By 2050 the global population is predicted to rise from 7.6 billion to 9.8
billion it's a staggering number isn't it, and with
two thirds of us are expected to be living in cities by then, it’s
highly likely that we’ll have to get used to living in close proximity to us neighbours, fingers crossed that we all get on!
Many people live in flats which account for a large proportion of homes in the UK. The
Government estimates
that there are around 2.75m private
leasehold flats in England – roughly an eighth of all dwellings –
and this figure doesn’t actually include Scotland and Wales.
So when
the blocks of flats insurance specialist Deacon Insurance told us 10 weird and
wonderful things about flats past, present and future, it seemed crazy not to share them with you! I love facts and interesting pieces of history so please read on for more!
1 The
Romans built the first flats
Did you know that it was the Romans
who built the first flats, who knew! From the middle of the first century
BC, Rome’s success led to an impressive population growth. Housing
was a big 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, most with shops on the ground floor, and flats on two or more floors
above, were called insula or "islands". This was because
they often occupied a whole entire city block, with roads flowing around
like the sea. Wow!
2
Forest flats.
There are two
apartment buildings in the heart of Milan where trees sway on balconies and sunshine touches the leaves of thousands
of plants creating a vertical forest. This is 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. Few people
would deny that trees
are good for cities and the people
that live in them – so more power to his elbow. How gorgeous do these look?
3
Forgotten for 70 years
This is
one of those stories that just has to be read to be believed. 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.
Nothing remarkable in that, but what is extraordinary is that the
owner of the building never noticed! 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! How unbelievable is that.
4
Shapeshifters
It may
sound like the thing 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. How things evolve, I would love to see it!
5
Recycling on a gigantic scale
Some of
the biggest re-cycling projects of the millennium are taking place in
our inner cities, familiar buildings are being saved from
demolition or neglect by being converted into flats. This is great 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. It too is now a Grade
II listed
building. 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 train line simply goes straight through the residential building! Pretty crazy!
7
Tallest, Smallest, Largest – where in the world?!
Dubai’s
iconic Burj Khalifa is currently the tallest skyscraper in the world
standing at 72 metres high, but that is set to change. In the near future, 2020 in fact the 1000 metre mile high Jeddah
Tower, with serviced apartments,
is set to claim the prize of being the world’s tallest building..... well for a little while anyway. While in the Chinese city of Wuhan,
with serious concerns of overpopulation looming, they've gone
tiny. The city has built two person apartments
that are only 50 square feet! But when it comes to the largest,
then first prize has to go to The Copan
Building in São Paulo,
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 science fiction but architects are looking seriously at the
possibilities of building down rather than up! Sounds crazy doesn't it?! 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
It’s no
surprise at all that London 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 £7090 a month to live a comfortable life. Oxford,
Edinburgh and Brighton came next at around £5000 a month. Ouch! 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. If money were no object? Oh if only! The UK's most
expensive
flat was valued in October 2018 at £160 million. It's
address? One Hyde Park, London. SW1 one of the most sought after postcodes!
10
The last word…..the legacy of feudalism
People are
often 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. That applies no matter
how long you’ve been paying your mortgage or service charges. Realistically, 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? 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. 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. 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! It’s 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.
*
Deacon has specialised in providing
buildings insurance and associated products for flats and apartments
for more than 29 years. Find out more at
www.deacon.co.uk
