Karen Cartwright Britain's Empty Homes

Across the country, empty properties that could be homes

are just waiting to be brought back into use.

I'll be finding out why and what you need to do

to rescue a house for yourself.

And, along the way, I'll be doing some digging of my own to

find out more about our housing stock, our heritage and why

we should be both reinventing, and preserving, Britain's empty homes.

Everyone knows the signs of an abandoned property -

overgrown gardens, boarded-up windows, peeling paintwork.

But, for anyone brave enough to take one on, to nurture it, to put in the

time and care, the transformation can be absolutely huge.

And it doesn't just go for derelict houses. Abandoned shops, warehouses,

even pubs, all have the potential to be turned into dream homes.

On today's show, I'll be meeting the novice renovators who've taken on

a very unusual property.

So how non-existent is the budget?

-Very small.

-5,000.

-5,000? Big pub?

-Yeah.

-OK.

I'll be visiting a unique building that's been given a lifeline.

It was an open-air ward, to do with tuberculosis.

-So they would have got their sea air from that top balcony.

-Exactly.

And we'll be joining an empty property officer on a mission

to turn derelict buildings into habitable homes.

The last time I saw it, it was a dump!

Yeah, I would say. Pigeons, rats...

When Sarah Mazloom and Claire Howell decided they needed more space

for Claire's expanding antique and vinyl business,

they hit upon the idea of buying and renovating an empty pub.

We've just purchased The Squirrel Inn, which is an ex-pub.

It was closed down just over a year ago

and we're looking to make it into a family home.

Set in the heart of the village of Wollerton in Shropshire,

they knew immediately that this derelict pub was the one for them.

I didn't want to just move to a normal house. I wanted a challenge.

I just said that if I move,

it has to be something that's a bit unique and special,

and something that we can both work on and do up, and make our own home.

The pair mortgaged their house to fund

the £140,000 purchase of The Squirrel Inn.

But they bought the place without planning permission to turn it from

a pub to a residential property so they're taking a huge gamble.

The scale of the project is quite large.

I've been a plaster and decorator for several years now

but I've never tackled a project on this sort of scale.

Sarah and Claire have just moved in and I'm meeting up with them

to find out more about their plans for the pub.

I'll also be introducing them to a couple who transformed

a crumbling barn into a modern and airy family home.

-Morning, ladies, how are you? I'm Joe.

-Hi, Joe, I'm Sarah.

I'm Claire. Nice to meet you.

Tell me about this place. What do you know about it?

We know that it was an old coaching house and we know it's

definitely pre-1900 but that's all we've been able to find out so far.

-So what excited about this place?

-It was just the location.

It's fantastic. Superb views of the country and the potential and the size of the property itself.

Well, it's very much a pub from the outside.

-I'm keen to see it from the inside, so shall we take a look?

-BOTH: Yep.

-Come on then.

Oh, wow, look at this. So, as soon as you enter, here it is.

The bar's right there. And it's pretty much as it would have been when it stopped working, right?

Exactly as it would have been when it was last trading,

and we don't want to change anything about that.

We still want to keep that look.

Because that's what attracted us to the place.

Yeah, I was going to say, why would you buy a pub?

Because it's quite unusual, isn't it?

Pubs are associated with having a good time, being around people, and that's kind of how we are.

We're quite sociable people and we entertain a lot.

We just want to keep that character and enjoy it for ourselves.

Wow. Well, there's certainly plenty of character with... it looks like a working bar.

The lamb hotpot, presumably, has cooled a bit. That's still on the board.

I wouldn't recommend that one!

Whether they end up keeping the bar or not, until they get permission

from the council for change of use from commercial to residential,

Sarah and Claire can't make any structural changes to the pub.

However, provided their gamble pays off, this place has

the potential to become a fantastic, quirky living space.

So, while you don't have planning permission to change

the use of the downstairs, what can you do with it?

Well, this space we want to turn into a sort of a library,

Gothic sort of area, with the fabulous inglenook fireplace.

Yeah, because you've got that to work with. I mean, that's great, isn't it?

Yes. And we'll keep the beams.

We may strip them down a bit, make them a little bit lighter.

Just make it really nice and cosy.

Having been unloved and unlived-in for over a year,

Sarah and Claire have got a lot of work ahead of them,

if they're going to make The Squirrel Inn feel cosy again.

So I'll be doing all the insulating, of plastering, concrete screeding

All that kind of stuff.

And for new bathrooms, kitchens, things like that,

I've got lots of contacts in the trade

so I'll be exhausting those over the next few months.

