IMAGINE THIS: a developer buys a disused warehouse with the consent already granted to turn it into 24 flats, then goes back to the planners and argues that the building would be better suited to just 14 much more spacious units.

This is Clerkenwell, where such events sound about as likely as a rocking horse in the Grand National. But it is true and it might even be a winner with the going in the London market being a little on the hard side.

Ridgeford, which is better known for commercial developments but is starting to build a reputation on the residential front, bought the handsome Edwardian warehouse at 70 Ironmonger Row, opposite the landmark Turkish baths, in November 2001.

Until the downturn, 50 per cent to 70 per cent of all new-build schemes in areas such as Clerkenwell were being hoovered up by buy-to-let investors and the big developers were only too happy “egg-crating” as many titchy flats as they could into every block.

Now that the market is in a tailspin, Ridgeford’s decision to go for fewer flats, with more impressive layouts and a real feeling of space, starts to look inspired. It has produced a development aimed firmly at owner-occupiers, some perhaps already in Clerkenwell and trading up.

The prices will range from £435,000 for a 940 sq ft, two-bed apartment to £650,000 for one of the 1,420 sq ft units. Two three-bed penthouses (one at 1,800 sq ft, the other at 1,500 sq ft) will be priced later at about £850,000. They both possess extensive terraces with almost 360-degree views of the city.

The location has a lot going for it. A lowlife hellhole in my early days in London, it has long since become strictly Ab Fab. Ironmonger Row is within walking distance of the City and all the new delights of Hoxton and the Angel’s bars, restaurants, galleries and fashionable hangouts.

Long before Friday nights meant having an Indian, Cockney ritual included having a Turkish at Ironmonger Row. Once upon a time a Turkish steam bath and body rub massage cost a tanner. Now you won’t see much change from a tenner, but the baths, along with their 30- metre swimming pool, have been voted among the top 50 in the world.

Jamie Oliver’s restaurant Fifteen is hereabouts. Alexander McQueen has a showroom around the corner. Now the buzz is that one of the wonder kids of new British architecture might be moving her practice to the offices at the bottom of the building. Up to 10,000 sq ft is available.

Ridgeford’s managing director, Christopher Murray, says: “We could have gone ahead with the 24 units but we didn’t want to repeat what has already been done in the area — little ‘cookie cutter’ flats. We wanted to raise the architectural benchmark.” In fact the firm is “into” architecture. Nine members of the Murray family, which owns Ridgeford and its parent group in Canada, trained as architects. It also explains why it has used big names such as Piers Gough of CZWG architects and the interior designer Jenny Armit on its projects.

“We started out by all playing around with layouts for the kind of flats we wanted to see here. I wanted to be able to say, yes, this is the kind of place I would love to live myself,” Murray says. “This led to us wanting to gut the place, knocking out three of the four staircases and two of the three lift shafts to give us more free room to play with.”

The architects came up with the idea of a new big zigzag wall between some of the flats. A very CZWG touch, it gives what would otherwise be featureless narrow corridors a sense of useful and flowing space. The apartments start to feel large and airy, making great use of the 6ft-high sash windows.

“We could have done 24 mean flats,” Murray says, “but there are too many around. We took the view that a repetitive product won’t sell well. This isn’t a place for investors looking for doing deals. We will sell for our prices or we will keep them and rent them out for a few years until the market comes back up,” he says.

Ridgeford used the same CZWG-Armit team for its conversion of a 1960s building at Weymouth Street in the West End into apartments and offices. It has the apartments available for short lets at up to £2,000 a week. “It’s good for cash flow,” Murray says.

The emphasis in Clerkenwell is on quality, with all the twiddly bits you expect to get with a high-specification apartment: wiring for internet and telephones, security systems, air con in the penthouses, Merbau hardwood floors laid throughout. The bathrooms have limestone-clad walls and solid oak framing to cabinets and sinks. High ceilings are emphasised with nearly 10ft floor-to-ceiling doors in grey laminate and solid oak trim. (Architectural anoraks note: the plain aluminium door handles are from the Modric range by Allgoods). Jenny Armit chose Neil Lerner kitchens.

Jenny has offices in London and Los Angeles and is no stranger to big commissions from private clients who can be, shall we say, as bleeding awkward as they are rich. I get the impression that working for Ridgeford, therefore, is a bit of a treat. “They understand the design process and let you get on with it,” she says.

In the Ironmonger Row show flats, the Armit style is sort of Ikea meets Le Corbusier. She has successfully mixed off-the-peg items, such as Ikea lamps, with a number of more expensive design classics from the likes of Conran, and Purves & Purves. Star turns include modernist chairs given a new twist with flowery “Lorca” coverings from Osborne & Little; a wonderful low-level white plastic drawer unit that looks like a shrunken sideboard; and a large glass cube stuffed full with blood-red silk roses. This last item is a one-off and cost £1,400, but it ain’t half good to look at. The mix-and-match formula on the show flats is for a definite purpose. “I wanted to show that you don’t have to spend bucketloads on every item to be stylish,” Armit says. Oh, and all the flats come with a built-in Miele cappuccino-maker. Natch.

Viewing: Stirling Ackroyd, 020-7647 6684 www.stirlingackroyd.co.uk or Allsop & Co, 020-7344 2616 www.allsop.co.uk.

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