Typically, expats are attracted by the chance to embrace a lifestyle that’s completely the opposite to the one they’re leaving behind in the UK. People ground down by busy working lives in London or elsewhere moving to a rural or coastal area abroad is not uncommon. Since your money tends to stretch further abroad, especially in more rural areas, this often presents the opportunity to dabble in a bit of the good life.

One ex-London couple I know – he’s a retired music executive and his wife is ex-British Airways – have created a very impressive set-up in the Puglian countryside, southern Italy. Their water comes from a well, their heating from solar panels, they have a kitchen garden and numerous fruit and olive trees and recently they produced their first batch of honey from their own hives. She makes natural toiletries from their various harvested produce and they may have made wine too, but you get the picture. A 10-minute walk down the lane from them is a farm, where you can buy seriously fresh ricotta and mozzarella direct from the farmer.

Similarly, expat Pattie Pegler, writer of the NewZealandBuyingGuide.com, is establishing a “hobby farm” on New Zealand’s South Island. Pattie, formerly a freelance PA, and her Kiwi husband swapped London for Christchurch in November 2008, in search of an alternative to the rat race lifestyle they found themselves swallowed up in. To begin with the couple rented in a suburb of Christchurch, but by September 2010 they had bought their three-bedroom home on a 10-acre lifestyle block 15 minutes north of Christchurch. It cost them NZ$565,000.

“In many ways we have the best of both worlds here,” says Pattie. “We get the pleasures of rural life and yet we still have the convenience of nearby towns. There’s a small school up the road and a petrol station a couple of roads down. For shopping we go to the nearest town, Rangiora, six kilometres away.”

Pattie, a self-proclaimed townie, is quick to highlight how moving to New Zealand has given her the chance to try different ways of earning a crust and enjoy a more rustic lifestyle.

“I have always wanted to write for a living and when I made the move here it seemed like a good time to make a fresh start,” she says. “I’ve been really lucky in the opportunities I’ve been given here. Also, I now live a rural life which I really enjoy. It’s great to be out in the country and have lots of space and animals. Our current menagerie includes cows, sheep, chickens, ducks, dogs, guinea fowl and our two cats, which we brought over from the UK.”
These days an average weekday for Pattie begins with feeding the hens and ducks, and checking on the cows and sheep. After breakfast she settles down to some writing, typically for various magazines and newspapers. After lunch she’ll spend a bit of time with the dogs, walking them round the paddocks, doing errands and checking her emails. When her husband gets home from work, usually around 6pm, the two of them might take the dogs for a run by the river before dinner.

Weekends are all about the lifestyle block. “This could involve drenching the cattle for parasites, moving electric fences, cleaning out water troughs, putting mite powder on the hens and so on,” says Pattie. “ This year three of our cows had calves so our herd is growing and that’s quite exciting. We do find time to do nice things as well. We take the dogs to the beach or go out to dinner. My husband likes fishing in a nearby river and the other day he brought home a 3lb trout, which we smoked. It’s nice to be able to do that kind of stuff”.

Malta was a British dominion for many years with independence returning to the islanders in 1964. As a result of this legacy, English is still an official language alongside Maltese, and many British citizens choose to make Malta their home every year.

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This beautiful island has seen many changes in recent years and has embarked on a series of major infrastructural and development projects, including an award winning new international airport, a recently extended free-port, a stunning cruise liner terminal, lavish five-star hotels and state-of-the-art hospitals and schools. These are set against the island’s ancient limestone palaces and churches in a tapestry of modern and classic architecture.

Set against the stunning historical backdrop of Valletta’s 16th century bastions, the award winning Tigné Point is one such new development and is one of Malta’s most successful real estate ventures in recent years. This development bridges the gap between the island’s rich cultural heritage, and an altogether more modern sense of luxury and sophistication.

Tigné Point is a 30-acre Brownfield, car-free development that forms part of the Midi project, the largest real estate regeneration project on Malta. A series of stunning private residences dominate the landscape of the rocky headland and the clever mix of international shopping, piazzas, cafes, restaurants, heritage sites and waterside walkways have all combined to produce a thriving destination which is urban yet tranquil and vibrant in equal measure.

Tigné Point is unashamedly contemporary in its design but is inspired by traditional town planning and pays homage to many of the planning solutions of the past, built as it is around a public town square with a choice of shops, restaurants and pavement cafes. It also offers private dwellings that are planned for the island’s Mediterranean climate by offering a combination of shaded terraces and roof gardens that are ideal for entertaining al fresco.

The 22 brand new apartments that have just been launched to the market overlook the fountains and shady seating areas of the sun dappled central piazza. With prices ranging from €210,000 to €550,000 there is a particularly wide range of sizes and budgets to choose from.

Interior design
For the latest phase of 22 town house apartments, two-beds and studios, Tigné Point have engaged the services of one of Malta’s most exciting young architects, Chris Briffa. The brief was simple: to create 22 unique individual homes, each with its own character and appeal and to plan these specifically for their future occupants, paying specific attention to their lifestyles and requirements.

“The main challenge was how to even start designing dwellings in the absence of the end-user”, says Chris Briffa. “So we put the actual spaces aside and spent a good deal of time imagining the future inhabitants themselves, from the travelling executive to the seasoned professional. We created 22 of these fictitious ‘clients’ and we then designed their individual homes.”

