God is in the Details

After receiving gold at the prestigious What House Awards (the so-called ‘Oscars of the building industry’) for a rather special house [pictured above right], David Smith, Octagon’s Head of Marketing is rightly proud. “After three decades of building luxury houses,” he explains, “Octagon has considerable knowledge in how to create an exceptional property. We tune in to the aspirations and expectations of our highly discerning clients, who are buying at the very top end of the sector. This has fuelled a whole new dialogue on specification, especially with purchasers on extra generous budgets, and paved the way for the launch of our new made-to-measure department, Octagon Bespoke.”

Octagon’s latest bespoke projects have included wrap-around aquariums, stocked with suitably toned and tinted tropical fish; temperature-controlled humidors for the Cohibas; and a triple run of Agas which were sprayed anthracite to match the surrounding kitchen units. Then there are the chromotherapy infinity baths, where water tumbles over tub edge into a drop tray; ‘car wash’ showers with three different showerheads running the width of the bathroom; and electronically-operated atrium chandeliers that can be gently lowered to ground level for cleaning and bulb maintenance.

Moving outside, Octagon built the first banya in the UK, an authentic Finnish bathhouse, complete with log-fuelled stove, step-in barrels for up-to-the-neck bathing, and timber buckets suspended on ropes for cold-water dowsing. A particularly sporty family asked for a jogging track, with special nonslip surface, to be installed around the perimeter of their two-acre garden.

An Octagon home, be it bespoke or not, is much more than just a grand façade on an expensive plot. Clients expect the ultimate in specification, both inside and out. These are busy people, but they take the time and trouble to check out all the detail, from the quality of insulation and the type of heating, to the advanced level of the built-in comms – and finally, complete assurance that they are investing in a true classic.

Call Octagon Bespoke on 020 8481 7500 or visit www.octagonbespoke.com