Check out Quartermile @Edinburgh!

Before we proceed with this post, let us mention from the onset that we are vested in this development but this is NOT an advertorial.

The wife and I first heard about the Quartermile project during the early part of last year and decided to attend Singapore road-show. We were so impressed with what we saw that we decided to put money down on a one-bedroom apartment after only like 20 minutes!

We must admit that we had little knowledge of Edinburgh - I have never been anywhere in Scotland ever while the wife had only been to the city once some 20+ years back - other than the fact that it is the capital city of Scotland. But we did a bit of research and discovered that

1) The old and new towns of Edinburgh are UNESCO World Heritage sites

2) Edinburgh is one of the world's leading financial capitals and second only to London in the UK and is home to many banking, insurance and investment companies. 

However, the wife was primarily drawn to the project because of the architects - which we will come to later. 

Quartermile is the marketing name given to the mixed use redevelopment of the former Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh site in Lauriston within the city centre of Edinburgh. The project comprises a mixture of new build apartments, apartments converted from the existing hospital buildings, new build offices, affordable housings and retail/leisure facilities. Once completed, Quartermile will contain more than 900 apartments, 350,000sqft of Grade A office accommodation, 55,000sqft of retail and leisure space and 7 acres of open landscaping. 

Quartermile also overlooks and is connected to The Meadows, one of the most famous large public park in Edinburgh.

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Now back to the architects: Quartermile is master-planned by Foster + Partners, who is responsible for iconic designs including the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok airport and Singapore's very own South Beach mixed use project in Beach Road. The wife has some local knowledge about the UK and said that all the residential projects designed by this firm have been very well-received.   

The phase that we have bought into (which we would loosely termed as phase 2) belongs to the City Meadows collection (Q23), which consists of buildings that are newly build whereas the previous phase have had a mixture of new buildings and conversion blocks. City Meadows comprises 98 apartments of which more than 90% have already been sold and the apartments are expected to be completed and ready for occupation by September this year.

The wife and I understand that the next phase (Q25) will consist of 104 apartments and this is expected to be launched internationally (Hong Kong and Singapore) in the later part of this year. Q25 is one of the two final buildings that faces The Meadows.

There would be two other phases to be launched subsequently but these apartment buildings would be located at Lister Square which sits at the centre of Quartermile (refer to master-plan) and the whole project is due to be fully completed by 2018.

Market potential wise, we understand that apartments especially for rentals are in very good demand due to limited supply of housing units within the city centre. While the wife and I were quite nervy during the Scottish Independence referendum last year, the residential market seems to have remained really positive throughout, as reflected in the ESPC home report (http://www.espc.com/news/espc-house-price-report-may-2015) which is worth the read if you are currently looking at residential property investment in Scotland.

Other than being a high-quality project designed by a world renowned architectural firm and located in a major financial city centre with high rental demands, what the wife and I are also impressed about Quartermile is the excellent level of customer service that we have received from the developer (Quartermile Management Developments) and also the appointed solicitor (Morton Fraser LLP).  Unlike many of the other projects that we had bought into previously,  it is really a pleasant surprise to receive regular updates throughout the construction stage while our queries are always handled in a timely and professional manner. All these have given us added confidence in the developer and the project. We were told during the road-show that many of Quartermile buyers were repeat customers from the earlier phase and we now understand the reason why! The wife and I will especially like to convey our thanks to Stephanie, Katy and Christie at Quartermile and Paula at Morton-Fraser for their dedications and assistance.

Do check out the Quartermile website (http://www.qmile.com) as it is probably one of the (if not THE) most comprehensive that we have ever come across from any developer both local and foreign!

The wife and I are really looking forward to the completion of our apartment at City Meadows in Quartermile and are planning a visit to Edinburgh to get a first-hand look at the project!

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