A contemporary Maltese architect trained in Malta and Milan, enjoying a number of overseas clients while deeply involved in the international contemporary art scene, Briffa’s scheme opened up a vivid and inspirational vision for a project involving apartments which were instantly turned into homes. Added to this he also took a more prosaic approach and carefully studied the type of buyers and investors to whom he needed to appeal. When Chris Briffa Architects were given the project they looked at various demographics regarding singles and modern couples and what they would be looking for in a home for the 21st century.

James Vassallo, sales and marketing manager at Tigné Point, says: “Buyer’s requirements and expectations have changed substantially and younger buyers often enjoy more fluidity in their work/home balance than their parents’ generation did; they do not necessarily have traditional nine-to-five jobs and spend more time at home as interconnectivity has blurred the office and home divide. Most local developers churn out conventional three-bedroom, two-bath layouts but often buyers want to utilise their third bedroom as a home office, music or TV room so why not design this as such from the outset?”

With a steady economy that has managed to weather the recent global economic storm, appealing residency conditions for non-Maltese property buyers and an enviable lifestyle that you don’t have to be an oligarch to enjoy, Malta arguably out-performs many of its Mediterranean counterparts as an attractive destination.

With English as an official language, excellent schooling and healthcare, a fascinating history and typical Mediterranean joie de vivre, Malta has variously been described as exotic yet also reassuringly familiar to British buyers. Whatever it is that Malta has, it is certainly luring many of Europe’s high earners to its shores – according to a recent Central Bank of Malta report, assets held by foreign nationals in Malta have topped the €28bn mark this year, and this growth is also reflected in tourism figures, with have shown an increase year on year.

Malta is also ideal as a retirement destination for pensioners. The weather is a big plus in this regard, as the island enjoys a lovely temperate climate with temperatures rarely dropping lower than 10oC in December and remaining moderate-to-warm for most of the year to very warm in July and August.

“Initially, the local community was sceptical about Tigné Point, a satellite community to the City across the Creek”, says Chris Briffa. “But its prime location, a virtually car-free ‘town’ and an urban environment much akin to Valletta’s has now proven to be a great success, and not only in its sales results.

Contact

Tigné Point Malta www.tignepoint.com
Chris Briffa Architects www.chrisbriffa.com

What began in Japan as a simple theory went on to impact the entire globe in terms of conceptual city planning, design and art, and urban housing. Just over 50 years on, there is now increasing impetus for a re-examination of the Metabolists’ imposing visions of future cities, which were most widely expressed through pioneering illustrations.

Origins and history
It was at the World Design Conference in 1960 that leading architects Kurokawa Kisho, Kenzo Tange, Otaka Masato, Kikutake Kiyonori, and Maki Fumihiki came together with designers Ekuan Kenji and Awazu Kiyoshi to present a manifesto entitled Metabolism 1960: Proposals for a new urbanism. The movement in itself was not a long-lasting one, as they split up in 1970 and the attractiveness of Metabolist design started to decrease almost immediately. The previous decade’s exposure catapulted some of the group’s members, like Kisho Kurokawa and Kenzo Tange, to worldwide acclaim.

Not long after Japan rebuilt its war-torn cities, revolutionary post-apocalyptic and post-war ideologies began to emerge in architecture and popular culture such as Manga and anime. Several of these fantasy creations provided an assessment of what existence in Japan and the rest of the globe could have developed into had the Metabolists been capable of turning their utopian theories into reality.

The plan to construct a utopian society using megastructures emerged from the 1955 Monumentalist movement. The group implemented mega structural and utopian notions which were aimed at helping to build the Japan of the future.

A vision of the future
Back in the 1960s the Metabolists had provided an understanding and helped visualise how a civilisation and its society could recreate itself on technocratic utopian models and ideologies. An ideal of technocracy would take the form of a government where experts from technical fields such as scientists, health professionals, engineers, and designers would be the major component of the governing body. So in that sense, a vast proportion of the Metabolists’ proposed ideas and structures were never actually meant to be constructed, and merely took the role of technological visions of the future.

There are several structures that were influenced and show elements of the movement. Some of the most celebrated constructions include Kiyonori Kikutake’s Unabara project, Marine City, a floating city in the sea, which he said was to “free humankind from 5000 years of civilisation on continents.” Another is Kisho Kurokawa’s Helix City. Although the 1961 project was his first Metabolist vision, he still remains most celebrated for the Nakagin Capsule Tower, which was built in 1972. It is undoubtedly one of the most futuristic architectural sensations globally. Some say the unique structure looks like hundreds of stacked industrial washing machines have been piled onto each other. The 14-storey building entails 140 individual capsules that were designed to be used either as apartments or business offices.

Underlying philosophy
Post WWII, Japan’s cities were destroyed and the key concern was to generate new housing structures and rebuild the country. In contrast with other modern architecture the Metabolist movement attempted to design and construct cities that visualised a future of infinite reserves. The philosophy behind the movement proposed to mimic the natural ability of organisms to transform over time according to habitat.

The Metabolists attempted to permit the past and the future to coexist, rather than attempt to simply substitute the past. For the most part they believed that the recurring nature of organic progression is analogous to the demise and renaissance of culture. Japanese tradition and culture continued to be of vast interest to the group, who also felt drawn to uniting it with cutting-edge technology, monumentalism, and even expressionism.

