Rebecca Rowland and Anthony Smith Britain's Empty Homes

Across the country, empty properties that could be homes are just

waiting to be brought back into use.

I will 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.

We are all familiar with the telltale signs of empty properties -

boarded-up windows, overgrown gardens,

peeling paintwork...

But for people with energy, determination and ambition,

these buildings have enormous potential.

And for first-time buyers, they can provide that all-important

opportunity to get on the property ladder for the first time.

On today's show...

a couple renovating their first flat together.

The budget is quite tight.

A colossal regeneration scheme battling to convert this

abandoned military site into nearly 4,000 new dwellings.

It's incredible, isn't it? It's a really iconic building.

And we follow an empty property officer who's trying to save

this neglected period cottage.

You can see the terrible state of the house.

Despite there being over 700,000 empty buildings across the UK,

the percentage of us

who own our own homes has dropped to its lowest level since the 1980s.

Even with the recession, house prices are still sky-high,

making it hard for people to get onto the property ladder.

Physiotherapist Rebecca Rowland and finance worker Anthony Smith

are struggling with all the dilemmas first-time buyers face,

having bought this ex-council one-bed flat in Hove,

East Sussex, for ?155,000.

One of the things that did put us off initially,

when we first viewed it, was the exterior.

It looked dated. It didn't look very nice.

I didn't feel that connected to it at first because I do feel that

purpose-built properties do lack a bit of character.

With a full renovation needed, trying to create their dream home

with modest finances makes every decision crucial.

We have a very tight budget of ?10,000.

And we really, for ourselves,

we need to prove to ourselves that we can bring this in

on budget.

By doing much of the work themselves, they are hoping

they can make this neglected diamond in the rough really shine.

Even though it looks dated, it actually...it ticks all the boxes.

The rooms are big. And the dimensions are good.

So I wanted to make it feel as vintage and country as possible,

as much as you can do in a one-bedroom flat in Hove.

Morning, guys. I'm Joe. Morning. Rebecca, how are you doing? Hi.

Anthony. Lovely to meet you, Joe. Nice to meet you.

So tell me about your flat then. It's really exciting.

Beautiful location, one block from the sea, nice,

well-maintained communal areas.

And, yeah, we are looking forward to moving in.

The neighbours must be pretty pleased that someone is taking this

on and is going to sort of make it into a proper home again.

We believe it was a rental for a very long time.

And then it sat empty for at least six to nine months, we believe.

And then, of course, six months on completion,

so it has been empty for a long time.

So it needed some...it certainly needed some love and attention.

Shall we have a look inside? Yeah, let's.

Hey, well, this is lovely. Nice and bright.

What were your first impressions when you came into this space?

What was it like?

So, really good-sized rooms was the first thing.

Even though it is a one-bedroom, we can fit a dining table in here.

Did you just know then? Had you seen many places?

Were you very, very sure that this was right for you guys?

This, for the price and the location, it was a great choice.

Cos it has always been built as a one-bed flat, whereas you get

a compromise if you were dividing up a period property into flats.

It might not actually suit the property,

whereas this, hopefully, is going to feel very natural to live in.

Yeah, this is spot-on.

You want to make this a lovely place for the two of you to really

enjoy your time here.

But this has been your way onto the property ladder together.

Really, the primary objective was getting a home together. Yeah.

And living together. So this, for the price and the location,

was just...is just a great...it was a great choice.

And we have certainly got some ideas for it. So, what is the plan then?

I mean, this is going to be, as you said, your sitting room.

How do you see the sort of layout of the flat?

Do you know it all yet?

One of the initial things we did think of was to knock through

the wall to the kitchen to open it up.

The kitchen is just next door here? Yeah. OK.

So we thought to ourselves...

Well, we had seen so many one-bed flats that had open plan

we thought, "Oh, actually, if we made this open plan,

"we may be able to add value," and that sort of thing.

But we could take advice on that.

So, it is how to make your best use of space

and do you open it up or not or do you keep it separate.

