Apartment blocks on water coming to docklands

If all goes well, more tankers are to be invested in and renovated. Benedict Knill, who is leading the project, said: “The Bruce Stone is very different from a more traditional houseboat.

“Its size and arrangement offers a much greater scope for anyone to live on and will feel and operate more like a normal house, with all the benefits and advantages of a houseboat and very few of the difficulties and problems associated with living afloat.�

Mr Knill bought the boat for £40,000 with the help of his friend Martin Skinner, founder of the Docklands-based Nice Room lettings agency, but the cost of the renovations is expected push the cost closer to £250,000.

The idea has already received interest from the London Olympics organisers, based in Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, who are attracted by the affordability and environmental aspects of the boats.

Green credentials include water heated through wood stoves and solar heating. It also recycles wasted heat through a ventilation system and parts of the engine room have been used to build a spiral staircase.

The Olympic Delivery Authority has visited the boat and is said to be considering the possibility of using them to house construction workers prior to the 2012 Games.

Mr Knill is third in line for the hereditary peerage, the Lord of Knill, and his family have a long line of links with the Thames and London. These include two mayors of London and he is also an ancestor of Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin, credited with designing the Houses of Parliament.

Mr Knill believes his idea of apartments on boats is the future.
“Houseboats offer much more than any house that the majority could afford,� he said. “There is a potential for creative freedom in design and layout without the traditional expectations of bricks and mortar.�

rob.virtue@wharf.co.uk