Episode 12 Britain's Empty Homes Revisited

Britain's Empty Homes has been on a mission to show what can be done

to revitalise and transform

some of the UK's estimated one million empty properties.

-Good to see you again. How are you?

-I'm very well, thank you.

In this series, I'll be catching up

with some of the people who took the plunge

and staked everything

on turning unloved houses into bespoke family homes.

Today, we'll be catching up with a couple from an earlier series

who were inspired to take on an abandoned property

after we showed them some of Britain's empty homes.

-Your wish came true?

-It did, and I love it.

We'll also be catching up with the empty property officers

who dedicate themselves to turning abandoned abodes

back into usable homes.

-Wow! Look at this space.

-It's beautiful, isn't it?

And we'll see the results of a project to equip apprentices

with the unique skills needed to restore and preserve listed buildings.

Great to see the success one young chap has got out of it.

It's great news.

Nearly 18 months ago, I met Catherine and Andrew Ingram

who'd fallen for a dilapidated four-bedroom mock Tudor house,

but the love affair was short-lived.

Andrew and Catherine were newlyweds when they bought

this 1930s' house in Bognor Regis, West Sussex.

The house was empty for almost a year, practically untouched.

When they clapped eyes on it, it was love at first sight.

We pulled up outside and walked up the driveway,

and I just knew it was the right property.

In this sought-after location, prices can run into the millions.

A&E crew member Andrew and staff nurse Catherine

snapped it up for £425,000.

They wanted to update the interior whilst maintaining its original character.

If we keep a mix between the authentic, with a twist of modern,

it's going to be an amazing house, and do it justice.

The couple had a tight renovation budget of £70,000.

After a fall-out with one builder,

they were determined to keep costs down.

It'll be re-roofed, re-plumbed, re-electric'd.

The garden will eventually be done, that's the last thing on our list.

-We're hoping to move in in six months.

-If all goes well.

When I first met up with Andrew and Catherine,

I was eager to hear more about their plans.

-My wife, Catherine.

-Nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

-Right...

-Yes, exactly! This is it!

-Yes! This was the third house we saw,

and I just fell in love with it - we went inside, and it was amazing.

-We should go and have a look. Lead the way.

-Thank you.

Wow! So, this is a lovely, big room. This is your main reception room?

Yes. I presume it was a dining room cum front room at one stage.

-Fantastic.

-Yes, it's triple aspect, going round to the side there.

-And the proper old beams really stand out.

-Yes, they are superb.

-Are these things you want to bring out?

-Oh, totally.

I want to enhance the existing woodwork, not over-modernise it

but keep a blend between the authentic arts and crafts of the period

with obviously modern fixtures and fittings.

How much are you planning to do yourselves?

Do you both want to get stuck in, with your full-time jobs?

-You've been awake all night as a staff nurse...

-That's right.

-How much can you do yourselves?

-Within reason, you know,

the lumping and lifting of stuff, clearing of rubble.

But the electricians, plumbers etc, we let them get on.

Will you project manage it yourself?

It can seem a lot of money to get someone to manage it,

but in terms of keeping it on schedule and on track

and on budget, it can be money well spent - have you considered it?

Yes and no. I am very fussy,

and would like to check every detail myself,

-so, within reason, we might as well do it ourselves.

-Right.

'I wanted to see what building work had already been done.'

-The kitchen is more of a building site...

-It looks like that, sure.

'After a fall-out with their builder,

'things had ground to a halt.'

-We were too keen, we wanted to get on and see something happen.

-Yeah.

But it's not gone smoothly in here.

Upstairs, the work hadn't even begun.'

Wow! This...is huge!

That's a massive bedroom.

-Huge bedroom.

-Then we come out into... What is this exactly?

-This is the en-suite sun room.

-The en-suite sun room!

Another quirky feature of such a characterful house.

-My yoga spot.

-Yoga spot. So, this will be the master bedroom.

-Yes.

-With a great fireplace. And overall, your main worries,

will it come down to money?

Ultimately everything boils down to money, that's the biggest constraint

on any desire or vision you have for anything, really.

-Yes, money - and also, as you said, getting the right builder.

-Mmm.

-I'm glad you're worried about it as well!

-I hide it!

'Andrew and Catherine have busy lives, working unpredictable hours

'and now had a complex renovation on their hands.

'Later we'll see what happened when I took them to meet a couple

'who turned a similar building project into their dream home.'