Yeah. It is a difficult one. And the old kitchen is gone, is it? Yeah.

The old kitchen is gone, yeah. What was that? There was a look there.

So, yeah, the old kitchen went, sort of...relatively unbeknown to me.

Anthony has this habit of just sort of demolishing things

and sending me picture messages when I can't react cos I'm at work.

So, I think that was probably the plan. It gave me time to cool off.

To be fair, I think if we hadn't have ripped it out now,

I think in a year's time, you'd still see the same kitchen.

I don't think we'd have got round to it. I think that is so true.

You've forgiven him, basically, is what you are saying.

I've forgiven him, of course.

I've only seen the sitting room, let's have a look at a bit more,

shall we? Yep. Great. After you.

So this is going to be the bedroom. That's right.

It's a very similar shape and size, isn't it?

There's a good proportion to these rooms.

Now, I know you have already had a bit of fun ripping

the kitchen out with no notice. Does that make you quite handy?

Are you going to do a lot of this work yourself?

The budget is quite tight. So I have been getting stuck in where I can.

And I must admit, I've learned a few things along the way

and I've made a few mistakes. And it really does add up.

And then we realised, well, you know,

why aren't we shopping around online?

So the majority of, you know, the things that we've bought

for the flat to refurb it have been online.

Clearly, it's important here to make your money go as far as possible

and to get this work done as soon as possible.

Any other concerns when you are thinking about this project?

Anything you can't quite visualise?

I think for me it's been about my patience levels, cos I've...

because it's taken so long to complete on the flat

and now it's been sort of six weeks of not really seeing it move on,

you know, just seeing more and more destruction and mess

and not much sort of happening in terms of moving forward.

I think I've been quite impatient and wanting to rush decisions,

whereas you measure me a bit more in that.

It's the first time you've taken on a project like this.

The experience isn't there, you're learning as you go along.

That's always going to be tricky and it's not going to be as quick

as you'd hope. Maybe to help speed things up it would be really good

to meet a woman who has been through this, who has actually

taken on lots of flats like this and has done several renovations.

She really does know her stuff.

And I think she would be able to give you some really good advice.

Plus, we'll see another one-bedroom flat that she renovated

and maybe there will be a few ideas there as well.

How does that sound? Great. I hope to get a lot more ideas.

With house prices doubling in the last decade and mortgages

hard to come by, many requiring large deposits,

these two have done extremely well in a tough climate.

They have purchased an empty home

and plan to be scrupulous with their renovation budget.

But they are inexperienced and will need all the help they can get

to make this project a success.

Whether your budget is large or small, renovating an empty home

can be the best way of getting real bang for your buck.

When Bob and Bernie Owens viewed this derelict farmhouse

in the Wirral, they were amazed at the hidden gem which

had been right in front of their eyes.

We'd driven past this place for 15 years.

Didn't even know it existed.

And then one day, when we were seeing the estate agent,

we came and did a drive-by and stopped and looked and we went,

"Wow!" No idea this was here.

And no idea that we could ever afford anything like this.

It was just... I think it was meant to be.

Having spent ?485,000 on the house,

the couple were aware it was a long way off being their dream home.

There was nothing here when we bought it.

It was just a small, little four-bedroom, square box.

It needed some love, didn't it?

Right from the door, the stairs hit you.

There was no windows on one side of the building.

It was small, it was dark inside. It was horrendous.

I'd sit down there, look down the field and think, "Oh, this is nice."

Then I'd look back at the house and think, "Oh!"

I'd get a shock every time I saw it.

Keen to extend, they took a pretty big gamble

when they bought the building without any planning permission.

We bought this wanting to extend it.

As the house stood, it would have been...

It wouldn't have been right for us. No good.

I would never have been happy. And it paid off.

Maybe we didn't sit and think too often about it

because if we hadn't have got planning permission,

it would have been a disaster. You wouldn't have been sitting here now.

Renovation projects like this often live or die

by the quality of the professionals involved.

I mean, we have got to take our hats off to the architect.

Cos the architect is the guy that got what we wanted.

