The Telegraph visits wooden floor specialist Eelke Bles's Spitalfields loft, a genuinely remarkable converted shmatte trade sweat shop, which he used to store wood for a while before converting for domestic use. He now lives there, alongside offices and a furniture showroom. What's so remarkable about the story is his hands on approach, from design, to actually making much of the furniture. He's a talented chap. Read it, here.

Technorati Tags: architecture, design, interiors, London, property, real estate

A downturn in the commercial property sector is being blamed for a possible delay in the construction of 20 Fenchurch Street's Rafael Vinoly-designed "walkie-talkie" skyscraper. Developers Land Securities posted its first annual loss, yesterday, in almost two decades.

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate

Murdoch bought it for £10m, Marcus Cooper's paying £200m for it, but plans to build houses worth £500m on it. It's Wapping, and it's about to enter its next phase of development. More here.

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate

Apparently, the light's "special". It's the George Tavern on Commercial Road. Plans to knock down next door's Stepney's nightclub (mmm, sounds nice) and replace it with affordable housing has left the George's landlady concerned about the future of her pub. Moss and a band of east London fashionistas are also concerned... the pub's also used as an impromptu venue for fashion shoots. Go here for a picture of Moss in a campaigning t-shirt.

Technorati Tags: celebrity, London, property, real estate

In case you're wondering, the criteria:

Relationship to surroundings and neighbourhood.
Response to site constraints and opportunities.
Layout, grouping and landscaping.
Planning of roads and footpaths.
Handling of garages and car parking.
Attention to safety, security and accessibility.
External appearance and internal planning.
Sustainability in construction.
Finishes, detailing and workmanship.

Awards are also made to projects with planning permission but that haven't been built. We're going to look at completed projects.

[image courtesy of Design For Homes]

The Overall Winner is London-based Tabard Square [illustrated], behind London Bridge Station, by architect Rolfe Judd and developer Berkeley Homes. At it's heart: a 22-story tower with a clever built-in barometer... LEDs that change with the weather. There's clever management, too, including a deal with a hotel, resulting in a better, more complete, concierge service for residents. What's more, there are 212 high-quality affordable homes included in the development.

Other London winners are Pimlico's Tachbrook Triangle, by Barratt and Assael Architecture - a hi-tech development that managed to retain and protect an historic and endangered Georgian terrace - and Islington's Melody Lane, by developer London Wharf and architect Julian Cowie - copper-clad townhouses on the site of a former garage.

See the complete list - with illustrations - here.

Technorati Tags: architecture, design, London, property, real estate

Sign up so you can read the subscription-only but very fine Building Design online magazine, and enjoy the story of how Adam Richards Architects helped Clerkenwell-based priest The Reverend Richard McLaren write sermons on his roof-terrace without getting blown away. Inspired by paintings of the Annunciation, the architects designed a wind-break comprising Cold War surplus Geiger counter which translates cosmic radiation into a pattern of 384 flashing LED lights. At this point, if anybody can think of a suitably pithy sign-off, email me; because I'm just enjoying my own state of open-mouthed disbelief. Catch the whole story here.

A music website called Sound Generator reveals that London's famed Astoria, on the Charing Cross Road, has been sold by the Mean Fiddler organisation to property development company Derwent Valley for a reported £24 million. The building could be converted into shops, office space and some residential apartments. Pity. I wonder if there's a way Derwent can design and market the resulting property around the old venue and its history? Unlikely, since they already own significant property around the space they're probably planning something more radical.

Rock'n'roll rental [February 21]
Islington calling [November 3, 2004]

Forget about Celebrity Big Brother, reality TV is about to get interesting in Shoreditch, where the Shoreditch Trust is considering a plan to link up the borough's huge network of CCTV cameras into a giant broadband-linked security channel residents of the borough's housing estates will be able to watch on their tellies. Called Shoreditch Digital Bridge, it will offer viewers a Community Safety Channel, plus a "Usual Suspects" ASBO line-up... a kind of Shoreditch's Most Wanted. Experts foresee problems with privacy rules, but if the plan goes ahead, the Rat and Mouse predicts demand from boroughs right across London, where snooping on the neighbours from the comfort of one's own sofa will surely prove the hit of 2006. More, here.

This is a rare one... a Betterton Street (off Drury Lane) town house with freehold, large rooms and a layout with loads of character. It comes with planning permission for a loft extension and terrace, too. It's with LDG, on the market at £1.25 million, and you'll find particulars here.

Ladies of West Hampstead [September 27]

Remember us featuring the skinny masterpiece back at the very beginning of June? Well it apparently takes more than first prize in the RIBA Future Homes competition (2004), a listing as one of the Independent's Top Ten Modern Buildings (2004) and a Best Building prize in the London Architecture Bienalle (2004) to shift a house so thin you need a crane to hoist in your furniture. So it gets this big feature in the Sunday Times (just posted on the Internet), which tacitly suggests the owner has just decided to let it go. At £1.15 million, there's no mention of a reduction either. That's because there hasn't been one. You can still find the particulars here.