Vice Chair of West Ealing Neighbours, Eric Leach, updates the recent progress in the construction of Dickens Yard in Central Ealing.
Just to jog your memories, Dickens Yard is the land between Ealing Town Hall and the railway stretching from Longfield Avenue to almost Haven Green. In October 2009 developers St George finally overcame all hurdles to ‘buy’ this land (250 year Lease). What local and regional government agreed to was 698 flats to be built; rising in seven tower blocks to 15 storeys; with 20 small/medium sized shops at ground level.
Works have been underway for months on Phase 1 which abuts Longfield Avenue. Some three metres from the pavement edge the flat block rises like a sheer rock face. You might think that it’s quite high now but it will be almost twice this height when completed.
The Phase 1 flats’ development is bizarrely named ‘Belgravia Apartments and Penthouses’. I can’t find any historical reference to the Belgravia name in this area of central Ealing. As the area called Belgravia is in a very expensive area of central London and as the word ‘apartment’ is an international version of our English word ‘flat’ – one can only form the conclusion that the major campaign to sell these flats is outside this country and anecdotally in the Far East.
Of the 133 private flats being built in Phase 1 (no social rented or affordable flats) the developer claims that 39 have already been sold. Of these 14 are one bedroomed flats or studios. But don’t panic – flat number 218, a 2 bedroomed flat is still available on the 8th floor for just £1,300,000.
Clearly it’s labelled Belgravia due to the ridiculous prices St George are trying to charge!
While the location is impressive, as a tenant renting in ealing I have seen Dickens Yard plan and construction. The apartment sizes are much smaller than average and much more expensive than whats available in ealing broadway. The floor heights are also shorter than normal. Only half the flat owners will have allocated parking as there arent enough parking spaces in the plans. I spoke to a few agents who agreed to all these points. The only access road to the property is a narrow one way lane. There are other issues but the above would suffice to convince buyers that this is not good value for the serious money being asked..