Uncategorized

General election 2019: Tories plan stamp duty hike on non-UK residents

Foreigners buying properties in England will be forced to pay 3% more in stamp duty than UK residents, if the Conservatives win the general election.

The party claim it will help people get on the housing ladder by taking the heat out of the property market.

The government was already planning a 1% hike for foreign buyers.

Labour is also proposing a levy on “overseas companies buying housing”, and wants to give local people “first dibs” on homes built in their area.

Currently, foreign individuals and companies can buy homes as easily as UK residents – but there are longstanding concerns about properties being bought as investments and standing empty, particularly in upmarket areas of London.

The Conservatives quote a study saying 13% of homes in London were bought by overseas buyers between 2014 and 2016.

Research last year by the King’s College Business School suggested foreign buyers did not just push up prices at the high-end of the property market, but there was a “trickle down” effect to less expensive properties, and that cities outside London also felt the effect.

The Conservative government announced a consultation for a 1% levy on stamp duty for buyers who are not tax resident in the UK in February.

But a study for Labour’s London Mayor Sadiq Khan said the figure was not high enough, pointing to other cities with large numbers of foreign buyers – such as Vancouver and Singapore, which both have a 20% surcharge.

The Conservatives are now proposing a surcharge of 3%, to be paid in addition to all other stamp duty charges.

They estimate the measure will affect about 70,000 transactions a year, raising £120m, which the party would direct at programmes tackling rough sleeping.

When he was London mayor, Boris Johnson said it would be wrong to “slam the door on the right of overseas residents to buy homes in London – notwithstanding the effect they may have in some parts of prime London on the market”.

‘Housing crisis’

Announcing the new policy, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Rishi Sunak said: “Evidence shows that by adding significant amounts of demand to limited housing supply, purchases by non-residents inflate house prices.”

He said the UK would “always be open to people coming to live, work, and build a life in this great country”, adding: “The steps we are taking will ensure that more people have the opportunity of a great place to live and build a family.”

Polly Neate, chief executive of housing charity Shelter, welcomed the commitment to invest in services to support rough sleepers.

“Rough sleeping has been rising for the last decade and frontline services need all the support they can get to help tackle this mounting issue,” she said.

“At the same time, however, we can’t solve homelessness without tackling the root of the housing crisis, and that means an investment in the social homes we so desperately need.

“We want the next government to deliver at least 90,000 new social homes a year over the next parliament to help end this emergency.”

The main parties have set out competing proposals to address the UK’s housing shortage, ahead of 12 December’s general election.

Labour said it would embark on the biggest house-building programme since the 1960s, including 100,00 new council houses a year by 2024.

The Conservatives announced measures to help first-time buyers and boost private house building, promising a million homes over the next five years.

The Lib Dems set out plans for 300,000 new properties a year – a third of which would be social rented homes.

The party also said it would also tackle “wasted vacant housing stock” by allowing local authorities to increase council tax by up to 500% where homes are left empty for more than six months.

They also want to launch a rent-to-own scheme, which would see social tenants build up an equity stake in their homes over 30 years.

Read More

Galliard to start luxury apartments above Crossrail station

Galliard Homes has agreed to start construction on a £140m luxury apartment scheme above the Tottenham Court Road Crossrail station.

The TCRW scheme will contain 92 private apartments costing from £899,000.

TCRW will also contain 9,939 sq ft of ground floor retail space.

The masterplan for the two buildings was designed by architectural practice Hawkins\Brown with specification and interior design by Argent Design.

The new Crossrail Interchange at Tottenham Court Road is due to now open in 2021.

Don O Sullivan, Chief Executive of Galliard Homes said “TCRW will provide world class apartments in an unrivalled location off Oxford Street in the heart of London’s West End.

“Galliard’s new apartment buildings are integrated with the Crossrail Interchange offering residents easy access to London Heathrow, Canary Wharf and locations such as Bond Street and Liverpool Street.

“The average apartment size is 811 sqft, providing homes ideal for either end use, pied-à-terre’s or rental investments.”

Read More

Green light for major mixed use scheme in south London

Transport for London and Notting Hill Genesis have been given the go-ahead to build more than 600 homes in Kidbrooke, south London.

The development designed by Glenn Howells Architects will be built on a vacant four-acre site in the Royal Borough of Greenwich and will deliver 619 new homes across eight buildings.

The new homes will be a mixture of one, two and three-bedroom properties with 50% affordable.

Other proposals for the site will improve and provide new amenities for the community, such as an improved transport hub and a new village square.

Plans also provide for 2,200 sq. m of non-residential space which will be a mixture of a new nursery, retail and commercial space.

Construction is expected to begin in 2020 and create hundreds of jobs.

Graeme Craig, Director of Commercial Development at TfL, said: “Kidbrooke offers us a great opportunity to deliver homes the capital desperately needs and we are delighted to have been given the green light to take our proposals forward with Notting Hill Genesis.

“The development will also generate vital revenue to reinvest into the transport network.”

