Work hard? Live harder in the City’s Brutalist Barbican Estate masterpiece June 11, 2015 When the Barbican was first conceived in the 1960s, it was a utopian ideal for inner city-living. Well ahead of its time, its cutting-edge, controversial architecture interweaved with public gardens, restaurants, shops, cultural destinations and a school. Brutalist architects Chamberlain, Powell and Bon then built four large residential towers that would become the Barbican [...]
Beam Park, Dagenham: London’s getting a new station and 2,000 new homes just 20 minutes from the City June 9, 2015 A new railway station will soon be coming to London after the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, revealed ambitious plans for the regeneration of an area in East London which will also add up to 2,000 new homes in the capital. Beam Park in Dagenham is the last site in London up for grabs as [...]
Royal apartments dubbed the “One Hyde Park of their day” go on sale in London’s Mayfair June 1, 2015 When the Candy Brothers' One Hyde Park development went on sale with the most expensive flats in the world back in 2011, Londoners scoffed at their £65m price tags. But it's not the first time the capital has played host to some of the world's most exclusive apartments: in the early 19th century, the voluminous [...]
Life on the edge: The luxury properties on the outskirts of the City February 19, 2015 Life on the City fringes is set to get a lot more glamorous. Developers are already lining up to capitalise on postcodes in east London that are set to soar once Crossrail arrives in 2018. An area that’s sure to see the benefits is Whitechapel, whose prime addresses will sit 262ft above Aldgate East station. [...]
Redrow heralds record sales and profits after saving on dividend February 11, 2015 HOUSEBUILDER Redrow posted record sales and profits in the first half of the year thanks to the government’s Help to Buy scheme, a rise in house prices and strong demand for new homes. Group revenue in the six months to 31 December jumped by 54 per cent to £560.6m, driven by an 18 per cent [...]
Forget slowing UK house prices, Redrow just doubled its profits February 11, 2015 The figures Redrow, the British housebuilder, has revealed a bumper set of half-year results (to 31 December) this morning, showing revenue up 54 per cent to £560.6m and pre-tax profit up 92 per cent to £91.2m, in a rosy assessment of the market’s demand for new homes. The impressive results allowed the group to double [...]
Inflation report to give clues on rate hike date – London Report February 8, 2015 THE BANK of England’s quarterly inflation report is this week expected to offer an insight into whether historically-low interest rates will be increased this year or next. Howard Archer, of IHS Global Insight, said: “The Bank of England will obviously have to cut its near-term inflation forecasts sharply given that consumer price inflation fell sharply [...]
Property firms’ ads suffer from the Patrick Bateman complex January 8, 2015 You’d think, having seen the reaction to Redrow’s American Psycho-style advert earlier this week, that Berkeley Group might have watched its new ad for One Blackfriars a few more times and thought about whether it would suffer a similar fate. But they didn’t. And it did. Redrow’s ad stars an arrogant (and creepy) City-boy type, [...]
Five hilariously aspirational videos for luxury flats in London January 8, 2015 Developer Redrow has come in for more than a bit of mockery in recent days, after it posted an ad for one of its tower blocks showing a man whose lifestyle seemed suspiciously similar to that of American Psycho character Patrick Bateman. But now Berkeley Group's St George arm has followed suit with an equally weird portrayal [...]
Barratt, Taylor Wimpey and Bellway among 16 national house builders to sign up to government’s Starter Homes initiative December 15, 2014 Some of the UK's biggest property developers have signed up to a new government scheme designed to help first-time buyers get a foot on the ladder. Avant, Barratt, Taylor Wimpey and Bellway are among 16 house builders to have put their name to the scheme, which offers first-time buyers under the age of 40 [...]