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The fashion for the wealthy to dig out new basements means hell for those living nearbyIt must be all very lovely to have a gargantuan new basement, but what about the poor neighbours? A chum of mine lives next door to one of these efforts.
Imagine her life while the neighbours are burrowing under their back and front garden and house.Every morning at 8am, the drilling starts.
And the conveyor belt, rumble, rumble, bringing out tonnes of earth and clay, carrying it up 20ft into the air, then crash, dropping it into a monster container stuck permanently in the road.
Next to the Portaloo.Then along comes a lorry with a giant grabber, to take away the earth from the container, over and over again.
Then there's the concrete mixer, pumping concrete into the basement, for weeks on end.
And because of all these comings and goings, parking is suspended, cars are swamped with penalty notices, trees are torn down.Once upon a time this was a friendly, neighbourly London square, with communal fireworks on Bonfire Night, and candles in all the windows on Christmas Eve.
Now it's all tension, hatred and headaches, and just across the square someone else is at it.
It's a craze among the wealthy - gigantic basements.
Why not just buy a bigger house? Because they adore Regency terraces in heavenly neighbourhoods.
So what if it means six months of hell for the neighbours? They must have their swimming pool, gym, library, games room and extra 1,200 sq ft of space.
The ultimate selfish act.Meanwhile, the culprits have buzzed off to chill in another of their properties; then in the spring when the work's done, they'll come back and expect everyone to be their chums.Why didn't my friend complain? Because she saw the little notice on the railings, didn't read it properly, never imagined what was coming her way, and now it's too late.
The London Basement Company tells me that they receive very few complaints.
Of course there are loads of harmless, modest and necessary basements being built, but these monsters are on the increase.
You have been warned.
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