Yvonne Ingley Britain's Empty Homes

Up and down the country there are empty properties

just waiting to be brought back to life.

I'll be discovering why and how you can turn a diamond in the rough

into a gem of a home.

We'll be following the Empty Property Officers

whose job it is to track down the owners of these forgotten houses

and get them back into use.

And I'll be finding out more about our housing stock, our history

and why we should be both preserving and reinventing

Britain's empty homes.

Now, we've all got busy lives

so it's easy to pass by an empty property, without even giving it a second look.

But if you do pause for thought, just for a moment

to consider the impact these sad, solitary structures have on their immediate surroundings,

then you may well want to join the growing numbers of people

reinvigorating these buildings and restoring them

to their former glory.

Hello, I'm Joe.

'On today's show I'll be meeting a lady who's bought an empty house

'but is in need of advice and inspiration when it comes to turning it into a home.'

This would be a sort of dining room, I suppose.

Well, this is the "not sure" room.

We'll find out about a training scheme that's helping young people

breathe life into abandoned buildings.

There's lots of scope to get the apprentices real work experience to get them started in the industry.

And we'll be following one of Britain's Empty Property Officers

working to bring derelict places back into use.

And it's the last one in the street to be done, isn't it?

It completes the picture then.

Retired former air hostess Yvonne Ingley was looking for a new challenge

when she moved back to her home town of Burton-on Trent from London nearly four years ago.

When I was sent the details, I knew straight away it was the house I wanted.

I wanted a project and this is absolutely wonderful for me.

It's something I can be absorbed in,

I can enjoy, it's exciting, it's stimulating.

Being the adventurous type, she decided to buy

a property at auction,

winning this three-bedroom 1930s house for £107,000.

It was the first auction I'd been to and it was quite busy.

The house I wanted was the second from last on the list.

I had a set price

of what I wanted to bid for and I got it for just over 2,000 my limit.

Yvonne's got a good idea of what she wants to achieve with her first renovation -

although she knows she's not 100% prepared for what this project might entail.

It's been very difficult to decide what to do with the house

but what I want to do is have a sense of sitting and looking out at the garden.

I don't quite know how I'm going to do that.

I'm meeting Yvonne at the house to find out just what she's taken on

and help her decide what to do with it.

Before she snapped it up, this 1930s semi had been left empty for six months.

-Hi, Joe.

-Lovely to meet you. How are you?

-Good, thanks. A bit cold.

-A bit cold. Now, this is your place, isn't?

-It is, yeah.

-So what attracted you to this place?

-Well, it's in a very nice area.

It's quiet roads.

And the people around here are family people.

-And you found it at auction.

-Got it at auction.

Brilliant, OK. A lot to talk about.

-Let's go inside and have a look, shall we?

-OK.

Let's skate our way across.

-Right.

-This is it.

-Very good, so, let me get my bearings.

-A front reception room.

-Yes.

-The stairs as you come in.

-Yes.

This would be a sort of dining room, I suppose?

-Well, this is the "not sure" room.

-Right, OK. And a kitchen out the back.

-Kitchen and a small utility room on the end of that.

-Wow.

What are you thinking? What are your plans?

I'm thinking of putting a kitchen in here

and then extending the rear two rooms into one to make it

a really lovely lounge with a view out of the garden.

-Oh, right. I can see the garden. It's a good size, isn't it?

-Yes.

It's quite a bold move.

You're thinking of bringing the kitchen in here to the heart of the home?

Yes, I'm thinking about it

-but I can't come up with an idea of how that could happen.

-Right.

It suggests you don't have a lot of experience of building extensions

or that kind of renovation?

-No, none.

-None.

I can't imagine how it could look.

Yeah. Getting that step forward in visualisation is the tricky bit,

imagining the finished product.

Yes. I can see it on a drawing,

but I can't tell from a drawing what it's going to feel like.

OK, so, yeah, it's not a huge kitchen but you've got the utility room there

-and by pushing out, you double your size, don't you?

-Yes.

By opening this up outwards, you've got this fantastic view into the garden.

Yeah. That will be a nice square space, a really good space to use,

-lots you can do with that.

-Yeah.

-OK.

-Hope so.

Upstairs in one of the three bedrooms,

Yvonne's builders have already started work putting in an en-suite bathroom,

but it's clear there's a lot more to be done here

to make it the comfortable home Yvonne's after.

You have a clear view of the upstairs.

With bedrooms, you know what you want in them and how to achieve it.

Downstairs is where you have the worries.

-You're still not quite sure what it is you're after, is that right?

-Yes.

