In case you were wondering what all that building work is for near Smithfield Market, it’s only the biggest new housing development to come to the City of London since The Barbican. Barts Square, is a 3.2 acre site nestled in the streets around Little Britain that used to be a collection of NHS buildings belonging to Barts Health Trust.
Bought by Helical in 2011, it’s the first major collection of homes that the developer has embarked on in London. And it’s quite an unusual one, purely because there just aren’t that many residential opportunities in the Square Mile. There have been just eight schemes of more than 15 homes completed here since 2010 – only 715 in total – and Barts Square will add another 236 to that tally when it completes in early 2020, with offices and shops to boot. There are only 4,400 homes in the City in total.
And these are the last ones to be sold at Barts Square, 93 studio to three bed apartments in total spread across three entirely new buildings; Percivall House has a facade of Portland Stone; The Levett Building has a creamy brick tinged with bronze detailing; and Fenwick House has a gleaming glazed brick.
Fenwick House
It joins 19 individually designed facades across the site, reflecting the diversity of architecture in the City. “The resulting neighbourhood is like no other and one that immediately feels like it’s part of the fabric of the City,” says Nikki Dibley from Helical.
Read more: Focus On The City – Residential is finally taking off in the Square Mile
Though the location makes the properties ideal for corporate lets, sales agents for Savills based at the marketing suite at 56 West Smithfield say the first phase of homes are 95 per cent sold to approximately 70 to 30 per cent owner-occupiers to buy-to-let investors.
Some have also bought in the final phase, include a British expat who has snapped up the penthouses in two of the buildings for around £4.5m a piece. And the future’s looking ripe for investment, as Barts Square is a minute walk away from Farringdon station, set to be a major Crossrail hub from December and the only London train station with direct links to three international airports.
Call Savills on 0852 2842 4472.
