Chelsea Harbour: more than a marina

Most people move out to the suburbs in search of more space and a cosy, village-like community. But Chelsea Harbour, a small marina on the north bank of the Thames, could be London’s inner city equivalent for wealthy residents looking for peace and quiet, but with all the transport benefits of living in Zone Two. 

The constant ebb and flow of the boats  is a pleasant backdrop while you eat and drink in one of the many new gastropubs and restaurants that have cropped up along the riverside. 

Millennium & Copthorne has just revamped the historic Chelsea Harbour Hotel, while new developments such as Chelsea Harbour by Harrods Estates and Imperial Wharf, currently being built by St George, will bring hundreds of new homes to the area. 

In the midst of all this, property developer Tim Fulstow has been working on a project of his own. He took on a penthouse that backs directly on to the harbour itself, bought the air space above it, and turned it into a luxury, four-bedroom, 5,090sqft duplex.

The property was quite a challenge to complete: not only did the builders have to create another floor, they also had to knock down the existing internal walls to open the space up.

“It was originally lots of little rooms with a late 1980s thick carpet – it was  very dated,” says Fulstow. “Now, it has a really good feeling about it because it’s so light and airy. I also think people are looking for lots of open plan entertainment space to really give it the wow factor when they invite people round.” 

It boasts a drop down cinema screen, a direct lift, two underground car parking spaces, underfloor heating, iPads in the walls, a steam room and a 700sqft wraparound terrace with 360 degree views over London. 

Designed by architect John Kerr, Fulstow compares the aesthetic to the wide, contemporary, spacious style on the rise in office design, with interiors designed in-house to be “calming and relaxing in the middle of an urban landscape.”