With 15 bedrooms, vast entertaining suites and exquisite plasterwork, 15
Kensington Palace Gardens was one of the most expensive – and exclusive –
houses ever to have changed hands in London when it was bought by Leonard
Blavatnik, a Russian-born oil tycoon, for £41m in 2004. Roman Abramovich,
the Chelsea FC boss, and Lakshmi Mittal, the Indian steel tycoon, were among
those whom he reportedly beat to the prize.
Yet all that opulence is clearly not enough for Blavatnik, 49, who fled the
Soviet Union when he was 20 and has gone on to amass an estimated £4.7
billion fortune. According to plans submitted this summer to Kensington and
Chelsea council, the tycoon, who has relocated to London, is seeking
permission to excavate under the garden, to the front and rear of the
sprawling pile, making space for a three-storey garage with car stacker, a
swimming pool, a gym and a private home cinema.
Although Blavatnik’s extension, overseen by the leading architects Michaelis
Boyd, measures about 4,000 sq ft – more than double the size of the average
Victorian semi – it will have caused hardly a stir among those responsible
for planning policy in what is probably now the most expensive residential
enclave on earth.
As prices in the plushest parts of London continue to soar, billionaire
Russian oligarchs, private-equity traders and hedge-fund managers are
engaged in a multimillion-pound game of one-upmanship as they vie with each
other to dig ever bigger, wider and deeper extensions. Behind the white
stucco fronts and redbrick exteriors of Belgravia and Chelsea, London’s
super-rich are digging down and building outwards and upwards – and making
use of the latest, priciest technology to do it.
Want to keep fit? Why not install an underground squash court – there are
several under the streets of west London – or put in a climbing wall? How
about a tennis court? One multimillionaire is believed to be considering
building one. Fancy a swim? The latest must-have feature is an
adjustable-height swimming pool. At the flick of a button – because
everything is remote-controlled – the bottom can be raised or lowered by a
giant hydraulic jack, forming a deep swimming pool for the heavyweight
millionaire or a toddler-friendly paddling pool for his offspring. Optional
extras include a retractable glass roof or a discreet cover that will slide
over the pool, creating a ballroom or banqueting hall. It doesn’t have to be
modern or minimal – one house in Mayfair has a Roman-style pool, complete
with wonky columns.
Several owners are apparently competing to build a 4-metre-deep pool – double
the maximum depth so far in the capital. One home in north London even has a
bespoke chute covered in a special slippery paint, which enables the owner,
who loves swimming first thing in the morning, but hates the fuss of
dressing, to step out of bed and slide straight into the water a couple of
storeys below.
“London is awash with money,” says Robin Ellis, the man behind the chute.
Known in the trade as “London’s poshest builder”, Ellis, who grew up in a
modest 1930s semi in Bristol, is working on 14 projects in the capital –
and, even with an average spend of £4m-£6m, there is a waiting list to see
him. People who already have the trophy address come to him to turn it into
the trophy home.
“Vast tracts of London are being dug up to create sub-basements,” he adds. “My
clients are prepared to pay to create houses that push all the boundaries of
luxury and technology. I’ve put in a swimming pool with a cover that rose,
concertina-style, up and over the water to convert the space into a private
concert hall, with seating for 100.”
It is all reminiscent of the mercantile extravagance of 15th-century Venice or
the wild opulence of the reign of Louis XIV. London now has more
billionaires then anywhere else in the world after New York and Moscow, an
influx of wealth that is having a profound impact, not just on the price of
property (Knight Frank’s latest report reveals a record-breaking 34.5% rise
in prime central London in the 12 months to June), but on the shape and size
of homes in the capital.
In an average neighbourhood, a bit of building work may involve too many trips
to the local tip, perhaps even a skip – but things are on a wholly different
scale in Mayfair, Notting Hill and Belgravia. Houses here are covered from
top to bottom in scaffolding before being draped in tarpaulins; then come
chutes and conveyor belts, to aid the swift and clean removal of thousands
of cubic feet of soil. Roads are shut down so that giant sheets of glass can
be craned over the rooftop, lamp posts moved and trees uprooted – all in the
quest for more living space.
As most of the properties are listed or in a conservation area, the only
surefire way of obtaining permission to add space is to go down. “Our
projects are increasingly extravagant,” says Bob Cole, managing director of
Holloway White Allom, high-end builders who frequently dig down as far as
50ft to create new floors, basements and swimming pools, while the original
house is propped up on giant steel pillars. “We are digging down deeper and
extending further. We have dug out entire gardens to put in a basement,
linked it to a staff mews house, then laid a fully grown garden back on top,
with mature trees. Inside, the rich want air conditioning, sophisticated
security systems, home cinemas, spas, pools, gyms – everything must be
state-of-the-art and industry-standard. The amount of money being spent is
sometimes eyewatering.”
Few can compete with Chris Rokos, a secretive hedge-fund tycoon. The lavish
plans for his eight-bedroom house in Notting Hill, submitted to the planners
this month, include a gym, a home cinema, library, a third-floor open-air
pool, an internal climbing wall, a subterranean garage with motorised lift
for two cars and an 80ft-tall glass atrium. As if that’s not enough, Rokos,
36, plans to dig four storeys below ground to create a 16ft-deep swimming
pool with high board. The 168-page application, currently being studied,
will, if approved, make his home one of the grandest in the city.
