Episode 4 Britain's Empty Homes Revisited

Over the years, 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.

-Hi, I'm Joe.

-Hi, Joe. Nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you too.

In this series, I will be catching up with some of the people who

took the plunge and staked everything on turning unloved

houses into bespoke family homes.

Today I will be catching up with a couple from an earlier series

who bought a dated bungalow in the hope of turning it

into a place they could call home during their retirement years.

It is lovely to be here. We love living here.

We will also be catching up with the Empty Property Officers,

whose hard work and tenacity keep turning forgotten abodes

back into functioning homes.

It is clear, looking round the whole house,

what an absolutely brilliant job you have made.

And we will see how the Every Street rejuvenation project in Pendle

is coming along.

Nine months ago, I met John and Sue Derham,

who hadn't taken on a big building project for 25 years

but had just bought a bungalow that needed a total renovation.

And they couldn't wait to transform it into a dream

home for their twilight years.

Having retired,

John and Sue Derham were on the lookout for a property

that would fulfil their dreams of moving to Somerset

and custom-renovating a home.

And they found just the place.

This move is the last move we're going to do.

-I hope.

-We hope, yes.

So we were thinking practically that we need to be ground floor.

The classic 1960s bungalow lay in a sleepy village.

From the outside, it was an attractive proposition,

but inside it required modernisation

and didn't quite suit the Derhams' needs.

We're at a time in our lives when we're trying to cut down

on bills and things like that,

so we need to make the building work for us.

We're absolutely considering reconfiguring the whole footprint,

the whole plan.

We just need to reshape it so that we've got proper rooms,

rather than going out of one door, along a corridor and into another.

The layout clearly didn't quite work for the couple,

and they were anxious to get changes right at the first attempt.

Always like to look at new ideas

and see the things that we might have missed.

We can put our own mark on it, do exactly what we want to with it,

and make it a comfortable place for us to live in.

When I first met John and Sue at their new bungalow,

I wanted to hear about

their next step in the process.

-Hello, guys.

-Hello, Joe.

-Nice to meet you.

-Pleased to meet you.

-How are you doing?

-Fine, thanks.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you.

-Yes!

I understand you've just literally, a few days ago, got this place.

That's right. Yes, we have.

-How does that feel?

-We're very pleased.

Now, what state's it in?

Does it need a bit of work? Are you keen to do something to it?

Lots of work.

It needs dragging into the 21st century.

I think we should go and have a look.

-Yeah.

-All right, lead the way.

The Derhams had recently sold their five-bedroom house in Oxfordshire

to fund the project,

and they were already brimming with ideas and plans.

Right. So.

Take me through the layout, then. We're standing in...

From what I can see here, it would be a master bedroom, would it?

-That's right.

-Absolutely.

Yes, this part was extended, which has made a very big room.

Yeah, it has. Really huge.

It's got en suite as well.

-Yes.

-A big en suite, yes.

We feel it'd actually make a very good kitchen-diner, this area.

Right!

So if this wasn't your master bedroom, where would that be?

-At the back.

-Where the kitchen is now.

OK, so it's like a diagonal swap?

-Yes.

-So where would everything go, roughly?

-Haven't got a clue!

-Right, OK.

-No idea.

But we've got a good architect on board,

and we're hoping he's going to come up with some really good ideas.

We obviously don't want to be railroaded into his ideas.

It's our house, and we need it to remain our house.

And we may put the hallway through in that part.

Well, if you move the hall, what would happen to the staircase?

-It'd probably take up part of what is now the kitchen, I think.

-Yes.

Which is going to be one of your bedrooms.

We have lots of thoughts,

it's just how we convert that into the final product now.

And within the constraints of the budget.

Very, very good. OK. Well, look,

if we go to where the kitchen is now, which will be swapped,

we'll look at that, shall we?

-BOTH: OK.

-Great, after you.

It was clear the couple were planning

to completely reconfigure the downstairs layout,

and while they weren't novices,

it had been 25 years since they took on a big project like this.

And this is the kitchen.

Ah, OK. So, the existing kitchen.

BOTH: Yeah.

So this now goes over there, where there's more space,

and this becomes a bedroom.

-Partly bedroom, partly study, I think.

-OK.

So, a big project. How much is it going to cost?

How much do you budget for something like this?

Our initial thinking is

it'll be somewhere between £80,000 and £100,000.

All up. That's everything.

We have done it before, so we've got some idea,

but, of course, costs have changed a lot

in 25 years since we last built.