The ideas were meant to accommodate for a swiftly expanding and growing populace. Megastructures were composed of small, separable cubicles and segments within a larger, more permanent structure. The proposal was to use these types of structures instead of the rigidity of a single building. This would have offered tenants the freedom to shift about within the larger structure by moving the smaller cells wherever and whenever they wanted. The architecture was to be moveable, flexible and allow for dynamic growth by being responsive to the inhabitants themselves, rather than offering a construction which residents had to conform to.

Metabolists today
Although the movement started to wane from the 1970s, its influence on architectural projects today remains indisputable. Towards the end of September 2011 the city of Belfast unveiled the “Never Monday” project, which comprised 48 pod-like, single-space apartments made up of small kitchen and sleeping areas.
Most recently, architects and designers expanded the trend to build vertical homes fitting for inner city life to bypass a lack of space and exorbitant, escalating house prices. Capsule fibreglass hotel pods also have began to spring up all over Asia and Australia and are another recent phenomenon that has been fashioned to help deal with densely populated areas.

The topic was also high on the agenda when 10,000 designers, architects, researchers, and engineers gathered at the end of September 2010 in Melbourne for the 24th World Congress of Architecture to discuss Design 2050. Architects are enthused at the possibility of using the ideas of the Metabolist movement coupled with the benefit of today’s highly sophisticated technology. The Nicholson in East Coburg, the Centvm in Preston and Nonda Katsalidis’ The Pegasus all feature elements of Metabolism and are close to completion.

The movement is so topical, in fact, that the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo’s Roppongi district is exhibiting until mid-January ideas of Metabolism that are still alive in architecture and urban design today. Concepts include the Green Float project and Ekuan Kenji’s earthquake disaster relief units, which were used after the recent earthquake in Japan’s hospitals. The exhibition, Metabolism the city of the future: Dreams and Visions of Reconstruction in Post-war and Present-Day Japan, is a comprehensive gathering of illustrations and a must-see for all enthusiasts and those interested in futuristic architectural designs.

Today, the island has barely 9,000 inhabitants, many of whom make their homes in the city of Vaitape, the island’s only settlement of really significant size. Bora Bora’s tiny size has naturally restricted its economic expansion – natural resources could never be big business here. But what it lacks in size and industrial potential, it makes up for in tourist attraction. Blessed with stunning scenery and a great location in the South Pacific, it has proven itself to be an enduringly popular destination. That said, the small list of resorts present on the island have done their best to integrate with their environment – this is not a plastic tourist frontier, but a largely untainted and naturally spectacular destination.

Life in the Pacific
Four Seasons’ Bora Bora resort is an example of how tasteful tourism has attempted to capture the natural elements of the island, enhancing rather than depreciating the landscape. With that in mind, the resort extends most of its residences out over the lagoon itself, in the form of well-designed but not overly extravagant over-water bungalows. Guided by snaking wooden walkways, these individual properties offer privacy if you want it, and community if you prefer to socialise, but their key selling point is clearly their location. You can’t get much closer to living by the water, while the surrounding views, anchored by the island’s extinct volcano, are breathtaking.

There are 100 on-the-water bungalows in total, separated in various sub-divisions, but all offering an unrivalled experience. The Otemanu over-water bungalows, with plunge pools, are the largest, offering 147m2 of space, with unobstructed views of Mount Otemanu and the lagoon. Back on land, the resort offers seven luxury beachfront villas of varying sizes, also available to visitors. The most impressive of these is the Otemanu Three-Bedroom Villa with private pool, which is a huge 500m2.

Traditional thatched-leaf roofs adorn every bungalow at the Resort, made from the leaves of the indigenous pandanus tree, grown on local plantations and woven by local craftsmen. Inside, hardwood floors and walls are stained in a light palette that suggests driftwood or coral, while small lagoon windows fill the space with turquoise-tinted sunlight as it reflects off the water. Rooms are appointed with framed indigenous artefacts, from fishing lures fashioned from mother-of-pearl to fans made of coconut palms. All signature Four Seasons beds feature panoramic views of the water, as do large soaking tubs, allowing guests to relax suspended above the lagoon. Large sundecks provide chaise loungues, covered dining areas, ladders to the water below and rinsing showers.

All rooms benefit from 24-hour in-room dining and multilingual concierge services, and come equipped with all the modern amenities you would expect. Doctors and nurses are on call 24-hours a day to ensure the health of guests is looked after, while same-day laundry and dry-cleaning services are also provided.

Drinks and dinner
Again taking inspiration from its Polynesian setting, the resort caters for all tastes through its wide-ranging dining options. The food has a warm, ‘South Pacific feel’ to it, with plenty of local delicacies. There are four restaurants in the resort in total, and each benefits in its own way from the stunning locale. Menus provided across the board include as much local produce as possible, including fruit and freshly caught seafood.

The Arii Moana restaurant is probably the pick of the bunch, overlooking the lagoon’s tranquil waters and offering fantastic cuisine. Imaginative and well-thought-out menus offer a combination of French and Polynesian cuisines, accompanied by fine wines. Including both indoor and outdoor areas, the restaurant seats 96 people.

Tere Nui sits on the beachfront, an open-air restaurant with weekly themed evenings, regular breakfast buffets and freshly baked goods. The Sunset Restaurant and Bar is the perfect place to relax as the sun goes down; it serves sushi and many Asian-inspired dishes amongst other things, as well as uniquely crafted cocktails. The bar’s signature Mahana cocktail, made with Taha’a vanilla-infused vodka, Cointreau and Moorea pineapple is more than worth a try.

