RESIDENTIAL
sweet
Is the consent gained by the Candy brothers to convert offices at Sugar Quay into flats a sign that the City reluctantly accepts the need for housing? Graham Norwood reports
years according to data from Estate Gazette’s London Residential Research, which monitors development activity across the capital. LRR’s figures show two clear trends.
First, starts in the City soared 131% this year, led by three schemes: Riley House, EC4; 10 Trinity Square, EC3; and Roman House, EC2. This number is incredibly significant in the city. Second, while inner borough planning permissions trebled this year, the City’s rate was a more modest 5% (see graph). “The upside to City residential is its very quick sales rate,” says Nigel Evans of LRR. There is form for this – back in 2011,
Heron International’s Silk Street 36-storey tower had more than 150 of its 284 flats sell off-plan within 12 months. Late last year, 12 flats to be released in phase two of Telford Homes’ 25-storey mixed-use Avant-garde tower sold off- plan within a fortnight at prices almost
PLANNING PERMISSION GRANTED: CITY OF LONDON VS INNER LONDON
10 15 20 25 30 (000S) CITY OF LONDON
0 5
INNER LONDON 2004 2005 2006 2007 Source: London Residential Research
13% above the first phase late-2011 launch values. Unsurprisingly, agents are keen to get
a slice of the action. At Christmas, Jones Lang LaSalle opened a dedicated City
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 SWEET AS CANDY
The Candy brothers’ CPC Group will see the conversion of 110,000 sq ft of offices into 44 one-bed flats, 60 two- beds, 12 three-beds and 11 three- and four-bed penthouses, plus a waterside commercial unit. The new 280,000 sq ft scheme will demolish the existing building and replace it with one nine- storey and one 11-storey block with a central link. The scheme has been designed by Foster + Partners.
8 June 2013
www.estatesgazette.com 33
sales office in the Royal Exchange, headed by ex-Hamptons residential development guru Richard Pine-Coffin. And it is not just City boys who are
buying. “The growth in popularity of Shoreditch along with new developments like [Land Securities’ Cheapside] One New Change are increasing the weekend market. We’d love to have more residential development opportunities,” says Savills’ Harry de Lotbiniere. If the City succeeds in its request for
exemption from future change of use relaxations, such opportunities will become fewer. Instead, the City says it will be “pro-actively directing development to specific areas where a limited residential presence can be suitably accommodated” near nine existing residential sites identified in its Core Strategy document. In other words, it will become tougher
and more expensive to build City homes – even for Candy & Candy.
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