For decades, London’s Kensington Kinema hosted red carpet premieres for the stars of stage and film, with the late Princess Diana and Prince William often gracing the venue until its closure.
Now the 1920s art deco building, once the largest cinema in the UK with a 3,000 capacity, is set for a new lease of life and could once again draw the rich and famous, this time as an exclusive £500 million ($625.8m) property redevelopment.
Lodha, the team behind the £1bn redevelopment of the former US Embassy at No.1 Grosvenor Square in London's Mayfair, has unveiled the renewed building as Holland Park Gate — a property on High Street Kensington, consisting of 71 apartments and penthouses offering a 5-star bespoke hotel service to residents.
Overlooking the beautiful formal gardens and wild woodlands of Holland Park, home to the world-renowned open-air opera, the deluxe development has seen its share of famous names scale its steps as Lodha's flagship Grosvenor Square, which was the childhood home of JFK.
Close to Kensington Palace, now home to Prince William and his family, Princess Diana often took the young princes from the palace to premieres, along with Hollywood stars including Ralph Fiennes and Kate Winslet.
“We love to retain history and the legacy of our buildings,” Tom Clabburn, director of sales at Lodha, told The National.
“But also create a luxurious venue where people can buy into a Lodha lifestyle.”
The cinema's impressive frontage remains after being taken apart brick by brick to be cleaned and restored.
"It has had a rich history," Mr Clabburn said. "During the war, the government renamed it the Majestic Cinema in case German parachutists arriving in London could identify their whereabouts.
"Many films had their first screenings here and we are creating an underground cinema at the complex in recognition of its history."
The new underground cinema will also be open to the public.
Already the development has attracted heavy interest from buyers, with two Middle East families purchasing four of the apartments and 35 per cent of the homes already being sold.
Prices range from £2.4m for a one-bedroom property to £23.5m for four-bedroom apartments.
“The UAE buyers both brought two, one for themselves and a second for family members to use,” Mr Clabburn told The National.
“One has lived in Kensington for 12 years and the other for 35. They saw the development and knew it was for them.”
With a health club and spa, including a 25-metre pool, gym, private treatment rooms, dining room and library, the development will also deliver a restaurant and, of course, an underground boutique cinema.
But for car fans, it will be the Bond-esque underground car park called The Vault that will be most appealing.
Using AI technology, The Vault computer takes your car, parks it and brings it back at the swipe of a card. It is reportedly the largest and fastest automated parking system in the UK, where motorists can drive in, leave their car and the computer does the rest.
"With state-of-the-art automated parking technology, cars can be parked or collected in under three minutes," Gabriel York, co-chief executive of Lodha UK said.
"The Vault is the most intelligent, convenient and secure way to park a vehicle in London. Its capacity to safely store the largest luxury cars in the market makes it one of the most powerful car-parking and collection tools available today."
The developers have also focused on sustainability, with collected rain to water the garden and living wall, solar panels — and even its own bees supplying honey to the residents.
A leafy courtyard at the centre of the property, designed by international landscape architect Andy Sturgeon, has been specially planted to encourage biodiversity, while a living roof carpeted in 24 species of wildflower provides a vital habitat for pollinators.
"The neighbourhoods surrounding Holland Park have been among the most sought-after in London over the past 12 months, as Londoners re-evaluate their priorities after the pandemic,” Mr York said.
“Holland Park Gate has been designed to respond to these shifting priorities and to appeal to people who are seeking a more balanced, healthy and sustainable way of living. The location, design, amenities and services will help residents to strike the perfect balance in their lives, whether it's between city and nature, family and work, tranquillity and vibrancy, or privacy and community.
“We just released sales last month and it has been very successful.”
Residents at Lodha's developments are serviced by its in-house hospitality team, Saint Amand, which is led by Simon Hirst, a former general manager at Raffles in Singapore.
"Saint Amand is our own hospitality brand and it exists to ensure that our customers receive the very best service and experience of living in our developments," Mr York said.
With Mr Hirst at the helm, residents can be assured of all their needs being serviced.
"Nothing phases me," he told The National.
"I've had requests to bring a pony to a room in the past and once I was asked to organise a wedding in just a matter of days. We're here for whatever our clients need."
The jewel in Lodha’s crown has been its No. 1 Grosvenor Square development, which has attracted the world’s leading entrepreneurs.
Residents include scientists, space satellite designers and IT entrepreneurs.
“A lot of our customers spend more time with extended family and we have found people buying more than one apartment so they can be here with their families,” Mr York said.
“No.1 Grosvenor Square is the jewel in our crown, it’s a £1bn project and £500m of the properties have been sold in the past three to four months. About 85 per cent have been sold in total.
“It has special features and appeals to the global market, our clients are extraordinary people who have created their own amazing enterprises and they have been attracted here. The average price for an apartment is £25m.
“The demographic is largely US, British and European people from around the world, including the Middle East. Typically people have been buying a main home and another big trend since the pandemic is people wanting more leisure time. There is a fatigue with hotel life and people are wanting the same services but at their home.
“What defines and separates us is our capacity to work with design studios. It has been very valuable to our customers.
“We are the only property developer with our own hospitality company. Our customers want to buy into a community with a sense of service.”
The history of the former US Embassy has also been an attraction, it even has a replica Oval Office built by JFK’s father, ambassador Joseph P Kennedy, to inspire his children to reach the highest echelons of office.
It now forms the entrance hall for residents.
Those seeking central London luxury will have to hurry, as a change in planning regulations in Westminster and Kensington will restrict the size of homes.
