Clerkenwell: the home of loft living
Clerkenwell has become so achingly cool that the affluent young entrepreneurs who work in its creative businesses are desperate to live there, too.
The best new homes 2012
Here we showcase this year's winners of our London Evening Standard New Homes Awards - the capital's property Oscars.
Spotlight on Camden Town
The shops and markets clustered around the high street and canal make Camden one of the most colourful of London's neighbourhoods. The area's period homes and loft-style apartments attract a mix of homebuyers.
Move to St Albans and you get two cities for the price of one
Moving out of the capital doesn’t have to mean a longer commute or even a change of job.
My design London: Elizabeth Hurley
Elizabeth Hurley reveals her latest design project; discusses friend Damien Hirst's artwork, as well as her favourite restaurants and design shops in London.
Find a rated tradesman
Want to add value to your property, make your house a home, or sell your place fast? With 1,000s of tradesmen nationwide, rated and recommended by previous customers, this is the smart way to find a reputable tradesman.
Buy of the week: high church
This former masonic chapel in Chiswick has been converted into a three-bedroom home (£1.175 million) with a 30-foot open-plan, double-height reception room. The kitchen is a black glossy affair, there’s a study, a cinema room and a decked roof terrace.
Swap of the week: Blackboys, East Sussex
Honeys Green farmhouse is a Grade II-listed pile that sits in a couple of acres and offers versatile living with an annexe and outdoor heated pool. Inside has character galore among four bedrooms and an attic room with pretty views.
Life-changer: South Petherton, Somerset
Willowbrook is a five-bedroom beauty (£1.15 million) with a 52-foot reception room and garages that could become a holiday apartment. Make a B&B business there and your guests could use the indoor pool and gym complex or roam your two-acre garden.
Spotlight on Tunbridge Wells
It may have temporarily lost its iron-rich spring but Tunbridge Wells has buckets of charm to make up for it.-
Buy of the week: high church
This former masonic chapel in Chiswick has been converted into a three-bedroom home (£1.175 million) with a 30-foot open-plan, double-height reception room. The kitchen is a black glossy affair, there’s a study, a cinema room and a decked roof terrace. -
Swap of the week: Blackboys, East Sussex
Honeys Green farmhouse is a Grade II-listed pile that sits in a couple of acres and offers versatile living with an annexe and outdoor heated pool. Inside has character galore among four bedrooms and an attic room with pretty views. -
Life-changer: South Petherton, Somerset
Willowbrook is a five-bedroom beauty (£1.15 million) with a 52-foot reception room and garages that could become a holiday apartment. Make a B&B business there and your guests could use the indoor pool and gym complex or roam your two-acre garden.
Property search
Homes & Property and Grand Designs Live
Grand Designs Live is London’s most exciting home show. This year the Evening Standard and Homes & Property will join forces to partner this 10-day spring event at ExCel and celebrate great design, says Philippa Stockley
Last year's new-build winner, timber home Trees, in Ubley, Somerset by RD Architects for James and Rebecca Dyer
Katie Walker's Ribbon Chair was a runaway winner in the furniture and design category at the awards last year
'It has never been more important to celebrate design excellence'
A highlight of the show will be the award ceremony, now in its fourth year.
These awards, supported by the Evening Standard, are a chance to celebrate, architects, designers and anyone who has built a house or designed a product to spotlight their talents.
The event is now a fixture on the design calendar, backed by a judging panel including Sebastian Conran, Wayne Hemingway, former RIBA president George Ferguson, The Home Show presenter George Clarke, architect Deborah Saunt and Homes & Property deputy editor Philippa Stockley.
“It has never been more important to celebrate design excellence than in the current economic climate,” says Grand Designs’ Kevin McCloud, who will be presenting the awards at a black-tie event for 500 people in London on 30 April.
“The architects who produce bespoke, responsive buildings, the people designing innovative products, self-builders, and those brave souls who commission exemplary architecture are the design heroes of our economy.”
© Channel 4
Grand Designs Live is hosted by Kevin McCloud
Categories
This year the categories in housing are: New-build, Redesigned, Conversion, Eco, Extension and Housing development. In products, the awards are for Furniture, Lighting, Kitchen Systems, Bathroom Product, Innovative Building Product, and Surfaces and Finishes.
There will also be a special overall Homes & Property award for best product, a “best of the best” award. The award winners will be published in Homes & Property magazine. There will also be great prizes given away to guests at the event, and a percentage of door sales will go to the housing charity Shelter.
The event is sponsored by British Gas, Velux, First Direct, Miele, Volvo, Hotpoint, Kaldewei, Lutron icon magazine and Shelter. Entries close, exclusively for Evening Standard readers, on 8 March, so get your application in now. For more information, visit www.granddesignsawards.com.
The quality and range of housing entered for the awards is high. Last year’s winners included fabulous housing, such as the remodelled Hill House by David and Brenda Taylor, the eco house, Penwhilwr, by Rachel Shiamh, and a sympathetic conversion called Blacksheep House by Pete and Christine Hope.
In the furniture and design categories, Katie Walker’s Ribbon rocking chair was a runaway winner. For your chance to be a winner, visit www.granddesignsawards.com.
Grand Designs Live, Excel, Docklands, 25 April to 4 May. Visit www.granddesignslive.com.
More articles
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London’s epidemic of discounting
A combination of greedy sellers, nervous buyers and unscrupulous estate agents who promise sky-high prices in order to tempt clients, is being blamed for an epidemic of discounting in the London property market, where a third of all homes for sale have had their original asking price slashed.
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New Homes Awards 2012: the winners
From classy commuter mansions to city-centre apartments at NEO Bankside and first-time buys to penthouses, this year’s best new homes were awarded for innovative design, eco living and impressive architecture.
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Only 639 new homes are for sale in Greater London
The scarcity of land is changing the face of London as offices become homes and commercial centres go residential.
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The best new homes 2012
Here we showcase this year's winners of our London Evening Standard New Homes Awards - the capital's property Oscars.
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Property insider: Islington
Well-connected Islington is a hotspot for City workers and young professionals who are seeking more space than a Square Mile crash pad without a long commute. We take a property tour of N1 and its surrounding neighbourhoods.
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Can anything be done when a seller puts the price up?
We should have exchanged contracts on our new house last Friday, but the seller upped the price on Thursday by £25,000, so it didn’t happen. Also, his sister is living there and can’t move out until July. Can he do this? Does it matter that’s she’s living there?
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The accidental landlord
Our accidental landlord doesn't know where to look when she ends up meeting a tenant who is happy to chat in just his boxer shorts.
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Diary of an estate agent
A Pangbourne estate agent finds the balancing act of the exchange process pays off if he can duck the crossfire.
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Secret money-saving tips
Times are tight but frugal life doesn’t have to be boring. Follow these secret money-savers - from discounts at Starbucks and the cinema, to free kids meals at restaurants.
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Homes that slash your heating bills by 90 per cent
The UK’s first “greenhauses” - highly efficient German-designed homes said to slash utility bills by 90 per cent, have been unveiled in west London.
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