Executive chef Nicolas Boutin is responsible for overseeing all menu development across the resort’s four restaurants, banquets and in-bungalow dining. Prior to joining Four Seasons in 2011, Chef Boutin served as executive chef at Conrad Maldives Rangali Island and Mandarin Oriental Boston. His earlier years included working in the kitchen of Michelin star rated restaurants such as Jean Bardet, Troisgros, Le Binjamin and Lameloise in France.

Recreational facilities
From the hub of the resort, guests can gain access to a wide variety of full and half-day watersports excursions. Canoes are available so guests can paddle out to the many reefs and go snorkelling, while regular tours of the island as a whole are offered. The sheltered confines of the peaceful lagoon, meanwhile, offer a perfect backdrop for learning to parasail, scuba dive or kite-surf. Much of the equipment required for water-based activities – such as snorkels, masks and fins – is available free of charge.

The more adventurous guests may wish to indulge in off-site activities beyond the confines of the island itself and out into the open Pacific. Guided tours include shark feeding and diving. Sport fishers can charter vessels and head out into open waters in search of the multitude of fish swimming in these waters.

Back at the resort, facilities for tennis and beach volleyball are easily accessible, just minutes’ walk from all the residences. There is a large main infinity pool (40m length) available for all to use, if you somehow get bored of swimming in the lagoons and the ocean. The Faré Hoa Beach Bar is located between the pool and the lagoon, meaning refreshment is always easy to find. The resort also houses a spa treatment area, situated by the lagoon’s edge, and an open-air fitness centre with a state-of-the-art gymnasium and over-water yoga platforms. For youngsters, there is a Kid’s Club operated on the island – which includes its own ‘splash pad’ swimming area – located near the restaurants.

Away from the resort, on the mainland of Bora Bora, further options are available for those looking to explore. Four Seasons Harbour offers complementary bicycles to be ridden on the island proper – there is a 19-mile ring road which can be toured, with a stop mid-way round at the Lagoonarium where you can swim with turtles. Land Rover tours of the island are also available, meaning tourists can get off the beaten track; these include visits to the sea-level ruins of ancient manae temples and trips up the sides of Mount Otemanu to visit American World War II installations – from storm bunkers to cannons.

Hikers can head out on their own looking to scale Mount Phaia or, if they are looking for a sterner challenge, Mount Otemanu itself. Helicopter tours are available, too, for those seeking a bird’s eye view of the spectacular island.

There are also cultural sights to see and activities to experience. Guests learn how the ancient Polynesians first developed the art of tattooing, with intricate floral and geometric designs that symbolise family, lineage and loyalty. The original procedure was excruciatingly painful: natural dyes were hammered into the skin by hand, a process known in Tahitian as tatau – from which the word “tattoo” is taken. Visitors can explore the art and science involved in cultivating the Tahitian black pearl, one of the world’s rarest and most valuable gems, or take courses in Ori Tahiti, a local and historic form of dance.

CONTACT
www.fourseasons.com/borabora

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The ‘Royal Sojourn’ is the most elaborate of these journeys – an eight-day round trip beginning and ending in Delhi, taking in all manner of attractions along the way, including national parks, UNESCO World Heritage sites, countless museums and historical architecture. These excursions are interspersed with luxury travel and dining on board the train itself, with optional visits to local spas and hotels along the way.

In most departments, The Maharajas’ Express is an impressive creation. It features 20 Deluxe Suites, 18 Junior Suites, four Main Suites and the one-carriage Grand Presidential Suite. Cabins all have large, panoramic windows, localised temperature controls, LCD TVs as well as technical comforts such as air-cushioned suspension, ensuring a smooth and comfortable ride. Passengers can congregate in the observation carriage, which has its own bar, games table and club armchairs, and also in the train’s two fine-dining restaurants, each of which seats up to 42 people.

Travelling on the Express provides a luxurious way to travel and sightsee at the same time. The excursions offered on the trips are varied, and take in all manner of sights, from historical forts and bazaars to more predictable sights such as the world-famous Taj Mahal. Safari trips in the Ranthambore National Park offer a rare opportunity to see diverse wildlife – including tigers and leopards – in their natural habitats. Trips are fairly customisable, so passengers can tailor their experience as they want it. If tours and trips are getting tiring, spa sessions are available at various intervals, and the option to sit back and relax in the comfort of the train itself, or to explore the surroundings, is always there.

Royal Sojourn itinerary

Day one (Delhi)   
Board the Maharajas’ Express in Delhi. Dinner and welcoming drinks on board, then on to Jaipur.

Day two (Jaipur)
Arrive in Jaipur, the “Pink City” of India and capital Rajasthan. Tours begin in the City Palace Museum, then onto Jantar Mantar, the largest stone astronomical observatory in the world, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. After lunching on the train, travellers will explore the famous bazaars of Jaipur before watching (or even participating in) an exhibition match of Elephant Polo.

Day three (Jaipur)
Breakfast on board the Express, followed by a visit to the 11th century Amber Fort, overlooking Maota Lake. Passengers will then visit the Anokhi Textile Museum. Following lunch on board the train, passengers will be able to choose between enjoying the spa facilities at a Palace hotel or a visit to Nahargarh Biological Park. Dinner will be served on board the train as the journey to Kota begins.

