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Residence One is a developer with a difference – it is design-driven on the properties it offers to the super-rich, including One Wilton Street, London

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Words by Abby Trow and Kay Hill

Now it might seem counter-intuitive to sell a house as a fully-furnished entity, right down to napkins and vases of faux flowers, because you’d assume a buyer would want to put their stamp on it by choosing such things themselves.

But the turnkey just-rock-up-with-your-staff-and-luggage refurbishment is proving a winning formula for Residence One, one of London’s newest residential development companies.

The drawing room at Residence One’s One Wilton Street in London, interior design by Laura Hammett

Set up in 2013 by brothers Ben and Nick Wilson, their vision was very specific – and a high-wire act to pull off. They wanted to focus on restoring gracious houses in the capital’s most exclusive postcodes, and have them interior designed by Laura Hammett to a level of beauty and luxury that would appeal to the most discerning of the world’s super-rich.

This sounds extraordinarily ambitious for the brothers, neither having a property background: Nick worked in the City and Ben was also in the City, but in IT. But Ben Wilson explains that they have both always had a huge interest in property and design, with design being the focus of their new venture: ‘We’re different to other developers in that we’re totally design-led. Our obsession is to create beautiful homes.’

The drawing room at Residence One’s One Wilton Street in London, interior design by Laura Hammett

Let’s not ignore the elephant in the room, so to speak (...because there never will be an elephant in a Residence One house, they’re just too grey and chunky), as to who Residence One’s ultimate client is. It is the Saudi royal family member; the Russian billionaire industrialist; the Nigerian oil magnate; the tech entrepreneur who’s become eye-wateringly rich after their IPO. And while the .001 per cent of population in this category are on the receiving end of much opprobrium from the public at large, Ben Wilson doesn’t find it awkward to talk about his clientele – who are of course, as with most people, very pleasant indeed.

Wilson explains that as businessmen who love great design and craftsmanship, who are perfectionists and who don’t want to be restricted by a need always to be cutting costs, he and Nick put themselves in a milieu that plays to their strengths: ‘We design for a type of client, who is someone at a particular level of wealth, who is international, who probably has several homes around the world. We are appealing not to need but to want, and we’re presenting to our clients a perfect moment, a lifestyle – and it’s for them to take lock, stock and barrel.’

The family room at One Wilton Street, interior design by Laura Hammett

Ben Wilson manages the site, finding/building the organisational side of the business, while Nick looks after the financial side of Residence One. The company has to-date completed and sold three properties in central London, and is working on its fourth and largest so far – a magnificent white stucco 700 sq m house on Chester Square in hallowed SW1.

Residence One bought it just before the last general election for £10.5m – a mere bagatelle in terms of prime London property. It’s spending around £5m on the refurbishment and the house will be ready for the buyer to move into in September – note 'will be', not 'should be', because Residence One works to a timetable of military precision and, bar meteor strikes, projects do not overrun.

How much does the company expect to sell it for? ‘Around £25m-£30m,’ says Wilson, who adds that Residence One projects run on a very small contingency of just 2.5 per cent – the average is around 20 per cent.

For Wilson the interior design is what makes his work exciting because, if they get it wrong, they may not sell at the right price: ‘We don’t put our properties on the market until they are completely finished and dressed, so no one can buy while the refurbishment work is taking place.

‘And remember, there’s only a very small number of people who’ll be in a position to buy. With Chester Square, we’d expect the house to be viewed by just five or six potential buyers... and we need one of them to fall in love with our work.’

Case Study
Residence One/Laura Hammett/Wilton Street

Interior design is integral to Residence One’s offer, which is why it works hand-in-glove with top designer Laura Hammett and is a major shareholder in her business. Emily Carlisle is an interior designer at Laura Hammett who works on Residence One houses: here she gives an insight into the studio’s approach.

A major difference between a Residence One project and a ‘normal’ residential interior design job is that there is no end-client breathing down your neck saying they don’t like that colour or that fabric and telling you how to bring down costs by 30 per cent but, yes, they do still want silk carpets throughout and mahogany wardrobes in all the bedrooms.