In Westminster, a new planning condition will restrict homes being built to 200 sq m, while Kensington is restricting the creation of supersize homes to ensure more housing is available to more people.
“The policy justification is to optimise all sites, which will help with housing delivery but also to tackle the issue of empty homes, as very large homes tend to be purchased by wealthy investors in the super-prime market and left empty,” a representative for Kensington and Chelsea Council said.
Lodha was granted planning consent before the changes came into force, allowing it to create larger homes.
“It will be impossible to recreate this in the future because there are so many restrictions on building properties in Westminster and Kensington,” Mr York said.
“The lack of supply has prompted people into action. If people want larger homes and more bedrooms, then they need to be quick.”
The%20specs
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GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
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Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Upcoming games
SUNDAY
Brighton and Hove Albion v Southampton (5.30pm)
Leicester City v Everton (8pm)
MONDAY
Burnley v Newcastle United (midnight)
Tree of Hell
Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
Director: Raed Zeno
Rating: 4/5
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
The Cairo Statement
1: Commit to countering all types of terrorism and extremism in all their manifestations
2: Denounce violence and the rhetoric of hatred
3: Adhere to the full compliance with the Riyadh accord of 2014 and the subsequent meeting and executive procedures approved in 2014 by the GCC
4: Comply with all recommendations of the Summit between the US and Muslim countries held in May 2017 in Saudi Arabia.
5: Refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of countries and of supporting rogue entities.
6: Carry out the responsibility of all the countries with the international community to counter all manifestations of extremism and terrorism that threaten international peace and security
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
more from Janine di Giovanni
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
The specs
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Transmission: seven-speed auto
Power: 420 bhp
Torque: 624Nm
Price: from Dh293,200
On sale: now
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Florence and the Machine – High as Hope
Three stars
Opening Rugby Championship fixtures: Games can be watched on OSN Sports
Saturday: Australia v New Zealand, Sydney, 1pm (UAE)
Sunday: South Africa v Argentina, Port Elizabeth, 11pm (UAE)
SCHEDULE FOR SHOW COURTS
Centre Court - from 4pm (UAE time)
Angelique Kerber (1) v Irina Falconi
Martin Klizan v Novak Djokovic (2)
Alexandr Dolgopolov v Roger Federer (3)
Court One - from 4pm
Milos Raonic (6) v Jan-Lennard Struff
Karolina Pliskova (3) v Evgeniya Rodina
Dominic Thiem (8) v Vasek Pospisil
Court Two - from 2.30pm
Juan Martin Del Potro (29) v Thanasi Kokkinakis
Agnieszka Radwanska (9) v Jelena Jankovic
Jeremy Chardy v Tomas Berdych (11)
Ons Jabeur v Svetlana Kuznetsova (7)
SPECS
Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Price: From Dh167,500 ($45,000)
On sale: Now
Defence review at a glance
• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems
• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.
• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade
• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Innotech Profile
Date started: 2013
Founder/CEO: Othman Al Mandhari
Based: Muscat, Oman
Sector: Additive manufacturing, 3D printing technologies
Size: 15 full-time employees
Stage: Seed stage and seeking Series A round of financing
Investors: Oman Technology Fund from 2017 to 2019, exited through an agreement with a new investor to secure new funding that it under negotiation right now.
Karwaan
Producer: Ronnie Screwvala
Director: Akarsh Khurana
Starring: Irrfan Khan, Dulquer Salmaan, Mithila Palkar
Rating: 4/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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China
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UAE
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Canada
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How Alia's experiment will help humans get to Mars
Alia’s winning experiment examined how genes might change under the stresses caused by being in space, such as cosmic radiation and microgravity.
Her samples were placed in a machine on board the International Space Station. called a miniPCR thermal cycler, which can copy DNA multiple times.
After the samples were examined on return to Earth, scientists were able to successfully detect changes caused by being in space in the way DNA transmits instructions through proteins and other molecules in living organisms.
Although Alia’s samples were taken from nematode worms, the results have much bigger long term applications, especially for human space flight and long term missions, such as to Mars.
It also means that the first DNA experiments using human genomes can now be carried out on the ISS.
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The bio
Job: Coder, website designer and chief executive, Trinet solutions
School: Year 8 pupil at Elite English School in Abu Hail, Deira
Role Models: Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk
Dream City: San Francisco
Hometown: Dubai
City of birth: Thiruvilla, Kerala
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
The specs: Rolls-Royce Cullinan
Price, base: Dh1 million (estimate)
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbo V12
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 563hp @ 5,000rpm
Torque: 850Nm @ 1,600rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 15L / 100km
Results
6.30pm: Mazrat Al Ruwayah Group Two (PA) US$55,000 (Dirt) 1,600m; Winner: Rasi, Harry Bentley (jockey), Sulaiman Al Ghunaimi (trainer).
7.05pm: Meydan Trophy (TB) $100,000 (Turf) 1,900m; Winner: Ya Hayati, William Buick, Charlie Appleby.
7.40pm: Handicap (TB) $135,000 (D) 1,200m; Winner: Bochart, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
8.15pm: Balanchine Group Two (TB) $250,000 (T) 1,800m; Winner: Magic Lily, William Buick, Charlie Appleby.
8.50pm: Handicap (TB) $135,000 (T) 1,000m; Winner: Waady, Jim Crowley, Doug Watson.
9.25pm: Firebreak Stakes Group Three (TB) $200,000 (D) 1,600m; Winner: Capezzano, Mickael Barzalona, Salem bin Ghadayer.
10pm: Handicap (TB) $175,000 (T) 2,410m; Winner: Eynhallow, Mickael Barzalona, Charlie Appleby.