Day four (Kota)
On arrival in the historical city of Kota, breakfast will be served on board, followed by a boat cruise on the river Chambal. After lunch on the train, passengers will visit the Garh Palace, which houses a variety of attractions. The highlight of the day is a royal dinner at the lavishly decorated Durbar Mahal at the Umed Bhawan Palace.

Day five (Kota, Sawai Madhopur)
Passengers can choose to enjoy a relaxed morning on board the train, or visit the cotton-silk weavers’ colonies at Kaithoon. Lunch will be taken onboard as the train passes through the countryside of Rajasthan, making its way towards the town of Sawai Madhopur. On arrival in Sawai Madhopur, passengers will be whisked away to experience a safari at Ranthambore National Park. Afterwards, dinner will be served onboard the train.

Day six (Sawai Madhopur, Agra)
After an early morning game drive back into Ranthambore National Park – in an attempt to glimpse the tigers therein – breakfast will be taken on the Express. On arrival in the Agra, passengers will be treated with a visit to the iconic Taj Mahal, followed by dinner on the train.

Day seven (Agra)
In the early hours, passengers will proceed to Taj Khema, a tableland overlooking the magnificent Taj, to enjoy a Champagne breakfast. After this, passengers can choose to return to the train to relax or engage in one of three optional activities. A visit to Fatehpur Sikri will show off some impressive architecture, while Itmad-ud-Daulah, a 17th-century mausoleum, is a beautiful location to spend the morning, with its white marble and walls inlaid with precious stones. Alternatively, spa facilities are available at a nearby hotel. After lunch on the train, a visit to Agra Fort precedes dinner on the final night of the Royal Sojourn.

Day eight (Delhi)
Following breakfast, passengers will bid farwell to the Maharajas’ Express.

Prices (for adults; twin sharing)
Deluxe Cabin Twin – $6760
Deluxe Cabin Double – $6760
Junior Suite Twin – $8480
Junior Suite Double – $8480
Suite Double – $11680
Presidential Suite – $19280

Contact
www.rirtl.com

The International Commerce Centre occupies an enviable spot in West Kowloon. Visitors can reach the city centre in around five minutes and Hong Kong International Airport in just 20. It also overlooks the waterfront, meaning all levels of the building benefit from stunning panoramic views of either the city itself or Victoria Harbour, or both.

The hotel itself offers 312 rooms, all of which exhibit the highest standards of luxury living. Beginning with deluxe rooms (at an expansive 50m2) the hotel offers a range of suites, leading up to the pinnacle of the hotel’s achievements, the 365m2 Ritz-Carlton Suite. All of the rooms are kitted out with state-of-the-art electronics, from flat screen TVs and Blu-ray players to Wi-Fi and iPod docking stations. There is even a telescope in each room, allowing visitors to better appreciate the views on offer.

Interior design
It takes only 52 seconds to reach the 103rd floor from ground level, where visitors are greeted by a spectacular lobby. This is the first instance of the interior design work carried out by Singapore based company LTW Designworks; all of the public areas in the hotel (with the exception of the restaurants and bars) are the result of their inspired creations. The hotel has a style all of its own, which is conveyed strongly both in the public areas and in the rooms themselves, a modern interpretation of traditional Chinese fittings and artwork. In the larger public spaces, hand-tufted wool and silk ‘cartographic pattern’ carpets have been employed to instil a sense of warmth and homeliness.

The 116th floor is dubbed the ‘Ritz-Carlton Club level’ and it is here that the exclusive Club Lounge can be found. This lounge, which benefits from round-the-clock, dedicated concierge service, has wall-to-ceiling windows, guaranteeing some of the best views the hotel has to offer. There are six food and beverage presentations daily, as well as other perks such as complimentary suit pressing and a large meeting/conference room.

Elsewhere, the recreational facilities and allround amenities offered in the hotel are second-to-none. On the top floor of the hotel, guests will find the highest swimming pool in the world; a gigantic infinity pool reclining under a ceiling of 144” LED screens, with additional outdoor jacuzzi facilities. A couple of levels down, on floor 116, is the ESPA Ritz-Carlton Spa, featuring 11 treatment rooms with sweeping views over the city. There is also a state-of-the-art fitness centre (with outdoor terrace) featuring an extensive range of Technogym equipment.

Meanwhile, restaurant and bar areas are abundant, this time designed by a combination of two cutting-edge Japanese companies, SPIN Design Studio and Wonderwall. These designers have come up with some of the building’s most audacious and spectacular public areas, beginning with the quirky OZONE Bar, located on the top floor. This bar is an ode to colour and expression, its complex but classy designs drawing comparison to little else in the world. Like so many things in the Ritz-Carlton, the bar is the highest of its kind in the world. Up there, guests can relax with signature cocktails and a wide selection of speciality Asian tapas. There are also regular DJ sets for those with partying in mind.
Embarrassment of riches

Culinary masterclasses are provided by the hotel’s two restaurants, Tin Lung Heen and Tosca. The former – located on the 102nd floor (unusually for a hotel, beneath the lobby) – presents entirely authentic Cantonese cuisine. The quality of its Dim-Sum is known throughout the city, and the selection of teas on display is mind-boggling. It seats 164 guests. Tosca is slightly smaller – seating 114 – and is located on the same floor. It offers primarily southern Italian-style cuisine, all set to a dramatically stylish backdrop. The open-kitchen design and high ceiling complete the one-of-a-kind dining experience. Private rooms are available for special occasions.

