A Guide to Living in North West London

Please review your development:

I had high expectations when moving into the Palm House and it’s one of those rare cases when it ends up being even better than I imagined. The building is still very new, I like the way they set up the studios and the common areas, both in terms of space and design. It’s soft and welcoming, I felt at home very quickly. The staff is super friendly and very responsive, the events are varied and fun (still have a few aches from bouldering lol), social Thursdays are the best, I’ve been meeting lots of other residents and am surprised to find so many great people in a single place.

Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:

The studios feel slightly roomier in real life than when seen from the 3D rendering on the website. When you’re coming back from Euston late at night, there aren’t many fast 15-minute trains available, so you’ll be locked into the 35-min Overground or Bakerloo line. There’s a hidden under-bed storage area below your pillows: slide the mattress and the wood panel to reveal it.

How has the building management responded to any problems or issues you have raised:

I haven’t had any major issues yet, but I appreciate how transparent the management is. Any time there’s maintenance going on, I always get an email explaining the what, when and where, even if it doesn’t affect me directly.

Please review your development:

I would highly recommend it, problem when ai moved in was the floor was extremely dirty and there were hairs everywhere. The staff to begin with said my screening has failed which is hadn’t and caused me unnecessary stress. But overall the development is great!

Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:

There is a lot of cutlery provided in the kitchen.

How has the building management responded to any problems or issues you have raised:

Very timely and fixed everything the same day and/or next day

Please review your development:

Building design is good, there are nice communal areas. The cleaning of communal spaces however is not great, also the windows are designed to be cleaned professionally from the outside and they have not been cleaned as they should. There are not many facilities in the building and the lift is out of order quite often which gets frustrating during busy times

Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:

The quality of the wall painting and fittings in the flat such as the carpet which is horrible quality

What is the best feature of your home:

The balcony. The balcony has a great size and the view is great especially in the summer

It’s close to the shops (5mins from Sainsbury’s, Co-op, and Lidl if you walk quickly) and to the Met & jubilee lines (10 mins away) which get you into central London quite quickly, so great for getting to the office

The general big bins have seemingly been “forgotten” about a few times, leading to the lifts, and the entire lower floor smelling absolutely rotten.

Please review your development:

after living here for a year here are my thoughts on the building:

the rooms are tiny and despite being well designed have very little extra space. The “living room” area inside the rooms also are fitted with extremely uncomfortable cushions, so your only other option is to spend your day in the co-working spaces

The rooms have no ovens, just a microwave and a 2-top stove.
The only place with ovens in the building would be the communal kitchens which only opened in late May ’23 despite assurances it would be completed and open to guests by March ’23. there are only 7 ovens available for the entire building. For context, it has 11 floors and over 15 rooms on each floor. Considering the rooms have no ovens, these should have at least been ready once guests were able to move in back in September ’22

The ventilation in the rooms is very poor. you have 1 very small window and so the rooms get quite stuffy very quickly. as a result of this other people often leave their front doors open when cooking, leading to the corridor smelling unpleasant at times. additionally, because of the small windows there is minimal light coming into the rooms.

the co-working spaces are quite nice though can get very busy so if you’re planning on working there it’s best to get there by 9 to ensure a space and an extra monitor.

By the time it had been 6 months since Ark first opened, a significant amount of the amenities weren’t done as promised including the rooftop and communal kitchen. these are now finished and are lovely.

Some fun events happen here and there are also some cool classes that are free to attend, however many of them do get cancelled last minute without warning.

the team are some of the best people I’ve come across and are genuinely lovely to speak to, with certain members of the team, communication can be bad more often than not. sometimes you’re looking at long periods without replies no matter how urgent your query is.

Only 1 maintenance person is serving the entire building hence why it can be difficult to get problems fixed. I know people who have complained about their air con/heating being broken for months and are yet to see it fixed.

The general big bins have seemingly been “forgotten” about a few times, leading to the lifts, and the entire lower floor smelling absolutely rotten.

The area is okay, but aside from the nearby Canada Gardens & Wembley Central there’s very little to be seen as Wembley Park is an industrial area. walk 3 minutes from the building and you’re met with what looks like factories and industrial offices. because of this the road can get extremely noisy. there is a Costco 7 minutes away so that’s a plus.

Also, anyone under 18 is not allowed to step foot into the building so if you have young family members visiting you they won’t be allowed in.

There is a laundry room but it costs almost £6 to wash and dry 1 set of clothing. (4.20 to wash, 1.70 to dry). sometimes the dryer doesn’t work well, so you must wash your things twice. also, some washing machines don’t work so it will take payment but will not start washing. you can get refunds on that app if this happens though. The team have been made aware multiple times by multiple people but are still yet to fix this issue.

there are quite a few student buildings around so it can get quite noisy at night, especially on Thursdays-Saturdays. don’t bother trying to go anywhere during an event at the stadium/OVO arena as the roads surrounding tend to be blocked completely.

in my opinion, this is not worth the money and I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone for a long stay but could be great for a short stay of around 2 weeks or less.

Also, Ark is currently offering people amazon vouchers to leave a review, so bare that in mind when you’re reading the other reviews.

Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:

I wish i knew everything mentioned in my main review.

How has the building management responded to any problems or issues you have raised:

Only 1 maintenance person is serving the entire building hence why it can be difficult to get problems fixed. I know people who have complained about their air con/heating being broken for months and are yet to see it fixed.