That is quite useful.

If Sarah didn't have a trade, and we didn't know people,

then this would have been out of the question for us.

-OK.

-Because the budget is almost non-existent.

So how non-existent is the budget?

-Very small.

-5,000.

-5,000? Big pub?

-Yeah.

-OK.

So a lot of work to do ourselves, yeah.

OK, well, let's see a bit more, shall we?

Upstairs, they plan to keep the existing three bedrooms and add a large ensuite to the master bedroom.

-Well, very good. It's actually in pretty good condition.

-Yeah.

-And you've even got a little kitchen just through there.

-Yeah.

Eventually this will become a bedroom ensuite,

once we've got the kitchen downstairs,

but that's a long way off.

Brilliant, OK.

Downstairs, the industrial pub kitchen will become a study

and what was the restaurant will become a large modern kitchen-diner.

I've got to say, I am worried for you.

I know you've got experience in the industry but on such a small budget,

you need to get to a point where you're not living in a pub.

You actually do get to make this your home.

What's the timescale here? When would you like this to be completed?

We're not really setting ourselves a timescale because I think that would be demoralising.

For me, it's essentially a busman's holiday.

I've got to go out and do plastering in order to come home and do the plastering!

-Gosh! So you've got quite a few years ahead of you.

-Yes.

Put it this way, there won't be a project after this one.

Renovation of a property this size would normally cost

in the region of at least £20,000.

So, with only £5,000 in their kitty, I'm a little concerned.

Well, this is a huge building which makes this a massive project.

Frankly, quite overwhelming.

OK, some things are in their favour.

The fact that Sarah is a qualified plaster rather, that's brilliant.

But, even so, the ladies seem a bit nervous.

Completely understandable in this situation.

Later on, I'll be taking Sarah and Claire to meet a pair of seasoned home-restorers,

who I'm hoping will be able to offer up some insight and give them some guidance.

It's not just buyers like Sarah and Claire who are on the look-out for empty property.

Britain's empty homes come in all shapes and sizes

and states of disrepair, and, up and down the country,

there's an army of empty property officers who are dedicated to

finding empty homes and making sure they're brought back into use.

On the south coast, Mike Thompson is Thanet's empty property officer.

He's on a mission to save this area of Kent's empty buildings from dereliction and demolition.

We currently bring back into use something around 100 properties a year.

So, in the six years nearly I've been doing this, that equates to about 600 properties.

With retirement in sight, Mike's determined to leave a lasting legacy.

The most fantastic part about my job is seeing the transformation

that takes place when a long-term empty property is brought back into

use and provides much-needed family accommodation.

Mike deals with all manner of vacant properties but, today,

he's on his way to oversee the regeneration of an entire street,

Bellevue Road in Ramsgate.

The council's very keen to see properties like this redeveloped,

especially in the conservation area.

Mike's meeting with the developer and the architect

who are in the process of turning the street into family homes.

The team are now four houses away from completion and they're looking for

Mike's assistance in liaising between them and the planning office.

We have seven of the derelict buildings which we're working on currently.

At the moment, we've got one of the buildings complete

and a couple have moved in, so that's sold already which is great news for us and for them.

Bellevue Road was a busy shopping street in the 1960s but,

over the last 20 years, the rise of one-stop supermarket shopping

saw many of the four and five-storey buildings go to rack and ruin.

Tell me what's been going on since I was last here.

Well, what you can see now is, you've got number 36 Bellevue,

which is obviously the gutted old shop, which is derelict.

Number 34, the old newsagents, another derelict building.

And we're bringing them back to the same residential quality

as you can see in number 32, 30 and 28.

So the whole project now will be seven really good-quality family homes.

You know, made from what was just a derelict street scene.

To have been involved with a great... And credit to all of you.

-Yeah, thanks, Mike.

-Well, we're nearly there.

-Yep.

The Bellevue Road renovation programme has now been

under way for five years, and it still isn't finished.

At one end, it's a building site but at the other end,

the street's first resident is concerned that the work is ongoing.

Mike is bringing the good news that the building will be

complete in three and a half months' time.

It was a bit of a gamble coming down here, Mike, as you know.

We're the only ones here amongst all this bombsite, in a way.

Frank, someone has to be the pioneer.

All being well, in a few months you'll have new neighbours.

-Oh, excellent!

-That'll be great, won't it?

-Absolutely.

-Instead of builders?

-Yeah, instead of builders!

