Martina Lees

Britons may be famed for our stiff upper lip, but we are no good whatsoever at keeping cool. So says Anastasia Mylona, an expert on building engineering who came to the UK from Greece almost 25 years ago. She believes that, unlike her compatriots, we Brits know little about what makes our homes overheat — and, as our summers get progressively warm, we need to learn.

A property salesman who has made a fortune from mansions and reality TV melodrama is bringing Hollywood-style selling techniques to Britain. Eddie Shapiro, 45, is seeking estate agents with the X factor to sell houses in what he believes will be a "game-changer" for the British property market. Daniel McPeake is its first UK broker The American businessman has built Nest Seekers into an agency with 1,000 brokers, based on its fame from a television programme.

The super-luxury redevelopment of Chelsea Barracks in west London may have begun with a battle involving Prince Charles and the Qatari royal family a decade ago, but this understated Belgravia scheme is now open for business.