It is hopeful. There is light at the end of the tunnel!

Throughout the country,

it's not just private buyers like Andrew and Catherine

rising to the challenge of turning deserted properties into unique homes.

Local council empty property officers work tirelessly

to track down the owners of abandoned houses and do everything

within their power to bring these places back into circulation.

18 months ago, we went to Thanet in Kent

to meet empty property officer Mike Thompson.

He was a man on a mission to save the coastal region's many forgotten homes.

The Government sets targets of building thousands and thousands

of new homes and there's all these properties laying empty

wanting to be brought back into use.

I retire in just under 12 months and it's my mission in life

to leave a legacy of my work behind me.

There were 3,000 empty buildings across Kent for Mike to deal with.

Behind every empty property is a story

and it's a story I like to get to know.

The growth of package holidays in the 1980s left its mark on our seaside towns.

As Brits went abroad, once-splendid hotels fell empty.

Mike's focus was on the building

that had once stood proudly on this site,

that was now boarded up.

I'm on my way now to the former Warren Court hotel,

where we've come up with a radical solution

to save the beautiful frontages,

and I'm here today to meet the architect and the developer

to see the sort of progress they're making.

Originally a school, it was turned into the Warren Court Hotel

at the height of Margate's tourism boom.

The hotel closed down in 2002

and had been vacant ever since.

A magnet for vandals and drug users,

and subjected to two arson attacks, this vermin-infested property

had become a health hazard to its neighbours.

Mike and the Kent Council made a compulsory purchase

of the building and were working with a local developer

to regenerate the area and create quality social housing.

This was an extremely ambitious project,

as all that remained was the Warren Court facade.

So what have we got here then, Tanya?

Well, this is the proposed plan for the site.

The regeneration project

included the building next door to The Warren Court,

which was also being completely rebuilt.

We obviously have the front terrace,

and then we've got the terrace of three units,

and obviously the rear garden to the dwellings.

The most ambitious part of the scheme

involved the area behind the hotel.

This was going to be transformed with a complete terrace of houses,

built to provide affordable homes.

To actually get your hands on a project of this magnitude

and bring something of real benefit to the community,

providing 20 family homes is really exciting,

and something I'm really proud to have hung my hat on.

It's the icing on the cake for me.

18 months later, Mike Thompson's hung his hat up for the last time,

and retired from his job.

But his shoes have been filled

by the equally tenacious Andrew Emerson.

Today, Andrew's come to Margate

to check up on the ambitious Warren Court project.

The finished development looks spectacular,

and is a fitting tribute to his predecessor's hard work.

Morning, Bob. How are you doing?

-Very good, very good.

-Look at this!

Bob Heapy oversaw the intricate construction work

needed to bring these buildings back to their former glory.

How hard was it to actually keep the facades, Bob?

Yeah, from an engineering perspective, it was quite difficult.

It would, of course, been a lot easier to knock things down

and start again, but we wanted to ensure that we were, you know,

complying with the conservation area.

And the plans for the new terrace at the back of the hotel

have come magnificently to life.

Designed to complement the surrounding period buildings,

this row of houses looks like it's been there from the start.

To get the three-storey townhouses again,

looking very much like the existing properties in the square.

You know, it just brings it all together.

12 new homes have been created on the terrace,

and Andrew's been invited to take a look round one of them.

I've never been inside them before,

so I'm very, very excited to get inside.

I know they've been done to a very high standard,

but it's going to be an absolute treat to get inside the building

and see what the actual interior finishes are like.

This development provides affordable housing for local families.

-Hi, Lesley?

-Hi!

-Hi, I'm Andy from Thanet Council.

Lesley Clark spent 20 years on the council waiting list.

Wow, look at this space!

It's beautiful, isn't it?

Yeah, look at the high ceilings. That's unbelievable.

Lesley's children have had to move

from one privately-rented flat to another, all their lives.

What were the living arrangements like at your previous place?

My son was sleeping on the sofa downstairs,

which wasn't an ideal arrangement.

It was very dark, compared to this with the high ceilings

and the lovely light and space.

We couldn't have asked for anything more. It's beautiful here.

The family only moved in four weeks ago,

but already feel like part of the neighbourhood.

We've finally settled now.

At last, this is going to be our family home now.

The original buildings here were built when Margate

was first coming into vogue as a holiday destination.

Now, more than 100 years later,

their renaissance is having a positive effect

on the whole community.

