Buyers flock to join high society

Already 60 per cent of the 316 apartments have been sold and bosses at City Lofts say the Arundel Gate scheme is one of the most successful the firm has been involved in.

Once it is finished in the autumn of 2009 the 180 million structure will tower over the city in two interlinking towers of 32 and 12 storeys, with views of the Winter Garden and Peace Gardens and of much of South Yorkshire and even the Derbyshire Peak District.

Already the steel girders are visible above the hoardings round the site, and over the next few months passers-by will see the concrete lift cores going up, before the rest of the superstructure begins to surround it.

Andy Hurst, sales and marketing director at City Lofts, said: "Three quarters of the flats that have been sold have been sold to people from Sheffield and the surrounding district.

"That is a greater proportion than we would usually see and it shows the level of interest there is locally in the development. Most of those are investors, with around 30 per cent likely to be owner occupiers."

Most people who have already bought cite the location as a major factor, as well as design and views.

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