GARY RHODES Star Gazing - Mayfair Times

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50 property INVESTING IN PROPERTY IS THE NAME OF THE GAME IN MAYFAIR – WHETHER IT’S FOR A VERY SMALL STAKE OR A VERY LARGE ONE. LUCY DENYER REPORTS ON THE LATEST NEWS ENTREPRENEUR Vincent Tchenguiz (pictured) – already one of Mayfair’s richest men – is bidding to become one of Britain’s largest residential landlords with a £500m venture to take advantage of the exodus from the buy-tolet sector. The Iranian-born businessman, who started by collecting empty Coke bottles to claim the deposits, and started his property empire with £50,000 from his father, has agreed a deal with the Royal Bank of Scotland to create a fund – seeded with an initial £100m in cash and debt – that will grow to £500m over five years. This will then be used to buy large numbers of homes to let to people unable to get on to the property ladder. The company, to be called First UK Residential, will buy off-plan homes and later let them under its brand name. His decision to SOUNDS LIKE a dream scenario, but the offshore company London Central Portfolio Property Fund (LCPPF) is offering experienced and professional investors the opportunity to buy a share in its property portfolio for as little as that. “It’s a unique way of accessing the central London market,” explains Naomi Heaton, chief executive of LCPPF. ‘Recession proof’ residential Investing in Mayfair for £50,000? “And because you can add it to a private pension scheme, there are tax benefits, too.” Anyone dreaming of moving into a Mayfair pad for just £50,000 will be disappointed, however. That figure buys you a share in LCPPF’s portfolio of 15-20 one and two-bed West End properties as a whole rather than a portion of a specific property. And you won’t see an annual return either: because the portfolio is geared, profit goes back into the company rather than to the shareholders – you only get your money back when you sell up at the end. If you fancy taking a punt on the property market without shelling out a fortune, however, it could be worth looking at. After all, central London is booming: average values in central London run in excess of £750,000, and according to the latest figures from estate agent Knight Frank, prices of the best properties in central London have risen by more than 33.3 per cent during the past year – the fastest rate of growth for nearly 20 years. “The fund aims to double an investor’s stake, with a target of 10 per cent growth per year,” says Heaton, who adds that the “Olympic effect” should see London house prices soar in the run-up to 2012. Which means you could see your investment grow as quickly as a 100m sprinter runs – hopefully without collapsing at the end. Closing date for investors is July 20 2007. www.londoncentralportfolio.com The business of property form First UK Residential came as interest rates rose yet again, to 5.5 per cent, and the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors warned that landlords are exiting the buy-to-let sector. But in a recent interview with Bloomberg, Mr Tchenguiz referred to the management of property – particularly on a large scale – as being a safe investment. “Our core residential business is pretty much recession-proof,” he said. Mr Tchenguiz already owns around 200,000 properties and manages the freehold estate of 80,000 in the UK. It is thought that his eventual plan is to float the vehicle off as a residential Reit, a tax-efficient property investment vehicle. Mr Tchenguiz has also recently announced his decision to give his £1bn property empire to the recently formed Vincent Tchenguiz Foundation (VTF) on his death, which will make it one of the largest charitable foundations in the UK. The VTF distributes funds to a wide variety of causes, primarily relating to the environment and those focusing on improving people’s quality of life. Mr Tchenguiz believes that investing in green technologies will eventually make him a billionaire.
52 property When, last year, the Tory leader David Cameron secured planning permission to install a wind turbine on the roof of his home to generate “green energy”, it kick-started an eco movement that has swept throughout the nation. No matter that a wind turbine generates less energy than it takes to make – sustainability is now a buzzword for success, happiness and warm fuzzy feelings, while failing to recycle your wine bottles, not buying organic and driving a 4x4 are all seen as being the work of the devil. These days, living green is big business. Developers who ignore the eco-movement do so at their peril – not only are consumers far more ethically conscious than they used to be, but the government is cracking down, with targets to reduce the carbon emissions of new homes and the inclusion of a compulsory energy performance certificate in the Home Information Packs it is desperately hoping to salvage. But just how easy is it to have an eco-friendly home – especially in an ancient and muchprotected area such as Mayfair? The answer is, not easy – or at least not if you AS KERMIT THE FROG ONCE SAID, IT’S NOT EASY BEING GREEN. BUT EVEN IN MAYFAIR, IT’S POSSIBLE. LUCY DENYER SHOWS YOU HOW Living the green dream want to do things on a grand or flamboyant scale, á la David Cameron (who, incidentally, was forced to remove his turbine after it was discovered it had breached planning law). “You have to do what you can within the planning environment,” says Andrew Murray, director of Morpheus developments (tagline: “sustainable luxury” – the company is currently investigating the possibility of installing geothermal boreholes in one of their Mayfair projects). “It’s not easy to do in Mayfair as everything’s so built up,” he adds diplomatically. Tim Fulstow, another Mayfair developer, who is currently working on a multi-million pound project in Culross Street, is less tactful. “The green thing is all PR ... there’s dichotomies all over the place,” he says. Westminster Council, which boasts proudly that its council homes are the most energyefficient social housing in the UK, is nevertheless reticent on the matter of wind turbines and solar panels. “Although we are keen to encourage sustainable energy sources, the council has a
Page 1: GARY RHODES Star gazing INTERIORS S
Page 4 and 5: 6 news A brilliant mind A month in
Page 6 and 7: 10 what’s on events what’s on m
Page 8 and 9: 14 art MAIN PICTURE: JULIAN AGNEW W
Page 10 and 11: 18 19 One for the Rhodes Meeting Ga
Page 12 and 13: 22 interior designers Shaun Clarkso
Page 14 and 15: 26 food THE PRETTY COURTYARD at Mir
Page 16 and 17: 30 health & beauty Five tips on how
Page 18: Extra copies of Mayfair Times are a
Page 30: Coming soon in Mayfair Times: Augus

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