Yet one of the main talking points is the residents’ electric car chargers.
Due for completion in 2019, the 58-storey apartment block in Canary Wharf on the River Thames will have charging points at 20 per cent of parking spaces, with plans to add 20 per cent more in the future.
This increased interest in car chargers follows the government’s requirement for all UK cars to be at least part electric by 2040.
“We’re seeing increasing numbers of electrical cars on the roads and charging points are becoming a key requirement for those buying homes,” says director of sales Brian De’Ath.
“It will only be a matter of time until all future developments will include charging points. Whether parking at home or work, people increasingly want them.”
The 483 apartments range from studios at £575,000 to three-bedroom apartments at £1,625,000, (020 7001 3800; residential. canarywharf.com) and De’Ath admits that as electric cars become more common One Park Drive residents may have to book to use the charging points.
It’s not just in London that builders are looking to the future.
Redrow has four-bedroom homes for sale at its Manor Park development in Rainham, Kent, from £349,995, where there is the option to have charging facilities installed at each property.
“It is vital that house builders offer residents the chance to future-proof their new homes and install charging facilities for electric vehicles,” says group sustainability director Rob Macdiarmid.
“Through our MyRedrow tool we offer all customers the chance to add charging points to their homes.”
Local authorities such as Worcestershire County Council have made it mandatory for all new homes to offer charging points, says Macdiarmid: “We are proud to be building homes for their residents and all our sites in the county come with this technology.”
Charlie Smith, managing partner of property consultancy LREA says charging points are becoming as essential as a fitted bathroom: “A number of years ago this amenity was considered a luxury but it is now something that developers must incorporate if they are to future-proof their new developments.”
Even the company’s Endless Street development in central Salisbury, which includes two refurbished Grade II listed Regency houses as well as four contemporary town houses, includes communal chargers.
Prices start from £700,000 (0203 327 2750; londonrea.com).
Countryside, which is building homes at London sites such as Royal Albert Wharf at Royal London Docks from £430,000 (020 8357 4579; nhillsales.com), has charging points at all its new developments and sales director Andrew Loveday says: “We have seen an increase in popularity for homes that are kind to the environment.”
Ironically, sustainable property developer Igloo Regeneration has had to rethink its policy of trying to minimise car usage at its sites and is installing its first charging points at its Trent Basin development in Nottingham’s Waterside area, where homes still for sale in phase one include two-bedroom apartments from £235,000 (0115 841 1155; trentbasin.co.uk).
“Helping people to move towards a more sustainable form of transport is a good thing,” says development director John Long, who adds that managing the charging points will be the main problem.
“They are something consumers will begin to expect but where you have street parking the difficulty is providing a management regime so people can use them fairly and not hog them.”
They hope to solve this with limited parking zones once the local authority adopts the street, but Long raises yet another point: “One of the interesting things coming out of this quiet revolution for cars is that they will become autonomous. In the future, will you need to own a car or will you just summon it?”
And as for car parks: “Perhaps they can be grassed over and planted with trees?”
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