The club's keeping quiet, but there are whispers on the Guardian's sports pages that the Highbury Square might be big on deposits, but potentially low on completions when the 550 buyers who've stumped up 20% deposits are asked for the other 80% in the next two months. The clue might be here.

Flipping feeding frenzy or wave of sentimentality at Highbury? [November 25, 2008]

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate

£1,245,000? It's clearly neither here nor there when it comes to top London property. So it's here, in an interesting Telegraph piece about a Highbury Place mansion, over five floors, and with a separate converted coach house and 19 garages (currently let out and bringing in £20,000 a year... not far off what the current owner paid for the entire property back in the 1960s). According to the Telegraph, the guide price is £5.95m. But it's not there... in the Savills particulars, which list the property at £4.75m.

[One theory - I notice that the particulars make no mention of the garages. Have the owners decided not to part with a valuable going concern? Or are they being sold separately?]

The property's beautiful, and with an interesting history. Neighbours included Neville Chamberlain's dad, and the Rolling Stones apparently recorded in the basement.

For sale: the best view in London? [November 7, 2007]

Technorati Tags: 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

The Times reports on the scramble for notional apartments at The Stadium Highbury Square development. The word is that most rooms with views have already been snapped up by investors, whether professional or new-style pension investors taking advantage of SIPPS (which can already be applied to purchases of properties as long as they won't be fully built before the 2006/2007 tax year). The apartment won't be completed until between 2008 and 2010, which also makes you wonder whether there's whole bunch of flippers out there, too. Except... the prices:

Properties are selling quickly despite the eye-watering price tags: one-bedroom flats start at £290,000 and a mere parking space will set you back £30,000.

Even accounting for a hefty discount for buying off-plan, it's hard to see how the private investor, unable to squeeze out a bit more bulk discount, can be too confident of a profit, paying up to a third more than postcode market value. The Times's Paula Hawkins asks the sensible question: are middle-class Arsenal fans letting their hearts rule their heads? More, here.

Arsenal season ticket with that, sir? [August 16]