Banker who paid record £15m for waterfront mansion to build even bigger home on site

A wealthy investment banker who paid a record £15m for a luxurious harbourside mansion is to demolish it and build an even bigger one in its place.

Michael Dennis and wife Angela have secured planning permission to level the five bed Arts & Craft-style home that is one of the finest on the waterfront of Poole Harbour in Dorset.

They plan to spend several million pounds building a bespoke, modern six bed mansion in its place.

The new pad will have an indoor swimming pool, sauna, gym and yoga room on the lower ground floor and a huge kitchen, day room, living room, snug, office and grand entrance hall on the ground floor.

The top two floors will have six bedrooms that will all have their own balconies.

The master bedroom will have his-and-her dressing rooms and en suite bathrooms.

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Outside there will be a big sun terrace, a boat house, a slipway giving access to the harbour and a jetty.

What is currently an annexe to the side of the main house will also be demolished and a new six bedroom detached house will be built in its place.

This will also have an indoor swimming pool, yoga room and gym.

While the value of the new mansion is likely to still be around £15m, the home to the side will be worth about £10m.

Mr Dennis is a partner and co-head of European credit in the global investment company Ares Credit Group.

He and his family own another lavish £6m mansion on a private gated estate in Oxshott in the Surrey commuter belt.

The Poole mansion on exclusive Pearce Avenue used to belong to Louise McGlinn, the heiress of the Body Shop empire.

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Miss McGlinn, whose late father Ian McGlinn famously lent Anita Roddick £4,000 to set up the Body Shop and sold his share of the company 30 years later for £146m, bought the house in 2008 for £9.4m.

She sold it for £15m in 2024, a record price for any home on the Poole Harbour waterfront, eclipsing the £13.5m paid by entrepreneur Tom Glanfield for a property on one of the largest plots on Sandbanks in 2023.

The soon-to-be demolished property is on a double-width plot, has gardens running down to the water and stunning views of Poole Harbour.

The address has previously been the subject of controversy as a well known property developer sought to buy it and build three identical houses on the plot worth £9m each.

The scheme infuriated neighbours who feared the 'identikit houses' would ruin the character of the posh street, be too cramped and would destroy their privacy.

But after the Dennis' bought it and submitted their own revised plans, the local reaction was far more favourable.

BCP Council received letters of support for the new designs which neighbours said had been 'thoroughly and beautifully executed' and that the new mansion will enhance the area.

In their report to the council, the Dennis' planning agent states: "The applicant has engaged with their immediate neighbours and they have presented and discussed their proposals with them.

"The proposals appear to have been warmly received and deemed to be preferable over the three dwelling unit scheme."

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They added that the new house would be more traditional in design compared to modern, flat roofed, block buildings the harbour waterfront has become known for.

They said: "When viewing the row of houses from the harbour, it is apparent that Pearce Avenue has begun a process of evolution, with most houses being newer and appearing more modern and larger.

"The proposed replacement house...would broadly be sited upon the footprint of the existing house, adopting the same orientation and outlook in terms of the streetscene and harbourside elevations.

"It would continue the general theme of some of the existing and older houses to be seen along Pearce Avenue.

"The proposed development would not significantly change the visual appearance of the existing site from its more traditional building to a more contemporary appearance, unlike with some of the neighbouring developments.

"To that end, the visual impact would be neutral at worst and positive at best."

Pearce Avenue is a stone's throw from Sandbanks, which has been one of the most desirable places to live in the UK for over 20 years.

In 2000 the strip of land was named the fourth most expensive place to buy residential property in the world, behind Tokyo, Hong Kong and London.

Harry and Sandra Redknapp have owned three houses there while Sky Sports pundit Graeme Souness lives close by. Celebrity interior designer Celia Sawyer also lives on Sandbanks.