And because I'm not sure what I want to put there,

I can't budget for it.

If you can't budget for it, you're not sure if you can afford the extension,

therefore when you're putting in your plumbing or electrics

you're going right back to the basics and putting in the services,

you don't know whether to put them in for the extension.

-So it's quite a vicious cycle, isn't it?

-Yes.

And for me, I'm retired and I don't have a private pension,

so there's the worry that I will spend too much money on this

-and not have enough to live on.

-That really brings the reality home.

You're walking a tightrope and you've got to get it right.

-A beautiful house and nothing to eat.

-Yeah. What's the budget for this renovation?

I had a very clear budget when I bought the house.

As long as I could get the house within the price range I bought it for,

that would give me £25,000 to spend on that.

Do you think you could extend downstairs,

do what you're doing here and renovate the whole place?

Yes, I do.

OK, later on, we'll go and see a property and I think it will be useful.

Don't be put off - it's a different shape and size to your house,

but the point is, the way they've used the space.

There's a lot you'll take from it in terms of inspiration.

But also these are people who have been through a project,

they've come out the other side,

so in terms of budget and schedule of works and all those things,

I think there should be some useful help and advice there.

-Does that sound good?

-Sounds good to me.

-Great.

Well, Yvonne has great energy. She's very fun. Lots of enthusiasm.

But there's two sides to this renovation.

On the one hand, she knows what she wants with the front room.

The upstairs bedroom she's designed a clever en suite for the front bedroom.

On the other hand, she's a bit lost

when it comes to the kitchen-dining-living area.

Got a vague sense of direction but hasn't really firmed up on it

That's going to lead to all sorts of problems with schedule of works and budget,

so lots of questions still to be answered.

And I'm hoping the property I take her to later will help with some of those.

Countrywide, empty properties are stagnating,

unloved and derelict, waiting to be brought back to life.

It's the job of our local Empty Property Officers

to find these buildings, get them back into circulation

so these houses can be homes once more.

And on the Kent coast in Thanet, Mike Thompson's charged with that very task.

Mike Thompson here.

Today he's visiting a place in the midst of a renovation -

converting a house into three flats.

There's our subject property

and you can see clearly it's the worst one in the street by far.

This property stands out like a sore thumb

when you look at the others in the street.

These are all beautifully restored with lovely frontages,

so it's important that we get this project underway

and we get this property looking like the rest.

The owner has been given a loan by the council to carry out the work.

Mike's meeting the owner's representative to have a look around.

-Chris, pleased to meet you.

-Come in.

-Thank you very much.

I see you've started stripping out already.

-Yeah, we're making good progress.

-Good.

-Come through.

Thank you very much.

I'm here today to check commencement of works.

I can see it's certainly commenced. You've started stripping out.

-There's a fair bit to get rid of.

-Absolutely.

Just been clearing everything out

and I'll take you down to the basement

and I'll show you what we've gone doing.

So presumably, this will be a kitchen again.

Yes, the layout is staying pretty much the same down here.

This will be the kitchen area. Through there you're got the lounge.

-Layout will generally be staying as it is.

-Fine. OK, good.

Mike wants to get a clear idea of the layout of the three flats in this conversion.

So, presumably, Chris, bathroom stays where it is in this flat?

Yeah, we're stripping out what we've got at the moment and putting in a brand-new suite in.

You've got a bit of rot in the timbers.

We're going to get that looked at and once that's assessed,

we'll do any replacements, but obviously...

Good. Fine, OK, good, thank you.

As the owner has been given funding from Thanet council,

Mike needs to check the progress and ensure that

this abandoned building can be lived in again as soon as possible.

What about timeframe?

What was originally said was six to nine months,

so we're confident we can stick to that.

There's a fair bit to do, isn't there, Chris?

The state of that window. That's got to be done.

Yeah, we're going to have to completely replace that window.

But what we're trying to do here is keep whatever features we can

that are true to the building, like the fireplace.

It's lovely to see those.

In an old property when they haven't been stripped out and sold on for profit,

to actually keep those...

Because when the job is finished,

an addition of a fireplace like that makes all the difference, keeps all the character.

Absolutely.

-OK.

-Yeah, brilliant.

-Onwards.

I'm pleased to say, Chris, I'm happy with everything I've seen. I think you've made a great start.

I can sign off the commencement of works now

-and it's the last one in the street to be done.

-Exactly.

-It completes the picture.

The street is done and it looks lovely.

Cheers, Mike, thanks very much, cheers.

Projects like this are much needed to help get people off the council's housing waiting list.