It's exciting and rewarding enough to be involved in bringing one

empty property back into use, but when you're involved in a whole

terrace of seven, to make such an impact on a street as this,

here in Ramsgate, the council's particularly proud.

This has been a really good day at work.

Of course, finding a vacant property

in the right area at the right price is only half the battle.

Once you've got a hands on an empty shell, the real work begins.

Because pulling a previously empty property back from the brink can be a real labour of love.

When David and Min Pullen bought this former NHS property

in a leafy enclave of South London,

it was a wreck that bore no resemblance to a family home.

We overlooked all the potential work that it needed and thought,

"You know, this is the kind of house we want. This is the street we want to live in."

They paid a staggering £955,000 at auction for the property

but it would have cost twice as much had they purchased it as

the fully renovated home they walked into one year later.

Buying this former GP surgery with no planning permission

to turn it into a residential dwelling was a massive risk.

The biggest gamble was buying a house that was a commercial property

with no guarantee that we would get permission to actually live in it.

So we had to buy it on those terms.

We had to raise the money on those terms.

And we didn't know at that stage, and didn't know for three months,

if we'd ever be allowed to live here.

By the time David and Min took ownership of the property,

it had been empty for nine months.

I suppose the hardest thing to look through was the fact that it was a hospital.

It wasn't even a case of someone else's decor.

It was a reception desk.

It was medical cabinets, it was dentists' chairs.

We've lived in Victorian houses before

but we hadn't seen anything with these dimensions.

The ceilings were much higher than we'd ever seen before.

The scope for renovation was huge.

Min and David were quick to spot some advantages of taking on an empty clinic.

One of the main reasons why we wanted to do this was because

we would never have been able to afford this house,

had it been completed in this kind of condition.

-It was beyond our means.

-Completely.

So this was an opportunity for us to own a house and

live in house like this which would have never come about otherwise.

And it's not just the family who are benefiting from all the

hard work and money spent doing up the property.

It's only after speaking to neighbours who have lived here for years and years

that they were really pleased that this was back to being a family house again.

The biggest benefit of moving in here is really how much happier

the family is because of the space.

The kids feel much more like they can spread out.

And, for us, having space where we can not see them for a while,

and not hear them upstairs, is fantastic!

I never want to do it again. It was a big thing. I'm glad we did it.

-We don't need to do it again.

-We don't need to do it again.

This is exactly how we wanted it.

Of course, Britain's empty properties are made up

of more than just houses.

Across the UK, there are all manner of buildings lying empty,

many of them with fascinating pasts.

I've come to Brighton to see one such place.

It's a building of historical and architectural significance.

It's been empty five years and it's at the centre of a scheme

not only to rescue it, but to do its bit to provide affordable housing.

Until recently, the Royal Alexandra Children's Hospital was not

just at risk of falling into disrepair,

it was at risk of being lost for ever.

After 126 years of service, the building was sold to developers

and the NHS moved to a nearby site in Brighton.

Now, of course, large institutions like the NHS are constantly

modifying and centralising their services which can mean

buildings like the Royal Alex suddenly become redundant.

So, what do we do with them?

Because, left vacant, they're at risk of vandalism,

dereliction and, ultimately, demolition.

Today, I'm going to be learning how properties like these

can be rescued and reinvented.

-Hello, Graham.

-Hello.

Local retired architect and member of the Clifton Hill Association

Graham Towers was integral to the campaign to save this property.

The local conservation association organised a survey to see

what people wanted to do with the existing buildings,

which showed a very strong support for saving the main building from demolition.

We put pressure on the local authority to try and preserve the building.

In the meantime, the developer, they were trying to get permission

to demolish the entire site and replace it with 155 flats.

The campaign failed to get the building listed.

But the developers were refused permission to demolish it

as the hospital lies within a conservation area.

Then, in 2010, a report recommended that the original building,

which dates back to 1881, be retained, but that the mishmash

of outbuildings, erected over the years, could be knocked down.

I'm meeting with David Brown, head architect.

The plan is to turn the main building into 20 luxury apartments

with a further 99 affordable new homes to be

constructed on the site of the flattened outbuildings.

Before we go inside, looking this frontage, what are you doing with it?

Are there any changes here?

The main change to this frontage will be that the later editions of the

glazed balconies will be taken off to form terraces to the units within.

-It was an open-air ward to do with tuberculosis.

-Ah.

So when the children were sent here to recuperate from TB,

they needed the fresh air.

The great Victorian belief in the sea air.

-So they would have got their sea air on that top balcony.

-Exactly. That was it.

-That's fascinating. Well, I think it's time we had a look inside.

