The Bryce-Reids 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.

Renovating an empty home can be a great way of getting onto

the property ladder - that is,

if you're aware that these places can be fraught with problems.

But if you do your homework, you plan carefully

and you're determined,

then the benefit of transforming an empty home can be truly rewarding.

On today's show,

a couple who've come to the rescue of a Grade II listed cottage.

Matthew attempted to scrape off all this Artex and skim,

so he started and got really tired.

A town centre regeneration project transforming old council buildings

including a police station.

The space lends itself incredibly well and you see by the size

of the windows and structures that they work very well for conversion.

And we follow one of Britain's empty property officers

working to bring a building back to life.

It means that after five years,

this property is nearly back into use

creating seven units of accommodation.

Letchworth is the world's first garden city.

Created as a solution to the squalor of urban life

in the late 19th century.

And it was in these lush surroundings that Monelle

and Matthew came across this empty Grade II listed cottage.

When I first saw the house online, yeah, it's tiny, it's small,

but I knew that this was going to be our house.

I was a bit dubious because the condition the house is in.

Windows, they're rotting. We need new doors put in.

Everywhere needs replastering, rewiring, replumbing.

So everything needs doing!

I actually thought, well, don't buy this house, just buy another one and

we looked at several more houses but all the time Monelle really wanted

to live in this house.

I was fighting because I knew that this was the only house that

had the character that could justify the money being spent on it

and this had so much potential.

Houses like this rarely come on the market in Letchworth.

After lying empty for over nine months, it was repossessed

and put up for sale.

We were lucky enough that it was empty for a very long time, so

we were able to get a three-bedroom house at below market value.

Normally we'd like to have the house ready to live in

but it wasn't going to happen for under 200,000 in Letchworth.

The couple paid ?193,000 for the house,

5,000 over the asking price, which has eaten into the renovation funds.

We're doing everything on a very nominal budget.

?20,000, but that might change.

Yeah.

SHE LAUGHS

To make their challenge even bigger, their new home is listed

and it's also in a conservation area.

This means they'll be answerable to two separate governing bodies,

each with its own strict planning regulations.

We want to do a two-storey extension.

New kitchen with a dining area, a new bathroom upstairs, so

if we're unable to go upwards because we're in a conservation area,

how will we be able to get the bathroom upstairs?

That's the big question mark.

Monelle seems to be the driving force behind this project,

but just how realistic are their building plans?

We're meeting one-on-one to have a look at the house

and to think through the potential pitfalls that lie ahead.

This is very attractive. Tell me about this place.

This is a cottage built in 1902. OK. It was empty for about a year.

It needs everything doing to it, inside and out. Big challenge.

And the area, I mean, it is gorgeous.

Tranquil neighbourhood, lots of green space.

Yeah, lovely, and it's perfect for our first marital home.

That's what it is? It's your first home together? Yeah.

We were living at my mum's before so this is

our place where we're going to build a family and the green

is perfect for kids in the future, so it would be lovely here.

Gosh, you've thought of everything.

Well, this, Monelle, seems lovely. Really good condition.

Original floors. You got this great fireplace and everything.

That's the sort of stuff that attracted you to it?

Yeah, I love old things, so I just knew that this was our house.

And you were in London before, so why Letchworth Garden City?

It's got a nice country feel but we're not too far away from town.

Tell me about the place, is it, what, two bedrooms?

Three small, very compact bedrooms

but it's not got a traditional lay out, so it's a bit more of a blank canvas.

And what was it that attracted you to an empty property? I mean, what was the benefit for you?

The benefit was that we got it under market value and it was vacant,

there were no chains involved, which was perfect for us.

So you've just moved in? Yeah, we've just moved in.

I didn't want to move in. I wanted all the work to be done and then we move in

and it's all lovely and beautiful.

But Matthew was like, "No, we're going in."

So, we're going to be living on-site while the works are being done,

the rewire, the replumb, the knocking down walls.

