décor manual for — this is Acid Green (amara.com)
8 WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH 2020 EVENING STANDARD
Homes Property | Renting
A renter’s guide: Walthamstow E17 homesandproperty.co.uk
powered by
‘Lockdown’s okay… so far’
PICK OF THE RENTALS
Housemates forced into togetherness make it work
with takeaways and film nights. By Prudence Ivey
ORONAVIRUS has cast a housemates because we’re all at home Blessed with
C whole new light on group
living, with housemates
thrust together day and
night as they work from
home and stay in at evenings and
weekends — indefinitely.
Paddy Vipond, 30, who shares with
and we gravitate towards each other’s
company in the evenings much more.
We’ve had a few takeaways, we’re
going to do exercises together at
certain times of day, have games
nights and film nights.
“It’s early days, maybe we’ll end up
three friendly
housemates:
Paddy Vipond pays
£770 a month
including bills at
his E17 rental
houseshare
£322 a week: a two-bedroom flat
with a shared garden in Fleeming
Road, Walthamstow, available now
through Portico (020 8012 1526).
three housemates in Walthamstow, ripping each other’s heads off.” Right: Paddy
counts himself lucky. Not only is he Originally from South Wales, Paddy brightens his room
salaried and therefore more has lived in his current house for 18 with house plants
financially secure than freelance or months, the longest he’s lived from Bloom of the
hospitality workers, he can do his job anywhere since moving out of his Block in Hoe St,
from home fairly easily, even if he is family home. He estimates that he’s Walthamstow
confined to his bedroom for a large lived in 26 rental homes in the last
part of the week. five years, thanks to a love of travel £333 a week: an unfurnished
Renters like Paddy may be reassured and a knack of leaving things to the Photographs: three-bedroom house in a Victorian
by the Government’s promise to last minute. terrace in Netley Road, E17. Through
protect them from eviction for three His time has been divided between Adrian Lourie Portico (020 8012 2586).
months if they cannot pay their rent Brighton, Nepal, Turkey and Guyana,
due to the virus. However, as a direct with interim periods spent all over the housemates made a goodbye trip to a be a Tamil or Sri Lankan wedding and
marketing manager for the charity UK. But, with friends pressuring him quiz at their favourite local pub The they’ll be pulling a statue down the
Freedom From Torture, Paddy is well to move to London and the offer of an Bell before social distancing middle of the road and burning
aware that not all renters are as interesting job, he finally decided to commenced. While they’re now incense and playing music. You look
fortunate as him and his housemates move to the capital for the first time. entertaining themselves at home, he out of your window and there’ll be a
during the crisis. Paddy pays £770 a month including recommends vegan curry house multicoloured procession just
He says: “We work with survivors of bills for the second-best room in the Spice Box and Yard Sale Pizza. walking down the street and all the
torture, most of whom live in rented house. “I’ve got two windows, room to Cultural life: last year’s London traffic stops, which is really cool.”
accommodation, often relying on swing a cat. The housemates are all Borough of Culture, Walthamstow is Green space: Lloyd Park is “a stone’s
food banks. It’s very concerning what really friendly and this house was by arty and multicultural, so there’s throw” from Paddy’s house and he often £1,000 a month: a part-furnished
they’ll do if they can’t get food, attend far the nicest of all the ones I saw.” plenty to see and do locally. Paddy goes there with his housemates to play one-bedroom flat in Orford Road, in
a therapy session if they get ill, or Commuting: the commute to his says: “Every couple of weeks there’ll football or Frisbee. popular Walthamstow Village.
can’t self-isolate where they live. “bedroom office” is minimal, but Through Your Move (020 8012 2307).