And it was important to the couple that the work done

was in keeping with the original design of the building.

It's in green belt

and it's a beautiful place where we live, and it was so important.

That was our boundaries really, how...the materials we had to use.

And it had to look like it had always been here.

You know, it was a lot of money,

because we spent a lot of money on the windows and the doors,

to make it look like it was original. 30,000-odd reclaimed bricks,

all from Liverpool, you know, all from my old stomping ground.

But it wouldn't have looked right if it was done with modern bricks.

For much less than buying a place already transformed,

Bob and Bernie have turned this once rundown residence into a truly

stunning home.

This is... I shouldn't be here.

This is not me. This is not what I would've anticipated ever.

Get a hold of, never mind afford.

I think it's a combination of lots of things, but I absolutely love

the house. I didn't think it would turn out as nice as it did.

It is a beautiful, bright home. Mm.

What we set out to do, we've done it, I think. Yeah. Yeah.

In fact, it's probably better than what I thought.

In fact, I was down the field the other day with the dog

and I looked back and I thought, "Look at that, that's unbelievable."

With the population of the UK growing year on year,

the need to restore and develop abandoned dwellings

becomes more important by the day.

There are 61,000 hectares of brownfield sites in the UK,

and more than half are made up of vacant and derelict buildings.

But with careful planning,

not only can these properties themselves be saved, but

they can also provide much-needed residential accommodation.

Aldershot, in Hampshire, is often referred to as the home

of the British military because of this huge site built in the 1850s

that turned Aldershot from a small village into a town.

The site was closed in 1996 due to the high cost

of running the old buildings.

Now these former military properties are being saved and developed,

restoring some of Aldershot's military heritage

while meeting the local need for housing for many years to come.

John Beresford is the development director of this gigantic

and exciting project, pretty much making a new town from scratch.

What is the vision for this site? It's a huge site, isn't it?

Oh, it's massive. I mean, this thing is going to be sort of...

We're remodelling it as a new community, a new town.

And, you know, you've seen all the sort of...the old,

redundant Army buildings, which have just sat there, decaying.

And we are going to be sort of knocking some of them down,

we are going to be reusing others and creating something that will,

hopefully, you know, in 100 years' time,

look as good as it was when it was built.

What sort of buildings are we looking to build or to renew there?

What is going to be here? How many homes?

It's 3,850 new homes, but there is associated social infrastructure,

such as the schools, the community centres.

We've got two primary schools.

We've got recycling centres, pubs, cafes etc,

things that you'd normally expect to be

sort of designed into a well-thought-out new community.

So a mix of new build but also refurbishing historic buildings,

and presumably a proportion of that will be affordable housing.

Yeah, there's a lot of affordable housing.

35% will be affordable.

When you do a site of this scale,

can it work in terms of infrastructure?

I mean, you're looking at, what, 10,000 new people here,

all the cars, the roads, the power, the lighting,

everything associated with it. Can that work?

It's extremely complicated,

and that is one of the things that sort of takes so long to work out.

It is the utilities. It is making sure, you know,

every child that is going to be born on this site or live on this site

has the school to go to.

This is the plan of what is going to be built.

Does this happen in phases then?

Do you start with a certain area and try and get people living in it

and then sort of spread outwards? Yeah.

So this will be the first phase,

followed by the refurbishment of the Cambridge Military Hospital.

It is very important for us to get that back into use.

You know, it is an iconic sort of building.

And, you know, it's on the tipping point of decay.

So we're going to bring that back into use.

And that first stage, how long to bring the Victorian hospital

back to life and the surrounding area?

Well, we are working on that at the moment.

It will probably be brought forward in the next

sort of, like, one to three years.

As well as all the new build and commercial structures,

I'm really excited to hear the plans for the historic buildings.

Alan Chitson is the site manager charged with nursing this old

military hospital back to full health.

It's incredible, isn't it? It's a really iconic building.

Just how big is it?

I can see wings of it disappearing over that way.

Well, it measures in length over 250 metres. Really?!

