The BBC will have one of the best views when it comes to coverege of the Olympics. It has agreed terms with Newham Council to let the top five floors of a tower block on the Carpenters Estate, which is next door to the Olympic Park, much to the concern of the tenants.
More on this story here.
(picture courtesy of Martin Deutsch / Metro.co.uk)
... in California is up for sale. Here's the spec. -
20,000 square foot, three bedroom house and a basketball court... together with 160 acres of land, a helicopter landing pad and two wells.. and seeing as this was a military institute it can also withstand a 5 megaton nuclear blast. More here.
In 2004, 21 Manresa Road in SW3 was launched to the market. The development offered two to four bed apartments, including prime 4 -bed triplex apartments in the region of £9 million.
One of those very same 4 -bed triplexes can now be found on the market for £25 million.
Super-prime market still going strong? I think so.
...Bucking the trend? ...was the name of the NLA's conference I went to this morning. I've been to a number of NLA conferences but not one of them was as rammed as this one, standing room only for the latecomers. So is student housing bucking the trend, in short yes it is. This is the gist of it:
London is the most popular destination for foreign students, period. Bigger than New York, bigger than Sidney and bigger than all the other UK cities put together. Couple that with the fact that it has the highest density of top ranked universities of any city in the world and you have a destination with considerable pulling power. So it's just a case of build it and they will come, right? Sort of.
Developers of student housing are facing three main challenges (apart from competition from other developers) namely, land, location and expectation.
Land, not only the ever decreasing availability of the stuff but increasingly it's suitability for open market residential. Let me explain. The increase in student housing in some London boroughs particularly the inner ones, particularly Southwark, Tower Hamlets and Islington has led to local authorities putting the squeeze on the development of student housing. Why? Because they want to see more open market housing built. The turn of the screw comes in many forms but increasingly it manifests itself as commuted payments in S106s (in lieu of affordable housing) or just plain outright refusals. So developers not only have to find the land, but that land, for whatever reason has to be unsuitable for open market residential accommodation.
Location - not as straightforward as you may think. The perception of London by most overseas students is about the same as that of people who don't live here, Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, West End, Oxford Street etc the very centre in other words. That's their perception and that's where they want to live. Many would consider the likes of Hampstead or Richmond, nice as they are, as very much lesser locations. They're a bit picky in other words, and they can afford to be.
Expectation - here's my imagined tick list of must haves for student accommodation in the not so distant future - central, really central, secure with 24 hour concierge service, in house restaurant, gym, free internet access, laundry service, welfare department, cinema, free pickup from airport, free transport to and from the university, nightclub (too excessive?) etc...etc...you get the drift.
So, can the student resi boom continue to buck the rend? If developers can find the right land, in the right location and continue to meet the students ever increasing levels of expectation, then the answer remains, yes.
Developers frequently offer incentives to prospective buyers, from fitted kitchens, free curtains and even turf (seriously), but this one has to be my favourite, here's the relevant S106 stipulation from a proposed development in Tooting:
As part of the S.106 agreement, earmark £100 for oyster card/cycle purchase for each of the initial occupiers of this development to encourage them to use sustainable travel modes.
So to all you agents out there, if the byer is wavering whip out one of these:
...but I get up again. Order is restored on the canal side path next to the Alta Vista development in Bow. I visited it in November and encountered this act of wanton vandalism:
I passed it a month later and:
It doesn't seem like much but these little fixes can make all the difference, in fact there's a whole theory based around it. And for those of you who didn't get the musical reference in the title, go here for your recommended daily dose of Chumbawamba.
In 2010 I blogged about Sclater Street market just off Brick Lane, and how a mere hundred years ago you could have bought an Elephant there (seriously) and about Telford Homes' Avant-Garde development (social element now complete with works just starting on the private element opposite Rich Mix). I also said that the market was no more, which I thought was the case until yesterday when I received this comment from Robert Green:
"The market has NOT gone, as you WRONGLY state, It still takes place every SUNDAY morning as it has done for hundreds of years, And will continue to do so regardless of any changes that take place around it, Because this market is protected by ROYAL CHARTER, and I should know because my family have been trading from our pitch in SCLATER STREET for 62 years as of 2012".
Sir, we stand corrected!
The Red Book: Residential Development in London 2012 is out now. For the latest outlook on the London market get your FREE executive summary.
