I hope Building Design won't mind me quoting at length from architect Andrew Waugh's report on 35 Ramsgate Street in Dalston. It's a mixed use development - some affordable housing, some office space, and the brief demanded that renewable energy should offset 10% of carbon emissions. Waugh set out to beat that target, and take full advantage of the opportunity to build wind energy into the very framework of the building:

We wanted the energy producing/saving mechanics of the building to be an integral part of the design, rather than an afterthought. Wind turbines on the roof or solar panels on the elevations too often look tokenistic and offer a sop to energy generation. Our approach was to integrate the power generation within the building as a first principle of its design, as important as the structure and the weatherproofing.

Waugh built an aerofoil on the edge of the building, on the principle that wind speed increases as it passes around an object.

To capture that energy, our design proposes the use of four helical wind turbines, placed vertically down the spine of the building on the southern side Next, we looked at the surface wind resistance of various forms of cladding. In the end, we opted for glazed terracotta tiles as they will give minimal surface resistance. The tiles also reflect ambient light from the sky, illuminating the north-facing facade.

And does it work?

Dependent on wind speed, the four quietrevolution turbines will generate around 40,000kW hours a year. This is enough to power the lighting, computers, phones, faxes, printers and servers of an 80-person office, or the electrical energy requirement of more than 40 flats. This will save approximately 7 tonnes of CO2 a year.

The Rat and Mouse says congratulations to Mr Waugh. Here's a link to the story, but it's subscription only (hence our extensive quotations). We'd point out, though, that it's free to register, and Building Design is a very fine read.

And it's about time, isn't it? I don't know about you... but the time my cleaners waste cleaning the champagne from my chandeliers. Time which could so easily be better spent spit-polishing my spats. Anyway, the chandelier's by US specialists Schonbek, it's called the Da Vinci and, yes, you bung it in the dishwasher, and, yes, it does look like a giant Christmas tree decoration. I can't find a European dealership right now, but surely something this revolutionary is worth the shipping? (Video, here.)

[via Trendir]

The Telegraph has done a good job of tracking down homeowners who've bagged property bargains by putting up with a bit of extraneous noise, and properties currently for sale which offer more in the way of facilities, if you're prepared to live near a potential disturbance. Like a pub. One that caught my eye is this bright and spacious three-storey home attached to the Queen Elizabeth pub in Bagleys Lane, Fulham. It's being sold by architect Richard Patterson. It comes with three bedrooms, three terraces, a roof garden, courtyard and off-street parking, and it's with KFH, listed at £570,000. Particulars here

Ten reasons why the Fool says it's all going to end in tears:

We overspend.
Our bills are soaring.
Mortgage debt is up.
Unsecured debt is up.
Mortgage equity withdrawal is up.
Wages aren't keeping pace with debt.
Savings are down.
Interest rates are still historically low.
State support is dwindling.
Private mortgage payment insurance is "pants".

It's a rise of 1.3% in September, bringing the annual rate of house price inflation to 8.2%. Which was enough to make Nationwide's Fionnuala Early come over all lyrical. "Just like the weather, the housing market was unseasonably warm in September," she said. More here.

On the road with the property finders [Independent]
Weak mortgage approvals data for August suggest rate rise biting [Reuters]
Blimey - house prices to rise 40% over next five years [Mirror]
Unexpected US home sale recover in August [BBC]
Fourteen per cent of Brits trust estate agents! [Renthusiast]

The Rat and Mouse - hot lights, lube and the London property market

New licensing rules designed to curb the activities of rogue landlords are resulting in a mass withdrawal from the multiple occupancy sector and the early signs of a shortage of affordable housing. Apparently, the RICS report that almost a third of their letting agents report sales of properties as a response, and 15% report landlords altering the internal structure of their buildings to accommodate three tenants or less.

