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12th August 2016
Labour Party leadership contender Owen Smith has pledged to build 70,000 new homes a year in London to help tackle the capital's housing crisis. He said at least half of all the new homes in London would be affordable to help struggling young people and families, and he also vowed to boost housebuilding by 300,000 new homes a year across the country, including 150,000 social homes, for the next four years.
Evening Standard (10/08/2016)
12th August 2016
Living next to a “neighbour from hell” who allows their home to fall into disrepair can knock up to £83,000 off the value of a London home. Houses next door to a “bad neighbour” sell for an average of 8.2%, or £38,717, less than similar homes in their area, a study by insurer Privilege claims. The biggest price drag is being by a home with broken or boarded windows, followed by bad extensions and rubbish in the driveway.
The Daily Telegraph (11/06/2016)
5th August 2016
Barratt London has released the latest phase of its 688-apartment Enderby Wharf development in Greenwich. Homes in the Cook House section of the project all feature a balcony or terrace, with views over either Greenwich, Canary Wharf, or the O2, with many overlooking the Thames. Residents also have access to a crèche, a 24-hour concierge service, an office, a skills and training centre, underground parking and private landscaped gardens. The schemes one, two and three-bedroom apartments and penthouses start at around £425,000, rising to about £800,000. Meanwhile a campaign for a judicial review of the Enderby Wharf planning decision has ended in defeat, with the High Court ruling in favour of Greenwich Council. Questions had been asked as to the local authority’s pollution assessment of the development, centred on the cruise liner terminal on the river.
The Wharf (30/07/2016) News Shopper (03/08/2016)
5th August 2016
The first images of the new homes set to replace Robin Hood Gardens, the brutalist estate in Tower Hamlets on the north side of the Blackwall Tunnel, have been released. Developer Swan Housing Association has enlisted Metropolitan Workshop and Haworth Tompkins to design two towers each, to replace the famed Alison and Peter Smithson-designed buildings. The 268 apartments in the four new mid-size blocks will be offered to local residents first, then to buyers across London three months later, before the sales process is thrown open to all.
Building Design (03/08/2016) Evening Standard (04/08/2016)
5th August 2016
Landowner Daejan has submitted a planning application to Tower Hamlets Council to build two tower blocks at 54 Marsh Wall on the Isle of Dogs, on the site formerly occupied by Natwest. The proposal for two buildings, of 41 and 16 storeys containing 216 homes, is a revised version of plans withdrawn last year after councillors objected to the scale of the build and the possible traffic congestion it could cause. The new plans lower the size of the towers, and reduce the building overhangs.
The Wharf (30/07/2016)
5th August 2016
Buying agents and estate agents are reporting that the new build market has experienced a significant fall in confidence and value after the Brexit vote. Agents are urging buyers to be cautious, especially with property in large-scale new-build schemes in London, amid concerns that it will take years of capital growth to recover the premium paid for purchasing new-build homes in a weak market. Anecdotal evidence suggests sales of new properties worth between £650,000 and £1m in the capital have slowed "considerably", although Richard Donnell, the insight director at the housing research company Hometrack, says outside London the impact has been "almost immaterial, with national housebuilders reporting near-normal market conditions".
The Times (30/07/2016)