Back in the spotlight: Camden rediscovering its industrial past with new homes using train lines, warehouses and canal banks
Long before Clerkenwell and Shoreditch became creative hotspots, Camden was luring ad agencies, architects, fashion and film companies.
After a few years out of the spotlight, the area is on the up again, partly due to a backlash against the spreading corporate character of the City fringe.
Camden was best-performing borough on property prices last year with a 13.7 per cent jump, according to property consultant CBRE.
It’s a community with a rich mix of homeowners, from bankers to actors, struggling writers and drop-outs.
The area has a “back door” to leafy Primrose Hill, while the famous Camden Market and quirky high street shops attract 25 million visitors a year.
Regent’s Canal and its linked industrial backdrop, together with close proximity to King’s Cross and St Pancras, were once negatives, but now the waterfront and train lines attract opportunities for imaginative regeneration of old canalside warehouses and industrial buildings, while the Eurostar terminal puts Paris two hours away.
There are still undeveloped canalside factories, small industrial premises, cobbled courtyards and mews ripe for transformation into new homes.
A former electricity substation is becoming Arlington Lofts, with 16 warehouse-style flats behind the Thirties brick façade.
These boutique homes from developer Fabrica have high ceilings, cool concrete walls and molten silver-finish splashbacks. From £699,950. Call Marsh & Parsons (020 3918 4846).
Mixed-use MOY’S offers eight flats and two offices in the converted engineering works where the world’s first electric camera was made.
In a quiet backstreet, the new architecture is a modern take on a classic London mews, with crisp brick façades, factory-style windows, and dormers that hide sheltered roof terraces.
The swish flats are future-proofed for home automation and tastefully designed with industrial-style parquet flooring and dark metal finishes. Prices from £895,000. Call Hamptons International on 020 3451 1544.
Camden Courtyards is a former optical works turned into 164 flats. It’s clad in patterned brick with a Corten steel two-storey roof extension, two internal courtyards and residents’ roof terraces. From £770,000. Call Barratt on 020 7428 4455.
Neighbouring Kentish Town has come a long way since the 1820s when Frankenstein author Mary Shelley called it an “odious swamp”.
Today the area has music venues, cool bars and eateries, a French school, a restored listed Victorian baths and pool, plus a growing buzz created by arty Londoners.
The Furlong Collection is a gated scheme of eight houses in cobbled Little Green Street, one of London’s oldest Georgian terraces.
These compact homes have light-filled, open-plan interiors, underfloor heating and air conditioning. Prices from £1,495,000. Call 020 3451 1544.
Nearby, a former furniture factory, The Maple Building holds 57 loft-style flats with original Crittall windows, steel columns and exposed-brick walls.
The restored entrance foyer is now a smart concierge lobby and there’s a basement gym.
The building butts up against workspace for creatives with a kitchen run by Soho House. Prices from £820,000. Call Savills (020 7409 8756).
Camden council, once renowned for architect-led housing, is spawning 3,000 new homes itself by selling off land and bulldozing old estates as part of a community investment programme.
Projects include XY Apartments, a scheme of 273 Scandi-style flats at Maiden Lane priced from £600,000. Call 020 3320 8220.