-Yeah.

-So we are hoping that that's going to be enough.

And a contingency fund hopefully in there as well?

A little contingency, we hope, yes.

Later we'll see what happened

when I took Sue and John to meet Carolynne Kortzeenietz

who'd bought a dilapidated villa-style bungalow

and spent seven years doing it up.

Throughout Britain it is not just private buyers rising to

the challenge of turning deserted properties into functional

family homes.

Local council Empty Property Officers work tirelessly to

track down owners of abandoned homes

and use their powers to bring them back into circulation.

Back in 2009 we met Empty Property Officer, Matthew Smith,

in Birmingham.

He was checking up on the owner of a rundown house whose planned

renovation had ground to a halt.

I think maybe he has overstretched himself, if I am being honest.

It is still in a bad condition,

which I need to have a serious word with him about.

I think some of the windows have been broken.

Stan Hodges had bought this property as an investment.

But midway through the renovation, Stan's money had run dry.

Left empty, it was attracting antisocial behaviour.

-Hello?

-Hello!

How is it going? What are you up to?

It is a bit of a struggle at the moment, Matthew.

The finances are a bit tight. The credit crunch is going on.

You've done a lot already.

There's a fair bit of work being done on it, yes.

Just trying to give you that final push, I reckon.

The further you can take it away from people thinking the property is empty

while you are working on it, that is going to be ideal, isn't it?

-Yes, I agree, yes.

-Get that balance right, yes? OK.

Matthew had left Stan to sort out his finances with a view to

bringing the property back into use.

Today, almost four years on, Matthew has come back to see Stan

and the large house that he was struggling to take care of.

The visit today is probably the reason why I do this job.

A property that had been empty for three years before, derelict,

a building site, now, for the first time,

I am going to see it in all its glory.

New tenants, new story, a wonderful feel-good factor about this property.

So, really excited to go into the house now.

-Hello, Matthew.

-Hi, Stan, nice to see you.

-Nice to meet you again.

And you. Wow, what a difference.

Having survived the credit crunch, Stan got back on his feet

and back to work on this sizeable semi-detached house.

Just trying to remember what this was like. So would those...

I presume there was a window there?

Yes, there was a window and a brick wall there.

Because it has been tenanted to disabled clients,

it was prudent to actually put French windows in

so that they could gain access to the garden.

Matthew helped Stan establish a relationship

with the charity Mencap.

And as a result, Stan tailored the property

to the needs of disabled tenants.

It is just incredible to think that this is the same house that

was here before. It is so much brighter, isn't it?

I didn't walk through these doors, did I?

No, you walked through a door underneath the stairs.

Do you want to show us?

Because it is quite funny to see how it is all changed round.

OK, so this is where I walked in the last time.

That was the front door, Matthew, yes.

So you have managed to get a full bathroom.

So, what was your thinking there?

The tenant could not actually climb the stairs,

just going to use the bedroom next door.

So you designed for the specific needs of...?

-That's right, disabled requirements.

-Pretty good work. Well done.

With accessible bedrooms and bathrooms both downstairs

and upstairs, Stan has taken care to make this house

suitable for all potential tenants.

OK, so, brilliant, I mean, again, another fabulous change to the room.

What have you done in here that is...?

It is a low-level access shower

because the tenants' needs are most important to myself.

It's clear, just looking around the whole house, just finishing

off in here, what an absolutely brilliant job you have made.

It's been absolutely great today,

coming to the property after seeing it a couple of years ago

as a disused house, problematic,

and now to see the finished article, wonderful.

The fact is the house looks absolutely superb as well.

So it is a win for everybody.

My early fears were that Stan may have taken up too much to do,

but I have to say, looking at the property now,

all my fears were unfounded.

It has been an absolute joy today looking around the property.

-Hopefully it won't be the last time we see you.

-OK.

-See you.

-Goodbye.

Breathing new life back into an empty property can be

a difficult and delicate balancing act.

Particularly if you are squeezing a renovation around the demands

of work and family life.

But when you speak to people who have come through it to create

the perfect home, then suddenly all that effort makes perfect sense.

In Northumberland, Mary Almond had always dreamt of renovating

a seriously derelict house in a remote location.

When we first came to see the farm

we were just driving along with the farmer.

I said, "That property over there, is that part of the farm?"

And he said, "Yes, but it is a separate lot."