The 102nd floor is also host to The Lounge & Bar, an all-day dining venue. Afternoon tea sessions are frequently accompanied by live band performances. On the 103rd floor, the Chocolate Library is positioned to give chocaholics everything their heart could desire, from savoury and sweet chocolate-based dishes to drinks and (chocolate) afternoon tea.

There are a host of other services provided for guests, including widespread state-of-the-art conferencing facilities. In total, there is more than 1,300m2 of conference space available in the hotel, including four multipurpose meeting rooms, teleconferencing facilities and a spectacular 930m2 ballroom with six metre ceiling. The latter ballroom is also frequently used for wedding facilities. For weddings, full catering, showroom and entertainment services are available.

Aside from the five-star service and astonishing interior design work, the Ritz-Carlton offers an overall experience (thanks in part to its unique location) that few hotels in the world, let alone in Hong Kong, can hope to equal. From the lobby to the Ritz-Carlton Suite, every aspect of the hotel’s 16 floors is carefully crafted, with exquisite attention to detail. Needless to say, if you are travelling to Hong Kong and are looking for a place to stay, you’d be hard-pressed to find anywhere more impressive than this.

Their motives are mainly economic, but they are being encouraged by governments who are trying to improve mass living standards after this year’s political unrest in the region. A chronic lack of affordable, quality housing for growing populations was one factor behind the unrest in early 2011.

“Post-Arab Spring, countries like Saudi and Bahrain have realised that affordable housing is an issue,” commented Deepak Jain, head of strategic consulting for the Middle East and North Africa at real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle. “The focus now is on building as per occupier demand, a concept that is relatively new in the region.”

Saudi Arabia has promised to spend about $130bn, or around 30 percent of its annual economic output, on social projects such as building new houses and creating jobs over an unspecified period. Earlier this year, King Abdullah pledged 250 billion Saudi riyals ($67bn) to be spent on 500,000 new homes. Bahrain is pushing to fill a longstanding shortage of about 50,000 affordable homes, hoping this will also mitigate some of the discontent behind the unrest that hit the tiny island state in February and March.

By launching big housing projects and awarding the contracts to developers, governments in the Gulf can influence the types of homes being built and the pricing.

In April, for example, Abu Dhabi awarded a 21 billion dirham ($5.7bn) contract to state-linked firms to build housing for the local population. It has said it wants to provide “adequate and modern housing” for citizens “to help achieve social stability”. Many property developers in the region are partly owned by the government or, in the case of the United Arab Emirates, were bailed out by the state after the market soured and they ran into debt two or three years ago. Aldar Properties, the biggest developer in all of Abu Dhabi, was given a $5.2bn bailout by the state-owned Mubadala fund.

Shift in focus
Even without the encouragement of governments, developers in the Gulf see good reasons to build more modest homes.

In Dubai, home to the world’s tallest tower and luxurious waterfront villas on a man-made, palm-shaped island created by developer Nakheel, companies are grappling with leftover inventory from a building boom that ran until 2008 and left many grand properties on the market that owners are desperate to sell or rent. That has encouraged developers to shift focus from villas and tall towers to mid-income housing. “In the UAE, most interest has been driven by speculator demand. The speculator market represented more than half the real estate market. They all have left now,” said Jain.

An average two-bedroom apartment now costs over one million dirhams ($272,000) in a middle-class neighbourhood of Dubai, after prices plunged over 50 percent. An apartment of similar size would cost well over $400,000 in London.

Aldar Properties, builder of Abu Dhabi’s Formula One race track and related development on Yas Island which includes a marina and yacht club, has said its focus is now mid-income housing.

Changing Bahrain
Bahrain may be the most dramatic example of the shift in the Gulf’s real estate market. Many commercial buildings in Manama – completed before the 2008 property bust in order to house foreign companies in the city, a Gulf financial hub – remain unoccupied. A July report by property firm Cluttons estimated only about 60-70 percent of office space in Bahrain was being used.

The residential property market never recovered after the 2008 bust, and any hope of a revival of interest in prime property among regional and foreign investors was wiped out by months of political unrest that swept the country this year.

“Lots of companies in financial services who were thinking of setting up base in Bahrain have either halted their plans or moved to Dubai,” commented Shakeel Sarwar, head of asset management at Bahrain-based Securities and Investment Co.

Home rents have plunged by about 50 percent in some areas of Bahrain, and selling prices have dropped by similar margins. “Investor sentiment in the kingdom has waned, with those who are active only seeking distressed assets which are backed by strong market fundamentals,” said Kristian Syson, Bahrain-based head of valuations at Cluttons.

Like Dubai, Bahrain has a massive housing project under construction on a string of artificial islands along its coast; a $6bn development called Durrat Al Bahrain. But the islands, some shaped like fish, mainly feature mid-income housing, in stark contrast to Nakheel’s Dubai Palm project, which offered multi-million dollar properties to European football stars and celebrities; very exclusive markets.

“Nakheel did not realise its market; we know who we are building for,” said Durrat Al Bahrain Chief Executive Jassim Al Jowder. “Developers in Bahrain now know that the shortage is in affordable, medium-size housing. We are all targeting this market now.”

