Richard Leslie discusses the pros of boutique development with David Spittles in the Evening Standard
October 2015
David Spittles discusses how crowd funding is driving a new demand for individual architecture as buyers turn away from big schemes, using Beau House an example of this trend.
Excerpt reads;
"We take on small, more complex sites that volume house builders are not interested in, to create highly individual homes," says Richard Leslie, boss of niche developer Dukelease, which has a handful of projects under way in the West End.
"Often the homes are above street level shops. We select retailers to make sure there is a good fit with what residents want." Beau House in Jermyn Street, St James's is named after Beau Brummell, the celebrated arbiter of men's fashion in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The handsome building has an anonymous-looking entrance that opens into an opulent lobby, above which are eight apartments completing next year, prices from £2 million.