Are you cool enough for shell and core? According to Lisa Freedman, writing in today's Times, the opportunity to buy a property in a totally unfinished state is becoming a thing of the past for anybody except the ultra-rich. Us scruffy ordinary people... first of all, we're confused by the space... we tend to underestimate the square footage when it's still just a shell... we don't have the vision to see it complete, and the lenders just don't trust us. If you're rolling in money, however, shell and core is a cool alternative to being told what to like by a developer. The piece mentions a semi-detached shell in Hampstead, presented by Regime Development, that sold for £3.5 million; before inevitably getting into Candy & Candy's 21 Manresa Road development in Chelsea, where the specification doesn't extend far beyond license plate recognition (to operate the car park security gates) and air conditioning. Speaking of Manresa Road... anybody got the inside scoop on who's set to move in?