That was absolutely amazing.

Before, it was a piece of grass with some burnt-out buildings on it,

and what we've got is a quality family development.

And to come back and actually see

a building which fits in with the conservation area,

in keeping with the existing buildings around here,

is absolutely terrific.

Converting any property can be a tough task,

and the pains, stresses, and costs can all mount up,

particularly with an old, abandoned building.

However, when you speak to people who have been through it,

they'll tell you the long hours, the sleepless nights,

the hard work, are all worth it in the end.

But that's something Andrew and Karen Smith

would have found hard to believe

when they first saw this 500-year-old cowshed in North Wales.

We've always liked the idea of renovating somewhere,

a barn conversion, that type of project.

And we looked on the internet,

and this came up under "Wreck of the Week."

And it certainly was.

It was terrible. We looked at it and thought,

"You must be mad to do something like that!"

But we came along and had a look,

-and it was a beautiful sunny day, wasn't it?

-Yeah.

It was lovely, and there was a magic about the place

that just caught us, and we just found ourselves saying,

"Wouldn't it be fantastic if we could make this liveable?

"Wouldn't it be fantastic if we could bring this back to life?"

You could see the potential.

You know, you could imagine a patio out there,

and gin and tonics overlooking the bay.

It was just... you had to have the vision,

but we could both see that we could do something with it.

They bought the property for £205,000,

and spent a further £250,000 renovating it.

It took 16 months of hard graft,

but they now have this stunning three-bed house.

Our key was to keep it as traditional as we possibly could,

and not have it look like, you know,

a modern glass and steel building

with views over the bays.

We wanted it to look like it should have looked

and be a traditional build.

It's fantastic we've still got the original brickwork

and big stones that were put up 500 years ago.

You know, it's awesome, really.

Our input into the building

has been very much one of project management.

We haven't, you know, got our hands dirty

putting walls up and woodwork up.

But when you're going to be living in it yourself,

you need to be able to change things,

if they're not quite right,

and because we project managed it quite closely,

we were able to do that.

I think it's important, life is so frantic for most of us,

and rightly so, in times...

If you've got a dream, you should go for it.

The worst that can happen is it fails, but at least you've tried.

If you don't try, you'll never know.

Earlier in the programme, we met Catherine and Andrew Ingram,

who've started renovations on their quirky 1930s house.

The couple had already experienced delays, and were a little anxious

about how best to manage this complex renovation.

To inspire Andrew and Catherine,

I took them to meet Clare and Matt Pascoe,

who'd taken on a tired-looking empty property

and used their trade expertise to create their perfect family home.

Clare, an interior designer

and her husband Matt, an electrician,

live with their young family in Oving, West Sussex.

In 2009, the Pascoes bought this dilapidated, vacant,

three-bedroom house for £435,000.

The reason the house appealed to us

was that it would have been out of our league,

had it been fully renovated already.

It was quite dated and run down.

It was just very tired, but you could clearly see

it was spacious and could be fantastic.

Clare and Matt were able to draw

on their own skills and experience to complete the build.

Even so, they struggled through a harsh winter

and the birth of their second child to finish the project.

We weren't nervous about doing it. We were quite excited about it,

but it was definitely more stressful as time went on

and more of the money got spent, with still plenty of work to do.

Even as an interior designer with 12 years' experience,

I still felt the pressure to get in before Christmas.

Normally I'd be advising clients to relax, these are the lead times,

these are the processes and don't try and push the team. I didn't follow my own advice at all!

Despite the pressures of managing their own build, the Pascoes have transformed and extended

this once empty house into a spacious and spectacular home.

All this work was done for under 70 grand.

We've certainly added value to the property.

That wasn't the motive for setting out to refurbish the house.

It was to make a family home that we could bring our children up in,

a lovely garden, village location. It was the whole package.

Hello, Matt, Clare. Hi.

-Can we come in and have a look?

-Yes, come on in.

This renovation may have held different challenges,

but it was similar in scale to the Ingrams' place.

-The master bedroom.

-Beautiful.

Nice colours.

I wanted Andrew and Catherine to see

how two renovation specialists

had managed their big construction project.

Wow, look at this, it just opens up as soon as you come around.

What state was this in when you took on the property?

This room didn't exist. This is all the extension that we did.

-This was an exterior wall, was it?

-It was.

-All extension, going that way?

-Yes.

How would you advise these guys?