Suleiman, a driver in Bahrain who dreams of a owning a house someday, commented on the situation. “Who needs tall towers? We need a good home.” He added that governments in the region were now more focused on keeping citizens happy: “I think maybe the government will listen to us now.”

The stock market has witnessed extreme volatility since 2000, affected by events such as various terror attacks including 9/11, the economic crisis of 2008, major corporations going into liquidation and bank debt passed on to governments already crippled by debt. More recent events include the unrest in the Middle East and the Japan earthquake which have hit stock markets hard. August 2011 saw markets crash again as bad news continued about US and European recovery, with rising speculation of another recessionary period.

Low interest rates have severely depressed savings accounts performance, providing little incentive to hoard away pennies. Poor economic performance in the Eurozone and unrest in the Middle East negatively influencing an already prevalent oil crisis is impacting on global trade. It is not surprising, then, that investors find it difficult to see where one should invest to see a safe and secure return.

Property was one of the top investments before the crisis of 2008 with a number of markets registering record capital growth figures. Happy investors once delighted in the vast equity of their property portfolios. Despite many property hotspots falling by the wayside, there are still some countries demonstrating solid economic performance bolstering a secure property market.

Where to invest
The recent winner of Overseas Living’s Best Alternative Investment Company award, Landcorp International is an investment company with a difference. Since 2007, the company has been researching global markets to find countries with sound economics that provide investors with a safe and profitable investment. Having identified the country, the unique investments marketed by Landcorp offer investors an entry point pre-development, an investment stage usually reserved for larger, institutional investors where the highest returns are earned. In addition, all the investments they introduce can be included in a Self Invested Personal Pension (SIPP), providing a tax-efficient option.

Landcorp is backing Canada and Brazil for investment, though they’re not the only ones. Market analysts are in consensus that these markets have sound economic fundamentals with some of the only property markets in the world demonstrating steady growth.

Canada has been heralded as having one of the world’s most solid financial systems, according to the World Economic Forum’s Competitiveness Report 2010-2011. The International Monetary Fund is equally bullish on Canada, revising the country’s GDP forecasts for 2011 and 2012 up twice so far this year and highlighting Canada as leading the G7 in economic growth. The Economist Intelligence Unit puts Canada as the number-one investment destination of the G7 for the 2010-2014 period, while British expats voted Canada the best place to live in the world in a Natwest International survey.

Canada’s property market has significant potential for high returns. Canadians themselves are choosing to invest in residential property for long-term investment, which they see as providing a larger financial return than the stock market. The luxury property market is a particularly strong growth market.

Unique developments
The Forest Lakes Country Club resort in Nova Scotia, Canada, is an investment unlike any other on the market; a pre-development opportunity. Introduced by Landcorp International, the development has just achieved full planning permission for a luxury lifestyle resort in the Nova Scotia region with an array of high-end onsite facilities, comprising a wide selection of quality accommodation and within commuting distance of Halifax, the province’s capital city. Forest Lakes Country Club intends to be the luxury lifestyle resort of choice in Atlantic Canada, with the first and currently only Nicklaus Design golf course in Nova Scotia. This unique investment offers investors – for a limited time only – double-digit returns or in excess of 50 percent. Entry points are low, with investments starting from £20,000.

Ailse MacFarlane, Managing Director of Landcorp International, provides some insight into the unique investment opportunities that the company introduces. “We introduce investors to the opportunity to enter at a development stage where the highest returns can be earned. The exit point is between two to five years, but investors have the flexibility to choose when and how they reap their returns. Forest Lakes, for example, gives investors the choice to cash in their investment where the developer will buy back the land at a fixed rate or investors can choose to convert their land into one or more building plots. The latter option opens up a whole array of investment opportunities: sell off-plan, develop the plot and sell on completion or hold onto the finished property to use as a holiday home and let it to earn an additional rental income.”

Brazil is Landcorp’s other choice market. Tourism is booming both domestically and internationally. The northeast region is demonstrating the strongest growth, with over six million foreign visitors and a large percentage of Brazil’s 90 million population visiting the area every year. Ecotourism is a niche growth area with government backing. With Brazil hosting the 2014 FIFA Football World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, visitor numbers and demand for quality accommodation is only set to soar.

Property in Brazil’s north east is proving to be a lucrative investment. Demand from foreign and domestic purchasers is high, with average capital appreciation on completed property reaching up to 20 percent per annum. Earlier entry of land and pre-development can yield even higher returns.

Providing a solid foundation for Brazil’s prospering tourism and property market is the country’s strong economy, which saw impressive GDP growth of 7.5 percent in 2010 whilst the rest of the world struggled to register positive growth figures. Brazil is now one of the top 10 oil-producing nations, has been named as the world’s biggest emerging market by Morgan Stanley Capital International and is ranked as the fourth-best investment destination in the world by A.T. Kearney.

Ecocity Brasil in Brazil’s north east, marketed by Landcorp International, will be the largest eco-friendly residential and tourist resort in Brazil. Set in a paradise of sand dunes, Atlantic coast line, rivers, lagoons and lush forests, it will be located in one of the most biologically-diverse and beautiful regions in the world. Approximately 60 percent of the land at Ecocity Brasil will be environmentally protected. Investors are offered an early entry, pre-development opportunity into the first planned development. Investment returns are fixed and in excess of 100 percent from as little as £20,000 invested.

