Bad news for Mr Claus. A record number of home owners with idle chimneys are bringing their ageing smoke stacks back into use. But why, the man behind the big white beard is asking, should this be so given the health and safety nightmare this presents to a flue-based package delivery operative?

According to renovations and building project marketplace MyBuilder.com its site has seen a 253% rise in chimney, stove and fireplace installations or renovations in recent months.

The site’s spokesperson Courtney Gibbs says this trend is being created by two things: Victorian and Georgian chimneys coming to the end of their lives and the rise of the log fire.

This is creating a lively market for fireplace manufacturers and chimney renovation experts despite the ongoing recession and many are claiming the highest number of sales for over 20 years and an increase in demand of 100%.

Another expert, David Knapp of Victorianfireplaces.com says that while there has been a fall in the number of large household items such as sofas and white goods being bought, his business has continued to grow year on year.

While budget stoves start at £300 they rapidly increase in price as the quality and size rises to £2,500 or more, and are popular as a cheap way to heat a room as gas and electricity prices continue to waft ever higher. But it’s more than just cost. Psychologist Alex Drummond says that ‘being close to an open fire warms the soul, radiators just warm the room’. Quote of the year, we think.

He’s designed everything from door knobs to bathroom fittings, lighting and plates, but how did Grand Designs host Kevin McCloud get into television presenting?

In this video, the self-confessed “odd bod”, his words not ours, says his enthusiasm for buildings has been part of his journey onto the small screen.

Watch the full video interview with McCloud below.

We have all seen House Doctor, Selling Houses and the host of other programmes telling us how to prepare our house to sell.  You know, the ones where the basic premise is to ‘paint your house magnolia’ and stick a new carpet in.

But while neutral colours do appeal to a mass market, how do professional interior designers suggest their prime clients prepare their homes for sale? After all, the more money you’re asking for a property, the harder you may have to work on presentation, right?

Before and after (below): How the lounge of a two-bedroom Georgian apartment in London was 'staged' for sale.

Our friends at Brahm Interiors say they are increasingly being asked to dress properties for sale or to let rather than just to make homes more beautiful. They say ‘don’t go for the minimal look but rather embellish and edit your possessions’.

Apparently a good edit of your possessions can do wonders. Coco Chanel once said “before you leave the house, look in the mirror and remove one accessory, less is always more”. The same can be said of interiors accessories.

Once you have had a thorough edit, it might be time to add. Whatever your property size or budget, a few savvy props can transform a home. The breadth of furnishings and accessories now available on the high street means that there are solutions available to give a property that elusive X factor. Brahm often utilise ‘statement pieces’ and simple accessories that work with the existing interiors. A large mirror, an sculpture or a prized antique can completely transform the room by giving it a focus. Tie in other items in the room and you end up with a coordinated scheme that will appeal to any buyer.

Recently Brahm were called in to revitalise a Georgian flat in London (see before and after pictures, above). They added a large rug to the living area to provide some warmth and a focal point to the spacious room. Existing furniture was joined by floor lamps to frame either end of the sofa. Light coloured cushions were placed to contrast with the sofa’s dark brown fabric while tired armchairs were swapped with two neutrally coloured ones that added ‘structure and sophistication’. They then positioned large vases of flowers in the centre of the room to provide drama.

Such simple additions can make a huge difference.

Do you watch Kevin McCloud on Channel 4′s Grand Designs TV show and think ‘that could be me building my own home?

Then from 7th-9th October Birmingham is where you should be for inspiration. The live version of the TV series is at the NEC exhibition centre this year, which will be hosting the all-painting, bricklaying and roof tiling Grand Designs Live starring the ever-eloquent Mr McCloud.

Kevin McCloud speaking at last year's Birmingham Grand Designs event

Hundreds of suppliers and experts will be joining McCloud at the show so if you want advice and information about building your own home including interiors, technology, bathrooms, kitchens and much more, then PrimeLocation.com the show’s official property partner, has a 2 for 1 offer on tickets to the event. To find out how to take advantage of this deal and for terms and conditions go to the PrimeLocation.com website.

PrimeLocation has admired Wayne Hemingway from afar for some time. His career has been extraordinarily diverse starting with a ‘vintage’ clothing stall at Camden Market, London during the 1980s which he developed into fasion giant Red or Dead, and which he and wife Gerardine sold in 1999 reportedly for multi millions.