They're both health professionals, not contractors or builders.

How did you go about finding the right people that you trust?

Word of mouth, if you can.

Try and get some recommendations, maybe see some of their work

and try and get somebody you can get on with. It's going to take a while.

It's a long haul and they're under your feet the whole time.

-Yes, communication's important.

-You've got to get on with them.

-Get the right balance.

-Being able to talk.

-Sure.

That's one of my concerns for you two, you're both busy and have full-time jobs

and it's about being there enough.

How important is it to be around if you're a project manager, or, if not

to try and employ someone who can be?

It's nice to keep involved and know what's happening, to be involved in decisions.

The builders on site will need a quick turnaround.

Sometimes when you're in the middle of a building project, the floors are up

and the plaster's down, it's difficult to see the way forward.

How useful is it seeing a stage forward? You're dealing with exposed concrete floors,

-and to see a finished project, is lovely.

-It is hopeful.

-There is light at the end of the tunnel.

-Good, good.

Guys, thank you for that.

-Sharing your house, opening it up to us to have a look around.

-Pleasure.

Later we'll find out if Andrew and Catherine were able

to put the advice they'd heard into practice

and turn their 1930s home into the perfect period property.

Whatever the age of your building,

restoring an empty home can be a richly rewarding experience.

But when it comes to preserving historic houses,

it requires not just a sympathetic eye, but a skilled hand.

Britain is full of homes that date back centuries.

Maintaining and renovating them is highly specialist work.

The trouble is, there aren't enough people out there

who are skilled enough in the traditional crafts needed

to ensure these buildings' preservation.

12 months ago, I went to Berkshire

to find out about a training initiative

being run to address this problem.

I spoke to Paul Simons,

chair of the National Heritage Training Group.

Start at the beginning.

What are the key differences between historic heritage building

and modern buildings?

The biggest difference is the change of materials being used.

Old buildings breathe.

Basically, that meant the vast majority of the material you were

using was porous - soft brick,

local stone, lime mortars and plaster.

It naturally lets water pass through it and evaporate.

When we look at these older materials and older techniques,

surely it's a whole different skill base that comes with that?

Is that right?

Well, there's a vast range of skills if you start to think about it,

from the traditional timber framers, wattle and daub, lime,

traditional plasters.

The roof might be clay tile, a thatch, and all these materials

need different skills, different abilities,

to be able to work with them properly and get a quality job.

So how important is it we keep learning these skills

and keep reinterpreting them?

It's absolutely vital we get young people

to train on historic buildings,

because the other worrying aspect of craftsmanship

in historic buildings is the age profile.

Most craftsmen are over 50 already.

Where can people go if they want to learn the skills?

English Heritage and Construction Skills set up

the National Heritage Training group,

so we have qualifications available for heritage skills

from NVQ level III upwards,

and employers have got incentives to take on young people now

and put them through these heritage qualifications,

and we've got to get more young people on these training courses.

For the apprentices Paul takes on,

it's an opportunity to learn crafts which have been eclipsed

by modern building techniques and are in danger of being forgotten.

Now, you're at two different stages, right?

First of all, Sam, how far have you got in your training?

Well, I did three years at college on modern buildings and stuff,

and after I finished that, I came down here.

I've gone from making stuff from new timbers

to just repairing timbers, say, 100 years old and stuff,

so it's a lot different.

Chris, what about you? Where are you in your training?

I've been working here for just over six months now,

and I'm really enjoying it. It's really good.

I love the history side of it and old school techniques.

If you had to say, what is the best part of this job,

the job you're training for?

Seeing the building being taken down and being put up again repaired,

being brought back to life.

-That's what I love.

-Well, guys, good luck with it.

Thank you for taking some time off to chat to me today.

-That's all right.

-All the best.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

Now, one year later,

Paul Simons' training scheme has really taken off.

Over 200 apprentices have been placed with artisan builders

around the country. And Rob Blaine is one of them.

He spent six months on the National Heritage Training Scheme

getting to grips with the ancient craft of lime plastering.

And today Paul Simons has come to Oxford to see how he's getting on.

-That's how I put it on.

-And that's going on like butter.

-It's looking lovely, Rob.

-Thank you very much.

-And there's good news.

Rob's proved such a dab hand, he's been offered a permanent job.

It's nice to get on, I suppose, almost the vanguard of conservation

in general, and it's great working with natural materials.

You're never going to earn millions of pounds from it.

