Work-from-home havens: new live-work houses in Ashford with fast train links to St Pancras — and Brussels

Home-based working is Britain’s fastest-growing employment sector.

Housebuilders are coming up with fresh design solutions to meet the demand, including work zones, attic spaces and purpose-built garden offices with fast-fibre technology, foldaway furniture and storage systems with sliding walls.

Finberry is a new 1,180-home development with a primary school being built by the River Stour on the outskirts of Ashford, Kent.

Alongside cottages and detached houses are three-storey live-work homes with a self-contained ground-floor “work” area and separate entrance.

The homes have 1,687sq ft of space, a rear garden and access to shops and a community hall.

“The properties would suit a range of businesses, from small architectural practices and accountancy firms to artists’ studios and wedding planners,” says Annette Cole, director of developer Crest Nicholson.

Financial pitfalls at Finberry live-work homes include mortgage restrictions and capital gains tax liabilities.

Owners will be given formal status by the local authority, and will be asked to pay business rates of £1,561 a year on the ground-floor space as well as council tax on the purely residential element.

Prices start at £385,000. Call 01233 223 133.

Ashford is a boom location for startups, with 90 per cent of businesses deemed to be “micro” concerns employing up to nine people, many relocating from London.

Fast train links are a big draw for business and commuters: 35 minutes to St Pancras and barely an hour to Brussels.