Jovan Mihailovic and his wife bought their flat in Abbey Road, West Hampstead, 25 years ago – and by their own admission, an upgrade to both exterior and interior was well overdue. Like many communal freeholders, the Mihailovics and their seven neighbours balked at the £400,000 cost of the required work… until the answer came in the form of rooftop development.
Jovan and the other freeholders appointed Apex Airspace, the market leading developer of “airspace”, who bought the roofspace above his block, hired architects and achieved planning permission. In June, Apex will oversee the building of a penthouse, involving off-site, accelerated construction techniques, which will be for sale in the summer. They will also undertake the renovation of the rest of the building.
The uplift in value is shared by the freeholders and Apex, which more than covers the cost of renovations, and provides a tidy profit for each.
Rooftop, or airspace, development is an innovative solution to the problems faced by apartment or mansion block residents who share the freehold, but are unable to undertake much needed renovations and benefit from the resultant uplift in value, because of the high costs or the inconvenience involved. Estate management companies which manage freehold blocks often face the same challenge.
Apex, market leaders in rooftop development, provide a solution. They have brought a completely new approach to developing the space above existing rooftops from low-rise apartments to multi-storey residential towers, and to commercial and residential real estate portfolios.
Apex developed a unique capability that brings together a detailed knowledge of the airspace market, with an experienced team of professionals covering design, planning, legal, engineering and project management, and a carefully structured a business model that de-risks and de-hassles the process for the freeholder.
The company will manage the process of rooftop development from achieving initial planning permission to delivering the finished apartment. The uplift in value is shared by the freeholders and Apex.
Apex has commissioned research in London which found that as many as 180,000 London rooftops can be developed in this way.
Some freeholders and estate management companies may be concerned that rooftop development will be inconvenient for existing residents. Val Bagnall, Apex’s Business Development Director, says that this is not the case. “We use modular construction techniques, which means that the apartments are manufactured off site and then craned into place, minimising disturbance to local residents and traffic.
“Freeholders can use the proceeds from the sale of the rooftop /airspace to carry out renovations to the rest of the building or cover upcoming maintenance liabilities – or just pocket the cash if they prefer.
“We project manage the whole process from start to finish – there are no extra administration costs. It really is a stress- and disturbance-free way of adding significant value to existing blocks.”
Jovan Mihailovic agrees: “The neighbourhood will get a much more attractive building; we’ll have a better life in a more energy-efficient building with double glazing and solar panels — and the lift will work.”
Val adds: “The bottom line is that the building gets a makeover at no cost to the freeholders, enhances the value of their property, and the marketability of their flats.
“We are in discussions with many freeholders and estate management companies who are amazed that no one has tried to do this before. We are helping them create a huge amount of extra value from the space above their blocks, with no extra cost or hassle on their part.”
