Cambium, Southfields property prices: Leafy London townhouses draw buyers south July 23, 2015 Most new homes are built on derelict sites or demolished office blocks, but Cambium in south west London has stronger roots than that. Named after the fine rings of tissue that form around a tree over time, the scheme is centred around a 200-year-old oak in Southfields that’s believed to have been planted by legendary [...]
London Barometer: House prices respond to lack of supply and stamp duty increases July 23, 2015 June saw new instructions decrease by a third year-on-year, while new applicants increased by 50 per cent, but they are clearly registering to prepare for the autumn market. The fact that stock levels remain the same shows that things are somewhat quieter and we have not seen the hoped-for post-Election lift yet. This lift presupposes [...]
Don’t get blue – get into The Grays: New homes in the legal heart of London July 23, 2015 What do you call the area between St Paul’s and Oxford Street? Holborn? An extension of Clerkenwell? Or simply the legal heart of London? Well, estate agents and developers have other ideas that involve turning this Zone One no man’s land into a residential hotspot. The name they’ve chosen for the area is “Midtown”, which [...]
High rise flats by Donatella at Aykon Nine Elms: First homes designed by Versace in the UK July 23, 2015 Battersea Power Station has long cast an imposing shadow on London’s landscape. As one of the city’s most iconic landmarks, in one of its most desirable areas, the regeneration of Battersea has sent developers into a frenzy. Now from the runways of Milan to the walkways of the Thames, one of the world’s most iconic [...]
On the frontline: It’s time for an open debate on housebuilding, not draconian costs July 23, 2015 Ever since Mark Carney took over at the Bank of England, a culture seems to be in play where inference seeks to influence reporting and statistics. And the Chancellor seems to have joined in – sometimes not so subtly. The mission? To maintain some sort of control over the housing market. Political promises and economic [...]
Israel’s property is going sky high: Tel Aviv’s Meier-on-Rothschild tower is a symbol of the city’s rapidly-growing residential market July 23, 2015 The ancient 3,000-year old city of Tel Aviv, which was built during the Ottoman Empire, with its stone houses and narrow streets, is transforming rapidly into one of the most progressive and international destinations on the planet. With an international, young, and stylish crowd, Israel’s largest metropolitan city has a record-breaking number of tech [...]
Film review: No knock-out blow for Southpaw July 23, 2015 Cert 15 | ★★☆☆☆ There’s an exchange that takes place in every boxing movie ever, in which the trainer takes his hot-headed young buck aside, points to his fist and says, “it’s not about this” and then taps his temple and says,“it’s about this.” The message: mind over muscle. Thought over fight. Well, what [...]
Film review: Maggie is a nuanced entry to the zombie canon July 23, 2015 Cert 15 | ★★★★☆ There are no one-liners or knowing winks in this Arnold Schwarzenegger zombie movie; it’s a bleakly plodding, quietly affecting drama that’s not so much interested in moments of terror, but what happens when they subside. On the face of it, the premise is familiar: a “necroambulist” virus that turns people into [...]
Film review: The Legend of Barney Thomson July 23, 2015 Cert 15 | ★★★☆☆ Robert Carlyle’s directorial debut is a grotesque carnival of murder and excess that consistently entertains but eventually trips up on its own wild ambition. It follows the titular Barney, a spiritless Glasgow barber guilty of the only sin that’s beyond redemption in his home-town: having nae banter. When he accidentally murders [...]
Theatre review: American Idiot July 23, 2015 Arts Theatre | ★★☆☆☆ Green Day and musical theatre seem like odd bedfellows until you consider that both are fun, infantile and the kind of thing that no self respecting adult would confess to enjoying. When the two came together for 2010’s Broadway production American Idiot, the show won two Tony awards and a Grammy; [...]