When the developer completes the building work,

this place will provide homes for three families.

It takes real determination to resurrect one of Britain's many empty homes

but that's what people up and down the country are doing,

and if you put your faith in an abandoned abode, it could be an incredibly rewarding decision.

And it took Judith Brook a great deal of courage

when she decided to take a chance on these derelict agricultural buildings

close to home in Rotherham, South Yorkshire.

From probably being about 18 I used to keep a horse in this building.

I used to look at it and visualise it as a house.

Now we always refer to it as the Tractor Shed

and it was where my dad stored his tractor.

Judith was in the fortunate position that these buildings were part of her father's farm.

They had been out of use for 15 years before she started work

on transforming them into a family home.

I worked here every day to make this affordable for us.

When deliveries came I helped with unloading them,

I dug out in the trenches, any kind of labouring that was required.

But the renovation wasn't without its challenges.

Planning were not looking at it favourably,

and so I asked the planning officer, the conservation officer, to come out

and have a meeting and just say, "Look, what can we have

"and what do we have to do to achieve that?"

And they were great.

They came out, had the meeting and said what they would allow, what they wouldn't allow.

Working closely with an architect and a local builder,

Judith spent 10 months on the renovation and £300,000.

In less than a year, the house was complete.

The build process wasn't stressful at all.

I enjoyed it from the first day to the last day.

But that's largely down to the good relationship that I had with the builder.

It's a great lifestyle living here.

I'm really pleased that my children will get the same opportunities

that I got of growing up in such a lovely environment.

My advice to anybody doing this project -

I'm sure that everybody that does it, wants to do it and is enthusiastic about it -

but is enjoy it, it's a great journey.

With just under a million homes standing empty in the UK,

coupled with an increasing need for affordable housing,

it just makes sense to bring as many forgotten and abandoned properties

back to life as possible.

And, thankfully, there are people up and down the country

looking at new and innovative ways to tackle the empty-property problem.

In Mansfield, Nottinghamshire,

an initiative has been set up to provide young people

with apprenticeships

whilst carrying out essential repairs to disused properties in the area.

I'm meeting up with Simon Meadows who heads up the scheme.

What are we looking at here? How does it work?

This scheme is part of an overall project

where we're getting apprentices into long-term placements

and long-term employment with local companies.

And we're working in partnership with Mansfield District Council

to take properties which have major works

and they may have been burgled,

they may have been trashed by previous occupants,

so there's lots of scope to get the apprentices real work experience

to get them started in the industry.

-So an empty property gets brought back to life.

-Yep.

And these apprentices get all the skills they need.

We're multiskilling them. We have plastering,

we have plumbing, we have decorating.

The properties are renovated, which is great.

The apprentices are getting the experience

and we are getting apprentices into placements with companies as well,

so it's a great success at the moment.

-OK, great. Let's go and have a look, shall we?

-Yeah, great.

At present, there are 7,000 people on the housing waiting list in Mansfield.

And this property, empty for ten months,

will soon be finished, providing a much-needed home for a family.

-Just mind the hole in the floor there, Joe.

-Right.

This is the kitchen that we've already started some working.

-Oh, yes. There's a new ceiling gone in. You've skimmed that.

-Yep.

-And this is the main living area, is it?

-It is, this is the lounge.

We've done a little bit of preparation works but we've still got most of the work in here to do.

What state was this place in?

Tins property had actually been burgled

and they'd stripped out all the copper pipe work,

so we're re-piping all of the heating system.

We've got the ceiling that we've replastered in the kitchen,

decoration throughout, so lots and lots to go at in this one.

It just shows what a liability an empty property is.

It can really be wrecked pretty quickly.

You certainly wouldn't want to be a resident in this block,

seeing that sort of thing happen.

It's great to get them occupied and see people in.

It's really exciting. It will become someone's home again quite soon.

-Yeah. And "home" being the word.

-Yeah.

OK, let's see how they're getting on, shall we?

So how far are you off? It looks like you're getting there with this?

We're probably about three or four days into it,

so we've got another week's worth of work overall,

so not quite half way yet.

OK. And when you're done, it will be completely decorated

-and ready for someone to move in.

-Yeah. It will be ready to go.

The only thing is the electrics and the gas that the council need

to just make safe and connect after we've finished.

Good stuff.

Working on disused council houses like this allows the apprentices

to be trained in practical skills which count towards a recognised qualification.

-Hi, Conner. Can I interrupt for a moment?

-That's fine.

Tell me, what is it you're doing on this property here?

Well, pretty much everything.

