New flats to rent in Knightsbridge: high end build-to-rent development is bid to counter area's 'build to leave' reputation

All the homes at a major new scheme in Knightsbridge are to be kept for rent in a bid to revive one of the London districts worst hit by the “buy to leave” phenomenon, where owners never live in their flats, leaving entire blocks “dark” at night.

None of the 35 apartments at The Knightsbridge Estate residential, retail and office scheme on the corner of Brompton Road and Sloane Street will be sold off in a major new trend for prime central London.

Jeremy Lacey, senior development manager at property company Chelsfield, said: “This is very much a lights-on development. We want to create a quiet oasis in an urban location.”

The lateral apartments range from one to four bedrooms, many with views over the street and to an inner courtyard.

The one-and-a-half-acre construction site forms part of a three-acre trophy plot between rival stores Harrods and Harvey Nichols, bought by the Saudi family-owned conglomerate Olayan Group for an estimated £600 million from an Irish property investor in 2010.

The site is virtually opposite the Candy brothers’ One Hyde Park development, a byword for the trend towards wealthy buyers snapping up central London bases only to leave them empty for most of the year.

Olayan, founded by Saudi businessman Suliman Saleh Olayan, also owns developments in Paris and Madrid and is said to take a “multigenerational approach” to its property investments rather than “a quick in and out”.

As well as the apartments the scheme includes 70,000sq ft of office space spread over five floors ready for occupation in February 2021, with a café on the ground floor and a rooftop restaurant.

There are six shop units, one of which has been pre-let to luxury fashion brand Burberry.

The scheme also involves widening the pavement on the south side of Brompton Road to reduce congestion and a new entrance for Knightsbridge Underground station.

The complex £141 million construction contract awarded to Skanska last year involves retention of virtually all the outer façades of the structures on the estate as well as an Edwardian listed Arts and Crafts building.

The site is being dug out to third basement level.