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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Entertainment
Escher Walcott

Robbie Williams’s builders use ‘19th-century hand-tools’ to keep noise down after row with neighbour Jimmy Page

Robbie Williams has hired builders to renovate his ‘super basement’ at his Kensington mansion

(Picture: Getty Images)

Robbie Williams has taken desperate measures to ensure he doesn’t upset his famous neighbour Jimmy Page further, as his basement renovations are under way.

Williams, 48, has hired builders to renovate his “super basement” at his Kensington mansion. He has reportedly told them to use “19th-century hand tools” to minimise noise levels, so as not to bother Page and other neighbours.

The Daily Mail has reported that Williams brought in the builders in May to work at his £17 million home, equipped with an indoor pool and gym, on the condition that they also use £50,000 monitoring devices to control the renovation noise.

Feud: Jimmy Page has been embroiled in a spat with Robbie Williams over house planning (Tim P. Whitby/Getty)

The newspaper says the 46-week-long building process has followed a seven-year planning row between Williams and Led Zeppelin guitarist Page, who is his next-door neighbour at Tower House, a Grade I-listed home.

The Daily Mail reported that the workmen’s specialised tools are being used to "minimise the potential for vibration from building works as part of the precautionary approach to safeguarding the adjacent Grade I-listed building".

The publication has also claimed that Williams has a traffic management plan while his renovations take place. This involves him ordering building trucks to stop and park at a particular place and time, to the side of his estate, far away from Page.

Robbie Williams' £17 million Kensington home (David Mirzoeff/PA)

Williams’ basement renovation comes after he sold three of his previous homes this year.

In January, the Angels singer sold his seven-bedroom Wiltshire estate for £6.75 million. In March, he put his Beverley Hills 10-suite mansion on the market, which rapper Drake bought for £38.2 million.

Williams and his wife Ayda sold their £24 million Swiss estate in April and later purchased a $49.5 million mansion in the exclusive area of Holmby Hills in California.

As well as a main house, the impressive property includes three giant guests houses, leaving plenty of space for the couple’s four children to reside in.

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