-Definitely. Let's go.

The developers plan to keep as many of the original features

as possible, and they're hoping these will provide an extra draw.

This will be the main entrance hall and lobby

and all the original features will be refurbished and retained.

The Royal Alexandra was saving local sick children

until its last patient left the ward in 2007.

It's good news that not only will this building be saved,

but that affordable housing will be built around the site,

enriching the community.

Oh, wow!

It's a big space. I assume you get two flats out of this.

There will be two flats here, yeah.

There'll be a corridor running up through the side of the room

we're standing on at the moment, a flat at the end

and then a flat in the middle here.

The thing about this building it's great

because it comes from a really significant era in our history.

The State, for the first time, by 1880,

was really involved with public health and it started

building specialist institutions like children's hospitals.

But also, perhaps more significantly,

there is such affection for this building in the local community.

So, therefore, it is great that, between local campaigners like Graham,

but also developers who are willing to take a risk,

it's possible to breathe new life into a building like this.

And, who knows?

Hopefully it will still keep going in the next century.

Earlier, I met Claire Howell and Sarah Mazloom who showed me

their newly acquired disused pub The Squirrel Inn.

The couple plan to turn it into a home but they haven't yet secured planning permission.

I'm taking them to meet a couple who faced similar planning restrictions

when they bought their previously empty home.

So, guys, this is the property I brought you to see.

-First impressions?

-It's amazing.

-Yeah, fantastic.

Originally it was a farmhouse attached to a barn.

These guys bought it in 2006.

It was in quite a state and the whole thing, it dates back to before 1750.

-Shall we go and have a look inside?

-Yeah.

-Yeah. Come on.

In 2006, Lyndon and Suzanne Hallwell bought

this 300-year-old farmhouse complete with barns and stunning views.

It was a two-bedroom farmhouse to start off with, barn attached.

-I really liked it.

-I really hated it. Yeah.

Despite her misgivings, after a second viewing Suzanne saw the potential of the place

and they snapped it up for £381,000 at auction.

For me, the appeal of the property was the location.

We ended up getting 26 acres of land around it,

so it's a little slice of England for us,

with a gorgeous property that we could make our home for ever.

Over the next three years, they set about transforming

the farmhouse into a large and impressive family home.

But it wasn't always quite so cosy.

The couple braved freezing winters in a caravan on site in order

to realise their ambitious vision.

Where you're standing now was the cowshed.

The room behind us was full of hay.

There were cow stalls and feeding troughs

that had been here for quite some time.

I loved this place and I hated it in equal measures.

Did you have to get planning permission before you did any work?

Yeah, the barn was for agricultural use so to make it into a home we had to get the change of use.

The gentleman we used who drew the plans for us

was familiar with the council and they were familiar with him,

so that they're not nervous about what potentially you might do to it.

This would have been, after five years, crumbling around

so you can make the argument that, actually, you're saving a building.

-These guys tackled it straightaway.

-Yes.

-Is that something now you're thinking about...

I think it's moved up the list, in terms of priorities.

-So heating and insulation and planning.

-Good advice then.

Shall we go on through?

After three years of discomfort, hard work and a renovation budget

of £150,000, Lyndon and Suzanne have turned the farmhouse

and barn into four large bedrooms, an amazing double-high kitchen

and two living areas where Suzanne has really made her mark.

I built the fireplace at the back.

-Wow!

-All the stone on there, yeah.

It's just patience, really, and taking the time.

And not being afraid just to give it a go.

Claire, does that encourage you as well, to see what can be done from scratch?

Yeah, definitely. I want to do some of it as well because, you know,

that's part of it for us, to say,

"Oh, well, I did that bit and you did that bit."

These guys, I think it's fair to say, to be polite, are doing it on a particularly tight budget.

Any tips in terms of how you can save,

or anything that you found was pretty useful?

Know which things you're happy to compromise on.

Ideally we'd have loved to have oak floorboards above us, but we put pine in.

There are areas where you can kind of bring that cost back a bit.

I'll be catching up with Sarah and Claire later

for their thoughts after seeing Lyndon and Suzanne's home.

I'm hoping they've gleaned some useful pointers about renovating on a tight budget.

But first, back on the Kent coast, empty property officer

Mike Thompson is busy rescuing Thanet's vacant buildings.

He's on his way to check on a property that used to house Butlins staff

when Margate was a buzzing holiday destination.

Mike's been involved in the renovation process

every step of the way and now it's nearing completion.

The hotels themselves used to spread all the way along the seafront here

and I'm really excited to see what's actually happened to this one.

