The first building
Emrys Vaughan bought one period building off Bury Court in the City and spent eighteen months putting it right. There was no outside money in it and no second site until the first was finished.
Twenty three years on about nine streets.
Most developers grow by adding sites. We grew by turning them down.
Period stock, one at a time
A run of buildings in the Square Mile and the prime districts west of it. Bought when the offices around them were emptying, held through the crash, sold once the street had come back.
The rule that stuck
The firm stopped bidding on anything that was not on a street where supply is fixed. It has cost us deals every year since. It is still the rule.
North, then west
The first site outside London, in Edinburgh, taken on the argument that a settled address in the New Town behaves the same way as a settled address in Kensington.
Dublin, and then the island
Ballsbridge and then Kampen on Sylt, both bought against the same test: a street nobody can add to, in a place people already want to be.
Six on the books
Six schemes across four countries, run from the same Bishopsgate office by the same people, and still owned entirely by them.
Founded in the City of London in 2003, and still working from the same Bishopsgate address.
What we do
- Buy on streets where nothing more can be built
- Fund every scheme from our own balance sheet
- Agree one specification before the first foundation
- Stay on as managing agent where owners want us
What we do not
- Build to a volume target
- Take outside equity or list the company
- Sell in bulk to investors off plan
- Start a second site before the first is handed over
Five tests a site has to pass.
A site that fails any one of them is turned down, however good the price looks.
Supply
The street cannot be added to.
Demand
Buyers already live nearby and want to stay.
Fabric
What stands is worth keeping, or worth replacing properly.
Consent
The planning route is visible before we bid.
Hold
We could carry it four years if we had to.
Six addresses are open now.
Two are finished and can be walked round this week. The other four are on site.