THIS’LL BRING THE HOUSE DOWN!
Two mansions collapse during basement dig
TWO multi- million- pound Chelsea townhouses have collapsed during building work to create a mega-basement.
Forty people had to be evacuated when the grand properties crumbled just before midnight on Monday.
The homes were thought to be empty during the renovations and there were no injuries.
Neighbours claimed the 18th century houses were having or due to have deep basement digs, one possibly for a swimming pool.
One man, who was evacuated, said: ‘I was in the house next door and we heard it coming down.
‘We ran outside and I was left standing in my pyjamas with just my phone. We had to get out and weren’t allowed back in.
‘Work has been going on there for about one year, we heard that they were digging down, deep, deep, to put in a pool or something.’
Another neighbour added: ‘I thought, initially, that it was thunder. We went through the front door and saw the rest come down.’
The houses in Durham Place, west London, were built in the late 1700s and are a short walk from the fashionable King’s Road.
A seven-bedroom property in the same road sold last year for around £16million and the area is filled with celebrities and the super-rich. Basement developments have become common – and controversial – among London’s wealthy, with some including basement levels as deep as 60ft.
London Fire Brigade described the scene as a ‘total collapse’.
The cause is unknown and it was cordoned off yesterday. Land Registry documents show the freehold to one of the collapsed houses is owned by Seabrook Properties Limited in the British Virgin Islands.
Planning permission submitted by the real estate company was given the green light by Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea council in August last year.
The works included a rear extension to the lower ground floor.
A planning application for the neighbouring property was made less than two weeks ago.
It included basement excavation and a single-storey extension at the lower ground floor.
A decision from the council was expected on November 19.
A study found there were 4,650 basements built across seven London boroughs between 2008 and 2017. Of these, 374 included a swimming pool and 115 were for staff accommodation. There were also underground garages, 42 bars, 40 libraries and two gun rooms.
‘Heard they were putting in a pool’