Rive Gauche: The View From Here, Autumn 2021

With the summer holidays behind us, and a return to something like normality, our sights at Rive Gauche are now firmly fixed on the diverse range of global projects we have underway and soon to launch.

The pandemic has given us all time to reflect – and for many of our clients, that means a renewed appetite to re-design and upgrade their homes. For others, it has lead them to become innovators in the hotel sphere, or to seek out new investment opportunities. And they all know they can depend on Rive Gauche to guide them through every aspect by providing them with an end-to-end service, from advisory to design to delivery.

In the luxury sphere, the lines are blurring between hotels and homes – and we are finding that our skills in each sector are increasingly transferable. Hotels are becoming more residential, to inspire a sense of belonging and community among their wealthy customers, as well as brand loyalty. The highest-end homes, meanwhile – and branded residences, in particular – look and feel ever more like living in a five-star hotel, with full facilities and services on tap for residents.

Among our current projects is a new hotel concept – a blend of boutique hotel and branded residences – that our client is looking to deliver worldwide. We are also designing overseas branded residences with prime luxury hotel brands – an exciting venture in a global property sphere that has been booming in recent years.

On the residential side, we are working on projects around the world, including bringing some classic French elegance, redolent of the great Parisian fashion houses, to a family’s 1,200m2 villa in the oldest part of Dubai. 

But it’s our London projects that showcase the full range of Rive Gauche’s expertise. They include a super-sized basement extension that will more than double the property’s size to 11,000sqft and result in an end value of more than £40m. But forget the old-style iceberg basements of a decade ago, with their multiple floors of little-used space and the sense that most of the house is subterranean. Our project will ensure that the newly-created space is of optimum use for the owners – in this case, it will include a swimming pool, spa and wine cellar – and it will look perfectly in proportion with the rest of the already large, luxurious house.

In London’s Hyde Park we are working on an extension of a different sort: a beautiful duplex penthouse whose top floor and roof terrace will blend seamlessly to create an entirely new living experience with panoramic park views.

And we are looking at areas including Holland Park, Mayfair and Marylebone for another client who is looking at buying and re-developing a house with a total gross development value of £10m. For this kind of client, there are few houses that fit the bill and it’s purely about making sure the figures stack up.

The interior design side of our business has also seen a big rise in demand in the last two months, and we are looking at taking on our first projects in Asia soon.

The range of projects and locations is far-reaching, but we keep a tight rein on the number – typically about 8-10 at any one time, all at different stages of progress. That way, we – including our founder, Nicolas Roux – can give personal attention to every one of them.

We also keep a tight team, with entirely in-house expertise, so we can deliver a seamless service to our clients. And our 15 years of experience in more than 15 countries means that we can rely on our network of partners to provide the same quality of service, wherever we are working in the world. 

What clients want, whether they are developing private homes or building new hotels, are advisors they can trust to lead them from start to finish, and design and deliver a spectacular result with built-in added value. Few are able to offer that level of service – which is why we are looking forward to a busy season ahead.