A waterside location never goes out of fashion – and with the current crop of new homes near water, the homes themselves are also stunning.
A location beside a river, canal, lake or seaside lends an aura of tranquillity that is invaluable in a home environment. It is also good for the capital growth, as this type of feelgood factor never goes out of style. There are quite a few newly built homes with a waterside aspect currently on the market.
Barratt Homes offers a number of high-quality Thames-side schemes, including Sargasso, the last waterside release of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments at the very successful Capital East development.
With the 18-storey height providing out-of-this-world water views and the Royal Docks location making for a quiet yet connected lifestyle, this development has won fans representing a wide range of buyer types. For busy career people, this development is the ultimate location; Royal Victoria DLR is only minutes’ away, from where you can reach Canary Wharf in seven minutes and Bank in 25. London City Airport is also very nearby.
Capital East is also well placed for Olympic action; the adjacent ExCel Centre will host four separate arenas for the 2012 Olympics hosting boxing, table tennis, judo, tae kwon do, wrestling and weightlifting.
Designer fitted kitchens have integrated stainless steel appliances, while many of the apartments have an en suite to the master bedroom. The spacious living/dining rooms are the ideal setting for relaxing or entertaining.
Visit the floating marketing suite, open daily from 10am to 6pm, or call 0845 600 3525.
Downriver in up-and-coming Thamesmead is Barratt’s The Crescent at Thames Walk, which has contemporary houses and apartments that are ideal for today’s lifestyle. This development is part of the exciting Thames Gateway expansion programme of residential, commercial, retail and leisure enterprise which is building a whole new community in this part of south-east London.
The apartments feature designer fitted kitchens with integrated oven, hob and hood, and spacious living/dining rooms. Some of the homes have balconies, and many have en suites. Allocated parking is included in the cost.
New public transport services have been introduced and many more are planned, including the new Thames Gateway Bridge from Thamesmead Central to the north bank. The go-ahead has also been given for an extension of the DLR from London City Airport to Woolwich Arsenal. These two initiatives alone will make commuting into Canary Wharf, the City and the West End even easier than at present – good news for investors as well as owner-occupiers.
Thamesmead itself has a good range of local shopping facilities including superstores, while there are extensive facilities in neighbouring Woolwich, Greenwich and the Peninsula Retail Park. Bluewater, Europe’s largest shopping complex, is only 12 miles away, just off the M25 at junction 2. Bus services operate from Merbury Road to Woolwich Arsenal.
Prices currently range from £235,995 to £272,995. Call 020 8316 5876.
Also at Woolwich is Berkeley Homes’ amazing Royal Arsenal development, which combines respectful restoration of the wonderful Victorian buildings of the former arsenal site with highly complementary new buildings. Throughout the large development, which is being rnovated and released to buyers gradually, the watchwords are extremely high specification and architectural quality.
Currently at Royal Arsenal there are several phases available to buyers. Reflection provides a particularly fresh take on waterside living. The group of interlinked apartment blocks is built around a shallow lagoon which forms a stunning central feature – and great care has been taken in choosing the colours and textures of the buildings in a way that augments the waterside location.
Spread over seven floors, the apartments and penthouses offer smart, contemporary living space with great views and top-of-the-range specification. Lush water plants and a central sculpture make the lagoon an attractive focal point for all the apartments. The ground floor apartments have either patio areas with timber jetties reaching over the water or open access to a large timber boardwalk overlooking the water.
Current availability at Reflection includes two- and three-bedroom apartments, priced between £2850,000 and £365,000. For more information call 020 8331 7272.
Expressions is a new Barratt development on Parrock Street in the centre of Gravesend. These homes, which include eight four-bedroom town houses and 12 two-bedroom, two bathroom apartments, are already proving exceptionally popular.
The three-storey town houses are exceptionally spacious and designed for flexible use. Each home has an integrated sound system, security system and two allocated parking spaces, a great boon for town-centre dwellers. The development also demonstrates Barratt’s commitment to environmental reponsibility: two of the town houses include solar panels in the roof, which provide energy for water heating, and a harvesting system pumps fresh rainwater directly into the house.
