John Caudwell has already spent seven years revamping his 1 Mayfair residence in London and reports that he now expects to complete the job at the end of 2025 – and is seeking offers from potential buyers.
He is reported to have paid £150m for it in 2011 – from the fortune he made selling mobile phones – and has more recently been valued at £250m.
The nine-year construction programme, that started in 2017 has been the largest residential development project in Mayfair, dividing it up into apartments.
Work has included the creation of an extensive basement for a health spa with a 20-metre swimming pool, parking and other amenities. The basement structure is 27 metres below ground level at its deepest point.
Designed to be the finest ultra-prime residential scheme in London, and a new leader in global luxury. 1 Mayfair has 24 principal residences of up to eight bedrooms, including lateral apartments, penthouses and townhouses, five further pieds-à-terre and stately home inspired entertaining halls and lounges designed around a central garden. It will be complete with all the amenities associated with a five-star hotel.
![John Caudwell with the architectural model [image credit: Caudwell/David Woolfall]](https://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/img-cache/f596f9a56d5dc2ccac2274c99bcd892c/320x213.4375_1713854587_johncaudwell-foundercaudwellwith1mayfairarchitecturalmodel-photocreditcaudwell-davidwoolfall.jpg "John Caudwell with the architectural model [image credit: Caudwell/David Woolfall]")
1 Mayfair is eight storeys high, with facades fronting onto South Audley Street, Hill Street and Waverton Street.
The construction is now roughly 65% complete, Cauldwell says, with shell and core works scheduled for completion by Q3 2024 and work on installing and crafting the 2,140 tonne Portland stone façades of the scheme to take until Q3 2025. A team of experts comprising designers, specialist craftsmen and artisans from countries including Britain, Italy, France and America are creating the classical architectural details of the Portland stone façade. Features will include porticoed entrances, bay windows, large balconies, colonnades and a tiered façade to the uppermost floors providing pavilions with high ceilings opening onto private rooftop terraces.
The interiors are scheduled to be completed in late 2025. The rooms will include a rotunda featuring a circular colonnade and a ceiling with hand-painted frescos, a reception room featuring a double height ceiling and 5.5-metre-high French windows overlooking the garden, a Crystal Gallery, a glass panelled hallway inspired by the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles, a library and a garden gallery.
Offering up to eight bedrooms, the townhouses, and apartments and penthouses on the upper floors of the main mansion building have a meticulously designed ultra-luxury specification, setting a new benchmark for quality and artistry in the London ultra-prime marketplace.
John Caudwell said: “Our vision for 1 Mayfair is to deliver a legacy for London in the form of a landmark residential scheme of such superlative quality and outstanding design that it will be worthy of an architectural listing and conservation for generations to come. Our world-class design team have worked alongside us to deliver our vision and exceed everyone’s expectations. With its classical architecture, palatial stately home inspired interiors, unique residences and outstanding amenities 1 Mayfair will set a new benchmark for ultra-prime London living and influence luxury design for centuries.”
![The frontage on South Audley Street [image credit: Caudwell]](https://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/img-cache/f596f9a56d5dc2ccac2274c99bcd892c/320x213.4375_1713854577_1mayfair-southaudleystreetfacadeoverview-creditcaudwell.jpg "The frontage on South Audley Street [image credit: Caudwell]")
Caudwell’s sales director, Lars Christiaanse, said: “Despite the fact that we are not releasing prices to the general market until 2025 we have had a high level of interest from potential buyers even at this early stage. We have had over 125 registrations of interest from pre-qualified potential buyers and we have also had a couple of offers from buyers on particular residences with several others under discussion. There will never be anything like 1 Mayfair built again in Westminster because local planning changes now prohibit the size of homes in a new Mayfair development to a maximum of just 2,150 sq ft (200 sqm). 1 Mayfair gained planning approval before these restrictions were put in place, so we are able to offer our buyers sizable residences that are now heavily restricted by planning law. Well informed buyers are aware that there is now a significant shortage of large newly built luxury homes available for sale in relation to demand.”
