Millionaire 'buys £5m mansion to knock it down'

An unnamed Russian tycoon has bought a property in Poole to demolish it and rebuild a bigger one in its place, according to reports.

The property on the exclusive Sandbanks peninsula comes with its own helicopter pad but the five-bedroom house will be knocked down and replaced with a six-bedroom behemoth, the Telegraph reported.

Robert Dunford of estate agents Tailer Made, which handled the sale, said the property did not suit the millionaire's "aspirations".

Mr Dunford claimed that the new owner has spoken to developers who have registered a planning application for a new home and the eventual cost of the project could reach £10 million on completion, the newspaper said.

"Essentially he bought the house for the land and the location," he added.

Such a project could be done on a smaller scale by builders with much tighter budgets than cash-rich Russian magnates and Channel 4 has reported that the average cost of a plot of land in the UK is £44,000.