John Hughes, group director of development at Notting Hill Genesis, said:“Our vision is to create a high-quality, mixed-use development which completes the new local centre at Kidbrooke and contributes positively to the regeneration of the area for the benefit of the whole community.”

The site forms part of TfL’s wider housing programme which has an ambitious target to start on TfL sites with capacity for 10,000 homes by March 2021.

Construction has already started on more than 740 homes as the programme continues to build momentum, with up to 1,000 homes expected to be started on site by the end of this financial year and the majority of schemes expected to start in 2020/21.

Read More

Winner picked for £250m ‘Harrods of Bayswater’ job

Laing O’Rourke has beaten Sir Robert McAlpine to take the contract to redevelop the Whiteleys shopping centre in west London.

Queensway frontage of Whiteleys with retained facade

A joint venture between a Meyer Bergman-advised investment fund and Warrior Group aims to give the once grand Grade II-listed department store in Bayswater a new lease of life.

The Foster + Partners designed £1bn mixed-use scheme will see 500,000-plus sq ft of homes and shops built behind the existing 1911 facade.

The mixed-use development will also include a 111-room hotel. four-screen cinema and gym.

Specialist contractor Erith is well advanced with demolition at the site.

Redan Place townhouses form part of over 150 homes also planned for the shopping centre site

arcade@2x  A new public courtyard will be at the heart of the new scheme

courtyard-view@2x
A hotel is planned to boost footfall and bring the leisure and retail scheme to life

The scheme will open onto Queensway, which is also planned to undergo a £50m revamp.

Read More

First project approved in £1bn East London estate rebuild

The first housing project in a £1bn estate regeneration scheme in East London has been approved by local planners.

Plans for the Napier and New Plymouth House site include 126 affordable homes and a further 71 homes for private sale targeted at local buyers.

The site is the first of a ’12 Estates’ regeneration programme, which will see around 5,200 homes delivered in Havering over the next 12 to 15 years.

Havering Council and Wates Residential are joint venture partners in the project to demolish and rebuild the Napier and New Plymouth House site in Rainham.

The plans must now be rubber-stamped by London’s mayor before the final decision is issued.

The overall programme aims to double the amount of council rented accommodation and more than double the number of affordable housing.

As part of the project, Havering Council and Wates Residential have pledged to deliver a borough-wide legacy by investing in education, training and skills opportunities, and by employing local businesses to work on the scheme.

Kilnbridge Construction Services, which has offices in Rainham, was awarded a contract to undertake controlled demolition of Napier and New Plymouth House, and a two-storey car park on Dunedin Road.

Kate Ives, Development Director for Wates Residential, said: “This is fantastic news for Havering. We have been working closely with our JV partner to ensure that the new homes in Havering are high-quality and fit in with the unique feel of local area.

“The public consultations have been really helpful in identifying what local residents want to see from the borough’s largest regeneration project and we look forward to starting construction in spring 2020.”

Read More

Ardmore snaffles £480m Raffles hotel conversion

Ardmore has checked in with the prestigious job to convert the historic Old War Office building in Whitehall into a luxury Raffles hotel and super-prime flats.

Understood to be worth around £480m, the complex Grade II building conversion is thought to be the biggest single-stage, fixed-price building contract to be let in the country.

The vast Edwardian building, where Winston Churchill once worked and whose 1,100 rooms are linked by more than two miles of corridors, is being redeveloped by the Hinduja Group and Spanish firm OHD.

Ardmore, which has delivered a string major London hotel conversions and new build projects in recent years, beat rivals Sir Robert McAlpine and Mace who had offered the client a construction management route to deliver the complex project.

Construction specialist Toureen has been on the job carrying out enabling works for around a year and will be novated to Ardmore.

The firm has now raised hoardings around the site where it will create the 125-room five-star hotel and 88 luxury apartments.

The complex project will double the number of floors from seven to 14. This will include adding three extra floors to the top as well as extending the existing two-floor basement down with four extra basement levels.

A new 25m swimming pool and ballroom will be built in the new basement below the existing central quadrangle.

Designs have been drawn up by EPR Architects alongside structural engineer Elliott Wood and services engineer Aecom with Gardiner & Theobold acting as cost consultants.

Read More

Build to rent investor plans first two London projects

Private rental housing investor Sigma has bought two development sites in Havering and Barking as it ramps up activity over the coming year.

Countryside’s Fresh Wharf scheme on Barking Riverside

The first development sites for the firm in London are an 80-flat development site at Beam Park in Dagenham and a 77-flat development site at Fresh Wharf, a major riverside scheme close to Barking town centre.

Sigma will work with Countryside Properties and L&Q New Homes at the Beam Park scheme and with Countryside Properties and Notting Hill Developments at Fresh Wharf.

The combined development cost of the two sites is £44m.

Fresh Wharf is expected to be completed towards the end of next year, with Beam Park completing by Spring 2021.

The new homes will be marketed and let under the investor’s ‘Simple Life’ letting brand.

Ian Sutcliffe, group chief executive at Countryside Properties, said :”We are delighted to be extending our very successful partnership with Sigma Capital into the London market.

