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Best of Ted
David Clare / May 3 / Design, Property

Best of TED: Bjarke Ingels architecture tales

Wonderful architecture tales are those that completely blow your mind. To see the final product itself is usually incredible enough. But when you hear the story of how a building came to be, the wonder becomes so much more.

Bjarke Ingels, a danish architect, gave a talk at TED Global in 2009 where he explained the process behind 3 projects he developed, and the incredible stories of how he used nature in every element of design. From using it for a project management process, all the way through to buildings that don’t just look like nature, but act like it too.

Take a short break and invest 18 minutes in watching this TED Talk – we’re certain it will be well worth it for the inspiration alone.

Did you like the CGI animations at the end of Bjarke’s video? Take a look at our video service and see if we can help you create similar.

Grand Designs
David Clare / April 27 / Design, Property

How to appear on Grand Designs

Grand Designs has offered great viewing for property enthusiasts for over a decade now (in fact, we’re only 3 years from the 20th anniversary of the show). Each home that has been featured has been truly unique and often awe-inspiring. But have you ever wondered how you can have your home featured on the show?

If you are developing a new property, one that you yourself will end up living in – perhaps the dream build you have always wanted to create, or the world’s most sustainable building – then you can easily appear on the show. The process is rather simple.

Grand Designs is produced by Boundless Productions for Channel 4. So the first step is to stop emailing or tweeting at Channel 4 and instead bother Boundless Productions. Their email and phone number for enquiries about appearing are below. But first, read this checklist:

  1. Your project is a new residential build or significant (and they mean significant!) residential conversion.
  2. The project is truly unique or has interesting elements of design, materials used, construction techniques, location or the people involved (that’s your own story).
  3. Planning permission is in place – despite what you may have seen on the show in the past where featured couples haven’t exactly had this beforehand, you must.
  4. You are planning to live in the property yourself – sorry developers, maybe next time. However, previous shows have featured those building multiple properties but living in one of the homes.
  5. You agree to be filmed. Well… what else did you expect?

So, do you have a project coming up that is worthy of being featured on Grand Designs? The publicity is huge, and being featured can drastically increase the property value, so we thoroughly recommend it.

If so, just contact the production company by email: granddesigns@boundlessproductions.tv or by phone: 01494 733538.

Good luck – and let us know how you get on!

David Clare / April 25 / Property

5 castles to buy beyond the wall. Because Winter isn’t really coming.

With property in London regularly reaching into the millions, at a time when a parking space could set you back £350,000, it could be worth making the move to the north and looking at castles.

Moving to Scotland could be a culture shock, but unlike in Game of Thrones where everyone is getting as south as possible (for good reason), winter isn’t coming – and a castle in the most northern part of the UK could be a wonderful investment.

Here are 5 beautiful castles for sale at the moment on savills.com, with one for sale at under £1 million – bargain! Just make sure you can afford the upkeep.

Earlshall Castle – Price on request

“One of the best-kept 16th-century houses in Scotland.”

Castles: Earlshall Castle

Source

Tower Of Lethendy – £4.6m

“The ultimate Scottish residence with private golf course.”

Castles: Tower Of Lethendy

Source

Hatton Castle – £4.5m

“The estate extends to some 848 acres of agricultural land and commercial and amenity woodland.”

Castles: Hatton Castle

 

Source

Cassillis Estate – £3.9m

“An imposing castle standing high above the River Doon steeped in history.”

Castles: Cassillis Estate

Source

Cats Castle – £675k

“A fine baronial castle with 2-bedroom self-contained wing.”

Castles: Cats Castle

Source

So after seeing such grand properties that wouldn’t look so out of place in Westeros, would you make the trip beyond the wall?

Commuter Homes
Tom Harrison-Lord / April 22 / Property

The Commuter Effect – London Property Prices

Recent research has calculated that it costs £3000 more to buy a house each minute you travel closer to London. This is a fairly staggering fact that incentivises commuters to live and travel from further afield.

The research found that an average house price within central London is £606,000, whereas it fell to £458,000 via a 30-minute train ride. These statistics show that there is a solid value proposition for buyers who work in London, looking to save on high living costs by living outside of the city and using public transport to commute.

However, this has generally been common sense for a few years now. No longer is it a brave new idea. This has also lead to a shift in property prices in areas surrounding London. So while house prices drop for each minute you travel away from London on a train, those house prices are also on the rise.

Places like Luton, Hertfordshire and Kent have seen prices rise by 12.2% in just the first 3 months of 2016 alone. Why many people have realised that it is cheaper for them to live away from their job, now all of a sudden property prices are rising to match. So while house prices are still lower than central London, the gap will surely diminish.

It's tough being a Commuter

Over time could we see the influx of commuters actually level out the prices in places with good transport links to match those of central London? That might be a bit of a stretch, but at the rate things are going at present, it may become not such a cut and dry financial situation. Don’t forget, the cost of train travel itself isn’t exactly cheap and you have to sacrifice personal space.

It’s not just popular towns either. House prices in rural areas are also shooting up. One housebuilder has recently been cashing in on people moving out of the centre. Company Countryside Properties has seen the price of homes built by them within a 50 miles radius of the capitol rise a massive 47% between October 2015 and March 2016.

For now, the gamble is paying off, but if you are buying to let or building new, you better act fast to make the most of the best commuter towns and areas.

Brexit Property Fears
Tom Harrison-Lord / April 21 / Property

Brexit: What impact is the EU Referendum having on the Property Market?

There is an EU referendum on the way. Not breaking news in itself, we are all well aware of the vote. But, with the results very much an unknown, the uncertainty is affecting the property market.

It has been common knowledge that the current uncharted waters are causing recruiters to be nervous. The number of short-term contract team members has increased and at the same time, full-time employment growth is slowing. With so much to play for, companies are erring on the side of caution.

The same is true of the property market right now. Big decisions, whether or not to purchase land, to start work on plans, the next big marketing push etc. have been delayed until after June 23rd. Even after that date, if the vote swings for Britain to leave the EU, many more discussions will need to take place and investments could be pushed back even further.

The macroeconomic environment could be on the verge or a large change, so most property developers are sitting back and waiting for the date to pass to stay on the safe side.

David Sleath, CEO of Segro recently said:

“There is a dramatic slowdown in the investment space because people who have got [property] to sell are sitting on their hands.” Source.

EU Referendum

Property is not only a place to live and work but a key investment asset too. On the run up to the referendum, shares in property investment businesses and commercial property companies have been falling. This is again, due in part to the uncertainty, especially where overseas funding is involved. These are nervous time for all investors.

However, Brexit is not the only reason. The UK residential property price boom looks to be over; there are changes to Stamp Duty and the whole global economy is slowing. These factors combined with the EU vote has created a perfect property storm consisting of risk gambles and the jitters.

Thankfully, with a bit of look, the fears could only be around for the short-term. From large property projects to first-time house buyers, there is an air of nervousness. But once the referendum has passed, things are expected to return to normal.

The imbalance between demand and supply shall continue, with house prices, for example, set to rise by 25% over the next 5 years and half of existing UK housebuilders “not worried” about the potential impact of an EU exit. So, roll on June 23rd!

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