large development esprit apartments - FTB Readers' Awards

First Time Buyer Awards
Best LARGE DEVELOPMENT
ESPRIT APARTMENTS @ Strata
by Family Mosaic

Marketed as Esprit Apartments @ Strata, the collection
of 51 one bedroom and 47 two bedroom properties
provided by Family Mosaic were hugely popular with
first time buyers resulting in 80 expressions of interest
from people living or working in the London Borough
of Southwark during the 2 day pre-launch in March.
To date, all 98 shared ownership and shared equity
apartments have been reserved to first time buyers
with 86 residents now in occupation.
One of the main attractions to those looking for an
affordable property at Esprit Apartments was the new
initiative by Family Mosaic whereby purchasers would pay
just 1.75% on the monthly rental. So for a 25% share
(£53,125) of a typical one bedroom apartment (market
price £212,500) the monthly cost would be around £744.27
including the mortgage, rent and service charge. Putting this
into perspective, the average rental price for a one bedroom
apartment in Elephant and Castle is £1,092* a month which
means purchasers can make a considerable saving as well as
owning a property themselves.
Towering at 43 storeys above the Elephant and Castle,
Strata is a new architectural icon which currently sits as
the tallest residential tower in Central London. Here, Family
Mosaic provided a rare opportunity for first time buyers to
secure a home for just £52,500 and become part of
a dynamic new addition to the London skyline.
*Source www.nestoria.co.uk

Strata is the first development in the world where wind turbines have been
constructed within the fabric of the building. Due to its sustainability, energy
costs per apartment are significantly less than the typical UK housing average,
substantially reducing residents’ bills.
The development has been crafted and delivered by world class architects BFLS (formerly
Hamiltons Architects) and its striking and bold design has enabled it to become recognised
as one of London’s new icons and a landmark for sustainability.
Residents benefit from a zone 1 location, excellent public transport links and unrivalled
views of key London landmarks, recognisable throughout the world.
Enter the tower at street level and you enter a lobby worthy of the coolest, contemporary
style boutique hotel. Designed and specified to the highest standard by BFLS, the lobby will
be manned 24 hours a day by a dedicated concierge.
For security purposes residents will be able to view guests arriving at reception via their
own TV via dedicated CCTV. Once residents have confirmed they recognise their guests,
the lift takes them specifically and only to the right floor.

The apartments are situated in two buildings, the
main tower and the pavilion.
The Tower is where shared ownership enters
an entirely new dimension... a collection of
cool, contemporary style one and two bedroom
apartments for part – buy, part – rent from the
second to tenth floors.
The Pavillion apartments reflects the development’s
contemporary design inside and out, a unique combination
of just one and two bedroom apartments for part – buy,
part – rent and shared equity, ideal for those who would
prefer to live in a scaled down version of The Tower in
terms of size but without compromising on specification.
The specification itself has been carefully thought out to
ensure it complements the grandeur of the development
and leaves no room for disappointment. Kitchens come
equipped with contemporary style fitted kitchen units in
matt white, black granite coloured work tops, integrated
stainless steel oven and a full height fridge / freezer.
Contemporary white sanitary ware is included in the
bathrooms as well as a wall mounted heated towel rail,
full height satin white feature Italian tiles, Bristan taps and
over bath thermostatic mixer shower. All bedrooms come
with fitted carpets while all apartments have double
glazed full height windows. Low energy lighting is
installed throughout.
All apartments are connected with open access fibre optic
cable for PC’s, television and telephone allowing next
generation broadband and high definition digital broadcast
services to be delivered to each residents’ door.

Strata is the first significant
development to be undertaken as
part of the £1.5 billion Elephant and
Castle regeneration. The entire scheme
comprises a £113.5 million investment
in the area delivering homes for more
than 1,000 residents.
Planning permission has been granted
for the creation of a pedestrianised town
centre, market square, green spaces, and
thousands of new homes by 2014. The
regeneration scheme will also consist of a
comprehensive tree planting programme.
Sustainability is key, leading former US
President Bill Clinton to describe Elephant
& Castle as ‘a model for sustainable
urban regeneration’.
As part of the regeneration programme,
the Heygate Estate, a large housing estate
which was once a prestigious place to live,
but now is better known as a dilapidated
building, is being demolished and the
residents re-housed. Some of the residents
have been re-housed by Family Mosaic into
new homes at Esprit Apartments via the
shared equity scheme.
ST. GEORGES RD
BROOK DRIVE
ONDON
A3213
A401
SOHO
A302
DANTE ROAD
COVENT
GARDEN
STRAND
A3212
CITY OF
WESTMINSTER
A3212
ON RD
NEWINGTON BUTTS
HOLBORN
A3203
A3204
SOUTH
BANK
TEMPLE
A4
A201
BLACKFRIARS
A301
A23
ST
ELEPHANT
AND
CASTLE
WATERLOO
A302
A201
LAMBETH
NEWINGTO
A3211
A3200
ELEPHANT
AND
CASTLE
A3
ROCKINGHAM ST
A1
SOUTHWARK
ST PAULS
A2198
FENCHU
STRE
BERMONDSEY
NORTH
LAMBETH
A215
NEW KENT RD
ELEPHANT RD
WALWORTH ROAD
A300
DEACON
A201
A3
WAY
HEYGATE ST
A200
WALWORTH

