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Our global population is predicted to rise from the current 7.6 billion to at least 9.8 billion by 2050. Two thirds of us are expected to be living in cities then its likely that we will have to get use to living closer to our neighbours!
Apartments already account for a high proportion of
homes in the UK. The Government estimates are that there are 2.75m private leasehold apartments in
England with about an eighth of all dwellings and this figure doesn’t include
Scotland and Wales.
Dacon Insurance who are flat / apartment specialists have shared 10 weird and wonderful things aboout flats / apartments past, present and future.
1 Did you know the Romans built the first
flats
So who knew it was the Romans who built the first flats! This was from the middle
of the first century BC, Rome’s success led to massive population growth. Back then housing was a major challenge, and to meet it the Romans learnt to build
higher and stronger structures. The use of concrete, based on lime
and volcanic sand, allowed them to create new architectural forms, while a
standardised brick allowed for speedy and reliable
construction. Their early multi-storey blocks, typically with shops
on the ground floor, and apartments on two or more floors above, were called insula
or "islands". This was because they often occupied an entire city
block, with roads flowing around like the sea.
2 Forest flats!
At two apartment buildings in the heart of Milan trees sway on balconies and sunshine dapples the
leaves of thousands of plants creating a vertical forest! This was the brainchild of Milanese architect Stefano Boeri, the Bosco Verticale (Vertical
Forest) uses more than 20,000 trees and plants to adorn the high-rise buildings
from top to bottom a project now being exported all over the world, from
China to the Netherlands. You could say a few people would deny that trees are good for cities and the people that live in them.
3 Forgotten for 70 years
You need to read it and have a quick google to believe it. It was way back in 1934 and before the outbreak of
hostilities of WWII, a famous actress called Marthe de Florian fled her Paris apartment for the south of France and she never returned. There was nothing remarkable in that, but what is
extraordinary is that the owner of the building never even noticed! So when he
finally died in 2010, the experts called in to assess the value of his estate
stumbled across a scene that was frozen in time. The flat was just as it
had been left, untouched by time!
4 Shapeshifters
This may sound like the stuff of science fiction, but
the world’s first shape shifting rotating tower block is set for Dubai by 2020 according to
architectural firm Dynamic Group.
5 Recycling on a gargantuan scale
A number of the biggest re-cycling projects of the
millennium are taking place in our inner cities, where familiar buildings are
being saved from demolition or neglect by being converted into
flats. This is probably good news as it means the original character
and features of what are often landmark buildings are preserved. The BBC Television Centre at White City is one example, as is Battersea Power Station and the Hoover Building in London. The first
residential tower block in the UK, "The Lawn", was constructed
in Harlow, Essex in 1951. This is no obviously a Grade II listed building. Various conversions
are taking place across the country and there seems to be no shortage of buyers
for urban loft apartments in prime city centre locations, so expect the
trend to continue.
6 That whistle in your apartment
block is a train coming through!
Chinese planners didn’t let a little thing like a
railway get in the way of the need to build more flats in the emerging
mega-city of Chongqing. The actual train line simply goes straight through the
residential building!
7 Tallest, Smallest, Largest – where in the world?
In Dubai the iconic Burj Khalifa is currently the
tallest skyscraper in the world standing at 72 metres high, but we know that is set to
change over the year. In 2020 the 1000 metre mile high Jeddah Tower, with serviced apartments, is set to claim the
prize of being the world’s tallest building, for a while anyway. While in the Chinese city of Wuhan, with serious concerns of overpopulation
looming, they've gone tiny. The city has 2 purpose built two person apartments that are only 50 square feet! When it
comes to the largest, then first prize has to go to The Copan Building in São Paulo Brazil, familiar to Sim City players as a building they
can drop in. The 38-story residential building comprises over 1,160
apartment units and is home to more than and 5,000 residents!
8 Going underground and underwater?
It seems like the stuff of sci-fi but architects
are looking seriously at the possibilities of building down rather than
up! As long ago as 2011 a so-called Earthscraper for Mexico City was mooted, a 35-storey upside down pyramid.
The concept is still on the drawing board, with a host of practical and
structural challenges to overcome, and the Mexico City proposal is still the
only plan to have been seriously put forward. And with 70% of the earth’s
surface covered by water, surely underwater cities are next? Sure enough, Aequorea, a visionary city that would be built off the
coast of Rio de Janeiro, has been proposed.
9 Most expensive
London currently ranks No.2 in the world
for the highest cost of a city centre flat , second only to Hong Kong, but how does the cost
of living vary within the UK? MSN Money took a look at the different
costs of living in UK cities , with housing the major component. Not
surprisingly London came out top, where you need at least £7090 a month to live a
comfortable life. Oxford, Edinburgh and Brighton came next at around £5000 a
month. These figures make my eye water when wages are simply not increasing so you are worse off each year. Of course, you can choose to commute and halve your living
costs. Southampton residents need ‘only’ about £3000 a month, for example,
although after years of rail strikes and woes, that could be cold
comfort. So if you are thinking what if money is no object? The UK's most expensive flat was valued in October 2018 at £160
million. It's address? One Hyde Park, London. SW1 a stones throw from the famous Harrods / Harvey Nichols in Knightsbridge.
10 The last word…..the legacy of feudalism
Often people are amazed to learn that, in this day
and age, it is still possible to lose your flat and be left with nothing if you
break the terms of the lease or don’t pay service charges! This actually applies no
matter how long you’ve been paying your mortgage or service charges. In
practice, it’s become harder over the years for a freeholder (also known as the
landlord) to get you out and claim the flat, but it can happen. Where did such a feudal practice
come from? The Land law in Britain owes much to the feudal system that
developed following the Norman Conquest with the rights to grant inferior
interests (aka leases) in land and to take income from these. So by the
16th century, the law of leases in England and Wales had morphed into a very
confusing system, and an attempt to tackle this was the Law of Property Acts 1925,
which limited ownership to either freehold or leasehold, which is pretty much
where we are today. Interestingly, covenants on freehold property
only define what you cannot do. If you are on leasehold they can also say what you must
do, for example, pay for the upkeep of an asset still ultimately owned by the
freeholder! However this is all very different in Scotland, where no duty to
pay ‘feu duty’ the equivalent of ground rent could be set up after 1974,
and no residential lease for more than 20 years could be created. The
feudal structure was finally abolished in Scotland in 2004 and further laws since have converted long leases
over 175 years into straightforward ownership.
We actually live in a flat ourselves and have done for the last 10 years+ so this was rather interesting to read / learn!
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