Neighbours of Britain’s richest woman are “apoplectic” that a London council has allowed her to build a two-storey basement under her home in Belgravia.
Kirsty Bertarelli, 43, a former Miss UK, and her husband Ernesto, a pharmaceutical tycoon with a fortune of £5.5 billion, were given permission by Westminster council on Tuesday despite a “large number” of objections.
The neighbouring council, Kensington and Chelsea, has spent two years battling to restrict wealthy residents digging basements, succeeding only in December last year. The couple had their proposals approved just in time with Westminster hoping to do the same by the end of this year.
The Bertarellis’ underground extension will hold a dining room, cinema, kitchen and gym, additions their architects, Boundary Space, said were “appropriate” for the growing family.
“The proposals reflect the client’s family has grown, and the accommodation is no longer conducive to modern family living,” the company said.
Advertisement
Mrs Bertarelli, who is wealthier than the Queen and JK Rowling combined, divides her time between London and homes in Geneva and Gstaad with her husband and three children. The couple bought the house 13 years ago for £5.5 million and it is believed to have doubled in value.
Although several mews houses surrounding the Bertarellis already have basements, the couple are the first to propose a two-storey extension, which prompted neighbours to fight the application. They were backed by the local Conservative councillor, Rachael Robathan, who said “the size of the extension is disproportionate”.
Neighbours fear the basement will be used as a recording studio rather than for family purposes. Mrs Bertarelli co-wrote the worldwide hit Black Coffee by the girl band All Saints and released her own album last year.
One, who did not want to be named, said: “Some of the owners around here are absolutely apoplectic about what’s in the pipeline. These kinds of developments cause huge disruption.”
A Westminster council spokesman said that despite the application being approved, the borough intended to create a new basement policy “that is coming in very shortly which will restrict this type of development”.