And all the other dirty bits.

Fun. Yeah. Let's see some more, shall we?

This place clearly needs work, but a good renovation is

a balance between cutting costs without cutting corners.

This is the master bedroom. This is the master? OK.

Clearly some work has started in here. What's been going on?

Matthew attempted to scrape off all this Artex

and skim the ceiling, so he started and got really tired.

Yeah, it is tiring, isn't it? OK. Normally plastering is something

that people tend to get specialists in for.

Is this a budget decision, the fact you're giving it a go?

That's Matthew's decision. Matthew's decision?

Yeah, I got someone in and he was like, "Stop calling men in."

Erm, "I can try and do it." "I can I can handle this!" Yeah.

How do you think that's going?

So far, I think we need to get someone in.

THE LAUGH

This is one of the bedrooms.

There's another room there and another room there.

That's the guest room and this is like the cot room/study.

It will be an office. That's like a rectangle room. Rectangle room? Yeah.

You're specifically avoiding the term boxroom because it's incorrect?

Yeah, it's not a boxroom. It does have some space in there.

Someone suggested using it as a bathroom

and I really don't want to lose that room as a bedroom.

So your only bathroom at the moment is downstairs?

Yeah, that's why we came up with the double-storey extension.

So, you're the boss on this it sounds like, I mean, you kind of...

Yeah, I made myself project manager. Good. Matthew's happy. Is he? Yeah.

Monelle seems to have a very clear idea of what she wants

and I'm keen to know more about her ambitious plans

for the structure of the building.

Monelle, just tell me where the extension's going to go then.

It's going to come out into the garden, is it?

Yeah, we're going to bring all of this out

to about here for the kitchen diner

and build a dormer there, ideally, to put that bathroom upstairs.

Is there a chance you won't be able to do what you want to this house?

I'm worried they're going to say,

"Oh, no, you can't put a bathroom upstairs." Yeah.

That's probably the biggest concern.

Is there a precedent here for a double-storey extension on the back of one of these properties?

Our neighbour has... A single-storey one.

Yes, a single-storey one, but the end of terrace are double-storeys. Yeah.

Extensions, new windows, wet rooms, kitchen diners,

all the fixtures and fittings.

How much do you think it's going to cost?

We're hoping it doesn't go over 25 but Matthew, he's better with money.

OK. I don't really care too much about things like that.

I'm a bit more relaxed about things like that,

he's more of the logical, structured guy with the finances

and I'm kind of like, "We'll get it back" sort of thing.

We'll get the money back.

There's a balance there. So, he's the maths teacher,

going to be in charge of the purse, and you're

the project manager telling him he can't plaster.

Yeah, I'm the imaginative one.

OK. Yeah. The visionary? Yes. OK. Yeah, yeah.

Why 25? That's kind of what you've got that you can spend on it now.

Yeah. If it goes over, it means we have to borrow money. Right.

And because we had a bidding war initially,

we ate into our renovation budget anyway so Matthew

was blaming me for going over, but we had to secure the place. OK.

At this stage I think what's going to be really useful for you

is to see another property in many ways similar to this.

It's listed, it's in a conservation area,

so there's been lots of restrictions.

Meet the woman behind it

and she can tell you a bit more about how she's done it

and hopefully she'll have some great advice, how does that sound?

Yeah, that'll be very helpful.

Well, this really is a lovely little place.

I can see why Matthew and Monelle were so attracted to it

and the surrounding area.

But boy, there are some challenges ahead here.

The main thing is, it's listed and it's in a conservation zone

which is just going to throw up so many challenges.

So I think it's going to be really good for Monelle to meet

a lady who's been through this, who's taken on a similar historic

protected building, she knows about the restrictions,

and hopefully she'll give some great advice.

Whether you're sold on owning a commercial site

or you're praying for a vacant church, with a little imagination

and plenty of perseverance, the unlikeliest of places

can become your dream home.

