London 2012 Olympics Aquatics Centre architect Dame Zaha Hadid dies aged 65 March 31, 2016 One of the UK's leading architects, Dame Zaha Hadid, has died aged 65. Today Zaha Hadid Architects said Hadid, who is best known for work including the London 2012 Aquatics Centre and the Serpentine Sackler Gallery, died suddenly while being treated in hospital in Miami in the early hours of the morning, after contracting bronchitis earlier this [...]
Why building your dream home is about to become easier March 31, 2016 Fans of Channel Four’s Grand Designs who dream of creating a home from scratch will be one step closer to doing so tomorrow when a new laws encouraging self-build and custom housebuilding come into force. From 1 April, councils in England will have to keep a register of everyone seeking land to build their own home or [...]
Property Entrepreneurs: How Pelican Media built an app to sell City apartments off-plan March 30, 2016 When the luxury apartments at Landmark Place in the City of London were launched in February, their details were presented on a series of iPad Pros. The new tablet had been launched just three months previously, but Tony Nicol could see the benefits of using the new hardware – and set his team racing to [...]
Soz, Osborne: Buy to let stamp duty changes aren’t putting many potential landlords off March 30, 2016 The best laid plans, and all that. It seems George Osborne's attempts to put potential landlords off sinking their cash into buy-to-let properties may not be having quite the desired effect – after new research suggested not many have given up on their plans to buy rental properties. The research, by the Nottingham Building Society, [...]
Property of the Week: The Woolwich mansion where Mike Leigh filmed Mr Turner is up for sale for £3m March 29, 2016 The life of a property developer is rarely glamorous. But for 15 weeks in 2014, Gary Halkyard rubbed shoulders with the great and the good of the British film industry and it was all down to a run-down mansion he'd acquired two years previously. Midway through restoring Rush Grove House in Woolwich, Oscar-nominated director Mike [...]
London house prices: Qataris now own £1bn chunk of Mayfair property – and their favourite addresses are Park Lane, Green Street and Mount Street March 29, 2016 Members of the Qatari royal family, other Qatari nationals and wealth funds now own a £1bn chunk of Mayfair real estate, a new report estimates. Almost a quarter of Mayfair’s 279 acres and over 4,300 residential properties is now dominated by Qataris, prompting estate agent Rokstone to dub the area between Park Lane, Hyde Park and North Row "Qatari [...]
Is this the UK’s most expensive conservatory? Mayfair apartment on sale for £5.6m values garden space at £750,000 March 29, 2016 It might not look like much, but this conservatory and rooftop patio are worth an estimated £750,000 – making it potentially the most expensive garden space in the UK. They are part of a two-bed luxury apartment in Mayfair, which is currently on sale for £5.6m (for a 116-year lease). The 2,212 sq ft south-facing [...]
The Waitrose effect: Living near to the supermarket can double your house price March 21, 2016 We all know that properties near good schools can command higher than average prices – but what about your local supermarket? If you're lucky enough to live within walking distance of a Waitrose, your home is likely to benefit from an uplift to your house price, new research from Emoov claims. It's not clear what [...]
Starwood Hotels & Resorts ventures into Cuba, intending to take over the operations of Hotel Inglaterra, Hotel Quinta Avenida and Hotel Santa Isabel later on this year March 20, 2016 Starwood Hotels & Resorts announced late last night that it was to become the first US-based hospitality company to make its way into Cuba in nearly 60 years, after receiving authorisation from the US Treasury to run three hotels on the islands. The move follows an announcement by President Obama in December 2014 that he [...]
Knight Frank and Markit: London house prices experienced the biggest increase this month March 18, 2016 London house price growth is expected to beat all other regions this month despite a slowdown in the top of the market, new research has shown. Londoners perceived the biggest increase, followed by those in the South East, East of England, Scotland and then the North West. It's slightly surprising given price growth among prime central London properties [...]