You're there because of the love of the old buildings themselves.

Lime plastering is very important.

It's not just putting plaster on a wall, it's the mixing,

it's selecting the lime, it's getting the right colour,

the right sands, all that was explained to Rob,

he's picked all that up very quickly,

and it'll be useful knowledge for the rest of his working career.

Great to see one success story,

what one young chap has got out of it.

It's great news.

Earlier in the programme, we met a couple who were planning

a major renovation on their unusual period home in West Sussex.

It was an ambitious project, particularly for two people

with full-time jobs working unpredictable hours.

Here I am back in Bognor Regis

to catch up with Andrew and Catherine Ingram.

Now, when I first met them, work on this beautiful

1930s arts and crafts house

had pretty much slowed to a standstill,

so I'm intrigued to see how far they've got.

The couple have been living here for six months,

but has the building site been replaced by an art deco delight?

-Hello.

-Hey, guys. How are you?

-Come on in.

-Thank you.

Andrew, good to see you. Hi, Catherine. How are you?

-Good to see you.

-Bright and lovely day.

-Would you like to come this way?

-Yeah, that would be great.

Shoes off. This is very cosy. Looking good.

You have completely done it, haven't you? Really nice, yeah.

-Plenty of changes.

-Yes, certainly has been.

-Lots been going on.

Last time we were tiptoeing through this space

around building work, so what's been going on?

This floor has all been dug up for a start,

in this room in particular, for the underground heating.

The floor in there is oak flooring now,

-which has been restored.

-That was one of the last things we had done,

because we've had all the rooms re-plastered.

-Right.

-And all professionally decorated and painted.

I thought, "You have to start from the roof down,

-"and from the outside in."

-Yeah.

So we did the roof first and then the windows.

For the last year, Andrew has been busy

sourcing original 1930s furniture,

and this home is the perfect showcase for his collection.

Do you have a favourite item in your living room or downstairs?

-Well, I can have two.

-You can have two. Go on.

One is my 1937 toilet.

-One is my 1940s cabinet over there on the wall.

-Oh, lovely.

Do you have any favourites?

Do you approve of any of these in particular?

-I love my birthday present.

-What was your birthday present?

-It was the halberd that's hanging up there.

-You got a spear?

-I've got a spear.

-That's an unusual birthday present.

Don't mess with me!

THEY LAUGH

Last time I was here, things had sort of ground to a halt

-in the kitchen...

-Mmm-hmm.

So I'm curious to see what's happened there.

-Shall we have a look?

-Let's have a look.

-After you.

-Thank you.

-Aha. Now, last time I came in here, I had to step down.

-You did.

-But suddenly the floor has come up.

-Yes.

Building work on this room was delayed

when their first attempt at laying the concrete floor didn't go too smoothly.

We started afresh, digging the whole floor out again

-after they laid all the concrete.

-It came out again?

-It came out again.

-You had to start all over?

But, anyway, as you can see now,

we've got under-floor heating in here with the reclaimed tiles.

It's just pacing it financially now.

Is it? So you're going to have to wait a bit until the next stage?

-Yeah.

-Yeah, sure.

-We're saving up to do the kitchen,

but it also gives plenty of time to think about what you really want

and where you actually want things.

-Let's take a look upstairs, shall we?

-Yeah, brilliant.

Well, this is fantastic. It's really come together.

'Upstairs, the arts and crafts feel

'has made way for a tranquil space for meditation.'

And we are standing in your...

-My yoga room.

-Your yoga room. Your wish came true.

-It did.

-And I love it.

-Yeah, how does it feel,

doing yoga in here as, probably, the sun streams through?

It's relaxing. It's my space.

-And the wood features in your bedroom really stand out, don't they?

-Mmm.

Yeah. Well, look, downstairs feels complete, as does the bedroom.

-It's really, really nice to see, so many congratulations...

-Thank you.

..on getting it to this point. Good luck with the rest of it,

-but I'm sure before long, you'll be there. So best wishes.

-Thank you very much.

Thank you.

This is a lovely place, and it's also a very, very unique house,

and I'm really impressed with the way that Catherine and Andrew

have been able to revive its character -

Andrew with his eye for detail, for arts and crafts,

1930s little set pieces,

but Catherine also with the warmth that she brings to the project.

They've been really determined

and they've been very confident in what they want,

and they've got to this point. They are so close now,

and I know this house is going to be everything they want it to be.

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