One of these ‘green’ homes also includes a fantastic range of cutting-edge technology, including LCD or plasma screens on every floor, a touch screen computer with broadband and a CCTV camera on the front door.
Apartments are also impressive, with an exceptionally roomy living/dining area, a balcony or terrace opening off both the living room and the main bedroom, and an extremely well equipped luxury fitted kitchen and two bathrooms. Each apartment has allocated parking.
Prices start at £224,995 for a two-bedroom apartment and £349,995 for a three-bedroom town house. Call Barratt on 01474 327864 or visit barratthomes.co.uk.
St James Homes, in partnership with the Chelsea College of Art and Design and gallery director Donald Smith, have launched a groundbreaking contemporary exhibition space, Chelsea Futurespace in Hepworth Court at Grosvenor Waterside, a new development of apartments and penthouses built around the historic Grosvenor Dock. The exhibition space is the first in the area for over a decade and the first ‘alumni’ space of its kind in London. The public will be able to see regular exhibitions of high-profile artworks by well-known artists who once studied or taught at the Chelsea College of Art and Design.
Grosvenor Waterside, on the banks of the Thames next to Chelsea Bridge, has transformed the historic Grosvenor Dock into a new residential quarter for Chelsea, providing over 850 apartments and penthouses as well as commercial, leisure and parking facilities.
The inaugural Chelsea Futurespace exhibition will feature a new series of works by leading British artist Stephen Farthing RA, entitled Painting The Atlantic, the central element of which is a 27-foot-long continuous painting of the Atlantic Ocean.
Curent availability at Grosvenor Waterside includes apartments in the Cubitt Building, priced from £450,000 for a studio to £875,000 for a three-bedroom apartment. Call 020 7828 6326 or visit grosvenorwaterside.com.
For those who aspire to the seaside life, Valley Park is Bovis Homes’ stunning new development of 38 four- and five-bedroom homes at Dovercourt, Harwich. The homes are close to public open space just minutes from majestic cliffs and a Blue Flag sandy beach.
These executive homes incorporate 11 different house types featuring good sized gardens close to landscaped public open space. The houses contain fully fitted kitchens, with range cookers to larger homes, ceramic flooring, fitted wardrobes to the bedrooms and extensive use of downlighters. Some homes have a bonus room in the roof, a Bovis specialty. Purchasers who buy early can chose their own kitchens units and bathroom tiling from the extensive Bovis Homes range.
Valley Park is just 30 minutes by rail to Colchester and Ipswich and one-and-a-half hour to London via Manningtree. The development is close to the A120 and A12. Harwich has good shopping and leisure facilities and numerous historic maritime buildings.
Prices at Valley Park start at £219,950. Contact the sales manager on 0845 260 5189 or visit the website bovishomes.co.uk.
St Clements is an impressive collection of 16 apartments in Westgate-on-Sea, designed for those who have reached retirement age and want a well-designed, comfortable home that offers much and demands little.
Occupying a prominent position in St Mildreds Road, most of these apartments have spectacular sea views. Each includes luxury fitted kitchen with integrated appliances. The building has two lifts, while each home has a security entry system. Communal parking is an exclusive right to all of the residents living at St.Clements. The communal lounge and communal lounge and gardens are ideal.
Westgate-on-Sea offers good high street shopping, as well as easy links to such destinations as Margate and Birchington via a regular bus service. Canterbury is also within easy reach via the A28, while train connections from London to Margate are set to get even better with a scheduled fast link. The newly opened Westwood Cross shopping centre offers popular high street stores such as Marks & Spencer and Debenhams.
To view one of the apartments at St Clements call 01462 712917.
Higgins Homes offers apartments with an enviable riverside location at Rivière in Hertford, where homes are priced from £215,000 for a two-bedroom apartment.
Rivière is a new Higgins Homes development which stretches along the banks of the River Lea in Hertford, Hertfordshire comprising 78 one, two and three bedroom apartments, most with views over the river.