It's a huge building, yes. A quarter of a kilometre. Very much so.

It has been added onto over the years, but not significantly.

Really attractive, isn't it, when you look at it from the front?

A very, very proud building. Fantastic, yes.

It's got lots of features there.

You've got the arches above the windows on the ground floor,

the stonework.

It would have treated military patients during the First World War?

It was the first UK hospital to treat battle injuries

from the First World War.

Well, look, are we able to see inside? What sort of state is it in?

It is not in a great state, bless it, because, obviously,

it has been vacated for 16 years now.

But we can look at part of it. Fantastic, let's do that. Thank you.

This building alone is over 90,000 square feet in size

and will provide about 75 new homes.

You'll see the staircases here

with the low risers and the longer treads.

And they were designed to help the nurses who had the very long

dresses at the time, the uniform. Go up and down the stairs. Exactly.

And this is now the main spine corridor - 250 metres in length.

Goodness! It's huge, isn't it?

And that would link all the wards and the wings together? Exactly.

That is what it is here for.

This is fantastic, isn't it?

You are instantly struck by all the light that comes in.

Very much so.

It is a typical ward that's here - very high ceilings,

very high sash windows to allow the fresh air to flow through.

You can still see the frames, obviously, from where all

the beds were originally, before the hospital closed down.

Looking here to either convert these into townhouses or could be flats.

To keep this height, this light?

That's one of the challenges we've got here.

Ideally, you do want to keep the features with the tall windows.

And it is just probably under the height to create mezzanine floors.

It really is an unusual space, isn't it?

It's at a very exciting stage and lots of plans ahead.

Very much so, yes. We've got a lot of work still to do.

It is a very interesting scheme.

The potential of this site and this project is absolutely huge.

If everything goes ahead as planned, it could add a third

to the population of Aldershot.

And at the heart of it, this iconic building.

Fantastic Victorian architecture.

It's not hard to see beyond the peeling paintwork here.

And it is going to be fantastic to see this building alive

and being fully used once again.

Repairing an empty property takes time, energy and money,

but it can be rewarding in so many ways.

There is that feeling of accomplishment

but also the knowledge that you have transformed a derelict

building into a comfortable new home.

Hundreds of thousands of buildings right across the UK are left unused

and forgotten, wasting away while the housing shortage continues.

The people whose job it is to seek out these buildings and breathe

life back into them are local council empty property officers.

In Amber Valley, Derbyshire, Sue Lee is visiting a cottage

that's sat empty for over six years.

It's an old stone cottage in a really quaint little village.

This village is also one of our really high-value areas.

Now, people who pass by this cottage often contact me to see

how they can find the owner and buy the property.

The elderly owner has health issues and is now in council accommodation.

Despite his family's desire to sell the house, the owner has not

so far put it on the market.

So the council may have to enforce a sale themselves.

I'm going today to check whether or not the property is on the market.

Otherwise, I've got no choice

but to continue and make the compulsory purchase order.

Being in such a desirable area and with limited housing stock locally,

Sue is aware what a terrible waste it is for this home to sit empty.

Fingers crossed, there is going to be a wonderful,

big for sale sign outside the property

and the owner's representative has managed to persuade him

of what his best interests really are.

Yeah, unsurprisingly, there is no for sale sign.

Sue needs to get a closer look to assess the level of neglect

and see if there are any urgent issues she needs to deal with.

You can see the terrible state of the house.

You know, the windows with the crack in it, the door...

I don't think that crack has got any worse.

It looks very similar to what I've got here, so, um, I'm really

quite pleased that there is nothing further for us to be concerned about.

Sue needs to do some detective work to find out

if the owner is genuinely making an effort to sell the cottage.

I was just wondering if you'd seen any activity, any agents

measuring up or any potential buyers that might have been...?

No, no, there's been no-one around there for probably

six or seven months. I think the last people to come along

were the council, and they met the owner. Right. Some time ago. Yeah.

Have you seen any estate agents or anyone measuring up?