In the unpredictable world we live in today, safeguarding your investment is of the uttermost importance. Escrow protection can ensure funds are secure. All investors introduced by Landcorp International can benefit from full escrow services through an independent UK-licensed trustee company, Citadel Trustees. To ensure complete investment security, Citadel Trustees act on investors’ behalf, ensuring funds are in an escrow account protected by English law and not released until all investment terms are deemed to have been met.

While the Eurozone debt saga teeters on the verge of disaster, financial markets have woken up to the reality of muted global economic growth. Should we, however, really be surprised by the current setback? Back in 2008, economists warned how debt-related financial crises have historically lead to particularly deep recessions, followed by painfully slow recoveries. Given that the entire developed world was affected by the financial crisis, the severe reduction in European Union growth of -4.2 percent in 2009, and the subsequent recovery of 1.8 percent in 2010, is about as hopeful as one might expect. Like it or not, and leaving the possibility of a Eurozone break-up aside, one could argue it has at least panned out according to plan.

From here, it can go, at best, okay but of course there are heightened dangers that events may take an ugly turn. We have to reiterate that these risks are not new at all and, in fact, have been widely discussed over the last two years; markets just seem to have forgotten for a while that these risks are not academic but very real. The bounce back in growth in 2010 led us to avert our eyes from the fundamentals i.e. debt retrenchment with hamstrung growth prospects for the years to come. The implications for investors could come in three forms: upside, downside and disaster.

Upside: slow growth
The following scenario is Henderson’s base case one. In Europe it would be characterised by growth temporarily shuddering to a halt in the northern economies, with a return to a shallow recession in southern economies, before sluggish growth resumes by the end of 2012. Occupier markets will continue on their current path of cautious recovery with mildly rising prime rents and stubbornly elevated vacancy rates. The current low levels of pipeline supply, however, should be sufficient to support prime rental uplifts despite weak demand. Of course, performance prospects between northern and southern Europe will remain quite substantial.

Obviously in such a fragile environment, investors ought to limit exposure to risk; nevertheless, the continued absence of substantial developments and pockets of economic growth across Europe will open up opportunities for savvy investors. Prime pricing would probably remain very expensive as long as the uncertainty lasts. However, investors risk losing value at exit, as long-term interest rates eventually rise, closing the yield gap between asset classes. In contrast, however, investment demand for secondary assets is likely to become even more subdued for an extended period, resulting in attractive pricing for more asset management-intensive assets.

Downside: deflation
If European economies fail to find the balance between fiscal austerity and growth, we may slip into Japanese-style stagnation, potentially even aggravated by deflation. In such a case, very low interest rates would become entrenched and growth prospects would be at best anaemic. With low nominal investment returns across all asset classes, prime property yields could fall further, even to unprecedented levels. Economic and occupier market prospects would remain depressed and prime-secondary pricing spreads would widen with little hope for improvement. The main implication for investors, in contrast to the upside case above, is that keener prime pricing would endure indefinitely. The case for investing in secondary assets would diminish as these would continue to suffer most from the absence of economic growth and structurally high vacancy rates.

Disaster: return to recession
The upside and downside scenarios are only really separated by the effectiveness of the policies to avert deflation until the private sector comes to the rescue. It is a dance on the cliff, which easily can go wrong as the examples of the Great American Depression of the 1930s and the Japanese experience of the last two decades have shown.

It is impossible to foresee how sovereign debt defaults or Eurozone disintegration would impact financial markets and economies. For sure, it would trigger another deep recession and liquidity crisis and render policy makers all but impotent. In such a scenario, what will be the impact for property as an asset class? These sorts of predictions have proven difficult to make in the past.

As a real asset, property is already benefitting from the current uncertainty. With private investors and some pension funds focused on wealth preservation, prime properties serve as a safe haven together with
gold and AAA-rated government bonds. Faced with a deep crisis, it is likely that most institutional investors would follow a very defensive strategy. After all, it was aggressive behaviour that contributed to the situation the world’s markets are currently in.
A repeat of 2009, with even super-prime property yields rising sharply, is doubtful with long-term interest rate expectations being at today’s extreme lows; property holders would not make the mistake again to sell out of prime assets cheaply (currently financial markets are awash with pent-up capital desperately looking for a safe place). What is more, we would enter the crisis with average property pricing relatively low in comparison to the sector’s history and other asset classes (of course a prolonged liquidity crisis would eventually devalue all asset prices).

This does not mean property prices would remain stable. Declining rental levels would inevitably lower property values, despite stable yields. Let us not forget, however, that rents are already relatively low and evaporating liquidity would choke development finance, curtailing the supply pipeline for even longer and supporting rental values. It is easy to imagine that property investors will get off more lightly than exposed equity and bond holders. We should emphasise that we still think governments and central banks will do everything to prevent another severe crisis from happening. In preparing for the worst, however, property looks like a good place to start.

The turbulent summer of 2011 in some respect jolts our fading memories of the credit crunch of 2008, when most doubted the real recovery would resemble a V-shape. Regardless of the uncertain environment, many investors may feel now is an opportune time to hang fire and see if volatility in financial markets causes pricing for non-prime property to soften again, even in northern European markets. After all, the best opportunities usually emerge after a bit of market disorder.