“We have delivered over 4,000 private rented homes over the past five years together as part of differentiated mixed tenure approach to regeneration sites. We anticipate continuing growth from our relationship with Sigma in London and beyond.”

Sigma’s move into London follows its recent launch in Scotland, where it has entered into a collaboration agreement with house builder Springfield Properties and is targeting the delivery of hundreds of new rental homes across Scotland’s major cities, including Dundee, Edinburgh, and Glasgow.

Outside London, Sigma has delivered more than 3,000 new rental homes across the regions, through its PRS property platform.

Read More

Go-ahead for £3bn London Canada Water scheme

Developer British Land has gained planning for its 5.5m sq ft mixed-use Canada Water scheme in London.

The £3bn scheme, on the south side of the Thames in Rotherhithe, ranks as the London developer’s most ambitious pipeline development.

Its approved masterplan submission included a detailed application for the first three buildings totalling 576,000 sq ft and outline planning for the 1.8m sq ft first phase with a development value of £700m.

The first three buildings will provide 265 homes, with around 35% affordable.

Building A1 will provide both residential and workspace, building A2 will be focused on workspace and a new leisure centre, and the third known as K1 will be wholly residential.

Chris Grigg, chief executive of British Land, said: “We have an incredible opportunity at Canada Water to create a vibrant neighbourhood for people to live, work and enjoy.

“We’re hugely excited about delivering this exceptional, mixed-use and sustainable landmark development, which has been designed to support people’s wellbeing.

“We thank the Council for all their hard-work and we look forward to continuing to work with them and the local community.”

The 53-acre masterplan site includes Surrey Quays Shopping Centre, Surrey Quays Leisure Park, the Printworks and the former Dock Offices courtyard.

British Land expects the whole masterplan to take around 15 years to deliver.

Canada Water 15-year masterplan

New public square at the heart of the Canada Water scheme

  • 2 million sq. ft. of workspace to accommodate around 20,000 jobs;
  • 1 million sq. ft. of retail, leisure, entertainment, education and community space; and
  • 3,000 new homes, of which 35% will be affordable.

By 2024

  • 265 new homes, a leisure centre, new public spaces, 330,000 sq. ft. workspace and around 2,300 jobs

Read More

Council developer submits £400m Croydon town centre plan

Croydon Council’s in-house development company Brick by Brick has submitted plans for a five-building mixed-use development of 421 new homes above offices, shops and leisure space in the town centre.

Plan for Fairfield Homes site is one of several schemes in the pipeline to transform Croydon in south London

Five buildings ranging from 7 to 29 storeys are proposed for the 0.8 hectare Fairfield Homes site next to the recently opened Fairfield Halls cultural venue.

Architect MICA designed four of the buildings, comprising 343 homes, while Common Ground Architecture designed a 78-home block.

The latest planning application builds on a 2017 planning consent, nearly doubling the number of homes from 218 and increasing the affordable housing from 18% to 20%.

Once planning consent is gained, the developer aims to start work early next year.

Value from the development of the Fairfield Homes site will be used to cross-fund Vinci’s £40m refurbishment of Fairfield Halls, which overran by £11m.

Colm Lacey, chief executive of Brick By Brick, said: “We have carried out extensive demolition and enabling works, on the site and we look forward to continuing this most exciting and vitally important project.

“This development has allowed us to fund the spectacular transformation of Fairfield Halls, which opened this month.

“Together, the schemes are fundamental to Croydon’s ongoing renaissance, adding to its fast-growing appeal as a place where people want to live, work and visit.”

The Fairfield Homes site is bound to the north by Croydon College, the College Tower site and Mondial House, both of which have planning consents for buildings of heights above 35 storeys and to the east is the mainline London to Brighton railway line.

Read More

Battersea Power Station secures £600m for Phase 3

Battersea Power Station’s developer has secured £600m of financing to press on with phase three of the project.

Sir Robert McAlpine is construction manager to complete the Electric Boulevard phase of the project after replacing Bouygues during the preconstruction phase last year.

The new debt facility was raised from its existing lenders to continue with the delayed phase.

So far facade contractor Permasteelisa has been signed up for the main glazing package and specialist T Clarke will deliver the M&E works.

Phase 3 of the Battersea Power Station project will contain over 1,300 homes, a hotel, shops and restaurants.

The 42-acre site will also contain a public park and be served by a new Tube station on the new £1bn Northern Line extension, due to open next year.

It has been designed by architects, Gehry Partners and Foster + Partners.

Areal view of Foster’s undulating Battersea Roof Gardens building next to Ghery’s cluster of five buildings

Foster’s Battersea Roof Gardens will be styled in a subtle 1930s theme inspired by the Power Station. The northern hooked-shaped end of the building will be home to the art’otel, a new 167-room hotel boasting a rooftop swimming pool and bar.

 

Ghery flower building

Gehry’s Prospect Place comprises a cluster of five buildings each with striking sculptural façades inspired by London’s famous John Nash Regency terraces.

Each individual building has its own style. ‘The Flower’ building will sit at the centre of The Electric Boulevard forming a focal point between the other buildings and is destined to be a new landmark for London.

Read More