Hi, Jane. How are you doing?

 

Yes, I'm good, thanks very much, David. And you?

 

Very good, thank you. I wanted to ask you about the Great Estates generally, because, as you may know, we recently launched a book, gathering together the history of the Great Estates over the years and their impact on London. So I wanted to know from your perspective, as Director of Projects at Cadogan, what role you think the Great Estates play in the capital? And how important long-termism is; I presume that may be part of your answer…

 

Yes, David, it's a really super book and I think the diversity that it addresses is really fantastic. It's an interesting vision to see the older estates alongside the newer within a single volume. On the role of Cadogan, we've been around for 300 years, and it's really exciting to be part of something that has been around for so long. To see its evolution looking backwards, but also what's ahead of us. There are two major opportunities presenting for the estate over the next decade to 30 years ahead. Firstly, key landmark developments, like The Gaumont on the King’s Road and our public realm schemes, and then what we can contribute to sustainability with our Chelsea 2030 strategy. Single ownership means a clear investment strategy to maintain the vitality of the area.

 

So, should we talk about The Gaumont, then? I mean, it's probably the most mixed-use mixed-use scheme I've seen for quite a while! I think it's got a bar cinema, retail, office resi, and something called a creative cluster. Perhaps you could explain what that is and what your hopes are for the whole of the Gaumont? And indeed, where it is on the King’s Road…

 

Of course. The Gaumont is a development which is almost opposite the old RBKC Kensington and Chelsea town hall. The overall reason for providing development in that area was to drive footfall down the King’s Road and to reinvigorate and re-enliven the area. That's what we're hoping it will do, and we're already seeing that. We've got three retail units on the King’s Road, and we've got five smaller retail units on Chelsea Manor Street. We're probably going to increase that slightly by subdivision. We've got 4,500 square feet of offices; we've got a rooftop bar. And as you say, we've got 47 residential units, five of which are affordable. So, it is a highly mixed-use development. We've also got the Curzon within there, replacing their former cinema, with one of the largest auditoriums in London, with over 600 seats – so really exciting! The Chelsea Manor Street development is really interesting because, rather like with Pavilion Road, we went out to the local community and asked people what they'd like to see on Chelsea Manor Street. The responses were overwhelmingly towards art and creativity, and of course, that chimes really well, firstly, with Chelsea's past, in terms of it being artists and creatives, but also looking ahead, it chimes well with the Curzon cinema. You could see how that would work really, really well, with smaller shop units on Chelsea Manor Street, and the likes of a record store, bookstore, perhaps some ceramics, and again, you know, just being part of the community and something that really people feel very warm towards when they're living in the area.

 

To what degree are you emphasizing culture as the underpinning notion to Chelsea in the wider area?

 

We think it's really important that we reflect the heritage of Chelsea, and that was predominantly around art, and fashion; slightly bohemian. Moving forward, we see that as being really key in driving forward further developments and retail units and other uses on the King’s Road. Of course, when we're talking about creatives now, we're not only talking about traditional paint and paper artists; we're also talking about digital creatives and gamers as well; that needs to come into it as well. It's very forward thinking, and how we look at potential tenants coming into those units. So, the cultural offering is really, really important. But the backdrop to that is the heritage in Chelsea. And that informs what we're doing.

 

Presumably, things like sustainability are to the fore as well in your outlook, as well as a keen attention to the public realm?

 

The sustainability piece is absolutely key. It is of course challenging here because we've got beautiful period architecture, which doesn't particularly lend itself to traditional externally placed insulation, and internally placed insulation might cover up highly decorative ceilings and walls. So, we're working very, very hard on it. For us, it's around multiple, what I would term, ‘humble’ interventions, such as double glazing, replacing light fittings with LED fittings, and replacing gas-fired boilers with potentially air-source heat pumps. We're looking at this in a great deal of detail. But we have got a considerable investment program to make sure that we're net zero by 2030.

 

Do you think Chelsea has a USP? I mean, in terms of its ambience?

 

I do. I think the thing about it is that when you come to Chelsea, you feel as if you're in a complete community. You could come here and visit, and you could go to the Saatchi Gallery, or the Royal Court Theatre and go out for something fantastic to eat in one of our new or more established restaurants. If you work here, you'd have the opportunity of being in one of our beautiful office spaces and coming out during your lunch hour or after work and again, taking in super restaurants or going to visit somewhere. And then if you live here, you've got places like - again - Pavilion Road, a village hub for Chelsea and a range of retailers which are exciting. We look to enhance the retail that's there. We're quite careful about tenants we select. And they've been really careful about where they want to be. We're very proud of some businesses like RIXO, who started off as a small, temporary short-term letting and they've grown, and they're now well established on the King's Road. And we've got some fantastic brands that we look to work with and support and they bring a lot to the estate. It’s a unique part of London to be part of.

 

I was just wondering about Battersea Power Station and its draw. Have you been at all affected by that? Have you noticed anything on footfall, for example?

 

We've done some research into this and we're quite comfortable that our offering is slightly different from Battersea, and the two are complementary. You can walk quite comfortably from Sloane Square down to Battersea and vice versa. Battersea offers internal shopping and it's a beautiful piece of historic architecture, but the opportunity to be outside and take your opportunity of sitting outside or having a coffee or glass of wine in amongst greenery in a well-established area also, I think, is equally attractive. So, I think, obviously there was a buzz soon after Battersea opened but we've not seen a significant drop off, no, in our numbers. We feel quietly confident that between us we work well together to enrich this area of London. 

 

So, what else are we to look out for? There's your new hotel as well isn't there: ‘At Sloane’, I think it's called?

 

At Sloane on the edge of 1 Sloane Gardens, yes, our beautiful Parisian Hotel.

 

That's already open, isn't it?

 

That opened just over six months ago now. And it's really, really beautiful inside and absolutely gorgeous to visit. We've also got Sloane Street public realm, which is where we're investing over £48 million in everything you can see and greening and making a boulevard to complement our existing retailers and the gardens. And to make sure that everybody who visits Sloane Street has a wonderful experience of walking up the street in a gorgeous environment. It improves the air quality. because there's more greenery around. For example, we had originally 30 trees on the street, and we've now got over 130. And we've got some lovely planters, designed by our award-winning landscape designer Andy Sturgeon. So, it'll be a really beautiful backdrop for residents and retailers alike. 

 

Well, it sounds like your job is really easy, Jane! (laughs). It's a piece of cake putting all this together (laughs)

 

(laughs)

 

You enjoy it, presumably, what you do?

 

I absolutely love what I do, and I really enjoy working alongside my colleagues. We are a great team, and I really enjoy being part of it; it's lovely to think of being part of the family business, a family-owned property company. And, you know, working together with some fantastically able colleagues. 

 

There is a security aspect to that as well, is there, with the fact that it's a family-owned 300-year-old business?

 

There is a security aspect that you're contributing to something that's going to be here for future generations. So, yes, but you know, it's tough because you live with schemes that you deliver, we don't sell. So, when we deliver a scheme, it's for our colleagues to therefore manage afterwards. We've got to work quite closely together to make sure that we can deliver something that's workable.

 

Brilliant. Well, thank you for your time, and congratulations on all this.

 

Thank you very much, indeed, David. That's very kind of you.

 

Thanks, Jane.

 

Thank you.