We are embarking on phase two of our installation at Uplands – a 70 apartment development by Areaequity in High Wycombe.
The property has an interesting history.
The main house was built in the mid 1800s. The first family to live there were the Hewetts. They had five children.
Captain Hewett served in the Royal Bucks Kings Own Militia. His wife was a Lancashire lass. The family had six servants: a cook, lady’s maid, two housemaids, a footman and a nurse for the two youngest daughters.
In 1900 the house was bought by the Cock family. He paid £8,600 for it, He was a partner in the banking family which later became Martins Bank (now absorbed into Barclays Bank)
He and his wife Ethel had three daughters and a son. Parish records show that in 1910 the house had 15 bedrooms: ten for the family and five for the staff.
It then became the headquarters for Nationwide and then became a four-star De Vere Hotel before being purchased by Areaequity.
The following is first map to show Uplands in an Ordnance Survey of 1880.
To date, we have installed a Hikvision 8MP CCTV system that will protect the perimeter and car parking areas of the site. A Comelit VIP Video Entry System that will allow each of the 70 apartments’ residents to receive calls on their smartphones even when they are away from home. This is achieved by us installing the Comelit Mini WiFi monitors into all the apartments.
Pedestrian and vehicular access is controlled by a Paxton Access System along with an Intratone transmitter access system for the vehicle access gates.
We have also designed and are installing a Hybrid FIRS (Fibre Integrated Reception System) that will feed the 70 apartments and allow access to Sky Q, Sky Legacy, Freeview and Freesat as well as local DAB and FM radio stations.
This photograph was taken while Nationwide were based at Uplands.
(C) Marian Miller Ll.B, M.Sc. (Historic Conservation)