“Meanwhile, the biggest change for Paddy chose Walthamstow as it’s on
me has been seeing a lot more of my the Victoria line and convenient for WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY For the ideal
the Finsbury Park office where he is
usually based. Although he lives a
10-minute walk from Walthamstow
Best streets: Walthamstow Village is
the most popular spot, with streets
Downsides: “Walthamstow branch
had the longest rental contracts drawn
work/life balance,
RENTING IN WALTHAMSTOW
(Average renting costs per month)
Central Tube station, his commute is
just 25 minutes door to door.
around Orford Road — the “high
street” — commanding a premium on
up across the whole of Foxtons,” says
Stan. “The average new tenancy
start your rental
One-bedroom flat £1,190 Retail therapy: Paddy is a big fan of rents, says Stan Fung, lettings manager agreement was 21 months and some search on
Two-bedroom flat £1,429 Bloom of the Block where he buys of Foxtons Walthamstow. His local tip renters sign for as much as three years,
Two-bedroom house £1,587 house plants every couple of months is to rent near Walthamstow Central so it can be quite hard to find a place to
Three-bedroom house £1,851 for his house and bedroom. He has station, for convenient commuting. rent because people stay put.”
Four-bedroom house £2,161 also bought his mother presents from
Source: Rightmove.co.uk the William Morris Gallery gift shop. For more on renting in Walthamstow and for our renting guides
Eating and drinking: Paddy and his to other areas, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/renting
10 WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH 2020
Homes Property | My home
A house for all seasons
Max Taylor’s father advised him to live in his tired
Victorian terrace house in Camberwell for a year
before gutting and extending it, to discover how LIVER LEECH ARCHITECTS, a young
O
specialist studio based in Wandsworth,
changing natural light catches the rooms from has transformed a wisteria-clad mid-
terrace Victorian house in Camberwell
spring through to winter. By Liz Hoggard with ground-floor, side and rear exten-
sions. A palette of raw, natural materials
— exposed brickwork, timber and
concrete — respects the patina of the
original house, creating a sympathetic relationship between
old and new.
The light-filled ground-floor extension stretches into the
garden, blending indoor and outdoor space. Here a scrappy,
paved patch has been turned into a trellis-lined, urban oasis,
set with a garden bench and planters of lavender. “To be
honest, I’m not hugely green-fingered,” admits the owner,
Max Taylor, an advertising executive. “But it looks and smells
great and it is low-maintenance.”
When Max bought the two-storey house in 2015, it was in
poor condition, with little natural light and a cramped
kitchen. “I was looking for something with character that I
could do up in a few years’ time. Dad gave me some good
advice. He said, ‘You should live in a house for all seasons
before doing work to it, to see where the light catches and
what spots you want to be in.”’
After living in the property for three years, Max knew he
wanted to redesign the house to provide new cooking and
eating spaces facing out on to the garden. “I noticed the old
side return got amazing light in the summer, so when I was
speaking to Oliver, I said, ‘When we build the kitchen exten-
sion, we must keep this area open to catch the evening sun’.”
He also wanted to maximise open-plan living to provide
more usable space and a calm atmosphere. Work began in
September 2018.
Max moved out for six months while the house was stripped
back to a shell, extended and internally rebuilt.
Leech’s aim was to maximise the height of the new exten-
sions and introduce large glazed openings. “Natural light is
a very easy and inexpensive thing to make the most of,” he
says.
The side extension provides extra width to the previously
narrow kitchen, with pitched skylights overhead. White oiled
Douglas fir was combined with pale buff bricks to provide a
subtle contrast with the existing London brickwork. A rear
extension with a high ceiling projects slightly further into
the garden, framing a set of white-oiled Douglas fir bi-folding
doors across a low-height window seat that has pull-out
drawers for extra storage. The bespoke seat, formed in cast
stone, is flexible, in that the bi-fold doors fully retract and
you can sit facing the kitchen, or with your legs lolling into
the garden.
The bespoke-built kitchen, designed by the architects,
continues the use of exposed raw materials, with a polished
concrete countertop and sink to match the grey microcement
kitchen floor.
