MANSION EXPANSION


LONDONERS LOVE MANSION BLOCKS - AND SO DO THE DEVELOPERS CREATING INSPIRED 21ST-CENTURY VERSIONS, DISCOVERS CHERYL MARKOSKY


A


A A O B B


riginally envisaged as city boltholes for 19th-century middle- and upper- class households, mansion flats are back in the limelight. While period


redbrick and stucco-fronted dwellings have always been popular with a certain segment of buyers, housebuilders are now recognising their value and introducing manor homes with a modern twist to a new generation.


Capital & Counties Properties PLC (Capco), the company behind Lillie Square (A), one of London’s largest and most high-profile developments as part of the wider Earls Court scheme, examined what makes certain streets popular. The answer? Mansion blocks surrounding garden squares with services buyers covet, such as a concierge, 24-hour security and private residents’ club with pool.


Transforming a 7.4-acre car park on Seagrave Road into a one million sq ft community of 808 high-end homes around a new garden square, Capco’s captured the zeitgeist for gracious and generous mansion living. The one- to three-bedroom apartments start at £595,000 (020 7381 9800).


Nicholas Ayre of home-buying agency Home Fusion suggests the principles of mansion block living have been upheld and even improved upon in new developments, “with the 24-hour concierge replacing the porter, and the installation of a modern version of the centralised hot water system, where you only pay for what you use and can control the temperature of your radiators”.


Prices for mansion flats rose by 60% since 2007, outperforming 52% growth by non-mansion flats,


B


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28