He then set up a general design practice offering urban (i.e. housing) design, landscaping, garden sheds (sold in B&Q) and much more.

Wayne is also a keen cyclist and is patron of the Sustrans National Cycle Network which he helped win a £50m National Lottery grant a few years back, and has designed an affordable folding bike. Also, he ensures that any of the housing developments he designs (13 so far all over the UK) have full-on cycling facilities.

So given this interesting track record and his almost cult status as a quirky spokesperson for design, we chased him down for an interview. Wayne is not an easy man to catch, nevertheless.

His schedule is manic to say the least plus he’s not prone to smiling in front of cameras, we’ve noticed – no exception in our video – although a member of the team here says a snap they took at an exhibition recently disproves this rule.

Nevertheless Wayne gave us an hour of his time down at his gorgeous, self-built house in near Chichester in West Sussex – and we’ve turned it into a six-minute or so video.

The lavish interior and unusual layout of 120 Kensington Park Road would make it an iconic Notting Hill home even if Robbie hadn’t lived there between 1998 and 2002 after he’d left Take That and moved down to London from Manchester.

It must have seen some life whilst he was there, especially as this was during his ‘wild’ times. He was dating Nicole Appleton, singer with All Saints, whom he got engaged to but was unceremoniously dumped outside the address when they broke up.

Robbie also let Geri Halliwell move into to his home after the Spice Girls split up so she could get away from the paparazzi. But it probably wasn’t the best place for privacy, as it’s over the Paul Smith shop on the corner of Westbourne Grove and right in the heart of Notting Hill with all the shops, restaurants and antique shops just around the corner.

The house is on four floors with a great little sun trap of a roof terrace designed by the vendor’s brother – landscape gardener, Caspar Gabb, a gold award winner of the Chelsea Flower Show in 2006. The current owner completely revamped the property when he bought it four years ago, putting the living room on the top floor and opening it up to the rafters and turning one of the bedrooms into the kitchen.

Now the V-shaped 30 foot long living room has a vaulted ceiling with sky lights and a pale wooden floor. At one end is a section of solid wood with a very real looking contemporary fireplace at the bottom, breaking up the otherwise large expanse of white walls. There are stunning views from this floor and the terrace, with its teak decking and bench, over the roofscape of London and also the very pretty Kensington Park Gardens.

On the second floor is a large kitchen with central work station and dining area. Stretching above this into the reception room above is a curved double height gallery. This feature really makes a difference to both rooms with a glass balustrade set around the top and a stunning light installation hanging down, created by Irish designer, Niamh Barry. There’s also a small bedroom and smart little bathroom with dark grey granite tiling on the second floor.

On the floor below are two en-suite bedrooms, one of which is the master bedroom with large bathroom tiled in marble and a large walk-in shower. The bedroom is very light with four sash windows including the curved corner one and has plenty of fitted wooden wardrobes.

Throughout, the property is very high tech – with Lutron lighting, a Bose integrated music system so you can listen to different music on each floor and pop-up TVs in the living room and at the end of the bed in the master bedroom. The 2,040 square feet property has its own entrance and is for sale through Domus Nova for £3.45 million.

He was famous for his fast driving and even faster personal life and now the former home of James Hunt – the 1970s sex symbol, F1 champion and all round racing legend, is up for sale.

It’s a four bedroom mews house in Normand Mews, West Kensington, London W14 and yours for £2.75 million.

Ok so the smell of petrol smeared racing outfits and Brut after shave has long gone – Hunt left three years after buying in 1980 – but the changes he made to the house linger.

The current owners, Peter and Carol Harrison, say Hunt bought the house (which is in fact two mews homes put together) because the garage had space for his beloved Ferraris and classic car collection.

The property, which is within a gated mews community, witnessed some of his rocky personal life including a marriage to Suzy Miller (who left him for Richard Burton) and also happier times with Sarah Lomax, with whom he had two sons but also later split from.

Changes Hunt made to the addresss – No. 7 & No.8 – during his three year stint there included adding new bedrooms, a 19th century spiral staircase, a domed ceiling in the master bedroom and a Jacuzzi, some of which remain.

