Kevin and Rachel Roberts 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, we'll be following property detectives

who track down the owners of these forgotten houses

and help breathe new life into the communities blighted by them.

And I'll be doing some digging of my own to find out

more about housing stock, our heritage and why

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

The decision to take on an empty property

and turn it into a home is never a simple one.

There's always going to be an element of the unknown.

However, if you're prepared to do your research, to plan,

to work hard, then the benefits could far outweigh the risk.

On today's show, I'll be meeting a couple who have

fallen for a rather unusual abode in the heart of the Welsh countryside

and want some guidance on how to kick-start their dream renovation.

I'll be putting the plumbing in, bathroom suites,

underfloor heating, the kitchen and also the spiral cellar.

Goodness. That's huge.

We'll hear about an innovative project aimed at regenerating

an area which was hard hit by the problem of vacant homes.

And Britain's empty property officers

continue their mission to restore deserted houses

to their former glory.

It doesn't look as if anyone's starting any work on this property.

It's starting to feel abandoned now.

Kevin and Rachel Roberts have fulfilled

a lifelong dream by buying a rural building in the heart

of the Welsh countryside, where they plan to raise their young family.

We were looking for about six to nine months for something

in the country, and we saw this in the paper,

and you looked at it and said, "What do you think of this?"

And when you first look at it, it's a very ugly building.

But then, we drove up there to have a look and just the location of it,

the views, everything, it was just perfect.

The space, as well. Then it was a case of what could we do with that building?

Cos when you look at it, it's a cowshed.

A cowshed, indeed.

And the Roberts snapped it up at auction for £102,000,

The sheer size of it and the space,

that's when I could start to see the potential.

Kevin and Rachel have a renovation budget of £170,000.

to transform this former cattle milking shed into their family home.

The main thing is...keeping it on track and on budget.

I wouldn't want to be in a position that I put my family at risk

because of the finances, so it's going to have to be on budget.

The builders are already at work on the structure

and with a strict budget,

DIY enthusiast Kevin will take on a lot of the renovation himself.

But a full time job in the fire and rescue service

means his time is in short supply.

I've got to do a lot of the work myself and trying to juggle that

with family life, as well,

-it certainly has been hard, hasn't it?

-Yeah.

Juggling work and a renovation of this size, Kevin can't help

but feel daunted - even with two little assistants to lend a hand.

If I get it wrong, we either end up with no barn, no family or no job.

It's getting those, it's getting everything right, isn't it?

And making sure that, when we do move into the property,

it does actually turn out to be our dream

and not something that's caused issues.

'I'm meeting up with Kevin and Rachel on the plot of farmland they are going to call home.'

Hi, guys. Nice to meet you.

-Kevin, my wife, Rachel.

-Hi. How are you?

-Fine, thank you.

This is your place - a former cowshed?

It's an old milking barn.

They used to bring the cows in, feed them,

-take the milk before sending it off to the supermarkets.

-Great.

-It's a very unusual place. Can we have a look inside?

-BOTH: Yeah.

'With planning permission already agreed,

'they intend to retain the building's original beams

'and exposed brickwork,

'and turn it into four bedrooms,

'four bathrooms, an open-plan kitchen/diner

'and a large family area.'

Wow, so it really is...

-a big shed.

-HE LAUGHS

How different was it when you bought it?

When we bought it, it had a concrete floor.

It had a central walkway,

right through the middle,

and two rooms here, which Kevin has knocked down now.

In terms of who's doing the work,

are you taking this on now?

I'll be putting the plumbing in,

the bathroom suites, underfloor heating,

the kitchen and also the spiral cellar.

-Goodness - that's huge!

-Yep.

-Of course, doing the work yourself,

a great way to save money - was that the key motivation,

or more that you wanted to learn,

or just wanted to control what was going on?

It was both. We've got a set amount of money,

certain things that we want, and to do that,

a lot of the work I've had to do myself.

