020 7538 0102
30th September 2016
Architect firm dRMM has submitted plans to convert the East Ham Town Hall Annex into apartments, as part of a 185-home private-rental development.. The annex building on Barking Road, close to Upton Park station and an easy jaunt to Canary Wharf via the Underground and DLR, will provide a total of 37 new homes, along with a ground floor café area and communal courtyard garden. Two new seven-storey tower blocks behind the annex will provide a further 148 new homes. The plans were drawn up at the behest of Newham Council’s Red Door Ventures special purpose vehicle.
Architect’s Journal (28/09/2016)
30th September 2016
Increases in stamp duty have hit property sales and could threaten mayor Sadiq Khan’s ambitions for 50,000 new homes a year in the capital, writes Jonathan Prynn in the Standard. Land Registry data shows a 40% year-on-year dip in the number of homes sold in London in Q2 2016, with this reaching 55% in central London. Mr Prynn says the decline, coupled with Brexit-related uncertainty, has “started to undermine” an encouraging increase in the number of new homes being built.
Evening Standard (23/09/2016)
30th September 2016
Esther Shaw in the Observer highlights an increase in the number of people pooling resources with friends to buy property. She cites My Home Move data showing that the number of single purchasers buying homes has fallen by an average of 4% over the past five years.
The Observer (25/09/2016)
23rd September 2016
Developer Knight Dragon, which has begun work on an £8.4bn, 15,000-home development on the Greenwich peninsula, has unveiled the Optic Cloak, a 49m high perforated aluminium sculpture commissioned by chief executive Richard Margree. Designed by artist Conrad Shawcross, the structure is practical as well as decorative, and will house an energy centre providing hot water and heating for the homes on the 160-acre site – which consequently will not need to be fitted with individual boilers. Mr Shawcross says the exterior of the tower was inspired by Cubist and Op Art techniques, as well as the “Dazzle Ships” used on vessels during the Great War. Knight Dragon has already completed around 2,000 homes on the peninsula, and is expected to complete the project over the next 25 years.
Evening Standard (21/09/2016)
23rd September 2016
The architect behind Greenland Group’s 67-storey, £800m West India Quay-based Spire development – set to be western Europe’s tallest residential tower when complete by 2020 – has explained the decisions that went into shaping the building. HOK’s Larry Malcic says the bronze-shaded metalwork on the tower was chosen to match the aged colours of the nearby Docklands warehouses, while the shape of the building, which has curved edges, was determined by how to get the best natural light to maximise the views, while still creating a dynamic silhouette. Greenland’s marketing office for the apartments opens on October 13th, with suites starting at £595,000.
The Wharf (22/09/2016)
23rd September 2016
Thousands of new homes will be built with rents below market value to help middle-income Londoners save for a deposit to buy their own home, Mayor Sadiq Khan has announced. Visiting a Harlem housing estate on his US trip, he said that under his London Living Rent scheme households earning between £35,000 and £45,000 a year who are currently privately renting could rent a two-bed flat for below £1,000.
Evening Standard (19/09/2016)