In Hoylandswaine, West Yorkshire, Amanda Wills

and her husband Steve were looking close to home

when they focused on this Grade II listed barn on Amanda's family farm.

I spent most of my childhood in this barn.

My mum and dad had put in for planning years ago

so it was already passed to do up into a house.

We were staying initially in a static caravan parked in my mum's garden.

Two children, two cats, and a dog.

I think they just thought it would be a few months, not two years.

Having paid Amanda's parents ?100,000 for the large barn, Steve

was relishing the opportunity to create his own unique living space.

It was very, very difficult to imagine it as a home, because it was

so run down. There was no heating, there was no water.

It did get pretty stressful at times.

Obviously, full-time jobs.

And then on top of that you come home and things haven't been

done quite the way you were expecting them to be done.

We've ended up having to take the whole roof off.

Brand-new trusses all the way through.

Partially rebuild one full external wall as well

so it's been a fairly major undertaking.

And the Grade II listing presented plenty of challenges.

We don't want to try and do things that we're not allowed to do

and alter the character of the building too much

but when we feel like we've kind of done something very sympathetic,

but still something that is very fitting to what

we want to try and achieve and that gets rejected, that's frustrating.

We purposely didn't go for a typical barn conversion.

We wanted something quite modern and contemporary.

But not the kind of modern

and contemporary that you could find in a penthouse apartment somewhere.

We are in a barn, essentially.

And it needed to be that kind of honest modernity that

I was really trying to achieve.

It could have been an eight bedroom property if we wanted it to be.

Yeah. But we wanted some real moments of, you know... Wow factor.

Yeah, definitely. And some nice open space.

The biggest moment was

when the single-storey opening on the side of the building got

knocked out to a double height opening

and the natural light that flooded in was just absolutely amazing.

Yeah, because it was really dark.

I'm a bit more of a kind of brutal minimalist and Amanda's a bit

more of a...a bit more kind of home...

creature comforts a little bit. Yeah.

So getting that balance right was really critical.

I didn't want to live in an art gallery.

I wanted it to feel like a home

but at the same time, I didn't want it too homely either.

I don't want to go anywhere else. Other than Barbados, I can't really,

I can't really imagine a better place in fairness.

I mean, it's absolutely lovely.

Right in the countryside, we've got lovely views.

On a gorgeous sunny day, it's...perfect.

This is where I've grown-up, this is my home.

It's quite an emotional tie

and I don't think I'd want to be anywhere else.

Great Yarmouth is a seaside town known for its tourist industry.

But because of the economic climate,

many office buildings here sit empty.

According to the Government,

one in ten offices have been empty for at least six months.

Now, even if just a fraction of these were

converted into residential dwellings, it would create a

significant number of much-needed homes in town centres

and cities across the country.

That's exactly what the forward-thinking council

here in Great Yarmouth is targeting.

And helping them is the Saffron Housing Trust, which is taking on

centrally located ex-council offices ripe for refurbishment.

But renovating commercial spaces into family homes

brings its own set of challenges.

John Whitelock from the trust explains why.

Well, John, these buildings, they're extremely grand, what are they?

What we've got is, we've got

the original police station here which is this building here

and a bit further down there we've got the old fire station.

Both built around the 1900s.

We've also got this one here which was part of the old kind of

Town Hall complex that was in Great Yarmouth. I see.

And how is it you came to own these buildings?

They had been trying to sell them as offices

but hadn't managed to do that.

Costing them 100,000-ish a year, just to keep them sitting here

not really doing anything.

If you look down that way, there's a large office block that's

been sitting empty for even longer.

They're going to be much more valued as properties

and homes for people and families. Absolutely.

I mean, and that reflects when the borough council made the decision that it was going to

pass on the houses and they only passed them on to us

for a pound, which you can imagine created... A pound?

Yeah. That's because they need a load of work done to them.

And Saffron will be investing ?2 million into the build, which is a load of money.

