Springfield Place: Barratt London residents story

THE GOLDEN (H)OPPORTUNITY – “WE LIVED IN A PUB TO SAVE FOR OUR FIRST HOME”

Ethan Glackin-McColgan (30) and his husband Daniel (32) moved to London 11 years ago, from Co. Tyrone in Northern Ireland, where a drive to the nearest shops would take 15 minutes. They set their sights on London for better job opportunities and a change of lifestyle, they now live in Wandsworth at Barratt London’s Springfield Place development, where the couple purchased a ground-floor one-bedroom apartment for £455,000.

Ethan works as the General manager of The Bedford in nearby Balham, while Daniel is a primary school teacher in Wandsworth. Their journey to home ownership wasn’t the typical first-time buyer story, but in the end, they found their perfect first home. The couple had an uncommon saving process which Ethan explains as their key element to owning, “My last Job at The Rosendale Pub, came with the flat above the pub, so we lived there for six years in West Dulwich, before moving to a rental in Streatham for two years. Having my previous salary include our accommodation costs, we were able to save a significant amount during those six years. Our rent however in Streatham, alongside council tax and bills was just over £2,100 a month, now having been in our apartment for a year, we’ve noticed a huge difference in our energy costs. When we were renting in older properties, we had always been in the red energy rating, to finally be in the green with an EPC rating of A/B feels incredible and helps us save around £400 monthly.”

While living at work may sound like the perfect solution to saving for your first home, it wasn’t all plain sailing. Ethan explains: “It really was a blessing and curse, as you can imagine, there are disadvantages to living above a pub, this in combination with not having any distance between you and your workplace can allow lines being blurred and never switching off. All work and no play helped us own our own piece of the London property pie, but being there 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, was challenging to say the least, but we’re in a very unique position to say that living at work allowed us to buy our first home.

Now, living in Wandsworth, I enjoy work a lot more. Just knowing when I leave, that I’m actually off, I don’t work a 9-5, but this is the first time I’ve been able to get that work/life balance just right. We’re surrounded by green space, which helps give me mental clarity, I can take the dogs out for a short walk, and I instantly feel more relaxed and can detach from the stresses of everyday life.”

Back in 2020, Ethan and Daniel began their search for a house, however they quickly discovered that purchasing a house within budget, rather than an apartment, would mean sacrificing on the location. Ethan comments: “You always hear about people moving away from London to buy, but we wanted to stay in the thick of the action in the city. With our jobs, the commute was much shorter from Springfield Place, so we figured we could lower our travel fares.

After finding out about Springfield Place, and it only being 10-minutes away from Tooting Bec tube station, it didn’t take much selling, we used Help to Buy, and we had enough money saved for the 10% deposit. I can now walk to work, and Daniel can get to his school in 15-minutes. We bought off-plan as it met all our expectations, and when it came to getting inside our new home, we were pleasantly surprised, some new builds can feel limited in space, but having direct access to our patio gardens just makes the space feel even larger! This outside space was so important, not only to us, but to our two dogs Tartan and Mac. We found quite a lot of housebuilders had restrictions on having pets, so once we heard Barratt London were pet friendly, it was a massive box ticked.”

Costs associated with renovating older properties have risen in recent years, setting homeowners back a potential £70,000, Ethan was keen to avoid the hassle and stress. He adds, “I’ve spent my life in a house which was never finished, but with our new build, the work was done for us. In our rentals before, we had replaced walls, skimmed ceilings, put up wallpaper, but with our new apartment, I haven’t even picked up a paintbrush. We moved in, and three weeks later, we were sorted!”

The couple are now well settled into their apartment and don’t envision themselves moving elsewhere in a hurry, Ethan explains, “We have a real neighbourhood feel at Springfield Place, there’s a group chat and we organise social drinks together, having lived in London for over ten years, this community feeling is almost unheard of.

We’re already sandwiched between Wandsworth and Tooting high street, so we have plenty on our doorstep, but there’s an upcoming onsite shop (Sainsburys) which will be two minutes away from us, we’ve got a café and a gym, it’s these little things that have also helped us cut back on monthly outgoings. It may have taken us a little longer than we’d have liked, but now we’re putting down lasting roots, we’re loving being able to put our feet up and reap the rewards of our hard work.”

Yolanda Jacob, Sales and Marketing Director for Barratt East London, comments: “It’s lovely to hear of happy first-time buyers like Ethan and Daniel, buying off-plan can be a great way to get your foot in the door early and start enjoying your new home. Springfield Place is the perfect spot for those who want to thrive within the city life, while being surrounded by leafy southwest London. As with all our developments, these homes are fitted with the latest energy efficient measures, it’s amazing to see how these have helped Ethan and Daniel on their monthly costs.”

Springfield Place currently has a collection of one, two and three-bedroom homes available, with selected homes ready to move into now. Prices start from £472,000 for a one-bedroom apartment with a south-east facing balcony and £802,000 for a two-bedroom house.

For more information about the development please visit www.barrattlondon.com or call 0330 057 6666 to speak to a sales advisor.

-ENDS-

NOTES TO EDITORS

For further information about Barratt London please contact Kyle Moore at 07361 513858 or email kyle@building-relations.co.uk. 

About Barratt London

Barratt London is a market-leading residential developer, with over 40 years’ experience in the Capital, delivering up to 2,000 units each year. Barratt London is committed to providing an unbeatable customer experience and developing exceptional homes for all Londoners. We have an extensive portfolio of residential developments and partnerships delivering homes across the Capital for all Londoners. 

Barratt London is part of Barratt Developments PLC, the UK’s most recommended housebuilder.

About Barratt Developments

Barratt Developments plc is the country’s largest housebuilder. Barratt is committed to building high quality homes and this year received more NHBC Pride in the Job Quality awards than any other housebuilder for the 19th year in a row and was awarded 5 stars by its customers in the HBF satisfaction survey for the 14th year in a row. For more information visit www.barrattdevelopments.co.uk 

https://www.barratthomes.co.uk/new-homes/london/sustainability/energy-efficient-homes/