But Hunt may not recognise much else now. Recently, the house has been refurbished with state of the art, luxury amenities including an Italian Valcucine glass kitchen and Basalt worktops, an in-wall gas fireplace, a home cinema and a hidden wine cellar with space for 1,060 bottles.

The master bedroom has sliding doors opening on to an astro-turfed sundeck and each room comes equipped with TVs and Sonos Music systems.

Despite these modern-day embellishments, the Harrisons were nevertheless keen that Hunt’s time at the property isn’t forgotten. Several years ago the couple asked English Heritage to put up a ‘lived here’ blue plaque but the rules are clear – only 20 years after someone’s death or 100 years after their birth can it be added. So the couple, keen not to hang around, had their own plaque made instead.

There are several ‘real’ ones in the area, too. Including one for one for Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Mahatma Gandi.  There are some less deceased famous faces in the area though, including singer Estelle and TV presenter Konnie Huq.

So where did Hunt after shipping out of the house in 1982? To Wimbledon, and a spell in suburbia before he sadly succumbed to a heart attack in 1993, soon after proposing to what sadly wouldn’t be the third Mrs Hunt.

Mews properties like this have become popular in recent years; they’re quirky, have bags of personality and character compared to the huge houses they’re usually behind.

A pregnant Kate Hudson recently purchased a £4 million Mews house in North London which she will share with boyfriend Matt Bellamy (lead vocalist in Muse) when she stays in London.

This is a guest blog by writer Roger Hunt.

When a plastic window salesman comes to my door I like to keep them talking. Why? Well, it gives me a tiny crumb of satisfaction that I’m wasting their time and maybe stopping them calling on someone who’s going to fall for their sales patter. It’s petty I know but few things upset me more than seeing perfectly good wood windows being replaced with ugly, unsustainable and far from cheap unplasticised polyvinyl choloride or uPVC as its better known.

Windows make up the face of a home and contribute hugely to its character. Estate agents agree. In a survey by English Heritage 82% of them felt that original features such as sash windows tend to add financial value to properties and 78% believed they helped to sell a property more quickly. 

© Boris Baggs, courtesy of English Heritage -an original timber door (left) that compliments the characters of a terrace row of Victorian homes, an effect destroyed by the plastic replacement on the right © Boris Baggs, courtesy of English Heritage

Replacing original windows is incredibly wasteful and it’s worth remembering that the timber used to make them was usually of very high quality. In fact, it’s not uncommon to find wooden windows that are 100 or even 200 years old and still going strong. If they are damaged it’s possible to make relatively inexpensive repairs which is something that’s virtually impossible to do with plastic windows – they invariably get shipped off to landfill.    

 Modern wood windows made from sustainably sourced timber by reputable firms are of a high standard and are expected to last at least 60 years. With plastic windows it’s not unusual to see signs of deterioration quite early in their life despite claims they’re ‘maintenance free’. That’s why there’s now special paint to “transform weathered and discolored uPVC”.

 The common argument for replacing wood windows is energy efficiency but this is largely down to the glazing within the window rather than what the frame is made of. Wood itself is extremely thermally efficient and there’s lots you can do in terms of draught proofing and adding secondary or double glazing – specialist companies can help with this.  
 When it comes to sustainability, wood is naturally renewable and as trees grow they soak up CO2 from the atmosphere. uPVC is a product of the petrochemical industry. 

 Then there’s that all important question of price. High performance, double-glazed timber windows need cost no more than their PVC-U equivalents: research for the Wood Window Alliance reveals that wood windows work out between 2-7% cheaper than uPVC over their lifetime.

 So what are you going to do next time the plastic window salesman comes calling? I’m going to carry on talking!

Roger Hunt is one of the UK’s leading architectural, environmental and property writers. Follow him on Twitter at @huntwriter.

If you’ve ever looked at the stars of BBC TV show Dragon’s Den and wondered how much they have made during their time at the top, then recent comments by the suavest of them all, James Caan, shed some light on the subject.

After quitting the show recently saying his was too busy to continue being on camera, Caan has now said he wants to become a banker to anyone seeking to invest in central London’s still-hot super prime property market. The idea, he revealed in an interview this week, is that he wants to step in and offer financing to developers to buy, do up and then sell on properties in London’s central billionaire belt – Knightsbridge, Mayfair and Chelsea.

