County Hall Apartments, SE1

Building undergone refurbishments and it much nicer than it was last year. The court yard is fantastic in the summer, can work from home but in the sun. Gated underground parking which is such a help in central London. Intercom system that works with your mobile, so you can open the doors remotely. Concierge service, which can collect parcels on your behalf and deal with other enquiries. Leisure facilities include a heated pool, jacuzzi, steam room, sauna and a gym which has just been refurbished. No gas as apartment uses electric to heat the water which means you have to time the heat mechanism to meet your own needs. Some walls are plaster so you can sometimes hear noise but it’s not that bad. Overall location and amenities are great. Happy to be living here now.

It’s a luxury building with Victorian/Edwardian architecture. My architect was impressed and preferred this to the new buildings in the nearby. There is a gym, 20mt swimming pool, jacuzzi, sauna, steam room, car park, concierge 24hrs, courtyards with fountain and gardens.

The good : The court yard (interior garden) is fantastic in the summer. You have gated underground parking included. Intercom system can be linked with your mobile, so you can open the doors for visitors wherever you are. Concierge service, which can collect parcels on your behalf and have spare keys incase you lock yourself out your apartment. Leisure facilities, including heated pool, jacuzzi, steam room, sauna and gym. The bad: Apartments can get really cold in winter. No gas and apartment uses electric to heat the water which means you have to time the heat mechanism effectively as to leave it on 24/7 would cost a fortune. Radiators take a while to get hot. Insulation isn’t great. Walls are thin and the walls inside the apartment are mostly plaster so good luck mounting a tv up. You will likely also hear noise from the streets from time to time as it’s central London but it’s not too bad. Management/concierge can be rude and dismissive. Communication is often poor, with facilities often being out of service without any indication as to when they will be back. The gym is old and outdated, the machines are literally rusting. The floor in the sauna could do with a good clean, I know there is a plank to walk on but still.

Good points: Location great, access to everything you need within walking distance. Nice looking building aesthetically pleasing. Big gates and doors for security. Key entry fob. Courtyard is like an island of peace within a busy city. Lesiure centre included with rent, includes a swimming pool. (some bad points about this later) Bad points: The estate management is terrible. Poor communication, ignore your emails, Slow to fix things. They havnt opened the lesiure centre even though covid restrictions have been lifted (2nd time they've done this) , won't tell us when it will open or why it's still closed. They are badly organised and messed up things before like parcels and our key fobs when we first arrived. Some porters are nice but many of them are rude and dismissive. The security just make up random rules when they feel like it, for example if you want to sit in the courtyard (which is like our garden) with a glass of wine on a summer evening that will sometimes be fine, other times they will tell you alcohol is banned on the estate, other times they will tell you the chairs have to be Brought in at 8 pm. Other times they will be left outside. Basically you will be trying to enjoy some peace and quite in your garden and the security guards will just harras you and make rules up as they see fit. I have also not been happy In the past with some of the letters that the estate management have sent to residents. For example The recent tone of the letters regarding covid are quite tyranical and strike a bit of a condescending tone almost like we are school childeren been told off. Really don't appreciate this kind of thing when we are paying quite a lot of money to live here. There's some incredibly weird and irratating politics going on in the bulding. Seems like the management company don't bother sending you any communication unless it's to counter against a group of owners who are constantly shoving letters through your letter box because they are trying to oust the current estate management. To be honest I don't blame them since the current management is useless but the politics is nonetheless annoying from both sides. The building is old and showing its age and seems to be under constant maintenance. Sometimes Police sirens can be loud at night and wake you due to central location.

The facilities are amazing and convenient. For instance, County Hall has jacuzzi, gym, swimming pool and sauna. All these cailities are opened daily until 12am. The best part is that the facilities are usually vacant. Therefore, there is no need to wait for equipments nor having problems of overcrowding. And the design is excellent. The rooms are very spacious with high ceiling and huge windows. Ample supply of sunlight during the day to warm up the room.