Rokos is one of a few home-grown hedge-funders who can can afford to throw his
weight around and compete with the international rich who are making a home
in London. And compete they do, bringing the fighting spirit of the
board-room and the trading floor into the genteel world of interior design.
“When they go round the houses of all of their mates who have done something,
they want to do it better – money is no object,” says Jonathan Hewlett, head
of London sales at Savills estate agency. “There is spiralling competition
for property and a dire shortage of good-quality housing. If they can’t buy
it, then they will create it. A couple of years ago, 8,000 sq ft was seen as
big. Now 10,000 sq ft is modest – in some circles, anyway.”
Often, as the buyers endeavour to outdo one another, it comes down to
high-tech gadgets and gizmos. “Everybody wants a different wow factor to
their property that gives them a point of difference,” says Nick Candy,
co-director of Candy & Candy, the property developers responsible for
One Hyde Park, a new development, still being built, in which flats cost up
to £84m.
“It might be a design feature, attention to detail, a boy’s toy, amazing
cabinetry or a home cinema,” he adds. “In one recent Chelsea property, we
knocked out two floors to create a squash court. The super-rich are no
longer demanding just luxury goods; they’re demanding a luxury lifestyle
experience. Everything is bespoke, every detail is designed around how they
live their life, from the books they will read to how they like their
wardrobe arranged.”
To aid the smooth running of one west London household, for example, Gibson
Music, multi-audio specialists who have been hard-wiring homes for more than
20 years, have just put in £250,000 worth of technology by Creston, which
specialises in top-of-the-range control systems. Other extravagant features
recently demanded by clients include a vanity unit for 2,100 lipsticks; a
glass-fronted, temperature-controlled wine cellar, complete with fibreoptic
lighting and carved macassar ebony shelves, to hold 4,000 bottles; walk-in
showers with waterproof television screens and glass walls that turn opaque
with the press of a button, and cost £1,000 per square metre.
Little of any of this is visible from the street. “Nobody has any idea what is
behind the front door,” says Sandie Altman, the managing director of Weldon
Walshe, an architectural practice that specialises in the private
residential luxury sector. It has just installed a double-height, 65ft-long
swimming pool in the basement of a house in Mayfair.
“The windows may be of bulletproof glass, or there may be a double basement,”
she continues. “Even the most modest mews buildings are Tardis-like and have
a car stacker. Most houses now have more space below ground than above it,
due to stringent planning regulations.”
But how long will they keep extending? The recent turbulence on the world
financial markets that began with the collapse of the sub-prime mortgage
market in America has spread so rapidly, it threatens to cut the future
earnings of those who have made their fortunes in private equity, in
particular. For the time being, though, the diggers are still at it.
Holloway White Allom, 020 7499 3962, www.hwaltd.co.uk;
Candy & Candy, 020 7594 4300, www.candyandcandy.com;
Gibson Music; 020 7384 2270, www.gibson-music.com
Movers and shapers
Robin Ellis
London’s “poshest builder”, in Primrose Hill, rarely gets out of bed for
projects worth less than £1m. His average budget is closer to £4m. But
if you want a subterranean squash court, or a spiral slide to whizz you from
bed to pool, he’s your man.
020 7449 4252, www.robinellis.co.uk
Michaelis Boyd Associates
The trendy west London architectural duo Alex Michaelis and Tim Boyd have
transformed many a pokey Victorian terrace with their trademark minimalism
with an eco-twist. They are favourites of Notting Hill greenies and Holland
Park hedgies alike, with Jemima Khan and David Cameron among their clients.
020 7221 1237, www.michaelisboyd.com
Weldon Walshe
This Belgravia-based practice specialises in large-scale refurbishments of
listed properties in prime pockets of the capital, with the emphasis on
absolute luxury. Recent projects include an atrium with a retractable glass
roof, and underground storage for last season’s wardrobe.
020 7235 4100, www.weldonwalshe.co.uk
McLean Quinlan
Dedicated to natural light and concealed storage, Fiona McLean has a
reputation for providing a wow factor in family homes. Attention to detail
is the key: her designs include everything from laundry chutes to
cantilevered telephone tables with space for paperclips.
020 8870 8600, www.mcleanquinlan.com
Collett-Zarzycki Architects & Designers
Everything this west London trio does is bespoke – even the plans are
hand-painted in watercolour. All work is done in-house, from installing a
three-storey car lift to planting garden borders.
020 8969 6967, www.collett-zarzycki.com
As Richard Nixon once said, "Keep whooping it up while there's still time!"
Mark, USA,
No mention of Madeleine McCann. What a surprise.
Henry Percy, London, UK
IN ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION WHAT YOU WANT AS FEATURES UNDERGROUND I WOULD GO FOR A VELODROME, A MAHOGANY BUNGEE JUMPING PLATFORM AND A SMALL LAKE TO KEEP MY OTTERS IN. NO DOUBT CANDY AND CANDY COULD DO ALL THIS.
andrea alexander, outwell, uk
Fiona McLean pays attention to detail? We fired her because she refused to get involved with doorhandles etc for our Chelsea house, never mind paperclips. We were not in the Uk so it was not unreasonable to expect some input for the details.
Andrew, France,