One Hyde Park

One Hyde Park

One Hyde Park under construction in May 2010
General information
Type Residential, retail
Architectural style Modernist
Location London, United Kingdom
Address One Hyde Park: The Residences at Mandarin Oriental, 100 Knightsbridge, London, SW1X 7LJ
Coordinates 51°30′06″N 0°09′40″W / 51.5016°N 0.1611°WCoordinates: 51°30′06″N 0°09′40″W / 51.5016°N 0.1611°W
Current tenants Rolex, McLaren Automotive, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank
Construction started January 2007
Completed March 2009
Cost £1.15 billion
Owner Project Grande (Guernsey) Limited
Technical details
Floor area Retail: 385,000 sq ft (35,800 m2)
Design and construction
Architecture firm Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners[1]
Structural engineer Arup[1]
Services engineer Cundall[1]
Other designers Candy & Candy[1]
Quantity surveyor Gardiner & Theobald[1]
Main contractor Laing O'Rourke

One Hyde Park is a major residential and retail complex located in Knightsbridge, London.[2] The development includes three retail units (Rolex, McLaren Automotive and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank) totalling 385,000 sq ft (35,800 m2) and 86 residential properties marketed with prices starting at around £20 million.[3]

The building is owned by Project Grande (Guernsey) Limited, a joint venture between the Christian Candy-owned CPC Group and Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, former Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar.[4] It was designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners,[4] built by Laing O'Rourke[1] and was financed via a £1.15 billion development loan from Eurohypo AG.[5] Candy & Candy were the development managers and interior designers for the scheme.

Location

The building is located in the Knightsbridge area of central London, adjacent to Hyde Park and the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park. The actual address is One Hyde Park: The Residences at Mandarin Oriental, 100 Knightsbridge, London, SW1X 7LJ.

History

Planning consent for the building was granted in June 2006.[6] Demolition of the previous building on the site took place between July and December 2006.[6] Construction work began in January 2007.[6] The superstructure of the building was completed in March 2009.[6] Fitting-out of the building began in April 2009.[6] In August 2010 a penthouse in the development was rumoured to be sold for £140 million, making it the most expensive residential property in Britain.[3][7] Also in that month it was announced that McLaren Automotive would be opening a car showroom in the building in early 2011.[8] However, a newspaper report at the time of the development's launch party in January 2011 indicated that according to Land Registry records the sale of only five properties had been completed - the 'recordbreaking' £140 million penthouse[9] being sold to the development's own financial backer Sheik Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani for £40.5 million in August 2010. One to an Indian family in mining and oil and an adjoining penthouse to One Hyde Park developer Christian Candy, who reportedly paid £31 million, "about £100 million less than the asking price".[10]

As of 2013, there was little evidence of people actually living in the complex.[11]

In September 2013 it was reported that a one-bedroom apartment in the complex worth £5.25m had been repossessed.[12]

Notable owners

Notable owners of One Hyde Park properties include:

Tax issues

In November 2011 it was reported that only nine out of the 62 apartments that had been sold at One Hyde Park were registered with Westminster City Council for Council Tax. Despite prices ranging from £3.6 million for a one-bedroom flat to £136 million for a penthouse, only four properties were paying the full £755.60 a year Council Tax plus the £619.64 Greater London Authority charge (collectively below the national average), while five were paying the Council Tax at the 50% reduction for a second home. Westminster North MP Karen Buck stated: "When council spending is under unprecedented pressure, it is scandalous that residents in luxury apartments can avoid their share of council tax liability. It sometimes seems as if the more money you have the less you are required to pay."[15] Nicholas Shaxson from Vanity Fair discovered that 60 apartments are owned by companies registered in tax havens as foreign companies and therefore don't have to pay taxes on the apartments. The owners of the companies remain anonymous.[16]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "One Hyde Park". e-architect. Retrieved 6 June 2011.
  2. ↑ Quinn, James (7 November 2010). "Rolex moves into One Hyde Park". London: The Telegraph. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Moore, Matthew (10 August 2010). "One Hyde Park penthouse sells for record-breaking £140m". London: The Telegraph. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Fletcher, Martin (18 April 2010). "What recession? Flats in Central London go on sale at £5m-plus". The Times. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
  5. ↑ "Candy Brothers in Monaco Make Millions in London Housing Slump". Bloomberg L.P. 8 September 2009. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 "Home page". One Hyde Park. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
  7. ↑ Fernandez, Colin (11 August 2010). "The £140m flat: World-record price earns mystery buyer room service from a TV chef, a panic room and SAS-trained bodyguards". Daily Mail. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
  8. ↑ "McLaren join race to Formula 1 Hyde Park". London Evening Standard. 6 August 2010. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
  9. ↑ http://search.knightfrank.com/gb0203
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Pryer, Nick; Sanderson, Elizabeth (23 January 2011). "Two fully sold (to the owners and developers)... Just 84 to go! Truth about the most hyped luxury flats in the world". London: Daily Mail. Retrieved 17 February 2011.
  11. ↑ Sarah Lyall (1 April 2013). "A Slice of London So Exclusive Even the Owners Are Visitors". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 April 2013.
  12. ↑ Angela Monaghan and Jennifer Rankin (10 September 2013). "Luxury £5.25m apartment in One Hyde Park repossessed". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 September 2013.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6 Chrystia Freeland, Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else, New York: The Penguin Press, 2012, p. 103
  14. ↑ Alex Hawkes (19 April 2011). "Rinat Akhmetov pays record £136.4m for apartment at One Hyde Park | UK news". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2011-07-17.
  15. ↑ Boffey, Daniel (26 November 2011). "Only nine pay council tax in enclave for super-rich". The Guardian (London).
  16. ↑ ""Das wurde immer so gemacht"". Hamburg: Zeit Online GmbH. 27 December 2013. Retrieved 3 January 2014.

Further reading

External links

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