Domestic touches warm up the pared-back design. No true
whites have been used on walls and ceilings. Rich green units
with circular handle detail run along the left side of the Above: Max Taylor
kitchen. “The green band of the planting in the garden con- at his made-over
tinues through the kitchen,” says Leech. There’s underfloor home in
heating, while Tala pendant lights hang over the long wooden Camberwell. Rich
table in the side extension. green kitchen units
continue the green
The materials used for the extension continue through into band of garden
the patio, with buff clay pavers laid in herringbone bond, planting
surrounded by white-oiled timber boundary screens. “We Left: the
got rid of the steps to the garden and made it all one level,” low-maintenance
says Max. garden is planted
In the reception areas at the front of the house, original with lavender
timber floors have been sanded back and oiled, and a muted Right: a cast-iron
colour palette employed on walls and ceilings. The dark, bath and a walk-in
narrow hallway has been opened up to expose the original shower, with
wall structures, which creates extra light. “We kept the old plaster bathroom
timber studwork to retain some of the history of the house,” walls left exposed
says Leech. and sealed for a
The front room has been turned into a “chill-out space”, textural finish
with sofas, rugs and a film projector to screen movies. This
leads into Max’s reading room. “Max told us he wanted a
space to hand-write letters,” says Leech. Upstairs there are Photographs:
20 new windows in Max’s bedroom. In the bathroom, he now Juliet Murphy
EVENING STANDARD 11
homesandproperty.co.uk powered by My home | Homes Property
SUPPLIERS
Bricks: Wienerberger (wienerberger.co.uk)
Pitched skylights: Standard Patent Glazing Company
(patent-glazing.com)
Aluminium windows: Velfac Ltd (velfac.co.uk)
Timber windows: Capital Joinery (capitaljoinery.
co.uk)
Cast-stone lintels, window seat: Albion Architec-
tural Concrete (albionart.co.uk)
Microcement floor: The Micro Cement Company
(themicrocementcompany.co.uk)
Bathroom tiles: Parkside Designs (parkside.co.uk);
Claybrook Studio (claybrookstudio.co.uk)
Sanitaryware: Bathroom Discount Centre (bathdisc.
co.uk); Lusso Stone (lussostone.com); Cast Iron Bath
Company (castironbath.co.uk)
Lighting: Mr Resistor (mr-resistor.co.uk); Muuto
(muuto.com); Flos (flos.com); Heal’s (heals.com);
Workstead (workstead.com); Tala (tala.co.uk)
Switches and sockets: Focus SB (focus-sb.co.uk)
Ironmongery: Homebits (homebits.co.uk); M Marcus
(m-marcus.com)
Kitchen: Furniture Factory (furniturefactoryltd.com)
Kitchen Fittings: Neff (neff-home.com); Franke
(franke.com)
Kitchen worktop: stoneworktop.co.uk
Paint: Paint & Paper Library (paintandpaperlibrary.
com)
has a cast-iron bath in front of the window and a walk-in
shower. Plastered walls were left exposed and sealed to cre-
ate a textural finish.
“Max’s brief was that he wanted a contemporary home, but
he didn’t want to lose any sense of comfort and warmth,” says
Leech, who founded his studio, specialising in small to medi-
um-scale residential architecture, in 2016.
Max says he loves living with the seasons. “The way the light
hits the timber beams in the kitchen, and then refracts around
the extended kitchen is amazing.”
He has hung photos and artworks, but at certain times of
the day the sunlight creates beautiful graphic patterns on
the wall. “You hardly need the lights on in this room, even at
10pm. I enjoy just sitting in silence in the space that’s been
created.”
PROJECT cost: £204,000
TEAM architect and interior designer: Oliver Leech
Architects (oliverleech.com)
STRUCTURAL engineer: Croft Structural Engineering
(croftse.co.uk)
PRINCIPAL contractor: Firfield Construction (firfield.co.uk)
LANDSCAPING: Anderson Woods (andersonwoods.co.uk) 2122 WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH 2020 EVENING STANDARD
12 WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH 2020 EVENING STANDARD
Homes Property | Property searching
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Spotlight on powered by
East Sheen STATS CHECK
What homes cost
Here is a magnet for families who seek
large houses, top-rated schools and BUYING IN EAST SHEEN
(Average prices)
the closest thing to country living One-bedroom flat £376,890
Two-bedroom flat £581,367
in London. By Anthea Masey Two-bedroom house £769,444
Three-bedroom house £915,434
Four-bedroom house £1.44 million
ANDWICHED between its
S better-known neighbours
Barnes and Richmond, the
wealthy, leafy suburb of East
Sheen is a magnet for
families, who will be raring to enjoy
all it has to offer again when
coronavirus constraints ease.
