Bijoux developments lure buyers wanting an exclusive oasis in the middle of the city, says David Spittles

As giant towers begin to rise above London, those who think small is beautiful seek out the bijoux developments and run for cover in old mews on cobbled streets. Intimate and secure, modern and glamorous, private and exclusive, these niche homes are always in demand and are in short supply.

In recent years, architects have excelled at the extreme ends of the property market – either designing low-priced flats for forward-thinking housing associations, or creating one-off residences for the super-rich. The challenge for the next decade and beyond is to produce compact, intelligent and affordable housing for all those in between – families and the growing army of City singles and childless couples. Smaller, disused industrial sites passed over by volume house-builders are where the transformation will start.

There are myriad opportunities for such infill developments in London’s random historical city plan. Imaginative developers can unlock sites and create homes in hidden pockets that seem a million miles away from the hustle and bustle.

Once such area is an inspired development in Compton Street, Clerkenwell, where four houses have been built behind an Art Deco warehouse façade. Dieter Gockmann, of architect Tasou, says the aim was to create a ‘secret courtyard’ – a tranquil space not overlooked by surrounding buildings. Once through the electronic gates, you are in a different world – a sunken, landscaped area, with four elegant “upside-down” houses”.

Each one is about 1,600sq ft, has two bedrooms on the ground floor and a double height galleried living space on the first, leading to a decked roof terrace with privacy screens and outside shower. The bedroom opens on to a breakfast terrace, while bedrooms are connected to outside light wells.