A view of the interior of One Hyde Park. Inset: Candy.

By Denise Marray/Gulf Times Correspondent/London

Residents from Qatar who have made One Hyde Park their London home will be only too well aware that this is one of the capital’s most desirable addresses.

With architecture by prestigious architectural practice Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (formerly Richard Rogers Partnership), One Hyde Park, set in the heart of Knightsbridge, comprises 86 apartments, set out over four pavilions. The development offers stunning views to both the north and south sides of the park and is unique in enjoying the top class services and amenities of the adjacent Mandarin Oriental Hotel.

One Hyde Park is development managed and interior designed by Candy & Candy, founded by the luxury property developers, brothers Nick and Christian Candy.

The building is owned by Project Grande (Guernsey) Limited, a joint venture between Christian Candy’s CPC Group and Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani of Qatar.

Nick Candy, CEO of Candy & Candy, has put his personal seal of approval on the development by choosing to make it his home in London.

Gulf Times caught up with Candy in the fabulous period townhouse (five minutes from his One Hyde Park home in the only private road in Knightsbridge) that serves as Candy & Candy’s HQ.

Behind the classic exterior is a really striking contemporary look which sets the scene for a business that is on the up and up with plans to licence the Candy & Candy brand name globally.

“We are expanding internationally with an initial focus on ‘gateway’ cities such as New York, Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai, where our international clientele and the very wealthy like to go,” he said.

“The biggest challenge will be maintaining quality — as it’s very difficult to scale quality,” he added. The company has been busy recruiting staff over the past six months in order to meet the new demands.

Candy puts a lot of faith in his team and is confident, based on the success of One Hyde Park and luxury developments in Europe, that the company has the credentials and partnerships to go global while retaining its reputation for top end design.

Asked for his views on the possible introduction of a ‘mansion tax’ (annual property tax) on London properties valued at £2mn upwards, he said he saw such as tax as a negative for the London and wider UK property market and UK economy.

“If it is introduced it will 100% have a negative impact. If you have stamp duty, mansion tax and corporate tax for holding a property in a corporate vehicle, that makes London uncompetitive on a global scale,” he said.

He pointed out: “You can have one tax but you can’t have stamp duty and mansion tax and a corporate tax, because that is not competitive internationally and it will set London back. Stamp duty in the UK has gone up by 700% since the late 90s. It was 1% then and is 7% now.”

The dramatic surge in prices started, he recalled, when Tony Blair became prime minister in 1997. “Most other industries wouldn’t have survived with a 700% increase in costs,” he remarked.

He cautioned: “People will stop investing in London — not just in real estate — but it will also impact on the financial sector and have a ripple effect throughout the UK economy if a mansion tax is introduced.”

He added: “The world is very mobile and highly connected today — people can get on a plane and go anywhere they want and be contactable all the time. They don’t need to be based in London. There are other cities such as New York, Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore with other tax statuses where they can easily go.”

He is highly critical of career politicians who put forward policies that in his view are dreamt up within the privileged Westminster ‘bubble’ without any understanding of the real world business environment.

“The problem is that most of these politicians have never done a proper day’s work in their lives. They’ve never worked in a company. They’ve never had to run a business. They don’t understand a balance sheet — or cash flows, profit and loss accounts, or anything. They just come up with these idealistic concepts and think they can run with them,” he said.

“However, we are lucky in London as we have a great Mayor in Boris Johnson who really understands business,” he added. He admitted that the property market, particularly in London, is getting overheated but does not feel there will be a crash — instead the market, in his view, will flatline slightly. While the market remains strong, he doesn’t think it can keep absorbing new charges.

He described London property as currently enjoying a unique status globally. “London real estate has become a currency in its own right. In their portfolio of assets people want to have London real estate — it’s much nicer to have bricks and mortar that you can see than a piece of paper that you have no real understanding of,” he concluded.