When the main Butlins buildings were sold off,

this staff accommodation was left abandoned,

before attracting the attention of independent developer Lance Coutinho.

-Hello, Lance.

-Hi, Mike. How are you?

Nice to see you. I'm fine. You?

Yeah, I'm great, thanks.

I'm excited about today.

I want to see the transformation I know you've started on this building.

Last time I saw it, it was a dump!

Yeah, I would say. Pigeons, rats, all that sort of stuff.

-Shall we go in?

-Yeah, sure.

I like the finish in here. Look at that outlook.

I mean, what value that, eh?

Isn't that fantastic! Straight out to sea, unobstructed.

-No buildings opposite at all.

-None.

This will sell the flat on its own, won't it?

-That's what sold it to me when I was looking before the auction.

-Yeah.

Who wouldn't want to live here, eh?

At first, Lance was refused planning permission as the district council

has a policy which doesn't allow private houses to be turned into flats.

But he and Mike joined forces to argue that the building had not

previously been run as a private home and, in the end,

planning permission for four flats was granted.

We had to prove that this was not a dwelling house. It was an ex-hotel.

-That's right.

-And they eventually accepted the evidence.

-But you were helped somewhat in that, weren't you?

-Yeah.

I seem to remember a urinal block and a ballroom floor.

Hardly what you'd find in a normal house!

-And all the electricity, gas, water supplies were coming from the hotel.

-Yeah.

So it was never an independent dwelling house.

I like your choice of materials, the style, everything about it.

-This is great. Can we look at the rest of it?

-Yeah, sure.

-Let's go round the back.

-Thank you.

We had a bit of a problem with the planners not wanting us to overlook.

-Right. Hence the obscure class.

-Yeah, obscure glass, and raised a bit.

Yes, that's right. That gets over the overlooking, doesn't it?

-It's still bright.

-You get the light in.

-Yeah, it's still a bright room.

-Absolutely.

Kent county council have pioneered a No Use Empty initiative which

helps landlords and developers apply for interest-free loans to do up

empty properties and bring them back onto the market for rental or sale.

Without this initiative, Lance would not have been able to take on

an abandoned property of this size.

-So you've actually got a garden area, haven't you?

-Yeah.

Which you're going to be able to what, section off?

-I'm splitting it in two.

-Mm-hm.

-This flat here, the ground-floor flat, gets this half of the garden.

The first-floor flat will get the other half, an outside space

that's accessible, that they can use for sunbathing, whatever.

Nice idea. Best of luck with the letting. What's the news on that front?

-Actually we've got people coming round today to see it.

-Oh, great!

That's what you want now, some decent tenants in, income coming in, job done.

-All the best.

-OK.

-Bye, Lance.

-Bye.

Hi. You've come for the viewing? I'm Sam, nice to meet you.

I'm Emma, nice to meet you.

Just over a year ago, this property was derelict but now,

thanks to Mike and Kent council's proactive approach,

Lance's development is ready to be viewed by its first potential tenant.

Probably two, three years ago, I couldn't have seen myself living in Cliftonville at all.

But the way the area's sort of coming up and how nice the flat is

and what he's done with it, it's absolutely superb.

Not in a million years could you ever imagine this being an empty property. It's absolutely superb.

I'm actually browsing auction catalogues now,

looking for my next empty property.

I've got the bug now.

I really do enjoy renovating these types of houses.

I think Lance is making a fantastic job and, as he rightly said,

I think he coined the phrase of the day for me,

"From homes for pigeons to homes for people!" Fantastic!

Back in Shropshire, Claire and Sarah have been visiting a converted barn,

in the hope that they can pick up some practical advice and design ideas

for the pub they're hoping to turn into a home on a minuscule budget.

-How inspired are you?

-Oh, it's an incredible property, inside and out.

They've done a great job. The finishes are superb.

And some great advice about what not to do, as much as what we should do.

So you're going forward feeling confident, are you?

-Absolutely, yeah. Definitely.

-Confident, inspired.

-Yeah.

Still slightly daunted.

We wouldn't be human if we didn't admit that but we can't wait to get going.

Yeah, brilliant.

Well, Claire and Sarah certainly seem to have the vision and,

most importantly, the energy to transform their derelict pub into their perfect home.

And, if the empty properties of Britain are going to be rescued and revitalised,

well, you know what?

It's going to take people like them,

people that can see past the crumbling bricks and the leaking roofs,

and realise the fantastic opportunity

to breathe new life back into abandoned homes.

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