Baker Street
Regents Park
Oxford Circus
VICTORIA
24 minutes
Clapham Common
Clapham South
On towards
Wimbledon
and Morden
Euston Square
Clapham North
Balham
EUSTON
Oval
Warren Street
Goodge Street
Farringdon
10 minutes
Piccadilly
Circus
CHARING
Tottenham
Court Road
Leicester
Square
City
Thameslink
7 minutes
CROSS
Embankment
BLACKFRIARS
5 minutes
WATERLOO
Kennington
Stockwell
Lambeth
North
Brixton
15 minutes
KING’S
CROSS
13 minutes
TULSE HILL
12 minutes
For Services
including:
East Croydon,
Gatwick Airport
Brighton and
the South East
Borough
ELEPHANT
& CASTLE
Loughborough
Junction
4 minutes
Herne Hill
8 minutes
Angel
LONDON
BRIDGE
West Dulwich
10 minutes
Old Street
Moorgate
Bank
The Elephant and Castle is one of London’s true
transport hubs with numerous trains, tubes and
buses allowing residents to get almost anywhere
in the capital.
Victoria is accessible by bus in less than 25 minutes, as is
Shoreditch, while Clapham, Blackheath and Greenwich
are about a 30 minute journey. The Elephant and Castle
is serviced by two tube lines; the Bakerloo and Northern
lines. The Bakerloo line has journey times of 4 minutes to
Waterloo and 15 minutes to Baker Street. The Northern
line takes just 4 minutes to London Bridge and 17 minutes
to Euston. As well as the tube and bus services, the
Thameslink overground provides regular services to Kings
Cross in 13 minutes, Blackfriars in 5 minutes.

Kitchen
in matt white finish with brushed steel
finished handles
electric oven
chrome utilities
Bathroom
mixer shower
General
living rooms
apartments with open plan living/kitchen
rooms
stainless steel handles
stainless steel handles
full height windows
and bedrooms
living room and every bedroom
apartment
Communal
entrance
communal corridors
individual floors for added security

Strata is the first development in the
world to integrate wind turbines into the
actual fabric of the building. Electricity
generated from the three 9m diameter,
five-blade turbines is expected to
contribute 8% of Strata’s estimated total
energy consumption.
The three five bladed turbines are rated at
19kW each and are anticipated to produce
50MWh of electricity per year. To put this
into context, it is enough energy to meet the
total annual demand from 30 two bedroom
apartments (based on 2006 building
regulations) or 20 two bedroom apartments
(based on 2001 building regulations).
The actual energy output of the wind turbines
will only be accurately known after they
are fully commissioned and two years of
comprehensive wind data analysis has been
completed.
The optimum operating range for the turbines
is at a wind speed of between 8 – 16 m/s
from a southerly direction. They will run
24 hours a day in order to maximise the
potential to produce electricity. The electricity
generated by the turbines will be used to
supplement the landlords supply for the
common areas of the building.
Noise output has been considered at great
detail throughout the design process and it is
not anticipated that there will be any acoustic
impact to residents or the nearby Draper
House from the operation of the turbines.
Other sustainable aspects of Strata SE1
include:
with an air permeability leakage rate
that is 50% better than current building
regulations.
recovery.
areas and 40% of the lighting in each
apartment.
system to all landlord areas.
motion detection that reduces lighting by
50% when there is no movement.
Castle Multi Utility Services Company
community combined heat and power and
grey water system (MUSCo).
Strata SE1’s sustainable design will reduce
carbon emissions for the development and
enable Strata SE1’s residents to benefit
from lower domestic operating costs,
lower service charges, healthier internal
environmental conditions and general
improvement in their wellbeing.

