What do the Duke of Westminster, Kualar Lumpar and Liverpool have in common? The answer is Cesar Peli, one of the world’s leading architects famed for his designs for some of the world’s best-known skyscrapers including One Canada Square in London’s Docklands.

His most recent cloud-tickling structure is One Park West, a large apartment tower under construction in Liverpool’s Albert Docks retail and hotel quarter.

Grosvenor's One Park West development in Liverpool

The development is being masterminded by the Duke of Westminster’s Grosvenor property development firm and when completed the 17-storey building will include 326 apartments from studios to three bedroom units.

And although Peli is probably proud of his latest design, he may be put out that one of his more famous ones – Kualar Lumpar’s Petronas Towers – was yesterday overtaken as the world’s tallest structure by Dubai’s much-vaunted The Burj Khalifa tower – at 825 metres high.

But unlike the £1m-plus apartments for sale at the Dubai tower, properties at One Park West are more affordable starting at £90,000 for a studio and rising to £400,000 for the largest three-bedroom units.

This may account for its apparent success. Grosvenor claims to have sold apartments off-plan worth some £25 million and rented out most of the 123 apartment completed on the project so far – an admirable result given the current economic woes in the region and the UK as a whole.

Building ambitions in Liverpool: The Duke of Westminster

“Demand and new sales struggled during the first quarter of 2009, partly due to the availability of viable mortgage products and potential purchasers being nervous to take the plunge until they saw how the economic landscape was likely to pan out,” says Grosvenor’s Guy Butler.

“But in June we witnessed a change in the market, with an upturn in sales, which has resulted in an average of close to two sales a week since then.”

These figures mask an important point though – almost 70 per cent of sales on the development have been to landlords (rather than owner-occupiers), who have realised that One Park West is one of Liverpool’s few city-centre addresses ideal for upmarket professionals – rents being achieved range from £525 a month for a studio to £900 a month for the larger apartments.

Click here to find out more about the development and see pictures of the apartments.

It’s a dull shade of grey, made of concrete, sports graffiti and isn’t quite your average house. But this unusual building – an old water tower – is on the property market and, with a bit of imagination and hard work, could become your dream home.

The old and disused water tower at Great Doddington, near Wellingborough in Northamptonshire, used to be the home of thousands of gallons of water. But now it’s up for sale on the property market, complete with planning permission to transform it into a quirky new home.

Planning permission for converting the water tower was granted by Wellingborough Council back in September. When a building isn’t yet in a liveable state, it’s hard to imagine how it could become a comfortable home. But if you’ve watched enough Grand Designs you’ll know it’s certainly possible, if you have the vision and determination to make it happen.

Some of the ideas already put forward by architects are impressive, showing that the building has the potential to be transformed into a four-storey house with two bedrooms. On the ground floor would be the entrance and hallway, along with a bedroom and shower. The first floor could have a bathroom and bedroom, followed by the kitchen and dining room on the second floor. The top floor space, with its views of the surrounding area, could make an ideal living room and terrace.

The Great Doddington water tower is on the market for £100,000. According to the Northants Evening Telegraph, there’s already been a surprising amount of interest in the property and the estate agents believe it could become a “trendy 21st century home.”

Home decorating and interior trends come and go (thankfully, in many cases) and have a lot to answer for when it comes to taste. The top 10 home design turn-offs from the last 20 years have just been revealed in a new survey – can you guess which dire faux pas made it onto the list?

The survey, which was commissioned to mark the launch of UKTVHomes, asked 2,000 British home owners what they thought were the worst home design turn-offs and what they’d prefer to see in homes today. Coming top of the list of modern dire designs were paint effects, such as rag rolling, sponge finishes and stencilling. As these were all the rage in the 90s, many a house across Britain is likely to have sported such effects at some time, even if they’re now safely hidden from view.

The second most hated design was found to be mirrored wardrobes (53%), closely followed by heavily patterned tiles (52%) and ghastly animal statues (51%). Other home design turn-offs were noted to be garish 80s colour schemes, net curtains, magnolia paint, futons and wall mounted TVs.

The survey highlighted that more people are thinking about redecorating and improving their homes at the moment, with 40% claiming to redecorate every three years. Nearly half said they renovate to create spaces that are practical and functional and one in ten are concerned about creating eco-friendly rooms. When asked about the style trends they thought could add value to their home, 47% said a loft conversion, whilst 38% said a new kitchen.

In contrast the home design turn-offs, the list of top 10 turn-ons which people would much prefer to find in a home were found to be:

1. Power shower
2. Heated towel rails
3. Under floor heating
4. American style fridge freezer
5. Granite countertops
6. Concealed appliances
7. Stainless steel appliances
8. Solar panels
9. Free standing baths
10. Slate floor tiles