Bespoke is booming... and here's why now is a good time to join the sector

It is no secret that London hosts an elite group of post codes, with areas such as Knightsbridge, Belgravia and Kensington being home to some of the most luxurious houses in the capital. Certain developers have paved the way for the luxury market in London, such as Candy & Candy's One Hyde Park apartments that were the most expensive of their time. Since the launch, a whole decade has passed and the luxury market has continued to grow.

Luxury has been completely re-written in recent years, with some developers employing art galleries to curate art specific to each home that buyers can purchase additionally. As well as this, many new high-end homes in London come with features such as glass walls that can be turned opaque at the flick of a switch, bathrooms that double up as salons, pet walking facilities and valet parking. All features are supposed to enhance and suit the lifestyle of the buyers.

London's new super-prime residences | Park Modern | Fenton Whelan

A post-pandemic boom and more competition in the market has meant that developers have had to up their game. To put it in to perspective, the luxury homes market in central London applies to properties worth more than ￡3,000 per sq. ft (against a London-wide average of about ￡500 per sq ft). Data from Savills shows there were 237 sales above ￡5m in the first six months of 2021, 61 per cent higher then the same period in 2019 (pre-pandemic). This is set to continue to rise throughout 2022.

Luxury estate agency group Knight Frank reported that 201 super-prime homes – collectively worth more than $3.7bn (￡2.7bn) – were bought in?London?last year, knocking Hong Kong into second place with 169 sales. 2020 had put London in place of the world-leader in the super-prime residential market, even ahead of cities such as Los Angeles.

Working as a Quantity Surveyor in the super-prime sector & how to join this elite tier of the profession...

Understanding what type of QS you want to be and where you want your career to go is important to establish, which will inevitably avoid you from being pigeon holed early on. Being a Quantity Surveyor in London means you have an abundance of avenues to explore and companies to choose from, so deciding where you want your expertise to lie can be tricky, especially for those who are just starting out after graduating from university. Many young QS's flock to the Tier 1 contractors without really putting too much thought in to it. Unfortunately, there are only several spaces each year for newly trained graduates, meaning that most look to work with smaller regional contractors or sub-contractors.

Working as a Quantity Surveyor within the high-end sector means that you have the option of working with main contractors, sub-contractors that specialise in facades etc., or even high-end Fitout. From my own experience of speaking with individuals who don't work in this industry is that they simply do not realise that it is as big as it is. London is the world-leader in high-end, if you can deliver a residential build worth ￡billions here - you can pretty much do it anywhere in the world. The type of quantity surveyors that this market breeds are world-class in their attention to detail and ability to deliver to the highest-standard possible, and are ultimately respected throughout the whole of the construction industry.

If you are interested in joining this rapidly growing sector, or already work in the industry but looking to change companies, please get in touch as we work with many of London's top businesses in high-end.

This sector can be tough to join as it takes only the best commercial professionals in London to carry out the work - but once you are a part of it your career will be set for life.

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