Let's have a look inside, shall we?

Maintaining properties that have been left empty

cost the council money.

It hopes that by giving the housing trust a licence to create affordable

homes, it will both benefit the community and save public money.

John, tell me about where we are here?

We're in the old fire station.

These used to be the bays for the actual engines. Really?

Literally the kind of place where the engines pulled in.

You had the three engines across there. Fantastic.

So what is the plan, what are you hoping to create?

We're looking to get in 16 two-bedroom flats in here,

11 one-bedroom flats and then the two little properties

outside will be converted into a couple of cottages.

Is this typical of the sort of spaces

that you're trying to convert here?

Well, when you're doing a conversion of a building like this,

you look at how the building is laid out,

see what can work in here in terms of accommodation.

This doesn't necessarily show it very well in here,

but they are beautiful buildings.

It should feel quite light and airy.

They will feel magnificent, hopefully.

One of the things we will have to do is raise up the floor levels

because we are in a flood zone here.

So we've got to raise the floors by about a metre,

which is quite a significant area.

You've enough height to be able to do that? Yeah.

Thanks very much for showing me round.

Reviving both the fire station and the interconnecting police station

and turning them into new homes will preserve this unique architecture.

And it is hoped it will also give a much-needed boost

to the town's local economy.

Site manager Paul explains how they plan to unlock

the potential in this abandoned cop shop.

What we're standing in now was the cells to the police station. Ah.

As you can see, they look like you'd expect cells to look like.

They're turn of the century.

How tricky is it to convert these into flats, residential places?

Buildings of this ilk, they are quite simple to carve up

into flats as we've gone through the designs.

The space lends itself incredibly well.

You see with the size of the windows

and structure of the cells, they work very well for conversion.

Have you had experience of this history, this period?

Yeah, we've done three buildings of this ilk in Great Yarmouth,

which, funny enough, the same architect to design these buildings,

HA Cockerell, his features, as you've seen outside, the terracotta work,

is a feature of his and it does feature quite a bit through the town.

Do you really think it will make a difference

and could start to spark things off here?

Absolutely. With the business and to have this many people,

to have 29 households contributing to the local economy,

it will make a huge difference to the town, without a shadow of doubt.

I really think this project makes sense.

First of all, it's a crying shame to leave any buildings like this

sitting empty, but particularly in a town centre.

And this is all about affordable housing,

that's what Great Yarmouth needs.

And to that end I think there's really good vision here

from the council and Saffron Housing Trust.

Hopefully, when this project is complete,

it will help regenerate the town centre and this local area.

Across Britain, empty property officers employed by local councils

are constantly carrying out detective work on our

abandoned homes, working tirelessly to bring them back into use.

In South Kent, Iain Cobby does just that.

He's on his way to inspect work on the conversion of an office block

in Folkestone town centre that's been sitting empty

and unused for five years.

The property was previously an office accommodation block, purpose-built.

It has become empty.

The new owners bought the property about six months ago

and have got permission to turn it into seven self-contained units.

That'll mean that it will provide accommodation for people

on the council's housing list.

The new owner has been granted a five-year loan of ?236,000

to be issued in stages.

The loan is through Kent County Council's No Use Empty scheme.

Today, Iain is meeting his colleague, Steve Grimshaw,

and the developer, Sirajul Islam, to check the progress on-site

and hopefully sign off the second stage of funding.

Good morning, gentlemen. Steve, how are you?

Good to see you again.

Shall we go in and have a look at the work so far? Yes. Thank you.

They'll only continue issuing the loan if the work completed

at this stage is done to the council's exacting standards.

This is the existing building

and this is changing to how it will be now.

How many flats in total, Mr Islam?

In total, seven. That's great.

First phase. Yes.

And then the architect will design for a second phase,

will be another four flats.

That's amazing. Can we see a little more then? Yes.

Iain and Steve need to be assured that the build

is progressing on schedule and within budget.

