Block of flats complete in Deptford – Developers try to flog them as Greenwich
A 23-storey block of flats in Deptford is now almost complete with scaffolding and sheeting down. The exterior materials do not appear to match what was evident when approval given. But more of that in a bit. Alongside comes a marketing push from developer Essential Living which tires to fool potential occupants into thinking this Deptford location is actually Greenwich.
And don’t give me none of that “but it’s Greenwich borough” nonsense! It’s an attempt to make the location more ritzy than it is. This isn’t however as bad as Peabody listing a Thamesmead development by Belmarsh as being in Greenwich, which showed a ton of pics of Greeenwich Park when clicking on the pages’s local area section. That was sailing dangerously close to the wind as mis-selling.
It could be they are aiming sales at overseas buyers who won’t know the difference. I saw something amusing today too with an advert in an estate agents aimed at Chinese buyers and going on about the “Year of the Pig” with some wildly dodgy bar charts of house price changes compared to five years ago, ten years ago.
Strangely no mention that prices in Greenwich are down 10% over the past year according to the Land Registry, which is the most comprehensive source of data.
Back to the Deptford block and I’d not noticed before today, so locals can confirm or refute this is the case on all sides of the building or my eyes are going, but from the angle I viewed earlier it appeared that glazed green tiles shown across the facade in renders before before building work commenced have gone from the finished product.
If so then good old “value engineering” a.k.a cutting back, appears to have taken hold after approval given.
And that’s not it’s only problem. It’s 23 floors yet appear squat and bulky. The sporadic stuck on balconies look pretty rubbish too.
Essential Living havn’t revealed rental costs yet. Possibly as they’ll be very high. Some have proclaimed the built to rent sector as a crucial tool in the housing shortage. To do so costs need to reduce sharply. We’ll see soon how much this will be.
And yes, it’s in Deptford.
1 beds start from £1610pcm
2 beds start from £1885pcm
3 beds start from £2430pcm
Seriously? Who can afford that!
Under the 30% rent rule, you would need to earn £86K, £101K and £130K respectively based on 25% of deductions from your salary.
I could be wrong, but I think you’ve got the wrong end of the stick. As far as I’m aware Essential aren’t trying to flog any of them them. They are a build to rent company and own them 100%. All units are for rent so there will be no Chinese buyers etc.
Asian students are a big target I believe. By flog I just mean seek tenants. Still a sale of sorts even if only a year tenancy…to me anyway!
RAAS: Roof as a service… cloud cuckoo land.
You can’t surely be surprised at the marketing, look at the advertising video for the Connaught Estate regeneration in Woolwich, now ‘Trinity Walk’: Not one image of Woolwich at all – all Greenwich and the Shard?!?
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNBdJHVNCjA&w=640&h=360]
Nah I’m not surprised but I will highlight the bollocks they come up with. Its amusing more than anything
Why should someone have to be surprised to write about something, Tony?
Of course not – and Darryl I’m a big fan of yours – but we can’t surely have faith in the marketing departments of developers. The Lindley Homes development – Viewpoint in Battersea advertised that as Greenwich!
This is not new, People have been trying to palm Deptford Green off as Greenwich for years. Even the newbies that have brought there previously!
You’re right it is Deptford and will always ben Deptford. Not that theres anything wrong with it
I love marketing guff. I have frequently see gushing prose about Blackheath when the actual property is Lee or even further afield.
Many years ago, I looked at a property that was right next to the Kidbrooke health centre, but the estate agents were insistent it was Blackheath because of the SE3 post code….
Lying scoundrels the lot of them, looks like they are all still up to their tricks!
Yes it would have been realistic to say on the boarder with neighbouring Greenwich which is such a distance away. But then most developments seem to be marketed in this way. . .
Until the late 90s you’d use the ‘Greenwich’ description if you had a hope in hell of getting a minicab to Deptford. Like trying to get a pizza delivered in Harlesden, you had to extend area boundaries a few miles if you wanted basic amenities. Greenwich is still a bankable name, even if ‘Isis’ have since removed their branding from the storefront next to the post office.
I once tried to find a property in my own building on the estate agent’s website using my postcode. I subsequently found it listed under the wrong postcode – the estate agent had changed it to SE3 to make it seem as though it was on Blackheath (it’s actually SE13, a Lewisham postcode!). Snobbery at its finest!
I see this building everyday and there ARE green tiles on it. Everwhere. Get closer to it next time. And yes, it is in Deptford 🙂