If you're Sven Goran Eriksson and you're still being paid £13,000 a day by the FA to keep your hands of doom off the English game, then you can afford a holiday villa on the island of Koh Samui. According to the Sun, Eriksson (who still hasn't managed to sell his London home), bought off-plan, and the property will benefit from views of the South China Sea.

That's what the RICS predicts. More here.

Halifax call for inheritance threshold to rise to £430,000 [Reuters]
Gordon Brown's speech - even more insultingly banal when written down [Guardian]
Rate rise considered at BofE's September meeting [Forbes]
Third of homeowners expect to work into retirement to pay off mortgage [Reuters]
Lindsay Lohan - less likely she'll be moving to London [Dose]
US property crash - is it on? {Independent]

The Rat and Mouse - because Londoners think about property every three seconds

Congratulations and kudos to Urban Spaces - Green & Co.'s hip home specialists who have officially achieved "Cool Brand Status". They were voted cool by a panel of judges (designers, media-commentators, blah blah) who didn't make any special effort to attend but just happened to be there at the right time, slouching in faded denim and the latest ironic hats, to hand out cool badges to Aston Martin, Alexander McQueen, Jimmy Choo and others. If the arbiters of cool had really known what they were talking about they would have had special cool awards for each and every Rat and Mouse reader. But we know who we are, don't we?

Property group Minerva - damaged by the bankruptcy of the Allders chain - has dropped plans to build the City's biggest skyscraper at St Botolph's House. The company secured planning permission in April 2004 for a 50-storey, 1 million square feet building. Instead, they'll press ahead with a 14-storey office and retail building. More here.

In Islington, "half the people are very rich and the other half are on benefits, and there's no one in between", says our neighbour, a senior executive at the borough council. He exaggerates, but not by much.

Islington goes under the microscope in Australia's The Age. It's the story of that auction of promises to benefit the school, where one parent paid £5,000 for a private performance by Chris Martin, another (Boris Johnson MP apparently) paid £5,000 for tea at the House of Lords and the honour of blowing a wedge on an elaborate joke, and yet (apparently) some parents couldn't afford the £10 entry fee. The piece (written by a parent at the school) goes on to question the conventional wisdom of diversity and the integrated neighbourhood. "Does mixing do anyone any good?" it asks. The answer isn't clear. Except that the real social divide - according to this parent - isn't racial or religious... it's to do with wealth. And there doesn't appear to be much mixing across the divide. Read it here.

Building Design (sorry, subscription only) carries the interesting story of how the Architects Registration Board (ARB) is fighting a battle with British newspapers to retract headlines like the following:

Architect dressed as a tramp to molest girls [Independent]
13 years for "evil architect" [Megastar]
Sex-attacker architect targeted girls while disguised as a tramp [Scotsman]

And there are others. It appears he wasn't, technically, an architect, but a Wandsworth Council building inspector. ARB appears concerned that people might mistake "architect" and "paedo", and assume this is the kind of thing many architects do in their leisure time. Which is, clearly, a preposterous concern. There's about as much danger of people assuming paedos wear rimless glasses, drive Saabs and design houses in theirs. Meanwhile, tramps are now "very concerned" that the story might lead to suspicion that some of them are building inspectors in disguise.

Which is why he's opening an interior design store on Bond Street. The Times carries a Q&A with the silver-haired sultan of style here.

... Because - let's face it - we're spending more and more time there. Poggenpohn, an upmarket German kitchen brand, have began specialising in kitchen units that... "incorporate not only a dining table, but some soft seating and storage for multi-media equipment, too." The specific range is called +INTEGRATION, and it's said to mix the companies own high gloss kitchen finishes with walnut and Swiss peartree veneers, and widescreen TVs too. The picture below gives an example. The picture below that, I've just included because I like it and it reminds me of having a few friends around to help out... you know, chuck on your own pizza topping... wear any old thing. And the very bottom picture because that reminds me of how my wife reacts, too, when I burn myself in the kitchen.

