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Block Management Specialist – Our Westminster Area Guide

Time between office and Westminster:

how long it takes for our property managers to travel to westminster

As we are a specialist London Block Management Company, we wanted to provide insight into one of our main geographical areas of property management, Westminster.

The History of the City of Westminster

The City of Westminster stretches from the river’s edge at Pimlico, reaching north up to Maida Vale and St John’s Wood, including the lovely Regents Park, amounting to 8.2 square miles.
There are some famous London landmarks in the City of Westminster that we simply can’t skip over, including the Royal Opera House, Buckingham Palace, Nelson’s Column, Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey…..we could truly go on. Westminster is arguably the most attractive tourist destination in London given the volume of historical sights to see and the number of hotels in Westminster catering to these.
Edward the Confessor originally built a palace (known today as the Houses of Parliament) and abbey in the area know today as Westminster back in the 1000’s. The palace at the time served as a royal residence until 1512 when it became the meeting place for the Houses of Lords and Commons.
Westminster Abbey, called such due to its location being west of minster (west of the City of London) as opposed to St Paul’s Cathedral which was known as east minster, was originally built in 1065 which stood in that form until it was rebuilt by King Henry III in the middle of the 13th century which saw it have the gothic style we currently see today.
Westminster Abbey
The London Borough of Westminster was formed in 1900 which was a combination of the following parishes:
St Anne Soho, St Clement Danes, St George, St James, St Margaret, St Martin-in-the-Fields, St Mary le Strand, St Paul, The Precinct of the Savoy and the Liberty of the Rolls.
With St Marylebone and Paddington being added as recently as 1965.
Flats in Westminster are as ranging as the tourist attractions from the Victorian red brick conversions that lay on the cobbled roads of covent garden, to the modern glass fronted buildings overlooking Hyde Park and Regents Park. There is truly no end to your choice of property in Westminster.
With such a strong history of governmental organisations throughout Westminster, you may think that the local business population would lean towards such, but you would be wrong. Westminster is bucking its traditional trends recently with nearly 85% of businesses having 10 or fewer employees spanning a wide range of industries from fashion and property to creative consultancies and the arts. Westminster is certainly an area that has a solid business foundation irrelevant of your specific industry.

Westminster Property Values

According to Zoopla statistics, the current sale values in Westminster are:

Property Type Average current value Average £ per sq ft Average number of beds
Detached £6,079,966 £1,914 4.9
Semi-detached £4,075,925 £1,550 4.3
Terraced £3,101,233 £1,457 3.7
Flat £1,126,972 £1,353 2.0

With the current rental values:

Property Type 1 Bed 2 Bed 3 Bed
House £2,450 pcm £4,213 pcm £6,694 pcm
Flat £2,592 pcm £3,876 pcm £5,986 pcm

New Developments in Westminster:

Here we take a look at the new developments being built within the London Borough of Westminster:
Nova apartments on buckingham palace road

  • ‘Nova’ is a new development by Land Securities on Buckingham Palace Road containing 170 apartments, 2 offices and 17 retail units. The residential units will be the height of luxury and with the Buckingham Palace grounds being your lounge view, what more could you want from city living. More can be found about Nova here.

hexagon apartments in covent garden

  • ‘Hexagon Apartments’ is the new development by BNP Paribas Real Estate. This new building containing 53 residential flats towers over the popular Covent Garden area. If you would like to know more about this new development, their website is here.

We asked our Managing Director, Michael Paul, why he likes Westminster:

Michael Paul“You can’t help but feel a sense of historical pride walking through the streets of Westminster, down by the riverside and through the pristinely kept Royal Gardens, looking up at the gothic, classical buildings that have long stood before we all walked this land.
Managing properties in Westminster, we mix with a wide network of industry professionals as well as a range of nationalities and ages, yet all seemingly holding similar views on their love for the area.
You can truly encounter all types of people throughout Westminster from the city worker to the creative designer and everything in between. Simply walking through the streets or people watching in a local independent café, you can see the well-dressed businessman as well as the experienced fashionista. You can truly find ‘your people’ in Westminster, whichever town you end up living in.
Being a boutique Managing Agent based in the City of London, we specialise in the management of buildings throughout Westminster providing our clients with an unrivalled, personal service.”

Westminster Coffee Shops

We, like most of you, enjoy our coffee and Westminster has some of the finest coffee shops in London. Here is our Top 3 coffee shops in the Westminster:

Notes: Located on St Martins Lane, this friendly little coffee chain can be busy but is well worth braving for their fantastic coffee and pastries.

The Borough Barista: Located a stone’s throw from Hyde Park, these baristas’ really know what they are doing so you and your coffee are truly in safe hands.

Nordic Bakery: Their coffee is good but you simply have to go there to try their Finnish Cinnamon Buns, they are worth the trip, we promise. Also, its only in Marylebone so it’s not that far a trip.

Restaurants in Westminster

Now your coffee is over, how about we show you our top 3 favourite restaurants in the Westminster. We have tried to give you a wide range of cuisines so there is something for everyone from our favourites list:

The Summerhouse: This seafood restaurant is literally on the canal in Little Venice, serving up some of the finest seafood dishes that we can remember.

Trishna: Near Marylebone, this stunning Indian restaurant catered for us during Sunday lunch and what a Sunday lunch it was, their food really is exceptional.

Restaurant A.Wong: This fusion Chinese cuisine restaurant near Pimlico is one of our favourites. You will also be surprised by the reasonable pricing.

Top 3 Managing Agents in Westminster

  1. Strangford Management Ltd – specialising in the management of high value blocks of residential and mixed buildings, based locally in the City of London.
  2. Westbourne Block Management – Residential Managing Agent based on Eastbourne Terrace in Paddington.
  3. Blocnet – A Block Management Company located in Victoria covering London.

Strangford Management is a specialist London Block Management company. We cover all areas of London from our office in the City including Westminster and surrounding areas.
We micromanage buildings within our portfolio using technical data analysis providing a personal, experienced and reliable level of customer service to our clients.
Contact Strangford Management today to become part of our portfolio and enjoy the levels of management only available to our clients.
Telephone: 0207 686 6490
Email: [email protected]