The cattle shed is 100 years old,

and stood empty for four years

before Kevin and Rachel saw its potential.

As with many old properties in more isolated settings,

there's a common problem.

What about heating - gas, electricity?

I assume you're not on gas if you're in a cow shed.

There's no mains gas, so for the heating,

the options were LPG, oil or look for sustainable measures,

which we're looking at.

Depending what option you go for, some of these systems

-require quite a lot of investment up front.

-They do, yeah.

Let's talk about budget - what's the budget for the whole renovation?

For the whole renovation, the budget is £170,000.

And how confident are you, keeping within that budget?

Any surprises come up in the build,

we can push it a little bit more,

but we're just going to have to manage that,

-and make savings elsewhere if we need to.

-OK.

When do you plan to move in?

My view is, possibly,

summer 2013, we'll be in here.

-The building I feel will be finished by Christmas.

-Yeah.

That's interesting. You're going to have actually

-probably quite an attractive shell...

-Yeah.

..that's been fitted out, with a new roof, floors and all that,

but you're going to have to wait for your one or two days off a week...

-That's right.

-..to get in, fit a kitchen, do the driveway,

do all this other stuff. It's going to be quite a frustrating time -

are you ready for this, as a couple?

-Er...

-I think we'll manage.

-I think we'll be all right, yeah.

-Still smiling at the moment.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

That's the smile of a couple six months in...

-as opposed to 18 months in!

-Come back in a year!

Well, what an interesting place, and you can tell that

Kevin and Rachel are really excited about this project.

The problem they've got is how you complete this

and get the family to move in as soon as possible

while working on a limited budget.

I want them to meet a couple who've been through all this before.

Hopefully they will have some great advice,

because they've done something very similar.

They've also converted a derelict old barn.

Up and down the country, vacant buildings

are in a state of disrepair - abandoned and unloved,

just waiting to be brought back to life.

There are a dedicated band of officers

who make it their mission to track down these abandoned buildings

and get them lived in again.

In Amber Valley, Derbyshire, empty officer Sue Li

is on her way to a home that's been vacant for 12 years.

Today I'm going to see a property that was purchased

by a landlord I've worked with in the past,

but this one seems to be taking such a long time.

And now, I've had complaints about it

from the neighbours, so I'm going to go and have a look

at their concerns.

The owner was granted planning permission last year

to turn the house into two properties.

Sue last spoke to him six months ago,

but judging by the continuing complaints from the neighbours,

it is possible that very little has been done.

Some improvements have been made since I was last here.

I can see some of the ivy has been cut back.

It still looks unlived-in.

It is looking quite untidy, and it really does need some attention now.

Although some maintenance work has been carried out at the front,

the rear of the property tells a different story.

I've heard reports that at one time,

squatters got into the property, and it's had to be re-secured.

That looks like a fresh padlock.

What's interesting about this garden here

is that there's a fair amount of rubbish.

I mean, there's an office chair.

The wall's obviously fallen down

and there are holes in the fence,

and there's so much carpet in the garden.

Now, I know rats do like carpets and soft furnishings

to use as bedding - it doesn't look like

anybody's starting any work on this property

It's starting to feel abandoned now,

that...that plans just aren't happening.

It's often the case that owners of empty homes remain elusive.

The next best source of information

usually comes from the local residents.

Hi, I'm Sue, and I'm the empty property officer,

and I've been to have a look at the one across the road -

has it ever been broken into,

-or have there ever been squatters there?

-About two or three year ago,

there were squatters came in.

They'd pinched quite a number of agricultural items,

and they used it as a base, according to the police,

for the stuff that they'd stolen from other places.

OK. Would you like to see the property renovated,

-and a nice family move in?

-Well, obviously,

I'd like to see it renovated, because, from appearance's sake,

-for the street.

-Mmm. Thank you for your time.

'Today I found that the property HAS been attracting problems,

'it IS unsightly. If the owner and I'

can't work together on resolving this,

I may have to consider serving a notice.