Not at all, no.

Well, I wasn't able to establish that the property's up for sale.

And I've spoken to a couple of the local residents

and they haven't seen any activity either.

No agents, no potential buyers.

So, quite disappointingly, we'll have to continue with the CPO.

If you've always dreamed of rescuing an empty property,

there are many ways to pick one up.

Talk with local estate agents and auctioneers, ask around friends

and family members or get in contact

with your local empty property officer.

Back in Hove, I'm with first-time buyers Rebecca

and Anthony, who bought a modest one-bed flat.

To help them maximise potential, I'm going to introduce them

to a small-time developer who did a similar job making the most

out of limited space.

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

It is a little bit hidden under scaffolding at the moment.

It's just having its paintwork done on the outside.

But it has been divided into flats.

It's your typical Brighton and Hove villa, absolutely beautiful.

We looked at a few one-beds in this exact road when we were looking.

In this road? Yeah. So it'll be interesting.

You probably know the sort of thing we're dealing with here.

Let's see what you make of the renovation and say hello to Sue.

Brilliant, thank you.

Sue Jackson is one of those people who's truly got the renovation bug.

The most rewarding bit of doing a renovation to me

is taking what is fundamentally a beautiful property to start with,

which has just been dated or left to sort of lose its sparkle,

and then bringing it back to life.

And she is not afraid to rough it to cut costs.

The pros of living in the building while you're doing the project

are that you can keep an eye on the builders

and be right on top of things, deliveries etc,

so that you can be very organised.

The cons of that is that at five o'clock or four o'clock

when the builders leave,

you've then got to stay in amongst all the dirt and muck and cold,

especially when the heating system has not been done yet.

Or you haven't got a toilet.

Sue bought the flat for ?190,000 and managed to transform it

with a budget of 20,000, and can now enjoy the fruits of her labour.

I get most of my pleasure in my flat in my bedroom.

It is my little haven, my boudoir.

I absolutely adore the ceiling rose and the chandelier.

And the sun comes in this room in the morning.

It's beautiful and light.

But I can safely say that I love all my rooms in my flat.

The bathroom is fantastic.

And then, the front room, it's got more atmosphere

cos it's the darker side of the building.

And then that only leaves the kitchen, and, of course,

I love my kitchen cos I love cooking.

And you can open the back doors onto the garden,

so you get all the fresh air and the lovely noise -

the sea and the seagulls. I love it all. Every room is lovely.

I'm hoping seeing what Sue has achieved here will help

inspire Rebecca and Anthony

and steer these first-time buyers in the right direction.

Very nice. So beautiful. Yeah, first impressions? Amazing.

What were the biggest challenges of taking on a project

like this and renovating it and trying to make it your own,

your own style and your own feel?

My biggest challenge on this one was the fact that

I was new to Brighton, so it was a case of finding the workmen

and the people to do the major work.

How did you go about that then? What sort of tips did you have?

Find the people that you are looking for. If it is plumbers,

electricians, builders, whatever you need,

find at least half a dozen.

Skim it down to maybe three

and then actually get hold of the people that they've worked for.

OK. Actually say, "Look,

"this guy says he has done this for you, can you tell me how good he is?

"Was he reasonably priced?" Ask all the questions. That's interesting.

Have you got to the stage where you're looking at any

builders or contractors to come in? Um, yeah, we have.

I think we have more or less found a builder and, again,

that was through a contact, someone who knew him.

So it was a recommendation.

If you go and speak to people, which is what you are saying,

and say, "How were they? Were they on time?

"Did they stick to schedule and budget?"

People don't mind giving that information.

That is a really good idea to go to their previous customers.

Yeah, if you can, I think it is worth it.

I suppose the more you do this,

the more you have an awareness of schedules

and things in terms of getting electricians and plumbers in first.

When the sort of fundamentals are in, then I can move to plastering,

then I can move to decorat...

You kind of get this order, don't you?

Yeah, it's working out the right system, how it all goes

together, what you've got to do first, as you say, second and third.

It's like timing.

