Gus Alexander heads to Portobello Road, Notting Hill, to take a look at a swanky residential scheme that is a testament to the very hands-on approach of its architect
It is quite unusual to see speculative residential schemes that demonstrate as much ingenuity as the pair of houses just being finished at 61-63 Portobello Road in Notting Hill, west London. Okay, so it鈥檚 being built in a part of London where people pay 拢600,000 to excavate enough of the pavement to accommodate their Filipina maids. But, irrespective of that, this little scheme has been extremely well worked out, and makes exemplary use of a cramped site.
The development works so well because the site 鈥� a former double-fronted shop 鈥� has been excavated and the new upper floors set back so as to offer decent natural lighting to the two bedrooms that are in the basement.
The structure, a rather ambitious double-steel cantilever that springs from a shared central wall, offers the opportunity to glaze the top-floor living rooms on three sides, and the splayed ends of the houses allow the provision of little terraces in what would otherwise be a pair of light wells.
鈥淭he planners were enthusiastic about our approach,鈥� says the architect Alan Power, whose practice is based around the corner 鈥� 鈥渨hich makes a change.鈥�
He suggested that the building work be split into two stages: the grunt work (that is, all the digging, propping and concreting), which was carried out by Wimbledon contractor LRR, and the completion work, which Power鈥檚 practice organised on a direct labour basis.
Power explains: 鈥淭his sort of construction is nightmarish if you don鈥檛 know what you鈥檙e doing. I thought it would be less trouble to do it myself than trying to stop some building firm who鈥檇 underpriced a tender from screwing up both the building and my relationship with my client.鈥�
The developer, a small firm based in Devon called Mandeville Estates, had had enough experience of the latter course of affairs to take up Power鈥檚 suggestion. It employed a site agent directly, and all the other work was completed in little packages. 鈥淢ore work on site for us,鈥� says Power, 鈥渂ut it鈥檚 not a problem if you are based locally. Half an hour discussing the element with the workforce is more effective than three hours explaining what you want to a manager who doesn鈥檛 know what a glazing cramp is.鈥�
Although it is probably not the fastest way to procure this sort of work, Portobello Road now boasts two stylish houses, available for 拢2m each, or 拢3.75m for the pair, and at a build cost of 拢1800 per m2 it looks as if all concerned are making a reasonable margin out of it.
Project team
Developer Mandeville Estates
Architect Alan Power Architects
Engineer Price and Myers
Structural steel work Silverfern
Metal finishes Whitten Metalwork
Joinery Mott Graves
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