Dua Lipa has a dirty job to do: she’s having over 500 tons of earth dug up to build a mega-basement, complete with music studio and swimming pool.
It took the singer more than three years to convince the council to greenlight the massive project at her country home in Hampstead.
The real hard work is just beginning for her construction team, who are demolishing the house and garden and digging six meters below the surface.
This amounts to approximately 1425 cubic meters, which corresponds to 503 tons of soil and other materials.
The new basement will be 310 square meters – FOUR times as large as the previous one, 72.5 square meters.
The star bought the property in January 2020 and the following year submitted a planning application to her council for a ground floor extension and a basement with a music studio, swimming pool, gym, cinema and relaxation room.
Dua Lipa has a dirty job to do: she’s having over 500 tons of earth dug up to build a mega basement, complete with music studio and swimming pool
It took the singer more than three years to convince the council to greenlight the massive project at her country home in Hampstead.
The real hard work is just beginning for her construction team, who are demolishing the house and garden and digging six meters below the surface (pictured)
In March this year, the council finally approved her plans, but imposed strict conditions under a Section 106 agreement because the construction would have such a major impact on local residents.
This is after complaints from a local conservation group, which halted the application after complaining about the “loss of green space”, “loss of trees” and “drainage problems”.
So Dua’s design team agreed to build a discreet, biodiverse roof garden on top of the basement, blending in with the garden, which will provide food and habitat for local wildlife.
She had an audio report for the pool, which stated that if her application is successful, the noise from the pool’s engine room should not exceed 28 decibels, which is approximately the sound of someone whispering softly (25 dB).
According to the construction management plan, the renovation work will last 12 months, until April next year.
Dua is used to application setbacks, having had to prepare three in-depth survey reports to assess the damage a cellar could cause to neighbors’ properties, such as subsidence, and a flood risk assessment, as cellars are classified as “ very vulnerable”.
According to The sunher team told the planners: ‘When digging a cellar there would usually be a chance of noise and vibrations reaching the neighbours.
The star bought the property in January 2020 and the following year submitted a planning application to her council for a ground floor extension and basement with a music studio, swimming pool, gym, cinema and relaxation room.
‘In this case the extent of noise transmission would be limited because the existing house is completely detached and the excavation would be done manually.
“As a security measure, motion monitoring would be carried out to provide early warning of any movement in the building.”
The GRAMMY Award-winning star – who reportedly has a net worth of £75 million – bought the sprawling property in 2017 when she was just 22 years old.
Dua was given the green light last year, but work on the site had to be kept to a minimum and equipment fitted with ‘anti-vibration isolators’ had to be fitted to avoid inconveniencing neighbours.
A source said this The sun last year: ‘Dua’s plans for her home are epic and after four years she has finally started looking for builders to get started on her music studio, swimming pool, gym, cinema and chillout area.
The GRAMMY Award-winning star – who reportedly has a net worth of £75 million – bought the sprawling property in 2017 when she was just 22 years old
After submitting proposal plans for the construction of a swimming pool, steam room, shower, changing room, relaxation room, cinema, studio waiting area and lobby in December 2021, she found herself in hot water with conservationists and the municipality
‘She has to adhere to quite strict agreements, because there were so many objections to her plans about the loss of green space.
‘Her construction team will have to keep noise from power tools to a minimum and all equipment must be mounted with vibration dampening isolators.
‘No one should be aware that work is taking place and Dua’s neighbors could raise a stink if they do. Dua doesn’t want to cause any annoyance and is looking forward to making her house a home.
“As a security measure, motion monitoring would be carried out to provide early warning of any movement in the building.”
The GRAMMY Award-winning star – who reportedly has a net worth of £75 million – bought the sprawling property in 2017 when she was just 22 years old.
It was given the green light last year, but work on the site had to be kept to a minimum and equipment fitted with ‘anti-vibration isolators’ had to be fitted to avoid causing any nuisance to neighbours.
A source said The sun last year: ‘Dua’s plans for her home are epic and after four years she has finally started looking for builders to get started on her music studio, swimming pool, gym, cinema and chillout area.
‘She has to adhere to quite strict agreements, because there were so many objections to her plans about the loss of green space.
‘Her construction team will have to keep noise from power tools to a minimum and all equipment must be mounted with vibration dampening isolators.
‘No one should be aware that work is taking place and Dua’s neighbors could raise a stink if they do. Dua doesn’t want to cause any annoyance and is looking forward to making her house a home.’