Reaching New Heights
“Dandi Wembley is like a hotel with all its facilities, only residents stay for at least six months,” explains Lifestyle Director Samir Kerchiched. We’re chatting over Champagne in the Dariana Café on the 16th floor of this exclusive residential scheme. Sunset is streaming in through arched windows, silhouetting the carved chaise longues and evergreen mature trees and splashing fountain. A glazed openable roof intensifies the flood of natural light further. “This restaurant is Persian style serving Middle East influenced food. It offers all day dining, opening at 7am. Breakfast dishes are British classics.” And, as it turns out, it also serves the best launch canapés for the selected chauffeured few.
Momo, sketch Mayfair and W Hotel have all been sprinkled with Samir’s stardust. “Dandi has its own factory and all the joinery was made there. Everything you see was made in the London Borough of Brent. That’s good for carbon footprint, quality control and efficiency.” Everything breathes luxury and romance from the gold plated fire extinguishers and Parisian style panelling to the views over the roof of London Designer Outlet towards Wembley Football Stadium.
“We have created a theatre of light!” exclaims Ali Reza Ravanshad, Founder of Dandi, with some understatement. “Dandi Wembley has been a labour of love starting with the Persian mosaic lining the entrance lobby. That floor is made up of 1,000s and 1,000s of tiles! We try to do beautiful things that will be here in 10, 30, 50 years from now. We are very proud of everything being made locally. There are not very many qualified joiners in London so we set up a programme in London to train them. This is a collective work: everyone has got a part to play.”
We head off on a tour of the communal areas for residents and guests which stretch over the top two floors. Dariana Lounge Bar on the opposite side of the lobby from the Café is equally glamorous – and sunlit. There’s the Garden Terrace with a barbeque on the 15th floor, as well as the Micro Theatre, Artist Residence Room and Wellness Studio. It’s not just all fun and games: there are also meticulously fitted out workspaces (Dandi Works) and meeting rooms (Dandi Meets). Heaven is in the height and the detail: the lifts are lined with horticultural framed prints that make you wish you weren’t ascending so speedily.
Ali Reza adds, “We are very proud of the team behind this project and the community that has been created here. Our tenants are so engaged – some of them are employed now in the building. They are the wider part of the Dandi family! It took just 91 days to fully let all 355 studio and one bedroom apartments.” We’re off to see one of the studio apartments, all 25 square metres of it. The studio is slickly fitted out: marble kitchenette; sliding breakfast bar, rainfall shower; seamless panelled storage; and bespoke furniture. But where’s the bed? Overhead! The floating bed descends from on high, balanced by invisible pulleys behind the wall. Metal framed windows are a reminder of the building’s previous life as offices.
“Ultimately we want to reimagine city living,” Ali Reza comments. Dandi partnered with Dukelease Properties to deliver this scheme. “Together with Dandi,” says Richard Leslie, Chief Executive Officer of Dukelease Properties, “we have placed huge importance on the quality of the finishes and functionality of the design. This provides an enhanced way of living that is aspirational for our residents.”
“The show will go on! See you at our next project,” ends Ali Reza. We’re on standby for Dandi Battersea launch.
