Britain’s richest woman angers her neighbours with 'iceberg' extension to her home
NEIGHBOURS of a billionaire former beauty queen have slammed her plans for a lavish “iceberg” home extension.
Singer Kirsty Bertarelli, who is worth £7billion and is Britain’s richest woman, will almost double the size of her home when she excavates two storeys beneath it.
But neighbours have objected after her local council said it will ban such developments by the end of the year because of the disruption they cause.
Former Miss UK Mrs Bertarelli is to add a dining room, cinema, kitchen and gym to the luxury three-storey Victorian terrace in a mews in Belgravia, central London.
One of Britain’s most expensive districts, three-bedroom flats can sell for upwards of £10million.
Westminster City Council planning officers approved the application this week, despite a number of objections.
Some neighbours were represented by lawyers to fight the extension, which will take three years to complete.
Had the couple lived just a few streets away, their home improvement would be impossible – Kensington and Chelsea council has banned two-storey “iceberg” extensions.
It says they are unacceptably disruptive to neighbours.
Westminster City Council is to introduce a similar policy by the end of this year.
They are going to completely gut the building and dig down
Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, actress Nicole Kidman and Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich are among those who have all extended their London homes underground.
Mrs Bertarelli and her pharmaceuticals magnate husband, Ernesto Bertarelli, bought the house 15 years ago for £5.5million.
The Staffordshire-born 43-year-old co-wrote girl band All Saints’ worldwide hit Black Coffee and released her own album last year.
According to the couple’s architects, Boundary Space, the “double decker” basement is required because the house is not big enough for the couple, who divide their time between London, Geneva and Gstaad with their three children.
The narrow cobbled road that runs between the homes means residents will have to compete with heavy vehicles throughout the works.
One neighbour, who declined to be named, said: “They are going to completely gut the building and dig down.
"I have no idea how that’s going to be done without seriously disrupting us and affecting our day-to-day lives.
Another angry neighbour said: “They probably spend around six weeks maximum here a year.”
Nobody was at the Bertarellis’ home for comment yesterday.