So, hopefully he'll either do the work himself

or put it on the market and let somebody else do it.

Sue has since made contact with the owner,

and work has now commenced

on clearing and renovating the property.

Breathing new life into an empty property

can often strain your time and your finances.

But it's hard to imagine anything more rewarding

than putting the final touches to a home you've rescued

and restored to its former glory.

And that's exactly how John and Janet Dalglish felt,

when they renovated this early Victorian horse yard.

Well, our idea initially, really,

was to build a house, but we found it quite difficult

to actually find a site to build,

and we came across this, and we just came to have a look at it,

and really thought it was just the thing.

So, we thought we'd convert a property, rather than build,

which seemed like a good idea at the time, but...!

John and Janet spent £240,000 on the horse yard,

which included three stable buildings

and two open-fronted cart sheds.

Plans for their dream retirement home were quick to take shape.

The walls...were stable.

The roof was nearing collapse.

So, it was not quite a shell,

but we had to develop it from scratch.

16 months and £500,000 later,

they are now enjoying this stunning four-bedroom home.

We wanted something a bit more modern,

clean lines, spacious, and I think that's what we've got, really.

While the stables had been derelict for many years,

much of the original brickwork was still in good condition,

and was used in the renovation. They were also keen

to be as environmentally- friendly as possible.

We're very enthusiastic about green energy,

and we're absolutely delighted with how ground-source heating works.

We're really pleased when something like that comes off.

And with a rebuild of this size,

overcoming obstacles is all part of the process.

There have been stresses,

especially when Janet was living up here on her own,

and I was still working in Chichester, so she was

handling the whole thing, doing the project management herself.

So, it certainly hasn't been all roses,

but I would hope that the end result if good.

We're still together, we're still talking to each other,

so I think the answer's positive.

I think the major problem, in a way, has been financial, in that

it always costs twice as much as you think it's going to.

Despite all the stress, they look back on the project

-with fond memories.

-It was intimidating,

but it was very exciting to think

that you could imprint on a building exactly what you wanted.

And I think the thing is that you just have to

do one step at a time, really, and see how that goes,

and then move on to the next one.

So, you certainly don't have it all in your mind to start with -

You just have to take it a bit at a time.

Across the country, there are many areas

where regeneration projects were never finished

due to problems with funding.

This led to large numbers of empty properties

and in turn, problems with vandalism and squatting -

all of which are hugely detrimental to a neighbourhood.

I've come to Newham in east London, where the council's

regeneration programme came to an abrupt halt,

with far-reaching consequences.

John McCollin is a senior projects manager for the council.

At its height, the council had to carry out

a programme of 120 or so

squatting and repossession cases.

How long were these properties going to be empty for?

Was there a problem with the funds coming through?

Well, what actually happened was that

due to the slowdown in the economic climate, it meant

that the phased programme in which

the regeneration was due to take place

actually got delayed further.

Empty properties, they take a lot of money to keep them secure,

they blight the neighbourhood, and no-one's living in them as well,

so you came up with a new approach - what was that, what did you do?

We entered into a contract with a private company

whereby we leased a number of properties

to the private contractor, who was then

required to refurbish these units

and find tenants to move into the properties

so that they became occupied

and against started to regenerate the area.

So, the council still owns the properties, but you lease them out

to a private company which refurbishes them, at no cost to you,

and lease them out to tenants -

seems like it works very well for you.

This has been a real success story for Newham.

We've now put something like 193 properties back into purposeful use,

which would otherwise have been empty for at least another five years.

John has invited me to take a look

at one of the properties which has been renovated.

This house is still boarded up for security reasons,

but it's just waiting for a family to move in.

Oh, wow! So, here we are.

It's a big room, and actually, a pretty big place overall, isn't it?

This is a four-bedroom house. Erm, as you can see,

it's been fully refurbished and redecorated throughout.

Wow. So, new bathroom fixtures, kitchen fixtures,

-the new boiler, everything's gone in.