This is quite liberating for a designer, says Emily Carlisle. But while you don’t know who’s going to be living in the property, you do have to imagine them and keep them very much in mind, she adds. ‘It’s always useful to have a composite person in your head who you’re designing for – and you need to know that client.’ In the case of the HNWIs (High Net Worth Individuals), the Laura Hammett team knows quite a lot about them...

‘For example, they’re people who travel, so are used to staying in luxury hotels,’ says Carlisle. ‘That means they expect very specialised lighting, they look for exceptional craftsmanship and detailing on furniture, and they’ll expect luxurious stone-clad bathrooms. They’re people who expect everything to work at the press of a button; they are used to space, and they want elegance and ease.’

High-end hotels, particularly boutique ones, have long used luxury interior design as a way of attracting clients, who then start to want some of the features they’ve experienced during their stay in their own homes. And it’s the moving around the world staying in fabulous hotels that makes the composite Residence One character an exacting client, because they are regularly exposed to global design trends and styles.

Ben Wilson makes the point that his company’s residences are never bland; but nor are they wild and wacky, ornately opulent or shrines to minimalism. ‘What they are is classic-contemporary in style,’ says Carlisle. ‘We aim for timeless interiors, with elegance and texture and lots of detailing. Our interior design is comfortable and we believe it is in good taste.’

The kitchen at Wilton Street, where the occupant/s may venture for breakfast

In the case of the 430 sq m Grade II listed townhouse completed in Wilton Street, Belgravia, and sold last year for £14.25m, the design marries a muted and fairly neutral colour scheme with rich textures, bespoke lighting, specially commissioned modern abstract art (paintings are an additional cost if the buyer wishes to keep them), beautiful stonework and sumptuously comfortable furniture.

‘Lighting is one of the most important aspects of a project and it must be layered,’ says Carlisle. ‘We don’t follow trends, but we don’t ignore what’s happening in the design world either. For example, at the moment there’s demand for bespoke pieces of statement lighting, perhaps a modern chandelier, being installed in the dining room or sitting room, but that has to be combined with wall lighting, lamps, and backlit shelving units, and the lighting will be on control system.’

All rooms in Wilton Street are wallpapered, not painted, because products such as silk wallpaper ‘add subtle texture and can enhance the light’, she says. And fabrics are crucial in achieving rooms that feel comfortable and luxurious. ‘We use a lot of velvet, silk and wool and we like to have curtains made because they are so elegant.

We won’t scrimp on fabrics,’ says Carlisle. That said, she says it isn’t a money-no-object approach because ‘there is always a budget. We choose the best quality but we don’t go crazy – we absolutely look for the best price.’

And she says sometimes it doesn’t make sense to choose the most expensive products. ‘For example, we choose carpets for bedrooms and rugs to put down on wood floors. Silk rugs are lovely, but they are very costly so in some areas we may choose polished cotton or bamboo silk rugs because they have the shimmer of silk but are less expensive and much easier to clean...luxury does have to be looked after.’

Furniture and storage units/cabinetry are always bespoke, and Residence One likes to commission UK craftspeople to make them. Kitchens are likewise bespoke – but curiously kitchens aren’t designed as the ‘heart of the home’ as they are in many houses, because, says Carlisle, the owners of houses such as Wilton Street won’t be the people doing the cooking. ‘They have staff who cook... the owners may only come into the kitchen for breakfast.’ The Wilton Street kitchen features dark-wood veneer and Carrara marble, with Gaggenau appliances.

The dining room at Wilton Street. Commissioned abstract modern art is offered with the property as an optional extra

Stone, not porcelain tiles, is de rigeur at this level of design and Carrara marble is used in bathrooms, while area spaces needing a stone floor will be clad with limestone. Carlisle says very high-end design focuses on detail.

‘It’s the little things that the discerning eye seeks out. Luxury design isn’t about being experimental, it’s about echoing traditional or classical shapes with something more...for example having a metal trim on a tub chair.’

A final note on eco issues. While building regs ensure high levels of insulation for energy efficiency, Carlisle says the company does try to use eco-friendly materials. ‘We use FSC-certified timbers and many of the fabrics we use are sustainable – wool, silk, linen. Lighting is LED, our furniture is made locally, and while we will use leather, we use substitute products for luxury animal finishes, such as faux shagreen.’