So putting your carpets

in first before the kitchen goes in is a bad idea?

Yeah, bad idea. OK. We've got, uh... We've got to make some calls.

We've got to shift a few things around.

This is a wonderful sitting room.

Shall we go through and see a bit more as well? Yep. Lead the way. OK.

The kitchen is one of the rooms where you really need to watch the

budget, so it is vital Rebecca and Anthony get it right first time.

This is the kitchen. Very nice!

Now, your kitchen is a bit smaller than this, but it strikes me

it's a sort of similar shape.

And you are going to have units all the way along two of the walls?

Is it this kind of look you are going for?

Like an L-shape I think we're going to have to go for. Yeah, OK.

In terms of budget, we've got a very tight budget.

How much, sort of, of that budget should

we be really spending on a kitchen?

It's not necessary that you have

to spend a load of money to make it look really, really good.

The best advice is research. Research, research, research.

You can save lots of money - ?50, ?100.

It all adds up at the end of the day

and it means you've got more to play with,

especially contingencies, when things might not go to plan.

You don't necessarily have to go and pay through the nose at a retailer.

Look on the internet.

Then you can maybe think to sort of add something.

That must be reassuring,

that's what you said you were doing earlier.

That's nice to sort of know that you're working along the same lines.

Yeah, yeah. One thing I want to talk about is

the similarity between your two flats.

Both have two main spaces and a separate kitchen.

What was your thinking, Sue?

Were you ever tempted to knock this wall down

and make a big kitchen diner?

I personally felt in this respect that it was better to

have my separate kitchen and then to keep the lovely size

and shape of the rooms

and the integrity of the room

and the flat itself intact rather than chopping and changing.

Because then you are into the trap of so many flats

in Hove where they have made two-bedroom flats

and squeezed two very small rooms in.

Exactly. And actually...

And when we were looking, we saw a few flats where they had

converted or knocked down a wall, but they had done a really bad job.

So it was obvious and it was...

They didn't really finish it properly.

And, yeah, I guess that's...

I think there's lots of things you can do before you get that drastic.

And I'm not sure whether in terms of say resale, for example,

that you are adding value,

when you might get another bedroom and that might be

a case of two-bedroom flats usually go for more money, but

when you're sacrificing a beautiful space and the aesthetics

of that space, I don't believe that is the right option.

Well, look, Sue, really good advice,

and I'm pleased it's worked out so well for you. It is a lovely flat.

It doesn't feel like a one-bed.

You've really used the space extremely well.

So congratulations and thanks for your time today.

So, guys, having had a good look around and heard Sue's

words of advice, how are you feeling about your project?

Really confident. With Sue's advice, it's going

to stop us from making some really fundamental mistakes.

There are a couple of things we were about to embark on,

and without talking to Sue first, I think we would have

gone down a very costly route with a couple of things.

So, yeah, really, really pleased that we managed to get some

time and advice from Sue to help us on this journey.

And we are really excited about, you know, getting in there

and, you know, taking a step back and not rushing

some of those decisions. Yeah.

I know you said earlier you don't like to be rushed in decisions.

And the idea of just taking a bit more time,

making sure you really plan it carefully,

it might mean another month or two's rent,

but if you get the place you want the way you want it, it is

surely worth it, isn't it? Yeah, definitely.

And I think, you know, we can do most of the big things

that need to be done before we move in now.

And then maybe not rush things like furniture choices,

cos the interior look is really important to me.

Even if it means having our clothes on clothes rails

for a few more weeks while I wait to get the pieces

of furniture that I really love

rather than the first thing that I see,

would be a better decision, really.

Well, I think today has been really useful cos, quite frankly,

when you are a first-time renovator, you need all the help you can get.

And Sue has been through this seven times now.

So there's been plenty of advice on hand today -

how to stretch the budget,

how to get the place the way you want it,

how to maximise the use of space - all brilliant things

that have come just at the right time for Anthony and Rebecca.

So I'm sure they'll take that back with them

and very soon have their ideal place.

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