ROUND THE HOUSES
Thinking big...
A
ll around the country there are largescale
housing opportunities springing
up – whether they’re the planned new ecotowns,
huge out-of-town developments,
or inner-city tower blocks. You pass them
in the car, or on the bus or train and find
yourself thinking, ‘I wish I could live there,
but I’ll never be able to afford it…’
Not true.
Graylingwell Park, Chichister
What is true is that the planning process
currently requires an element of affordable
housing built-in to all new developments
– so it’s always worth going along and
asking, or finding out from your local
HomeBuy Agent (there’s a list of them
in the directory section of our website at
www.homefocusmagazine.co.uk)
As well as this, there are some
developments
where affordable
housing has an
integral, essential
role – and
there’s usually
a far higher
percentage of
low cost home
ownership
properties
available here.
A great
example is the massive
redevelopment that ‘s going in Stratford
to house the Olympics in 2012. When the
athletes’ village was planned, it was decided
that a large percentage of the new properties
would be available to local residents as
affordable housing. Obviously, it won’t be
available until 2013, so if you’ve moved in
before then you might find yourself having
to compete in the pole vault for Lithuania
in 2012! But if you can wait, or you need a
few years to build up a good deposit and
Stratford is the perfect place for you, then
it’s well worth keeping an eye on the area.
Further south in Elephant and Castle,
there’s a beautiful and iconic building called
Strata – the tallest residential building in
London! And almost 100 of the apartments
are available the New Build HomeBuy
from Family Mosaic, from just £52,500 for
a 25% share. The 42 storey building has
wind turbines set on the top to bring energy
HouseHunter
costs down. Esprit Apartments
offer contemporary one and twobedroom
homes both in the Tower
and The Pavilion. The Strata tower
is the most highly-visible part of the
wider regeneration of the Elephant
and Castle area, which offers a huge
range of facilities to would-be purchasers.
But if city living’s not quite your
style, and Chichester is your neck of the
woods, then take yourself off to have a
look at Graylingwell Park. Like Strata,
it’s a development that focuses on all
things green, but instead of reaching
for the sky, Graylingwell Park is spread
across 85 rambling acres of parkland. The
development is the UK’s largest carbon
neutral development, and Affinity Sutton
has around 300 affordable homes on the
development, available in phases.
Each home at Graylingwell Park has been
designed to integrate green technologies,
whether it’s solar roof panels, high levels
of insulation or energy efficient appliances.
Heating to all homes will be supplied by a
central heating and power plant within an
on-site energy centre, so the homes will be
Esprit Strata, London
36 JULY/AUGUST 2010 homefocus JULY/AUGUST 2010 37
Saxton, Leeds
Big, but
still local
Despite the economic challenges of the past
couple of years we’ve managed to grow our
development programme substantially.
Operating throughout London and Essex, we continue
to offer a full range of tenures, from outright sales,
New Build HomeBuy, Rent2Buy and affordable rent to
around 43,000 people. Our Supported Housing Team
also provides a range of services to 3,700 people.
We’ve achieved this by being flexible and innovative
in our dealings with development partners and
stakeholders, and by consistently offering our
customers a high quality product which genuinely
contributes to an improved community. Most
important of all, though, we’ve never abandoned our
core commitment of being big enough to cope, yet
local enough to care.
To find out more about any of our exciting current
or forthcoming developments give us a call:
020 7089 1000
www.familymosaicsales.co.uk
Southwark residents...
This is your
last chance!
To preview these
1 & 2 bed apartments
for part buy/part rent.
Prices from just
£53,125 *
EXCLUSIVE SOUTHWARK
RESIDENTS EVENT
Wednesday 7th April
(BY APPOINTMENT ONLY)
CALL NOW!
020 7089 1315
/3/10 16:29 Page 1
www.familymosaicsales.co.uk
* Based on a 25% share of a one bedroom apartment with a market value of £212,500. You must be registered with Housing
Options. Priority for local people – visit our website for terms and conditions
Independent
Financial
Advisors here
to help you
on the day

Family Mosaic was formed in 2006 as
the result of a merger between Family
HA and Mosaic Homes.
The organisation is one of the largest home
providers in London and Essex, providing
good quality, affordable housing and
services to over 45,000 people with more
than 20,000 homes for rent and 2,000
for shared ownership, as well as housing
for people with extra support needs and
temporary housing. Each year Family
Mosaic spend £200 million developing
new homes and invest £45 million into its
existing portfolio.

T 020 7254 6019
F 020 7089 1001
E sales@familymosaic.co.uk
Albion House
20 Queen Elizabeth Street
London SE1 2RJ
www.espritapartments.co.uk