-Yeah, it's ready now

for a family to come and move into.

How does this make you feel when you see this?

Oh, it's very satisfying.

It seems the scheme is a winner for the council,

but what about the residents?

Mabel has been living in one of the renovations for eight months.

You've moved in, have you, with the family?

Yeah, I have moved in with my three kids, and it's very lovely.

The environment is very quiet.

The accommodation is very... done up to a high standard.

-It's kind of... It feels like home.

-Does it?

-Yeah.

It's very, very comfortable.

It is our home - there's nowhere else to be!

It's reassuring to learn that despite problems with regeneration

and funding, with the right approach,

you don't have to live with empty properties.

Neighbourhoods CAN be revived, and housing made available

for those who need it most.

In Shropshire, I'm taking Kevin and Rachel

to see a barn conversion that should be right up their street.

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

Clearly, it's an old barn - in fact, it was a cow shed,

which sounds familiar! When the owners took it on, Roy and Claire,

encouragingly, they paid a similar amount to you,

about £100,000, for the barn.

Cheers.

Roy and Claire bought their dream project three years ago,

after it had been empty for a staggering 25 years.

It was in quite a mess, really.

It was derelict, basically.

It was going to fall down if something wasn't done to it.

We spotted the potential, and then

we got together with the owners, and a deal was done.

One year later, the conversion was complete.

In addition to the spacious lounge, the barn has three bedrooms

with en suite bathrooms and an open-plan kitchen-diner.

They used as much of the original wood as possible.

Total cost came to £100,000,

and Roy's skills and contacts as a builder proved very useful.

Because I've got the guys that work for me, and have done for years,

it did make the job a lot easier than it possibly would have been

for somebody trying to achieve it on their own

without the knowledge we've got.

In this day and age, when there is definitely a shortage of property,

it's just a waste to leave what can be a valuable property for somebody

to live in, as opposed to something derelict, just deteriorating.

I think it's an awful waste. We've taken something

which was possibly an eyesore, and brought it to something

which people would go by and say, "That's turned out nice."

And that does give you pleasure.

Right...

Wow, look at this!

These guys had very clear features to work with, and had to go

with the wood look, make it as sympathetic as possible -

how far have you got in deciding

the look and the feel inside? Are you going to celebrate

the concrete beams, or cover them up, or...?

-Do you know which way you're going to go?

-We're not really sure yet.

We'll have to see what it looks like further down the line,

-and how much of those concrete beams are exposed...

-Right.

..as to what we do with them.

The vision that we've got might change slightly,

because we'll see what's actually being built up in front of us.

-It's quite fluid, really.

-Fluid's the word, because

as you get into the build,

-you'll then see what's there, and what you can utilise.

-Yeah.

You've got underfloor heating here. How do you power it?

Presumably there's no gas here.

Well, we did research on this, for the various methods,

and we came up with air source heating.

Powered by electric, very economical to run,

the unit was about £5,000. I cannot find a fault.

What amazes me is why more people don't use it.

But there we are.

-This is something you'll look into - does it sound encouraging?

-It does.

I've been looking at the ground source heat,

but I'm going to have to dig a trench to put that in.

It's a lot dearer than what you've quoted of £5,000.

It's more than double.

So, you know, that's certainly an option that we can look into.

'With the Roberts' conversion still being a shell and barely past the blueprints stage,

'seeing this place should give them plenty of ideas for use of space,

'especially in the kitchen.'

Right, really good-sized kitchen.

I imagine it's not too dissimilar from the size your kitchen will be.

Yeah, it's certainly useful to actually see what it could look like

and it makes me realise how big the kitchen is going to be

and what we can fit in.

Rachel and Kevin's big challenge is trying to stay not just within budget

but also trying to get work to proceed as quickly as possible,

so they actually get into the house, you know?

Any advice on how you balance those two priorities.

I think a big part of it is getting the right tradesmen to start with.

There are some absolutely fantastic tradesmen in the country

-and you've just got to go with your gut feeling.

