Property
Couple convert shipping container into their very own summerhouse
This is amazing!
After being quoted £25,000 for a summerhouse, the Groom family took things into their own hands for a huge DIY-project over lockdown.
Dawn Groom and her husband Darren worked super hard during lockdown to create a stunning outdoor cabin for just £5,700, a fraction of the price they would’ve paid for a brand new one.
The family completely transformed a former site portable cabin into a large playhouse for the summer, which is ready to be transformed into a cosy winter cabin coming as we come into the colder months.
Dawn, who is a carer for their daughter, told LatestDeals.co.uk “About two years ago my husband wanted to create a bigger summerhouse for our daughter Lois, 13.”
While looking, he came across container conversions which are getting quite common in other countries as lower-priced living accommodation.
“Once he was hooked on the idea, he spent months talking me round because frankly they are ugly! I couldn’t imagine that a big metal thing could look nice in our garden.
“After lots of research, we decided that instead of using a shipping container, it might be cheaper to use an ex-site cabin.
“They come with insulation, ceiling, lighting and electrics already installed. This would be costly and time-consuming to install so would save us a lot of labour.”
Dawn added that their pair had been searching for the ideal site cabin for a while, in the end they purchased the perfect cabin from a company that trades in used building site machinery.
As soon as it arrived, the guys got to work with cleaning and preparing it for a stylish renovation.
We filled and tidied all the wall panels ready to be painted. The floor needed a lot of work as it was quite uneven from water leaks.
“Once levelled, we used vinyl plank flooring. The outside was sandblasted by someone we found on Facebook Marketplace.
“We couldn’t afford the roof to be done with our budget so my husband used a hand grinder to do the roof himself, then together we painted the whole of the outside.
“We wanted to swap the windows but we realised this would be an absolute job to do so I bought some cheap window film and painted over all the brown plastic frames.”
The family gave a breakdown of the overall costs, the cabin cost £3,000, the doors were £1,200, the sandblasting was £450, the paint was £260, the furniture and accessories were £550, and the flooring was £260.
Which is a significant amount less than their original quote of £25K!
Have you taken on any big DIY projects over lockdown? Let us know!
Property
New apartment development with huge gardens and outdoor space opening this year
Make sure you check these out!
Manchester is getting a stunning new apartment development this autumn, set in beautiful landscaped gardens.
Acer will be the first residential development to open at Square Gardens, located in the First Street area.
Monthly rental for each apartment includes utility bills, super-fast wi-fi, use of all communal facilities and 24/7 security.
Square Gardens / Acer
You can grab a co-living apartment starting from £935 per month, studios from £1540 per month, and apartments from £2120 per month.
From one-bed apartments to studios and shared apartments, there will be 1,187 living spaces when it opens its doors.
It’ll be home to one of the city’s biggest communal outdoor spaces, with this ethos mirrored inside with several apartment spaces dedicated to co-living.
The community feel is also seen in the various lounge and social spaces, as well as co-working and meeting areas.
Square Gardens / Acer
Acer will boast a large, state-of-the-art gym on site, as well as media rooms, private kitchen and dining rooms to use, and regular resident and community events.
The development’s co-living apartments range from three to five bedrooms, all fully furnished with en-suite rooms, while there are also studio apartments and one-bed apartments – with separate bathrooms and open plan kitchen and living areas.
Head HERE to find out more.
Property
Plans for new tallest tower said to be ‘the landmark of Manchester’
Plans for the new tower will place it among Europe’s tallest high rises
Property developer Salboy is set to submit plans for a new tower which will be the tallest in the city among a cluster of skyscrapers.
If proposals are approved, the 241m (790ft) high Viadux 2 scheme is expected to take four years to build.
Salboy’s Managing Director, Simon Ismail, has said it is going to be ‘the landmark of Manchester’, the BBC reports.
Once completed, the new skyscraper will overtake Deansgate Square’s South Tower at 201m (695ft) high and dwarf the Beetham Tower at 169 m (554ft) high.
“We purposefully wanted to go for the tallest residential building in Europe… it’s a flagship building,” Mr Ismail told the BBC.
The Viadux 2 tower will hold around 800 apartments, providing homes for residents looking to live in Manchester, where housing is in great demand.
Mr Ismail said much of that demand for homes in the city was driven by ‘postgrads staying on, the largest student population in Europe, and a cost of living that’s half of that in London’.
Salboy says it has already provided about 4,000 homes in Manchester, and as long as there is ‘massive demand for homes, the firm will continue to build, Mr Ismail said.
The developer is also working on St Michael’s Tower with the former Manchester United footballer Gary Neville.
Manchester has seen a huge boom in skyscrapers over the last 10 years, with an ever evolving skyline.
Mr Ismail says he has ‘no idea’ how long the city’s skyscraper boom will continue, but that he never believed it when people had previously claimed ‘the bubble was going to burst’.
Adding: “When you look at what Manchester’s got behind it, it’s got too much backing it up, industrious people and a history of doing things right.”
Subject to approval, Salboy hopes to start work on the tower sometime this year.
Property developer Renaker has built a collection of skyscrapers at Great Jackson Street, along the southern border of the city centre.
The firm has also built towers at Colliers Yard in Salford and has started a scheme to build four skyscrapers at Trinity Islands, by the River Irwell.
Renaker has received more than £500m in loans from the Greater Manchester Housing Investment Fund – which was launched by George Osborne when he was chancellor of the exchequer in 2014.
The funding is loaned to developers by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and is then paid back. The value of the loans has now reached £942.5m with more than 10,500 new homes being supported from it so far.
Property
New build-to-rent community launching in Manchester neighbourhood named ‘best up-and-coming place to live’
Some stunning properties on offer
A new build-to-rent community is launching in Piccadilly East, the city centre neighbourhood named one of the ‘best up-and-coming places to live in the UK’ by the Sunday Times.
The Castings will be a new creative hub, owned by the people behind the five-star Lowry Hotel, and situated behind Piccadilly Station.
Made up of studio, one, two and three bedroom apartments, the development on the cusp of the Northern Quarter and Ancoats will feature a host of amenities.
The Castings
This includes a new yoga room and gym, a games room, private dining spaces and a work hub. There will also be three food and beverage outlets on the ground floor.
Piccadilly East was named in the Sunday Times’ list of best places to live in 2020, located within walking distance from the bars and restaurants of Ancoats and the Piccadilly Basin.
Cloudwater and Track brewery taprooms, Diecast, Ducie Street Warehouse and the soon-to-open Co-op Live are all also nearby.
The Castings
As the name suggests, the 350 design-led apartments are inspired by the casting of metals, incorporating industrial shapes, flowing forms and molten textures.
On the imminent launch, The Castings community manager Dave Evans said: “In just a couple of months, we’ll be welcoming residents into our new community. The focus for The Castings has been to create much more than just apartments; it’s a whole new lifestyle, with the best service and living experience that Manchester has to offer.
“Piccadilly East is a really exciting area to be part of which already contains some of the most exciting venues within the city, it’s the next generation of Manchester, and following on from the footsteps of Ancoats we hope to continue to create the next bustling creative hub in the city.”
The Castings
The prices for the new scheme start from £1150 per month for a studio apartment, £1250 for a 1-bed apartment, £1525 per month for a 2-bed and £2175 for a 3-bed apartment.
You can book in for viewings now, with move-in dates from June. Register interest here.
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