The development, located on Mill Road, is configured in an ‘L’ shape and creates a dramatic frontage to the river and the adjacent Hertford Basin. To maximise views, some apartments feature balconies or roof terraces, ideal for watching the comings and goings on the river.
The development is the perfect solution for busy London professionals who are looking for a retreat from the hustle and bustle of London life though have no intention of compromising on specification or location. Rivière offers the tranquillity of waterside living, yet London Liverpool Street can be reached in 48 minutes from Hertford East train station which is opposite the development. For local shopping, including the weekly market and nightlife, Hertford town centre is approximately a mile away and can be reached via the leafy tow path.
Designer-inspired interiors feature fully-fitted Urban Myth kitchens complete with Smeg integrated appliances and fitted wardrobes to the master bedroom. Each apartment comes with an allocated parking space within an electronically accessed underground car park and there is a communal garden for the sole use of residents.
First completions are due summer 2006. Contact Higgins Homes on 01992 503600.
George Wimpey City has opened a superb new show apartment at Falcon Wharf in Battersea.
The one-bedroom contemporary-style apartment offers an impressive 821 sq ft of space, while the super-chic interior design scheme complements the home’s architectural features.
Located on the fifth storey, the floor-to-ceiling glazing of the show apartment affords lovely river views. Another interesting feature of this apartment is the winter garden, an enclosed glazed balcony which extends the living space for year-round use and capitalises on the great views.
Falcon Wharf features four curved towers facing north, east, south and west and rises to 17 storeys, making it a real Thames landmark. The building has been designed to maximise views over the river, the City of London and Canary Wharf.
Current prices start at £321,000 for a one-bedroom apartment. To arrange a viewing contact the marketing suite on 0870 990 7599 or visit falconwharf.co.uk.
Tabard Square is one of the largest brownfield regeneration sites within central London at 1.2 hectares, and has transformed the historic former Pickfords Removals Depot on Long Lane into a mix of contemporary homes, shops, leisure facilities, commercial space - which already includes the recently opened ‘Bright Horizons’ childcare centre - and offices. The homes and commercial outlets will be set around the community focal point of a central public square.
Tabard Square is the latest Berkeley Homes addition to sophisticated London city living. Comprising 572 units and incorporating a 22 –storey landmark tower and central piazza, the apartments range from 313 sq ft to 1,433 sq ft. Once complete, the development with its new beacon will form an iconic part of the South London skyline.
The development is proving extremely popular with purchasers in the local area, with over 80 per cent of the apartments already sold. The recent opening of the Bright Horizons childcare facility is the first commercial element of this mixed use regeneration project, which will have a supermarket, dedicated office space, a restaurant and a variety of smaller boutiques and cafés. Tabard Square is destined to become a real urban village for residents and the local community alike.
The stylish apartments, which boast a highly contemporary specification, are priced between £345,000 and £595,000, and many benefit from their own private balcony or terrace. All apartments are cleverly designed to offer spacious open plan living and many feature expansive floor-to-ceiling glazing to make the most of the spectacular views.
The new community is ideally placed for city workers with the capital’s business and financial district located just a ten-minute walk from the development. Commuters will find Borough an ideal location for local, national and international travel. Borough tube station and London Bridge mainline station offer a host of local and national connections.
Call 020 7403 7503 or visit tabard-square.co.uk.
Barratt has launched Vista in Seaford, which has drawn interest from such far-flung places as Croydon, Crawley and London. The superb new gated development on Marine Parade, has plenty to offer. It’s within easy walking distance of the town centre, Bishopstone station and the seafront, which is approximately 200 yards away.
Each of the beautiful new three and four-bedroom houses provides a balcony and an abundance of spacious living accommodation including a kitchen/breakfast room or kitchen/dining room, a separate utility room, a well-proportioned living room and a family/room study.
Prices range from just £317,995 for a three-bedroom, two bathroom house and from £379,995 for a four-bedroom, three bathroom house. Contact the sales team on 01323 899650.