-Mm.

I suppose it's inevitable at some point

that frustration builds, that progress isn't quick enough.

Any advice on that front?

The only thing I would say to you both

is you can get bogged down in things.

Don't be afraid to stand back, have a weekend away.

You lose two days and make up ten,

because you come back with a totally different light,

the weight's off your back

and you're fresh to it. It does work.

That's two days with the kids as well!

You can be a normal family for a weekend.

Thank you so much for showing us round.

I'm pleased it's been such a success and you've got a great home here.

-Hopefully, it's been very useful for you too.

-Yeah, it has.

-No problem.

-Thank you.

In Derbyshire, empty property officer, Sue Li, is back on the road.

Sue covers an area with approximately 1,000 vacant buildings

and, today, she's off to see a special house.

Today, I'm going to have a look at a property

that's been bought by one of our housing association partners.

We asked them to apply for a grant from the Homes and Communities Agency,

which they were successful in.

And now they're buying five empty properties in our area

and they're going to renovate them and re-let them as affordable housing.

-Hi, Christine.

-Hi, nice to see you again.

Yeah, looks like a lovely little house you've got here.

Yes, we're really pleased with it, really are.

Good, let's take a look!

This two-bedroom family home is in dire need of redecoration to make it habitable again.

But the housing association plan to carry out more than just cosmetic work.

We're going to do quite a drastic improvement of the property.

We are duty-bound to do certain works,

which will improve its ability to run cheaply.

There'll be economical heating within the property.

The boiler system will make it very economical to heat and to run,

so it makes it a very comfy, warm property to live in.

The intention is to insulate the building as well

as rewiring the whole house and installing a modern kitchen,

making it as energy-efficient as possible.

Every room will be inspected and improved.

OK, so this'll make a nice child's bedroom, I presume?

It will do, yeah, when we've done all the work, redecorated,

take out this carpet.

-And it'll make a lovely, lovely room.

-OK.

We've got quite a bit of work to do in the bathroom. We're going to replace the bath

with a bath that has a lower water capacity.

We'll put a shower in, again, as a water-saving device,

fully re-tile around the bathroom area.

Finally, we'll put a thermostatic mixing valve in,

which keeps the temperature of the water at a lower temperature,

-to avoid scalds and burns. It's still hot water...

-Yeah.

..but it's not boiling hot water.

Oh, that sounds good!

It's going to be wonderfully safe and environmentally-friendly bathroom.

-Lovely fresh and modern bathroom for a new family.

-Good.

'So, the builders will be in in a couple of weeks,

'the property occupied within a couple of months.

'I'm glad the housing association could take on this property'

and I look forward to seeing the four more

that they're going to be purchasing as part of this scheme.

Back in Shropshire, Kevin and Rachel have been getting some advice

from a couple who've lived through their barn conversion

and are now enjoying the benefits.

How have you found today? Has it been useful to look round?

It's been inspiring to see the finished product

and certainly the advice that's been given,

especially with regard to the air source heat pump.

-Anything for you, Rachel, that stands out?

-I've just enjoyed seeing the final finish, really,

and the kitchen, the layout and how it's all come together as a home.

Yeah. And the thing that stood out for me was the advice to take a bit of time out.

Every now and again, just back off for a weekend.

Yeah, it's essential that I do take time for the family.

But it also helps to ensure that what we're building there

is what we both want and not what I just think we want

-and I go ahead!

-It's all ahead of you. It's a really exciting place.

It's going to be huge, everything you wanted. Good luck!

-I hope it turns out really well.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

And thank you for showing us round this property.

I'm really excited for Kevin and Rachel.

They've clearly got a great place. I think today's been very encouraging.

It's shown them that it's absolutely possible

to convert a derelict old farm building into a lovely home.

I think also sometimes it's easy to get lost in plans and paperwork

and stuck with a shell on a building site.

But today has helped them visualise what it can become.

It's given them plenty of ideas and inspiration

to see their project through.

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