- Title: UNITED KINGDOM: NEW 'MICROFLAT' IN LONDON HAS HEADS TURNING
- Date: 29th January 2002
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (JANUARY 29, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. VIEW FROM OXFORD STREET TO INTERIOR OF MICROFLAT IN SELFRIDGES DEPARTMENT STORE WINDOW/ HELENE CACACE SITTING AT DESK READING 0.15 2. CACACE FLIPPING THROUGH MAGAZINE WITH PEOPLE LOOKING AT HER THROUGH WINDOW (2 SHOTS) 0.24 3. PEOPLE WATCHING HER THROUGH WINDOW (2
- Embargoed: 13th February 2002 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- City:
- Country: United Kingdom
- Reuters ID: LVA70B1T0PO3SVZGXT9RYKZTA3IW
- Story Text: Are you a young professional and fed up with London
property prices? Then the "Microflat" might be your answer.
A twenty-four-year-old marketing manager is trying out
cheap inner city living in a small flat on London's busy
Oxford Street - attracting quite a lot of attention.
It's a busy day in London's Oxford Street, but a quiet
day at home for Helene Cacace (KaKatsche) who lives here.
Helene attracts a lot of attention, but despite curious
onlookers, she's happy.
"I love it. I'd really like to live in a flat like this.
At the moment, I'm living at home with my Mum and the
thought of having a flat is amazing," she says.
Helene's flat is situated at the corner of London's
Selfridges department store - in the shopwindow.
She lives in a three-roomed "Microflat" - an apartment,
about two-thirds the size of an average London flat. The
"Microflat" is designed as promoting a possible way of
allowing young people to beat spiralling real estate prices in
London and gain a foothold on the property ladder -- a key aim
for London Mayor Ken Livingstone.
Whilst Oxford Street is buzzing with shoppers, Helene goes
about daily tasks in the quiet comfort of her own home -
always a point of interest for curious onlookers.
"Yeah, it's strange. People watch you do the most simple
things. If I wash up, there's usually crowds of people
watching me do things like washing up"
Helene is staying at the flat for one week, testing it
out and giving feedback to the flat's architects Piercy
Conner. Unlike the Reality TV show Big Brother, she's free to
walk in and out and have friends around for dinner. But
onlookers are divided on the attractions of living in a shop
window.
"I think it's very brave of her. I don't know how I would
cope with all the attention all the time, but I think she's
quite excited about it and enjoying it so far," says Helene's
friend Frida.
In the street, shoppers had mixed views on the flat.
"It's an intriguing idea, but I don't think it's going to
be any good for key workers because most of those will need
family accommodation. It may be good for young urban
professionals but that's all." "Yes, I would live in a flat
like this." "Not bad. Funny, quite funny actually, unusual,
but funny." "Too small."
"The Microflat came about from all the guys and girls in
the office where the family couldn't afford to buy a flat in
London. So what we thought was, we'd team up and we would be
able to afford a small site, and we designed some specific
units which will be small designed and compact to go on that
site and then the Microflat was sort of born as an idea", says
Richard Conner of Piercy Conner.
The "Microflat" project will run until February 2 and then
it will be demolished. Piercy Conner are at work on a
microflat development in West London and said a flat will cost
between 70,000 pounds (100,600 U.S. dollars) and 100,000
pounds. According to London estate agents Foxtons, one-bed
flats in that area cost on average 265,000 pounds.
"It (the flat) really has everything and everything works
even though it's in the Selfridges window. Everything does
work, I take a shower every morning, I've just washed up, I
watch TV, everything works, I don't think there's really much
missing", says Helene.
And Helene also gets some privacy. When she goes to bed,
she shuts the blinds - and the public - out.
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