The Rise of the Luxe New-Build

British buyers have long favoured traditional homes over new-builds – and with historic stock including half-timbered manors, Georgian rectories, Edwardian mansions and Victorian villas, it’s easy to see why. In the UK, character and heritage go hand in hand. An old house has romantic associations – a sense of lives lived.

But the latest generation of luxurious new-build houses and apartments is becoming the first choice for buyers. And developers have stepped up to the mark, providing prime properties across the country that are sleek, secure, sustainable and with all the services a homeowner could ever need.

“The luxury new-build market in London and elsewhere has been transformed over the past 30 years,” says Edward Lewis, head of residential development sales at Savills. “It’s moved from ‘anything goes’ to a more refined and design-led approach, reflecting how buyers actually like to live in the 21st century.”

Certainly the British new-build has been on a journey. A few decades ago, it was, more often than not, a functional, edge-of-town box. An already-biased domestic market preferred characterful mansions and terraces that had matured with age. Plus, as Lewis says, there simply weren’t many opportunities at the upper end of the market. In London, warehouse conversions emerged in the 1980s, and luxurious new-builds popped up at sites such as Chelsea Harbour and Canary Wharf, but otherwise pickings were slim.

Then developers such as the Berkeley Group began investing in new-build homes and, by the time the Candys’ One Hyde Park went up in 2009, the luxury model had truly arrived. These modish moderns challenged older properties. In new-builds, concierges, gyms and swimming pools, high-tech lighting and appliances, and air conditioning were supplied as standard, complementing on-site services from nannies to private chefs and members’ clubs. As well as winning over the domestic market, these luxury new-builds became popular with international buyers.

Rather than being awkward conversions, these new-builds offered integrity and proportion. Often laterally configured, they competed well against the endless stairs of older properties in Belgravia and Knightsbridge. And whereas large family rooms, kitchen-diners and high-spec bathrooms had to be shoehorned into older floor plans, they were designed into new-builds from the off – even in those that maintained a traditional façade.

Indeed, new-builds ushered in a more open-minded attitude to deluxe housing. As well as breathing life into central areas – in the form of Park Modern and The Whiteley in Bayswater, and 8 Eaton Lane in Belgravia – they opened up new neighbourhoods. In London, the South Bank has seen many modern developments, from Triptych Bankside near Tate Modern to new arrival The Doulton. King’s Cross has Capella while, in the City, One Bishopsgate Plaza has 160 apartments in its Sky Residences.

Nor is it just in London where the luxury new-build market is growing. “There’s a lot of change at the moment and while some people want a traditional country pile, there’s a growing group of buyers – even domestically – who are looking at new-builds,” says George Cardale, head of UK residential development sales at Savills. “It’s the result of a process of education and a change of attitude.”

These buyers look at the cost and time of running an old property as well as the lifestyle benefits. “They’re attracted by high levels of energy efficiency, insulation and low running costs,” says Cardale. “My own house, built in 1664, is lovely. But the spaces are very different to how we live now. A new-build is a fresh, blank canvas, designed for life in the 21st century.”

Buyers are looking in regional cities including Cambridge, Oxford, Bristol, Norwich and Edinburgh, as well as hotspots such as Elmbridge in Surrey, where, says Cardale, “architects, designers and developers are all taking much more care to design really high-quality properties”. Their efforts are reflected in the fact that, in many places, the cost of a luxe new-build trumps that of a traditional home. And for those with other global properties in their portfolio, there is the reassuring “lock up and leave” factor. “They tend to be maintenance-free and with better security specifications,” says Cardale. In short, the shock of the new is no longer an issue.

London Residential Developments

Pictures from top: the view from One Bishopsgate Plaza in London; a state-of-the-art kitchen at Holland Park Gate; the swimming pool at One Bishopsgate Plaza; and a double-height living space at The Whiteley