This is the bedroom. Yes.

Flat number six. Right, I'm with you, yes.

It looks, well, apart from the front of the building,

it looks nearly finished. Yes.

It would seem that there's been a lot of money spent on this.

Yes, already, yes.

We are just counting down to start from tomorrow. Brilliant.

To put the kitchen and the second fixing, which is skirtings.

Obviously they will do this coat and then they will start painting

and put the skirting in those. Great.

So, Mr Islam, there's still a lot of work being undertaken today.

Is it all going to plan in terms of project timescales?

Yes, everything is going well here. It will get done.

In terms of the overall budget, how are things going with that?

Good, going well.

Yeah. We are nearly there.

We are spending some from our own pocket

while we're waiting for the next lot.

So you've already exhausted

the first round of funding we've given you? Yes.

I think myself and Iain are very happy. Very much so.

I think Kent County Council's No Use Empty Scheme will be willing

to let you have the second part of the contract in order

to take the project forward to hopefully a satisfactory completion.

Yeah, thank you very much, yes. Thank you.

It's great news all round.

And with the loan signed off, the building is well on its way

to providing much-needed homes for local people.

Well, I'm really pleased at what's happened here today.

The work has been progressing fantastically.

I'm so pleased that Mr Islam has actually signed the contract.

It means that after five years, this property is nearly back into use,

creating seven units of accommodation. That is fantastic.

If you're interested in tracking down a disused house

to turn into a home, then your local empty property officer

should be one of your first ports of call.

Also ask around the local estate agents and keep your eyes peeled

for those tell-tale signs of abandoned buildings.

Back in the historic garden city of Letchworth, I'm with Monelle,

who, with her husband Matthew, has bought a listed cottage

in need of some serious TLC, set in a beautiful conservation area.

They have grand plans but a tight budget, so to help them

I'm going to introduce Monelle, the self-appointed project manager,

to a lady who has tackled a very similar renovation.

This is the place I want you to see.

It really is quite an extraordinary and, in my opinion,

a very beautiful house. I think it's lovely.

I've driven past and I've noticed the blue windows.

It's a very pretty country-looking house.

It's got quite a history to it, I'll let Sue explain the details.

But Sue has come across many of the same challenges

that you're about face. OK.

Let's go and say hello, shall we? Yes.

Sue Johnson had her eye on this place for a long time,

when it was put up for auction in 2009.

I'd been driving past it for 30 years plus thinking,

"Oh, I'd love a poke around there."

And then it came up for auction and I thought, "That has to be mine!"

Having been empty for year,

the building was completely uninhabitable

when Sue paid ?250,000 for it.

It was perfectly sound,

but inside it had fallen into complete disrepair.

I saw it at its absolute worst.

But I didn't notice.

It wasn't Sue's first renovation project

but it was certainly her largest.

It was the 10th house I'd renovated but none of the others

required the amount of work and input that this one did.

I really love renovating houses.

It was abandoned.

If we want such buildings to be preserved,

then we need people to take care of them.

It's like bringing something back to life.

It's a real privilege to be able to do that.

Sue, tell us a bit about the history of this building.

Well, it was built for the Cheap Cottages Competition

in Letchworth in 1905.

They could build houses out of wood, this one is made of concrete.

It was made in pieces in Liverpool.

It went up in 36 hours, like Lego.

It took me 15 months to renovate.

What sort of state was it in when you took it on? In a dreadful state.

It had never been plastered, it will still concrete,

the floors were concrete. The windows needed loads of attention.

You walked up to the front of the house,

you were struck by the blue windows, weren't you? Yes.

It's so striking and bright, it lifts up the street in a way.

The pale blue paint on the windows, it was pale blue in 1905,

which would have been really unusual then.

And this, I love. This is an old butcher's block. Yes.

That I bought in a junk shop in Letchworth.

You can save lots of money doing a renovation if you... That's good!

