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Water Tower

Restored water tower in Kennington

Entrepreneur Leigh Osborne first saw the water tower in Kennington when he lived in the high-rise building commonly known as The Cheese Grater near by. On making enquiries, he found that the tower was for sale - for a very low price compared to average property prices in London. Leigh found out why the tower went cheaply only after he had bought it - all other prospective buyers were put off by the architectural survey. It said the concrete staircase inside the tower would need to be taken out and replaced with a new structure which would have not made the project viable. One of the many lucky strikes Leigh experienced with this building was that the original stairway could be salvaged. Leigh needed about 2 years to get his finance for redevelopment of the tower in place and then pushed the refurbishment works through in an incredible 8 months. A new cube-like structure to house a big kitchen/dining room, a living room on the floor above plus a generous roof terrace on top of that went up right next to the tower; The new build connects to the tower through the structure that houses the lift; the lift serves 6 of the 8 floors. On top of the tower sits the old water tank, now clad in lead with large windows to enjoy the wonderful views over the London sky line. Leigh asked his friend the renowned designer Sue Timney to help with the decoration of the rooms; besides the large kitchen/dining area and the living room in the new cube, the tower has 4 en-suite bedrooms, each one on a separate floor, a study, and the Room with a View at the very top. Leigh finally moved into the tower only last month and says it makes for a unique experience of urban living in the middle of London. The tower was recently featured in the Channel 4 program Grand Designs.