Days after the estate agency firm Savills warned that developers in London were focusing on high-end properties when the biggest need was for affordable homes, it has emerged that an Irish developer is planning to build a 74-storey, 714-apartment skyscraper alongside the Canary Wharf tower in London's Docklands.
Tom Ryan has paid £100m for the site and aims to spend eight times that sum on a tower that will be just seven metres higher than its near neighbour. If planning permission for the vast residential complex is granted – and property experts think it will be – it will result in hundreds of apartments being created complete with some of the finest views over London – and price tags in excess of £10m.
Social housing campaigners and local MPs reacted with dismay on Friday to the news of another prime development in one of the UK's most deprived boroughs.
Darren Johnson, Green party member of the London assembly, said this was the last thing an area with 23,000 people on housing waiting lists needed. "London's property market is only serving the super-rich, leaving crumbs for ordinary Londoners, who have to rent overpriced homes on insecure tenancies or move out of the city altogether," he said.
The site, which sits on Canary Wharf's north-west corner, was sold by Commercial Estates Group, which had permission to build a "mixed-use" tower containing offices, a relatively small number of homes and a hotel. It was originally to have been called Columbus Tower.
Back in 2009 Tower Hamlets council refused planning consent for the project, but a few months later Boris Johnson used his then new powers as mayor to overturn the council's decision. He did so on condition that the developer contributed £4m towards Crossrail, £1m towards affordable housing in the area – but in a separate development – and a further £2m for the local community.
Tower Hamlets, the council in which Docklands is situated, has a declared policy that at least 35% of any housing development has be affordable if built on the same site – or 50% if the "affordable" portion is built elsewhere.
"A lack of affordable housing has become the number-one issue in this borough," said the Labour MP for the area, Jim Fitzpatrick.
"In the mayoral elections Ken Livingstone stood on a platform that would have insisted that 50% of housing built should be social housing. Boris has come along and said anything goes, and this development looks as though it is an example of just that," he said.
Earlier this week, Savills – a company that made its reputation selling some of London's most expensive properties – warned that businesses could be forced out of London because their workforces can no longer afford to live in the capital.
Property experts say the homes in the Hertsmere development, which could include butlers and a hotel, could start at £1m, rising the further up the building they are located. Most are expected to be sold before the foundations are finished.
A spokeswoman for the estate agency Knight Frank said the scheme would appeal to investors from Asia. "The developer will put its most expensive units at the top and that will also appeal to British buyers – and 30% of those in the £10m-plus market are British."
Nicholas Barnes, of the estate agents Chesterton Humberts, said he expected there to be interest from singles and couples working "in financial services in executive positions, or successful traders".
Research by the Tower Hamlets Fairness Commission into housing highlighted the imbalance between the affordable homes needed in the borough and the high-end homes being created. It found Tower Hamlets needed an extra 4,100 affordable homes a year, but only 1,400 were being created. Meanwhile, according to the Land Registry, the borough is in the top 10 for ownership by "overseas incorporated bodies".
Although the average salary in the borough is about £60,000, this is dragged up by relatively a few large City salaries. Some 40% of households live on less than £15,000 a year.
But the company behind the scheme remains undaunted. "We're at a moment in time when residential is something that is very popular in London and we came across a project which we thought was incredibly exciting and in an area where we think has a lot of growth," Richard Berridge, chief operating officer for Ryan Corporation, told Reuters.
The tick list
Underground parking, a spa and gym complex and a concierge service offering hotel-style living are among the must-haves for buyers of London's prime developments.
"Buyers are expecting service," said Tracey Kellett, a buying agent who finds properties for wealthy clients. Their requirements, she says, include "someone to walk the dog, have cars on call to take you to Harrods and pick you up, book restaurants and theatre tickets, and provide catering".
Secure parking for the Lamborghini, a personal steam room and a "panic room" are also on many buyers' lists. "Safe rooms are de rigueur in high-end houses – less so in apartments. However, it reflects the absolute importance of security to these buyers. Security firms with ex-forces staff in‑house are a very good selling point and increasingly commonplace."
While a good local pub may make a res more des to the ordinary buyer, at the top end of the market, developers know that their tenants often want something a bit more exclusive. A spokeswoman for Knight Frank said: "Usually the icing on the cake is a tricked-out communal area – for example, a 'sky lounge' or a residents' club on a high floor."
Original Article
Source: theguardian.com
Author: Hilary Osborne and Miles Brignall
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