We talked to Ed Freyfogle, one of the minds behind the very impressive Nestoria property search site, some time ago, when it was a London-only engine. We've recently heard from him again, with the good news that Nestoria's gone national. The Rat and Mouse wishes him luck (and continues to enjoy the site).

The New York Times's Great Homes section runs a special Knightsbridge feature. Mentioned in the doomsday book, close to Harrods, close to Harvey Nicks, village atmosphere, old Bentley's parked in the street, tall ceilings, big rooms, communal gardens... the Americans love it. There's an entertaining little slide show; and they focus on a Lowndes Square home, on the market at just over five and half million dollars. The lounge is lovely. The kitchen, too. But look at the bedroom... wouldn't you think about clearing some of the rubble of the tables? Opening the curtains? Removing the weird wall decorations? Come on, it's not like it's cheap.

Hmm. Interesting.

Kiely gets a visit from the Independent. Compared to some of the homes that get the newspaper visit, it sounds like a nice, unpretentious family home, with some of the quirks you'd expect (and hope for) from a designer. My favourite bit?

I found some unusual paving stones for the garden - they are exactly the same as those you get beside traffic lights in London. Friends had been recommending different designs, but one day, when I was crossing the road, I noticed these stones and thought, "That's it, they're just beautiful and perfect for the garden!" I love their large dots. I ordered them from a civic supplier.

I can't immediately visualise those stones. I'm out most of today in meetings, but I'll try to remember to take a phone-snap, and post the image either tonight or tomorrow morning. I'm intrigued, now. Read the rest of the article here.

The Monetary Policy Committee's Kate Barker talks to Ed Conway of the Telegraph, and admits that the Bank Of England's been surprised by recent house price inflation. She also says that the committee is considering taking a much more "aggressive" stance with interest rates. You've been warned. The interview's to be published in greater detail tomorrow. But, in the meantime, here's a link to the main points, and you can actually hear some audio from the interview by pressing this.

It's all about the London Overground Line (a new era for London Rail) and news that it will link to the East London Line, which itself is being extended to West Croydon... thus making West Croydon feel more like a real place and less like an armpit. Estate agents in the area are apparently leaping about and outbidding each other with their predictions. Some predict local house prices will rise by as much as 25%. Krishana Bhogadi - an advanced real estate scientist employed by West Croydon's Portland Estate Agents to apply cutting edge statistics-derived formulae to the local market, is quoted here thus:

"Even the houses that are there already, those that are priced at £160,000 will probably go up to £200,000 because of the transportation."

Jeez, that's what I call forecasting.

Apparently:

When jewellery designer Pippa Small and her sister Alex first moved into their bijoux flat in Fulham it was a Sloaney London pad.

But not anymore. Now it's packed with trinkets and mementoes from their Third World travels, and there's nothing "Sloaney" about that.

The average UK home has risen in value by 10% or almost £20,000 in the last year, according to Rightmove. London - being London - saw a rise of £9,000 in just one month. But it won't last. Rightmove appear to be finally feeling the fear, and warn of wages failing to keep up with inflation, a trend for improve rather than move, and rocketing utility bills. They're also lobbying the Bank of England not to raise interest rates. More here.

Imagine a game in which you can visit estate agents, get loans, gazunder, gazump, charge rent, sell at a profit, and dodge the disasters associated with home ownership. Okay, add dice, and it's called Propertunity.

Barnet couple would prefer prison to "Olympic tax" [This Is Local London]
Brown's interior design plans for Number Ten [Times]
Thames Gateway project attracts McFly songwriter and serious flood risk [Telegraph]
London least energy-efficient region in UK [BBC]
Harry Hill (not that one) considers management takeover of Countrywide [FT, via Renthusiast]

The Rat and Mouse - it's about your house

Wednesday afternoon linkage - eviction imminent [September 6]

They've been keeping a close eye on the increasingly unhealthy three-way relationship between house price inflation, mortgage debt and interest rates, and they're concerned. UK house prices are - apparently - overvalued by "any conventional measure", and pose a risk to the UK economy. With poetic timing, the RICS release their latest survey, revealing that UK house prices are growing at their fastest pace since May 2004. More here, here and here.

