‘No one wants to move out’

The Barbican’s Frobisher Crescent, where three floors are being transformed into 69 flats

They were urban pioneers. Forty years ago a mix of architects, planners, bankers and lawyers were the first residents to spend a winter in the brave, new, concrete world of The Barbican, the brutalist paradise in the City of London. They moved into the first flats to be completed but it was still a building site; the towers were at foundation level, the lakes were empty of water, the gardens were devoid of trees or grass.

The Barbican was the work of architects Chamberlin, Powell and Bon, who saw the future and built their vision of it. What had been the Blitz-bombed wasteland of Cripplegate ward – an enclave with only 28 residents – became a 40-acre home to more than 4,000 people living in 2,113 homes designed in 164 different ways – from studios to penthouses to five-storey houses.

The original concept was to make the 13 terraced blocks and three skyscrapers available for rent only by city workers but with the deregulation of social housing in 1982 private buyers moved in. They have been followed by increasing numbers of residents as the nearby areas around Smithfield and Farringdon have become increasingly popular. No new homes have been created on The Barbican site until now. The top three floors in Frobisher Crescent, right above the complex’s arts centre, were used as a business school but floors seven, eight and nine are now being transformed into 69 dwellings, ranging from studios to one-, two- and three-bedroom flats as big as 1,690 sq ft.

The publicity material says: “The units are being developed to an extremely high specification and will retain some original features as well as the latest and most luxurious features.” Nothing new there, then. But it highlights that the developers, United House, are keen to match the 1960s design benchmark that boasted amenities that are still pretty radical.

Cannon Brewery on St John Street, where three flats are for sale

“The Crescent designers have gone for dazzling white and stainless steel in the kitchens,” says Glen Cook of estate agency Hamilton Brooks. “But look at the originals. They were built like a ship’s galley by a firm of yacht designers who used white surrounds and stainless steel surfaces. A recycling unit in the sink allows rubbish and bottles to be collected in the basement.” While Chamberlin and Co could not have competed with today’s audio system – playable in every room from an iPod set in a docking system – or the remote-control shower that allows the washer-in-a-hurry to pre-set the temperature, they did introduce under-floor heating which is still in use and their bathrooms had a revolutionary ventilating system.

The price for the cheapest studio is £375,000 – complete with a fold-away bed; a one-bedroom flat markets at £525,000; two at £705,000 and the biggest is already under offer at almost £1.9m. Buyers include one from Edinburgh who plans to use his investment for weekends, one who is moving to France but needs a pied-à-terre and a third who has bought two to rent out.

“I have always liked the Barbican,” says educational consultant David Playfoot, 64, who has bought a studio for a “little under £380,000”. “I put my name down last year with six estate agents but only one flat came up in six months so this is exciting. The position is phenomenal. It is within walking distance to the Tate Modern [gallery], the weekend markets and the Barbican Centre itself. I like the sense of space and the quiet.”

While the Crescent is opening doors for new buyers, demand for the rest of the estate remains high. “Only a few flats come on the market because no one wants to move out,” says Carl Davenport of estate agency Chesterton Humberts. “People really like the sense of community here, the gardens and playgrounds. In 2009 only 52 homes were sold – at prices from £265,000 to £1.75m for a four-storey house.”

Davenport is selling a fourth-floor flat in Lauderdale Tower for £815,000. The vendor lived there for 37 years and it has all the original fittings – the galley and the tiled bathroom – four bedrooms, a dining room and a terrace. A two-bedroom flat (775 sq ft) in Defoe House is available for rent for £375 a week on a three-year lease. The estate service charge of £1,300 a quarter covers window cleaning, insurance and heating.

There are 2,000 rentable parking spaces and six Underground stations within a 10-minute walk. One of them, Farringdon, is being rebuilt as part of the Crossrail project, planned to open in 2017, which will help reduce travel times to London’s airports – Gatwick, Luton, Heathrow and City.

The walk to Farringdon passes through Smithfield – far removed from the ordered world of the Barbican with its piecemeal developments and effusion of cafés and restaurants. “It used to be that if you went west from the Barbican the next residential area was Bloomsbury [near King’s Cross Station],” says Marco Fugaccia of Hurford, Salvi, Carr. “It was a slum. There was talk of the old meat market being pulled down for redevelopment but it is staying, which means developers are having to find spaces around the edge.” The company has been marketing three flats in the old Cannon Brewery on St John Street. They have high ceilings and sash windows and one, “an authentic raw loft” that offered nothing but the shell, was sold for £395,000 within days. A four-bedroom flat is on sale for £495,000 and a one-bedroom unit for £395,000.

On the fringe of Smithfield, to the west of Farringdon Road, One Baker’s Row has eight flats “like a boutique hotel” priced from £299,000 for a studio to £605,000 for two bedrooms and a terrace.

“We have many buyers from Italy and the Benelux [countries] and some from the Far East, taking advantage of the weak pound and we find the area appeals to the creative market,” says Fugaccia. “Fashion houses that once moved to Covent Garden have come back. This used to be a pied-à-terre territory with people disappearing at the weekend but now increasing numbers are staying and living.”