..if you buy some things that are not new.

Are you a fan of the older style, this kind of look

and the collection of antique furniture?

Yeah, I've always loved old furniture.

I often go to reclaim yards.

It's got a lovely country feel. It's an interesting lay out.

This was the kitchen in the original house,

but when I bought the house, I think it had been a living room.

I had a couple of architects and the first one said,

"This can't possibly be a kitchen, it's completely unsuitable."

Really? Hmm.

Right. You showed them, didn't you?

Probably of most interest to Monelle is seeing the extension,

and finding out just how Sue fared dealing with all the various

planning authorities in Letchworth.

This is the living room.

The original house ended there, this would have been the back door.

Fantastic. Wow.

Did you put the fireplace in? Yes. It's a false chimney.

All that character has been injected in the extension.

That's why I love what you've done, because the extension plans

that we have is to have a protruding bit of wall.

How difficult was it to get this extension?

It's a listed building, it's Grade II listed, am I right?

It's Grade II* listed. Grade II* listed, blimey!

I had to deal with English Heritage, the Letchworth Heritage Foundation

and the conservation officer from the council.

Many times they didn't agree with each other, never mind me!

But also, I think it's really important to get to know them.

Sue, in all the new build you've had here

and the things you've added on, any advice for Monelle on that?

I realise, for instance, there was

no way I was going to be allowed to extend upstairs.

How did you know that? Because they told me. That was very definite.

Did they say why? Yes.

If you have a listed building, they like to be able to see the original.

You can't cover it up and disguise it. That's the reason.

If I'd extended here, they wouldn't have been able to see

the back of the house, it would have completely changed it.

But you don't always have to take an absolute no for an answer,

there's room for negotiation sometimes.

What does it cost to put an extension on like this

and do a total renovation and modernisation of a house like this?

I bought the house for ?250,000. But it cost more than that to renovate.

That a different scale to the sort of budget you've got available.

It doesn't alarm me.

Stoic, that's good. Yeah.

But if Matthew was here, he doesn't have that mind of thinking.

What would he say, would he be worried that you would have

to borrow on top of your savings?

He's thinking that's probably going to have to be the case anyway.

OK, so that's becoming reality, that's adjusting.

Yeah, that's in our consciousness.

It's probably a good idea to find out why your house is listed.

This one, for instance,

hadn't got any wonderful features that had to be kept.

It's listed because it's one of the first prefabricated

buildings in the world, apparently.

The message you're also giving is you are somebody who is

really taking this seriously and wants to do it properly.

And once they've got that message, they do relax.

They are easier to deal with then. Well, that was my experience anyway.

It's quite a property, isn't it?

Sitting here in the lovely landscaped gardens around it,

what have you taken from today? I feel very inspired actually.

Just sitting out here,

thinking about why we moved to Letchworth in the first place.

Sue's journey here,

it's almost like that's going to be my little black book.

I will knock at Sue's and get some more links.

Sue is very clear on why this building is listed.

That was her advice as well - understand the history,

understand the heritage, that kind of discovery.

That was brilliant advice.

Because once we understand why it's listed, we can then find out what the

restrictions are and where they may be a little bit more lenient or not.

Do you believe you can do what you need to do

to your property for the budget you've got?

Personally, I don't think our plans are so ambitious.

Because we're going to be living there, it will be an ongoing process.

So money will be spent not instantly, it will be progressively.

It's an amazing little place you've got.

I know there's going to be some challenges ahead but,

boy, it'll be quite special when it's done. Definitely, yeah.

I'm really, really happy about what we've discovered

and the advice we've had today.

Good luck with it. Thank you.

These projects can be very tricky, especially when the building

is listed and certainly when it's in a conservation zone.

And there are many challenges,

but there aren't many that Sue hasn't faced at some point,

so it's great she's been able to pass some of that wisdom on,

so hopefully Monelle and Matthew

will very soon have their own dream home like this.

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