It's a maintenance operation, so you can do the plastering,

and all the joinery, the brick laying and plumbing and everything.

So a lot of satisfaction that this is going to be used,

-that you're bringing this building back to life?

-Definitely.

Once you've been through this scheme,

what do you see yourself doing?

You're going to end up in the construction trade. Anything particular?

I'd like to do this pretty much - maintenance.

Cos it's everything. You're never just sticking to one thing.

It can get a bit boring if you stick to one thing but this is everything.

And how important do you think it is that empty properties like this

are being brought back to life?

It's a shame it's been abandoned as it has.

It's quite a decent big property and everything.

It's a shame to see the way it's turned out.

but it's more work for us at the end of the day, so that's all right.

I'm really impressed with the effectiveness of what is

actually quite a simple scheme and everyone seems to be winner.

The apprentices get the experience they need to enter the construction industry,

and the local community gets a home brought to life again.

So just imagine if it can be rolled out across the whole country,

all the opportunities that could be created for young people

as well as all those empty properties becoming homes once more.

I'm with Yvonne Ingley, who's already bought an empty property

but needs some advice on how to renovate it.

'I'm taking her to meet a couple in Stoke-on-Trent

'who've already transformed a disused bungalow.'

This has been empty for about a year.

The thing to bear in mind when we go inside is

you're not sure how to make your open space, where to put things, how it's going to work,

so this is really potentially just a bit of inspiration -

you can rule a few things in or out.

Plus the guys, Jim and Carol, have been through it.

So hopefully they'll have some practical advice.

Jim and Carol Scott inherited this bungalow

after it was left standing empty for 12 months.

Just like Yvonne, they wanted a place they could showcase their own sense of style.

We talked long and hard about everything

and how we were going to have it

and how it was going to work into our lifestyle as well.

I didn't really want to go with what anybody else wanted.

Carol dreamed of having a large open-plan living area

at the back of the property looking out onto the garden.

-We like to have parties, don't we, family parties?

-Yeah.

So we like everything just open and easy.

Unskilled when it comes to DIY, Carol and Jim left all of the renovation work to the builders.

We decided we didn't want to do any of the building work ourselves.

No. Leave it to the professionals.

We've spent our retirement fund but we don't mind that. It's comfortable.

They now live in a property that has individuality in abundance

with lots of character, and they should have some great advice for Yvonne.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-Come in.

-Hi.

-Come in.

-Thank you.

Oh, wow. Oh, wow.

-Now, Yvonne, this is Carol and Jim.

-Hi. Hi, Jim.

-So...

Quite a place. Does it have your wow factor?

-What are you first impressions?

-It's fantastic.

-Where did this all start?

You clearly made an impression here but I know it wasn't always like this.

Tell me what your house was like when you took it on.

-It had been empty for about a year.

-Yes, it had.

-There was a small window here and a back door here.

-Right. OK.

-And a very small conservatory. Just about fit one chair in it.

-Right.

-It was more of a lean-to, wasn't it?

-Yeah.

-And that was it.

This is exactly what I want.

It would never have crossed my mind to put in three windows. I've got space for that.

-We just wanted plenty of light.

-And this idea of the side door.

Because this is where my extension would go is this side of it,

I couldn't imagine what it would look like.

And I didn't want these bi-folding doors, I wanted French doors.

-Talk me through the extension. Because you pushed out quite a long way.

-Yes.

How did you know how much space you needed? How far to go out?

How do divide up the space

and also the fact that you went for a proper extension,

not just a bigger conservatory.

At first we looked into conservatories.

And we decided we'd go for a proper extension.

-And you ruled out a conservatory?

-Yes.

-You were keen on a built extension.

It's exactly what I was thinking of but couldn't have told you what it was.

What I particularly like here is it doesn't appear to be one room.

Because you've got this separate area

so you don't feel like you're in the kitchen.

It means you can use this space how you want.

You don't have to worry about there being doors in the way.

So you've divided up a sitting area and a dining area.

And it's very easy to change the space round if you want a change.

It's quite easy.

Carol and Jim have achieved a very similar layout

to what Yvonne is hoping for in her recently purchased empty home.

The thing that stands out about your renovation is it included a huge extension.

So, how much did that cost and could you budget quite accurately for it?

Um, we didn't expect it to cost as much as it did.

-The whole thing, I think, he quoted around 80-85,000.

-Yeah.

I think the extension itself was probably 45 of that.

How do the prices sound? That's quite a lot of money.

-It's more than you're budgeting at the moment.

-Frightening.

-Yes.

But then my place is smaller and the other works are more cosmetic.