In East Sheen today,
Rightmove has 133
homes to BUY and
46 to RENT
RENTING IN EAST SHEEN
(Average rates)
One-bedroom flat
Two-bedroom flat
Two-bedroom house
Three-bedroom house
£1,315 a month
£1,787 a month
£2,025 a month
£3,032 a month
Fans of East Sheen — referred to by Four-bedroom house £3,230 a month
locals simply as Sheen — point to the Source: Rightmove
open spaces of Richmond Park; the
quick commute into Waterloo for City
workers; “outstanding” state primary
schools and a long high street along
Upper Richmond Road with a good
choice of chain stores and here from Clapham, Battersea and
independent shops. Wandsworth to get a bigger house
Estate agent Michael Randall, with a bigger garden.”
manager of the local branch of Savills, In Victorian times East Sheen was
has been selling homes in East Sheen home to the mega-rich who built their
for 23 years. He says it is the closest mansions in the roads around
thing to country living in a town and Richmond Park. Few of these houses these days sell for up to £2 million. Space to stroll safely: 52-acre Sheen priced £9.95 million. There was little
though not much has changed survived for more than 50 years. Most Two of the most interesting large Common, at the heart of East Sheen, is scope for building new homes in the
generally over the years, apart from were demolished between the wars Victorian houses to survive are The adjacent to Richmond Park, London’s area until the Stag Brewery shocked
house prices, the high street has and replaced with smaller family Cottage in Christchurch Road and largest public green space at 2,360 acres the neighbourhood. The controversial
greatly improved. “Families move houses in a variety of styles which The Halsteads in Fife Road. Both are Stag Brewery site is on the river in
early works by the architect Sir Arthur 1863. The tower was rebuilt, nearby Mortlake. This development
Good mix: like Blomfield. The Cottage, which he apparently poor workmanship was in Lower Richmond Road promises a
every British built for himself, has now been blamed and Blomfield was new village heart for Mortlake with
shopping centre divided into two homes, while The exonerated. 633 new homes, a 1,300-pupil
it’s quiet for now, Halsteads has a unique place in Another East Sheen house with a secondary school, a hotel and cinema.
but Upper building history. It was one of the first story is Percy Lodge, also in Fife Road, There will be a new high street and
Richmond Road concrete-built houses and though it once the home of the late broadcaster the scheme, designed by award-
West blends high was designed by Blomfield it was built David Jacobs. Dating from 1740 it is winning architects Squire and
street chains and by Joseph Tull, one of the inventors of the only surviving Georgian house in Partners, will open up new vistas of
independent concrete shuttering. East Sheen and was built as a hunting the river and include the conversion
shops Blomfield also designed East lodge by Hugh Percy, Duke of of the imposing Victorian maltings
Sheen’s Christ Church with its Northumberland. In the Twenties it building. Richmond council gave the
distinctive square tower, before was saved from demolition by the go ahead in January, despite
becoming one of the leading church architect of Art Deco cinemas Robert opposition from local groups such as
architects of the late Victorian age. It Atkinson who built The Mall, a private the Mortlake Brewery Community
Photographs: was a wonder his reputation survived road of detached neo-Georgian Group, which argued the scheme was
the collapse of Christ Church tower in houses in the grounds. Percy Lodge overbearing, will put unacceptable
Daniel Lynch the days before it was due to open in was last on the market six years ago, pressure on local infrastructure and
do nothing to improve traffic flow.
The scheme now awaits a decision
from Mayor of London Sadiq Khan,
WHAT THERE IS TO BUY who may well demand more
affordable housing be included.
TRANSPORT
£775,000 £825,000 £2.3 MILLION THE South Circular road runs through
TWO-BEDROOM, two-bathroom flat with private A THREE-BEDROOM terrace house, refurbished OFF-STREET parking and a 120ft garden come with this East Sheen along Upper Richmond
garden and secure off-street parking in Hanson and with a neat courtyard garden, in Trehern five-bedroom, three-bathroom house in Fitzgerald Avenue, Road. There are two train stations —
Close, SW4. Marsh & Parsons (020 8012 0283). Road, SW14. Call Chestertons (020 8115 2517). SW14. Through Winkworth (020 8012 3586). North Sheen and Mortlake — with
services to Waterloo that take around
half an hour. Both stations are in Travel
To find a home in East Sheen, visit rightmove.co.uk For more area guides, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/area-guides Zone 3 and an annual travelcard to
22 Zone 1 costs £1,696.You can also read