New York's architects are being targeted by a serial foot fetishist... no, really. Read the full, filthy story here.

[via Curbed]

A new survey commissioned by the Citizens' Advice Bureau is making headlines this morning. The facts are these:

- 770,000 households (4% of all mortgages) have missed one or more mortgage repayments in the last 12 months.
- FTBs are the worst offenders, and in the under-24 bracket the figure represents 13% of mortgage holders.
- the Bureau has dealt with 51,000 calls regarding difficulties making mortgage repayments in the last year, and officers are comparing the scale of the problem with the recession of the 1990s.
- Repossessions (8,140 in the last six months) are at their highest level in five years.

On their own, these figures are worrying. But they become acutely worrying when read against yesterday's inflation figures (2.5%, August) - the fourth consecutive month above the Government's 2% target. It's hard to believe interest rates won't reach 5% before the year's out. How much shit, and how big the fan... those are the bigger questions.

It's not London, I know, but the slightly distasteful feeding frenzy developing around the late Syd Barrett's Cambridge home is an interesting detail in the ongoing what-adds-and-what-detracts-value debate. Estate agent Cheffins (and what a fabulous name for a Cambridge estate agency!) reports "many offers" above the guide price. More here.

Real estate stigma [August 7]
"If a celebrity dies in your house, that's a landmark..." [May 16]

The Sunday Times's Sian Griffiths visited a converted Bakery in Streatham:

For me it's a little, well, industrial, but not for Charlie. "We love having concerts in our home," she says. The space is also handy for her work as an aerialist: she can practice twisting and swinging off sheets hung from the beams. Tim also uses the space to test gadgets for potential sale on his website, Iwantoneofthose.com - everything from miniature helicopters to action skateboarding games.

So where do you go if you're a bit of an aerialist and you need a property that's a little unusual. We've said it before, the Sunday Times says it again... pointing readers towards Cityscope, one of our very favourite boutique agencies.

Between June and July, house price inflation reached its highest level since May 2005, reaching 6% (annual) and 7.1% in London, bringing the average London house to £285,434. Click this to read the report in pdf format. I've stolen the graph, below, because its shape is looking unusually clear at the moment. You don't have to be an expert in charting to see the direction in which we're moving.

Prince Harry's girlfriend Chelsy Davy is flat-shopping in London, with the aid of Prince William's girlfriend Kate Middleton. Apparently, she's staking her claim on the royal "soldier" now, in case somebody else moves in on him while she's studying in South Africa. Nice.

Ah, always a cut above. The only specialists other estate agents consider paying are the sort that wipe porn off hard-drives... but Chesterton takes on a full-time historian. Melanie Backe-Hansen will be highlighting historical features on the company website, and I for one think that's a great idea. It comes as part of a general company spruce up, including a new logo (pictured) and revamped offices.

I can remember writing about the complaints of the POOPS (Pushed Out Of Position) in Hampstead even before Tatler named them POOPS. Now, there's an outbreak of POOP in Notting Hill, with the upper-middle classes finding themselves being outspent and bought-out by nouveaux shouting the war-cry lovely-jubbly. But yesterday's Times was having none of it, and took an old-school Thatcherite position:

This sense of lost entitlement among the Establishment is nothing new. But if you can afford to hire a whole fairground for your child's birthday, good luck to you; if you can't, either get out there and make some money - or get over it.

It's a 1% rise in August... the first figures since last month's interest rate rise. More here.