Nothing too unusual in that – there are dozens of people involved in similar upmarket property development partnerships all over Britain – but the interesting aspect of this is that Caan is taking advantage of the banking sector’s reluctance to lend at the moment particularly as his idea is, although very creative, too risky for instituional investors at the moment and so Caan hopes to mop up in this niche but potentially very profitable mini-market.

At the centre of the plan is the idea to employ ‘celebrity designers’ to create ‘four star hotel’ homes and Caan name dropped the Candy Brothers, the duo behind the recent launch of the world’s most expesnive apartment block in Knightsbridge, One Hyde Park. This is a relatively new concept in British design, and is one borne out of the huge increase in the number of high net worth individuals. Interior designers such as Kelly Hoppen, Lawrence Llewelyn-Bowen and Linda Barker might be famous for their appearances on TV and in the papers, but their bread and butter is designing homes for the wealthy, following in the footsteps of Robert Adam, Charles Rennie Macintosh, Corbusier and Frank LLoyd Wright. But the Candy Brothers, and now James Caan, are among the first to put sumptious and expensive interior design so publicly at the centre of a business idea.

But what Caan’s announcement also reveals is that, despite a cooling property market in most areas of the UK, central London is a booming oasis of super prime properties – for example one-bedroom flats for under £500,000 are rare in many areas. But unless you walk around these postcodes on a Saturday, then you probably won’t quite know how cosmopolitan they have become. Central London is now the preferred address for a variety of wealthy international business people – far outstripping Milan, Tokyo or New York in the popularity polls. The customers Caan and his co-investors will be selling their refurbished homes to will be the Singaporean, Russian, Middle Eastern and Chinese millionaires and billionaires who yearn to call our capital’s richer postcodes their first or second homes. They’re  attracted by our wide range of industries, the City, our famous name public schools and the huge choice of properties in London – from super-modern riverside apartments groaning with glass, steel and Philippe Starck to faux-Victorian mansions in Hampstead.

And if you are wondering where Caan got the idea for his venture then a close look at the guest list for the launch of One Hye Park reveals that he was there tucking into the fabulously upmarket canapes and no doubt asked the Candy Brothers ”can we have a minute to discuss this’ after which all parties said ‘I’m in’.

Whenever Primelocation has been shopping in around Knightsbridge in recent years it’s been obvious that something big was cooking within the huge construction site on the junction where the Brompton Road, Sloane Street and Kensington Road converge, slowly replacing a drab office building.

Richly relaxed: The lounge of One Hyde Park's £140 million penthouse apartment

From its early days the name of designers Christian and Nick Candy were headlined as the stylists behind the project, which soon had a name, too – One Hyde Park – as well as the involvement of architect Richard Rogers, best known among other things as the designer of Channel 4’s striking HQ near the Houses of Parliament.

But what has really made this apartment development famous are the prices being demanded for its properties. As early as February 2008, when the site was still rubble and diggers, prices for the largest of the penthouse apartments were being reported as in excess of £100m and while the housing boom continued sales were healthy – Nick Candy claimed to have sold properties worth £767 million in the first phase and, after the lull that followed the near collapse of the world banking system, more last year pushing up the total to a billion.

High expectations: The front of One Hyde Park, from which residents have views of Hyde Park, Knightsbridge and Harrods,

So for the people who have already bought here, or those that may be considering it, what’s on offer? The 86 apartments within the site are best described as super prime and are within four blocks or ‘pavilions’ all with spectacular views over Hyde Park, Sloane Street, Harrods and the London skyline.

The complex, which is being operated by hotel chain Mandarin International, includes a private cinema, 21m swimming pool, saunas, steam rooms, squash court, gym – and at the less prosaic end of the luxury market, a golf simulator, wine cellars, library, 60 on-site staff and their own Rolex shop.

Million pound menu: the dining room

Such luxurious surroundings mean even the smallest, one-bedroom apartment starts at £6.5 million – as much as a five-bedroom detached house a couple of miles away in the richer suburbs of the capital – and rapidly rise to £140 million for the most expensive penthouse apartment, although this hasn’t stopped some of the world’s richest people buying, including the prime minister of Qatar.