And I said to my partner, "I really don't want to buy the farm

"if I can't buy that property

"because that's what I've always wanted to do."

It hadn't been lived in since about the 1930s.

The roof of the barn had fallen down. It was very derelict.

Before Mary could start renovating this house

she had to find a way of actually accessing it.

When we first came to see the farm,

the only way you could get to this house was on a quad bike.

It was only once they had built the mile-long access road

that they could bring in and basic utilities.

We had to get water from the nearby farm, from a borehole.

It was prohibitively expensive to get electricity here.

So what we have is a wind turbine, in combination with a generator.

Renovating a house in such a remote spot

also made it hard to get builders.

You will actually find, if you want to do

a property in the middle of nowhere, a lot of builders

would not even consider this property because it is too far out.

During the year-long build,

Mary lived in a mobile home, on site.

We bought a caravan, and we thought the project was not going to

take very long, so we did not spend a lot of money on the caravan.

When it got to winter, the caravan started leaking.

And when the television blew up, I said,

"I have got to move into a house!"

In total, Mary spent around £180,000,

doing up this old farmhouse. But, for her, it was worth every penny.

When the weather is very windy, you come in from outside,

you have got your coal in, your logs in, it is lovely and warm,

and you just batten down the hatches.

Those are the moments that I love being in here.

I was meant to build this house. I was meant to rescue it.

It is my legacy, I suppose, I feel that I have saved this house.

Every time I drive over the hill and see it on the skyline,

I think, "Yes, that's special."

Earlier in the programme, we met John and Sue Derham.

They had bought a 1960s bungalow

and were planning to completely reconfigure it.

To help Sue and John,

I took them to meet Carolynne Kortzeenietz, who had taken on

a dilapidated villa-style bungalow and spent seven years doing it up.

Right, guys. This is the place I want you to see.

As you can see, it's a bungalow, a bit later than yours, 1970s,

really good one for you to look at, cos it laid empty for 18 months.

Needed a complete renovation, new windows, new doors, everything.

It's quite big, maybe a touch bigger than yours,

but I think you'll like the layout.

It's quite different, how they've used the space.

Retired restaurateurs Carolynne Kortzeenietz and Karl Heinz

bought this dilapidated villa-style bungalow in 2004

and set out on a renovation

that would take them seven years to fully complete.

The property itself was in a sad and neglected state

when we first saw it.

It just looked unloved, uncared for and neglected, and dirty,

but you can see by the wonderful garden

and by the beautiful view that it had such potential,

we just fell in love with it.

The location was undeniably a huge draw

for the couple, who have maximised the available light and view

to create a bright open-plan three-bedroom home.

We did do quite a lot of work with the conservatory area,

because that at the beginning was just a lean-to conservatory,

so that had to come down,

and there was a great deal of thought spent on that,

and the rest of it was pretty much left as it was by room,

but just decorated and the bathrooms and the kitchen were put in new.

When I think back to how the property was,

now, it's absolutely amazing.

We just love living here. It's absolutely fantastic.

Oh, wow. Oh, that's beautiful.

-Oh, look at the view.

-Yes!

So much lovely, natural light, and a feeling of space. Beautiful.

Fantastic. How is it you get so much light?

Obviously, you've got a lot of glass here,

but how do you keep bringing it through?

What tips do you have there?

Well, yes, obviously we've got this huge conservatory

with this big, high roof,

which brings in a lot of light. A lot of light furniture.

-Sort of painted a lot of furniture as well, actually.

-Oh, right.

Yes, to make it light. Kept playing around with it all the time.

-Yes, I was just wondering whether we should go open-plan.

-Oh, right!

-It's a big change.

-Another wall gone.

Were you going through the process

these guys are going through now, where you think one day,

"OK, we'll do that there

"and have that there," and then you come back to it,

"No, actually, that's got to go back there"?

-Oh, yeah, absolutely.

-Constantly.

-Absolutely.

We would discuss and think and change all the time.

-I mean, you have to throw ideas at one another, don't you?

-Yes, yes.

And bounce off one another about what you're going to do,

what you think is right, and what he thinks is right.

-Yes.

-You're not going to agree all the time, are you?

-No.

-And the point here really is a point of considering all the options.

-Yes.

We need to spend time there and look at the plans

and walk through the plans and make sure they are going to work.

-Lovely. Well, I think we should see some more, shall we?

-OK, yes.

-Do you want to lead us through, Carolynne?

-Yes.

-Oh, this is lovely.

