The billionaire proprietor of the Ivy restaurant chain Richard Caring has been ordered to take away three “incongruous and dominant” home windows from his Kensington mansion, as a part of a fractious planning row with neighbours.
Caring, who additionally owns London members’ membership Annabel’s and eating places Sexy Fish and Scott’s, was served an enforcement discover for breaching planning guidelines by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea on Thursday.
In its discover, the council stated: “The three dormer windows, due to their excessive size, number and position, appear as incongruous and dominant additions harmful to the character and appearance of the property.”
The new additions “fail to preserve the character and appearance” of the native space, it added.
Caring stated he was taking recommendation from heritage consultants and didn’t rule out interesting the council’s choice.
“You have, let’s say, 500 tenants surrounding the plot and you always have a handful who just don’t like anything,” he stated, including that he had labored carefully with the council all through the renovation challenge.
The businessman paid £40mn for Park House, a nineteenth century cottage on a one-acre plot in Kensington, in 2017 and set about intensive works to interchange it with a a lot bigger home.
That concerned digging a two-storey basement, which features a swimming pool, steam room, magnificence remedy room and a summer time garments retailer, based on planning paperwork seen by the Financial Times.
Park House is in a conservation space, surrounded by terraced homes and neglected on a number of sides.
“His house sits in an auditorium there. People have been affected by [the building work] for years. It’s pissed off so many people over such a period of time,” stated Roarie Scarisbrick, an property agent at Property Vision who works within the space.
The council stated: “Planning regulations exist to protect neighbourhoods. We take breaches very seriously and work with landowners to investigate and fix issues quickly.”
Caring, 73, has lengthy been a fixture of west London nightlife and lately spent near £70mn gutting and refurbishing Annabel’s on Berkeley Square.
In addition to his eating places and golf equipment, he owns a 20 per cent stake within the Soho House chain of personal members’ golf equipment, value near £250mn, based on the Sunday Times.
Caring stated he was sympathetic to his neighbours after years of building work, which was delayed due to the pandemic.
When the challenge is full, he stated, “I’d like to the invite the neighbours over and pour them a very large glass of champagne. Living next to a building site is not fun, I know that.”
Source: www.ft.com