Did you have a schedule of works? Did you know how long it was going to take?

Was that something you could cling to?

Yeah, the initial first month was demolition really.

I'd say it took him six to seven months to complete.

-With all the excavations and...

-Is that what you expected?

That's the sort of time scale he gave us.

Right, OK. Quite a stressful thing, quite a lot of upheaval.

Anything Yvonne should bear I mind as she embarks on hers?

-I think you've got to keep your eye on it all the time.

-Yeah.

-And if summat isn't going how you like, speak straight away.

-Right.

Get it sorted. Yeah.

Because it is your money you're spending, not the builder's, isn't it?

Yes. And I've got to live in it at the end of the day.

Yes, that's it, that's what we thought.

-But he always listened to us.

-Yeah.

Great. Really good advice.

I'm so pleased you've been able to tailor-make your empty property into a dream home really.

-So well done.

-We do love it.

-We do.

-You do love it. That's great.

It's really nice to see,

and thank you for letting us in and showing us round today as well.

-It's pleasure.

-Thank you, thank you.

On the Kent coast in Ramsgate, Empty Property Officer Mike Thompson

is heading to a formerly disused building that's been brought back into use.

-Hello, Lawrie.

-Hello, Mike, nice to see you again.

Lovely to see you again. Thanks very much for meeting us here today.

-What a transformation.

-It certainly is.

The developer Lawrence Waite has converted this once derelict chapel

that stood disused for 20 years into three homes.

Today Mike wants to inspect the work that's been done.

-Come and look inside, see what we've made.

-I'd love to.

It's nice and warm in here today, even though it's cold outside.

-Kitchen there.

-That's a nice spec, isn't it?

It's pretty high spec, yeah.

Everything you need is there - oven, washing machine, the lot.

-Let's go into the lounge, shall we?

-That's lovely, isn't it? Beautiful room.

Well, it's mainly because the windows are exactly the same

and the doorways are exactly the same position as they always were in the chapel.

The bespoke joinery, I think, is a joy.

To see that quality of workmanship is still around to produce joinery like that.

Certainly is.

The chapel has undergone a complete renovation

-including the addition of an upper floor.

-Only just put it in.

This was completely new floors up here, but as you can see,

this used to be the roof of the building - no floor whatsoever.

You've now divided it vertically and got three lovely houses out of it.

Really, really lovely.

-Lawrie, thanks very much for showing me round.

-My pleasure.

-I think it's a fantastic job.

-Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Bye-bye.

Renovated empty buildings like this are much needed for families

and next door one's already moved in,

so Mike's keen to meet dad Aaron and hear about their new home.

-This is lovely, isn't it?

-It is. It's come to a bit of character.

Tell me, how did you find out about it?

Basically, me and my partner were looking for somewhere to stay

and we saw this place when it was a bit battered and getting done up.

So we were looking on the websites a few months later

and this one popped up and we thought, "We know that place."

-What's it like to live here?

-It is really nice.

I have my little boy

and it's five minutes from the park, five minutes from the sea.

-It's really convenient for me and my partner really.

-Thanks very much.

-You're welcome.

-It's lovely. I'm glad you like living here.

Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.

Having met Lawrie today and one of his tenants, Aaron,

and seen what a lovely home Aaron and his partner are making,

I'm really pleased to have been involved with this project,

taking an empty derelict shell and creating three family homes.

I think it's terrific.

I've been with Yvonne, who's just bought an abandoned house,

and is planning to renovate it to make her ideal home.

She's been getting some great advice from a couple who've already done what she wants to achieve.

Yvonne, in terms of inspiration and visualising what you do next,

how useful has today been?

Oh, it's been absolutely amazing. A huge relief off my shoulders

because I had no starting point, even.

At least here, I can go back and start to measure up,

draw some pictures. It's given me ideas that I just would never have come up with.

It's been absolutely wonderful.

Really? So it actually has helped you engage with what's in front of you.

I feel like I can start with a plan now

of what I'm going to do

and that will take form and shape quickly now I've got an idea

of what I can do, rather than not knowing anything at all.

That's brilliant. I'm so pleased to hear that today's been worthwhile.

You've made a great start on your house already

and I'm sure before long you'll make it an extremely comfortable home.

-So, very best of luck with it.

-Thank you.

I think today has been genuinely really useful for Yvonne.

She was struggling a bit to visualise the next step forward

with her empty property

but here there's been loads of inspiration from layout,

where you put your windows, your doors, how you bring the light in -

to loads of ideas to run with.

I'm sure she'll apply them at her empty house

so she can create a home with that wow factor she's after.

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