-This is nice, isn't it?

-So, this is the master bedroom?

-Yes.

-It's lovely.

It's a really nice feel, isn't it?

And if you've got this nice bedroom to come to,

-then you've got your private space as well.

-Other options.

It just shows even with open-plan, you can divvy up

and have more private, cosy corners to rooms.

-Yeah.

-So let's talk about budget. It was a very big project.

-Yes.

-Took a long time.

-Yes.

Did you have any idea of what it would cost?

-What did it end up costing?

-I think around 80,000

in the end, really, the majority of which went on the windows

and the conservatory, obviously.

-And the kitchen and the two bathrooms.

-That gives me

-some hope, then, I think.

-Well, it certainly is within the ballpark

-you were talking about, isn't it?

-It's good.

When it comes to bringing an empty building back to life

and working with what you have,

and I suppose, to some extent, being flexible,

what is it they have to bear in mind? Is it perseverance?

Is it just trying to stay very buoyant and positive

even though it can be a long project?

Yeah, positive. Yes, yeah.

Enjoying every day and being pleased with what you've done that day,

and if things don't go quite right, well, it doesn't really matter,

-does it?

-No.

-I always say don't worry about it,

you can always put it right.

-It's not life-threatening.

-Exactly.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

Later on, I will catch up with John and Sue,

to see if everything they learned helped them

put the plans for their dream home into action.

There are different scales of renovation project,

from needing just a lick of paint to a complete rebuild.

Over a year ago, I visited Pendle in Lancashire where

I met a Regeneration Officer who was spearheading a project to

bring rows of empty residential houses back to life,

to rejuvenate an entire community.

Many of the houses in the area didn't actually meet modern

living standards and were deemed unsuitable for tenants.

Thankfully, the local council had stepped in

and started to revive the area.

Back at the beginning of the project,

I met Senior Regeneration Officer, Iftekhar Bokhari,

to hear all about it.

You had a real problem here

with derelict and empty properties, what's happened?

The properties in this area are predominantly two-bedroom terrace houses.

The housing that was built in 1880 is not actually

suitable for modern-day living today.

Now here we have Every Street, and that seemed to be the focal point of your development.

Why there? Why start with that?

Well, the whole block was completely derelict,

and we felt that the fact that we needed to concentrate on that block

-and bring that block up to standard.

-So what did you do?

What solution did you come up with?

The solution that we came up with was that we were going to retain

the properties and bring them up to heritage standards.

Secondly, we were going to create a variety to make sure that the

housing reflected the needs of the community.

We were going to go for "two into ones",

so creating two-bedroom, four-bedroom, six-bedroom houses

in an area that was actually predominantly two-bedroom houses.

And here, this street is a really good example, isn't it?

This is what you are dealing with before.

This is exactly what we were dealing with.

You've just got the row of derelict and then these are just finished.

-Shall we look inside one?

-Yes, why not?

Oh, wow. It's very smart.

So, you've got a front room there, this is a kitchen

and also a big dining room that's been knocked through.

And then that would be one property originally,

but you've knocked through to make it two properties.

-That's right, yes.

-And upstairs you've got four bedrooms.

-And a family bathroom.

My goodness and this is on the market for how much?

-It's on the market for 135.

-Wow. OK.

And in terms of money, you would say you spent far more

than 135 renovating this and bringing it up to scratch?

Yes, so the idea is that we're putting the investment in now,

but for the next 30, 40, 50 years,

we have a sustainable community making full use

of these houses, and as their circumstances change,

the houses are flexible enough to accommodate for that.

The council had high hopes of bringing 200 boarded-up houses back

into use with the aim of eradicating these ghost streets for good.

Today, one year on in Pendle and things are looking up.

Last time you are here, you saw all the scaffolding up

and all the building work going on.

Now the actual building work is now complete

and these houses will be on the market for sale in the next couple of weeks.

When we were first here, just seven houses had been completed.

Now that figure stands at 70 and the first tenants have already moved in.

And as hoped for, the improvement to the houses has had a

far-reaching effect.

I think it's improved the area

and it's sort of brought the local community together as well.

The regeneration of the houses around here has made a real

difference to the community.

It's brought new families in

and we've all gelled together really well.

Of course, a real community doesn't just need houses.

We're working in partnership with Lancashire County Council who are building a new school here

and there building this new 300-place school

because they see that the area is coming up

and there's a young population and a growing population in the area

and the school will cater for future provision of that.

