Senior executives of City & Country Group have made regular trips on stage at the WhatHouse? Awards thanks to the exceptional standards of their new homes developments. We speak exclusively to Suzanne Alpin, the company’s sales and marketing director, about its most popular current properties for sale.
Please tell us a little about yourself and City & Country.
City & Country is the market leading heritage developer in the UK. With over 50 years’ experience, the company specialises in the acquisition, restoration and conversion of historic and listed buildings. The company creates outstanding residential and commercial properties, whilst also adding sensitively designed new homes, where appropriate.
What developments are you selling right now?
We’re currently selling at two flagship developments; The General in Bristol and King Edward VII Estate in West Sussex.
The General is the Grade II* listed former Bristol General Hospital in the heart of the city. Following extensive restoration and redesign, it has become one of the most sought-after residential addresses in Bristol. Also included as part of this development is The Iron Foundry, a contemporary steel and glass building that includes 16 distinctive new apartments.
King Edward VII Estate, meanwhile, is a stately collection of restored and converted listed buildings and registered gardens. It is an outstanding example of Edwardian architecture and design. More than 100 years after the hospital first opened, we have reimagined these fascinating buildings to create a hugely ambitious new homes destination.
This autumn we will be launching a hotly anticipated development in Edinburgh called Donaldson’s. We are restoring and converting the Category A listed building, one of Edinburgh’s most recognisable landmarks, into 112 chic city centre homes.
Your current projects cover a wide area - what are the 'hotspot' locations?
Bristol has undoubtedly been a star performer over the last year or so. Throughout the city, and the surrounding region, there is great demand for excellent homes. Bristol is continuing to set the pace for house price growth nationwide and the local economic outlook suggests it will remain one of the country’s property hotspots for a number of years to come. We’re also very excited about the launch of Donaldson’s in Edinburgh, where there is an increasing demand for high-quality properties in the city centre.
What do you think are your key strengths in making a renovation project so successful?
Thanks to our vast restoration experience and expertise, we can consider sites often deemed too challenging by others. We are specialists in this niche area of the housebuilding industry and are proud of our reputation as leaders in this field. We have been specialising in heritage projects for over 30 years’, each project you learn from and can apply this valuable knowledge on schemes of the future.
Within our team we have immensely skilled and experienced professionals in all aspects of heritage construction, including planners, historians, architects and designers. We insist on preserving and enhancing each heritage asset and refuse to cut corners, which in turn creates some incredibly special and unique places to live.
Does the appeal of your developments cover a wide spectrum of buyers?
Yes absolutely. The nature of historic buildings means we often deal with a fantastically varied set of spaces and floorplans, which allows us to create a wide range of unique living accommodation. From studios to vast triplex apartments with far reaching views, this variety means we sell to first time buyers, often using the Help to Buy scheme, to owner occupiers, young professionals and downsizers looking for a smaller, but just as grand property.
Do your WhatHouse? and other award wins make a big difference to how customers think about City & Country?
Definitely! The industry recognition and seal of approval that each award provides is of huge value to our customers. They can be assured that they are choosing to live in a development that has been recognised as the best in its class.
We’re very proud of our various successes at the WhatHouse? Awards. Last year we won the Gold Award in the Best Renovation category for the Mansion Apartments at King Edward VII Estate and the Silver Award for Best Medium Housebuilder, while in 2015 we became the first housebuilder to win two Gold Awards in the Best Renovation category. This followed the prestigious title of Housebuilder of the Year 2014.
Are Help to Buy and other incentives important in today's property market?
Yes, definitely. For those that have a good job and salary so can afford the mortgage but do not have sufficient savings for the deposit, Help to Buy has enabled them to buy a unique home from us that they can be proud of. 16% of purchasers have used Help to Buy at King Edward VII Estate whilst 13% have utilised the scheme at The General.
Donaldson’s in Edinburgh will launch this autumn, while we’re making great progress at Portsmouth Prison (which we are converting into 230 homes) and we have just received planning permission to convert The Mansion at Sundridge Park in Bromley, after a successful appeal. We expect to launch both of these developments in 2018.
Is there a type of development on your wish list that you haven't tackled yet?
We’re well known for the unique projects that we like to take on, such as hospitals, schools, chapels, even war-time bunkers and more recently prisons. Institutional buildings definitely provide the history and the design challenges that we love. If it’s got an amazing history, we’ll always be interested!