While refurbishing her £6.75 million property, Dua Lipa is compelled to spend a lot of money on a survey to detect unexploded World War Two bombs
When construction is underway on Dua Lipa’s £6.75 million mansion, she has been advised to keep an eye out for undetonated Luftwaffe bombs.
The 28-year-old singer, Levitating, had to pay for a survey that identified bombs placed near her pad during World War II.
Her architects discovered that during the Blitz, Hitler’s planes hit numerous of the North London streets that surrounded the estate.
Also, her team was granted the go-ahead to build an addition to the property that included an underground pool and home studio after getting the UXO, or unexploded ordnance, report.
It follows news that, following a three-year court fight, repairs on Dua’s London residence were finally starting.
When the celebrity was just 22 years old, she paid £6.75 million for the property back in 2017.
However, she found herself in deep water with local council members and conservationists after filing proposal plans in December 2021 to develop a swimming pool, steam room, shower, changing room, relaxation space, movie theater, studio waiting area, and lobby.
Building has now begun, as seen by photos obtained by The Sun, with contractors excavating beneath the property and demolishing its inside walls.
Dua was approved last year, but in order to keep the neighbors from being upset, there could be very little work done on the property and the equipment needed to be installed with “anti-vibration isolators.”
For comment, MailOnline reached out to Dua Lipa’s representatives.
‘Dua’s ambitions for her mansion are gigantic and after four years she has finally started looking for builders to start work on her music studio, pool, gym, cinema and chill out space,’ a source told The Sun last year.
Because there was a lot of opposition to her plans due to the loss of green space, she is required to go by some rather tight agreements.
Her construction team will need to mount all of the equipment with anti-vibration insulators and limit the noise level of power tools to a minimum.
“No one should be aware that any work is being done, and if it is, Dua’s neighbors might become upset.” Dua is eager to turn her house into a home and doesn’t want to irritate anyone.
After choosing the North London residence and submitting restoration plans, the Levitating pop star’s project has been back and forth with her local council ever since.
She got into a lot of trouble with conservationists at the time because of her Grand Designs-style plans for a huge renovation of her house that included a swimming pool in the basement with a “chill-out area.”
Along with her other ideas, she also intended to build a new family room with a green roof, but conservationists and local council planners rejected her intentions to tear down the existing one.
The singer had plans for a major makeover, including the removal of a weeping willow and an ornamental maple tree and the repair of a traditional boundary wall at the three-story pad.
The ground floor entry hall, dining room, drawing room, pantry, library, bath room, and garden room were all planned as part of Dua’s new-look residence.
There would have been two guest bedrooms, a dressing room, a linen room, a master bedroom, and a landing leading to the second story on the first floor.
Replaced cast iron railings, a new chimney stack from the roofline up, and new timber-framed windows in favor of UPVC ones were among the exterior renovations.
Along with a new grass, front terrace, planted courtyard, sunken patio, balcony garden, kitchen terrace, sunny terrace, and trellis, she was also planning a romantic Arts & Crafts garden makeover.
Additionally, there would have been new automated sliding gates at the entrance, a pleached hornbeam hedge against the boundary wall to form a sheltered internal courtyard area, and a new stepping path connecting the front and rear gardens.
Due to the property’s location in a recognized conservation area, Dua requested planning authorization for the intended works; however, the proposal was met with opposition from the neighborhood forum.
“The forum notes that the pre-application advice received is that the existing rear extension should not be demolished as it positively contributes to the character and appearance of the host dwelling,” secretary Nancy Mayo stated in a letter to the council in December 2021.
The Conservation Area’s boundary walls, which are made of clinker bricks, or lava bricks, are a key component. The streetscapes’ most prominent elements are the boundary walls made of lava brick covered in ivy.
The Forum opposes any potential damage to the boundary walls as well as the removal of the willow tree and their reconstruction.
The Forum points out that the willow tree may have been planted to solve what may have been a damp garden because of the site’s proximity to the spring line and the underground border stream. For this reason, a natural animal pond would be perfect in this setting.
“The Forum wishes to object to the application because it does not appear to comply with all relevant Neighbourhood Plan policies.”
“Officers consider that the replacement of the rear extension and infill of the existing side setback, with a larger and modern extension, would harm the integrity of the building and its contribution to the conservation area,” Camden Council stated in its pre-application advice.
“Officers would vehemently oppose the demolition of the current rear extension because, thanks to its thoughtful design and material selection, it positively contributes to the host dwelling’s character and appearance.”
Her planning agent stated in a design statement that the challenge posed by the client was to “maintain and respect the qualities of the original house and its significant presence on a corner within the conservation area, while increasing the floor area [of the house] in a similar way to other properties in the area.”
The replacement expansion has been thoughtfully built to avoid privacy concerns and will improve the flow from the family room to the yard.
It is comparable in size and scope to the one that is being demolished and continues to be a part of the current house. There is no attempt to compete for the viewer’s attention with a busy or spectacular solution—the house is the main attraction.
To enable work activities to be isolated from the rest of the house, new studio workstations in the basement will provide access to the new lower garden. The current yellow brick on the west side of the border retaining wall will be replaced with red brick, which is more in keeping with the conservation area.
“The owners want to make sure that the house is developed legally, but they also want to make sensitive design changes that fit in with the neighborhood, improve the property’s environmental performance, and ensure the house’s long-term well-being.”