With the council investing in future generations,

this project really is a success story.

If we can ensure that the housing that we put here

meets the needs of the community and it makes them

stay in the area for the long-term, it makes the whole development

sustainable and we can more or less guarantee that

if you come back in another 120 years, you will still have people living in the area.

When I first met John and Sue Derham,

they had just caught they had just bought this 1960s detached bungalow

and they have some exciting ideas about how

they could can transform it into the perfect home to enjoy retired life.

We have lots of thoughts,

it's just how we convert that into the final product.

Well, here I am, I'm back in Somerset to see John and Sue

and, honestly, if I didn't have the address and I wasn't sure

I was standing in the correct place, I would have passed it by,

I wouldn't have realised this was their house.

It has changed completely. Everything seems to have altered.

It's amazing and it's only been nine months.

-Hey, Sue, how are you doing?

-Hello, lovely to see you again, Joe.

-John, how are you?

-Joe.

-This is almost literally unbelievable.

-Yes, very different.

-What a transformation.

-Are you happy with where you've got to?

-So far, yes.

-And you're living in?

-Yes.

-I've got to come and have a look.

Do come in.

'Sue and John had planned to completely reconfigure

'the layout of the house, so I'm excited to see the results.'

Hey, look at that, that's worked out well.

'It's hard to believe that what once was a dated bedroom is now

'this modern kitchen.'

Really nice, really spacious, really light and very modern.

When we met last time, you had just taken place on,

you didn't really know what you wanted to do with it.

It was the perfect time to get inspiration.

You were toying with the idea of going open plan,

so how did you end up with this? Talk me through your decision.

Well, we decided that this was going to be the kitchen. It made sense.

We decided that we wanted to be shut off, we didn't want to be

on display when we were eating breakfast in our night clothes!

Sue, now you're in, how does it?

-Are you feeling pretty smug?

-It's lovely to be in.

It's lovely. We love living here, we like the village, it's just lovely.

This is great, but there's obviously much more to see. Shall we continue?

-Yes.

-Lead the way.

Now this is really impressive.

The kitchen is lovely, but this is a kind of a "wow" room, isn't it?

It's because of this height and this light.

How did you end up with it? Is this the same wall that was here before?

-Yes.

-The same frame, yes, we just took out the ceiling.

Oh, that is an incredible difference.

I imagined the roof was sloping down, it felt a lot darker

and enclosed before.

We gain every bit of light and sun, we gain in here,

and it really warms the room up and it's just lovely to sit here.

We've got solar panels on the roof which generate the electricity

powering the under-floor heating.

So the under-floor heating is all powered off the solar panels?

-Yes.

-That's the plan, does it actually work like that?

-Well we hope so!

-Early days yet.

And that's what's important because this is a home for you guys to enjoy your retirement in

and you don't want to be surprised by big bills.

And you've built that into your planning.

It's not just about windows and walls, it's about money and streams of revenue.

It is, yes, because we're retired now we are on a pension

-so we need to make sure that we've covered those angles.

-Perfect.

No nasty surprises when we're in our dotage.

'On the other side of the house, this airy bedroom is a world

'away from the beige kitchen originally in this space.'

-This is your master bedroom, yes? And it's en-suite?

-Yes.

And the whole point, is it's all flat all ground level.

-Yes, walk-in shower.

-Walk-in shower, no stairs anywhere and it's quiet,

-which is what you wanted.

-Yes, just the church bells on Sunday morning.

Now, remind me what you hoped to complete

the project for in terms of budget originally?

We started off thinking that we wanted to spend no more

than 100,000.

When we worked it out with the renewable energy side of it,

it was probably about 120,000 in total.

So not much over your 10% contingency?

Is not disastrous, it's something you were comfortable with

-but you wanted to do it properly.

-We wanted to do it right.

Yes and we've got exactly what we want.

Apart from the fact we still have the garden to do.

-That's another ongoing project.

-Yes, that will come.

Guys, I'm really pleased it's worked out so well. Congratulations.

This is your ideal home now for many, many years to come.

-I hope so, yes.

-No stairs and very few bills.

-Yes.

It doesn't seem this could have worked out any better for Sue and John.

They are absolutely chuffed with their new home.

I think it all comes down to planning in the end.

They were clear about what they wanted

and how the house would suit their lifestyle,

particularly in their retirement years,

and they stuck to their plans.

And now they couldn't be happier with their new home

and they've done a brilliant job so I'm delighted for them.

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