Candy brothers behind Britain's record-breaking property deal

Christian and Nick Candy, the property moguls behind some of central London's most exclusive developments, added the most expensive property deal in the UK to their already impressive Candy & Candy portfolio yesterday when the Ministry of Defence handed over Chelsea Barracks as part of a record-breaking £959m deal.

The concrete 12.8-acre barracks, home to the Coldstream Guards for more than 40 years, was handed over to the two brothers from Surrey following a low-key military ceremony to mark the acquisition.

The duo, who mastermind their £9bn property empire from tax exile in Monaco, bought the barracks in a joint venture with Qatar Diar, part of the Qatar government's investment arm. When the sale was first announced in April last year property experts were staggered at the near £1bn price that the brothers and the Qataris were willing to pay for it – more than three times the £300m the defence ministry had originally been hoping for.

The Sixties barracks, long considered an eyesore in the heart of one of west London's most exclusive districts, will be demolished and replaced with the type of luxury apartments for the super-rich in which the Candy brothers specialise.

Planning proposals are still subject to final approval by Westminster City Council, but it is understood that the developers hope to link the luxury apartments, many of which are expected to fetch anything up to £5,000 per sq ft, to another exclusive Thameside development bought by the same consortium earlier last year. It is understood that neighbouring Grosvenor Waterside, a hidden Victorian dock that cuts in from the Thames next to Chelsea Bridge, will be linked to the redeveloped base by a pedestrian boulevard to create a super "riverside estate" for those with enough money to pay for it.

The super-rich, who are expected to pay up to £50m each for flats in the Chelsea development, will be forced to live alongside bus drivers and bin men. The local authorities, led by Ken Livingstone, the mayor of London, are insisting that half of the properties on the site are “affordable homes”.

The planning rules for large developments state that 50% of the homes should be affordable, with 35% “for residents in need” and 15% “intermediate housing for key workers”.

Typically, developers fulfil their quota by building affordable housing on other sites. But Westminster council is insisting that the cheaper homes are built alongside the luxury apartments.
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