Portman Building Society have analysed Land Registry stats to reveal that stamp duty paid by UK movers rose by 30% - to a total of £1 billion of taxes - in the three months to June, despite the new thresholds that came into effect in March. Things aren't entirely what they seem though. Sales increased by 23% during the period, too - although if Brown's rejigged thresholds were working, it could be argued that this shouldn't have resulted in a 30% increase in tax paid. The Telegraph's business columnist, for one, is in no doubt:

Even by the standards of the Chancellor, the sleight of hand that has seen revenue from stamp duty on house purchases rise by 40pc to £1bn in the second quarter is a cynical ruse.

Hang about... the figure was 30% a few pages earlier. What's that? Inflation?

Fishing hut blocks Sting's view [Daily Mail]
Pete Doherty's flat boarded up - eviction imminent [Life Style Extra]
Brits now spend 19% of income on mortgages [My Finances]
Latest Wembley rumour - could be 2010 before it's ready [Telegraph]

The Rat and Mouse - gnawing on the London property news biscuit

Other than being slightly surprised how casually girls are prepared to pee in front of each other, nothing about the Big Brother bathroom remains in my memory. But, according to Ideal Standard bathrooms, the semi-recessed oval Kyomi bath was the star of the show. IS fitted out the whole bathroom and for some reason they've waited until now (when the memory of a summer of time-waste TV is fading faster than your tan) to launch a press campaign declaring the bathroom the real winner.

Prime Residential London is, er, the primest. According to Hamptons International, London's asking up to 2,300 dollars a square foot, in comparison to New York's 1,900 dollars.

[via Luxist]

Damn! And I'd been led to believe the Rat and Mouse was a dead cert for that particular award. According to the press release, Geberit's Balena Shower Toilet - an ever so slightly frightening combination of toilet, power-bidet and hot-air arse-dryer, is "at the forefront of a new trend... the solution for the bathroom of today and tomorrow". It pulsates, oscillates, wall-hangs, and features a four-person memory, so it'll catch, pitch and blow you just the way you like it. It's available from West One Bathrooms in Battersea, and Empress Building Centre in Finchley, but although you can take the design out of Germany, I'm not sure you can take the particularly German fixation out of its design.

That's the result of a survey by Direct Line. Ten per cent are dissatisfied with the work and service of tradespeople contracted to make home improvements, and of those 23% failed to get a work guarantee, and 20% were forced to either hire a new contractor to put the work right or attempt to do it themselves.

[via ViewLondon].

Hello, again. I'm back, and rested. And tanned. And lovely. And thanks for sticking with the Rat and Mouse and enjoying our mini-property porn fest while I was away. If you commented, and you're wondering where your comment's gone... my internet access wasn't reliable enough to stay on top of things, but I'll be going through and "approving" what needs approving in the next 24 hours. If you're an estate agent and didn't make the deadline (I had a few emails)... sorry. But we'll definitely be doing this again, or finding some other away of making fine properties a regular feature, so keep them coming anyway. And if you've any ideas/suggestions, don't be shy.

In the meantime, here's a link to FT journalist Jim Pickard writing in the LA Times about the results of new research (by the FT in association with Knight Frank) suggesting huge levels of offshore money heading into the London residential market:

... even in the less exclusive 4-million-to-8-million dollar range, more than half of property sales in the last 12 months were to foreigners... of homes costing more than 8 million dollars, the proportion of overseas buyers was more than 60%, the study found.

What's a bonus-happy City fund manager to do? Buy abroad, probably.

(As nominated by Rat and Mouse readers)

It's not spectacular from the outside, is it? But look closer and you'll notice some tell-tale signs of serious age. How serious? According to the agent, this four-bedroom home in Newington Green is one of just a handful of surviving pre-Restoration, pre-Great Fire townhouses, and one of the oldest brick terraces in the country. It's Grade 1-listed, and with Savill's for £895,000. Download the particulars by clicking this.

Normal posting will resume on Monday. Thanks to all the Rat and Mouse readers who submitted links to property... our nine days may be over, but keep them coming anyway.