Wednesday, 26 May 2010

Big Move - Strata SE1

On 14 January, following a slightly convoluted series of events, a friend of mine referred me to attend a focus group session for a housing association wanting the gather the views of the gays on marketing themselves to the community.

At the event I heard about an organisation called Housing Options which has been tasked by the government to administer affordable housing in London. I also learnt that I would probably eligible for the shared-ownership scheme in which one buys a share of a flat and pays rent on the rest until one can afford to buy more of it or the totality.

And so on 6 February, I registered.

Today, less than four months later, I had a meeting with a broker, organising an application for a mortgage to buy (45% of) my very own one-bedroom flat (featuring a triangular bedroom!).

And it's not any old flat either. It's a flat on the 9th floor (see picture) of Strata SE1; the tallest residential building in London (42 storeys and 147 metres high) and the first in the world to incorporate wind turbines in its structure.

Having only visited the show flats and information being rather thin on the ground, making a decision (something that had to be done in 3 days from the moment I was allocated a flat on 17 May) was not easy but eventually I have decided to simply go for it and try and enjoy the new opportunity that is offered to me. Living in my own space and on my own for the very first time (apart from a year-long stint in a studio at uni).

5 July will mark the tenth anniversary of my arrival to London and it seems that roughly at the same time, all going well, I will become the owner and moving into a part of the London skyline.

What better way to celebrate?


  1. Fabulous! Well done! :-)

  2. Congratulations.
    And who here isn't slightly jealous?

  3. Congratulations! How very clever. Next thing is to blag our way into parties in the penthouses up top!

  4. clever? err, thanks... And there is also apparently something called the Sky Lounge on teh 39th floor...

