Luke Antins and Elizabeth Stanistreet 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.

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.

On today's show, a young couple who, with the help of parents,

have taken on an abandoned cottage in the Lake District that they

hope to turn into their first home. Plan is to open up into a big space.

The whole of the downstairs? Yeah.

A regeneration project in the Northeast dedicated to

reviving forgotten buildings from our industrial heritage.

1913 it was built, is that right? Yes. It's the centenary this year.

This year? Quite a special time to bring it back to life.

And one of Britain's empty property officers, on a mission to

bring Birmingham's abandoned buildings back into use.

Pieces of the...

As you can see which has nearly fallen on top of me, parts of the

porch are actually still falling off so that's really dangerous still.

Luke Antin and his girlfriend Elizabeth had long aspired

to buy a home in the beautiful

Cumbria countryside. We like the area

because we can go into the Lake District.

We can do climbing and sailing

and walking. We like the fact that it's open space.

Around here, everything is hundreds and hundreds of thousands,

going up into the millions which is just not possible for us.

So, when Luke's dad John, a joiner by trade, suggested

he help them financially, Luke and Elizabeth jumped at the chance

and immediately decided they would search for an abandoned

building they could bring back to life.

I told Luke the best way to get on the property ladder would be

to buy a property in need of modernisation.

Elizabeth found this place.

The trio snapped up this deserted three-bedroom semi-detached

house at auction for ?96,500.

Without my dad, we couldn't have possibly done this

because the house is unmortgageable in its current state.

The first impression of this house is that it's falling down

and it's very scary.

It's not something I would normally go anywhere near, but I have

been assured that it will remain standing and it will turn out OK.

That is until I start doing work on it. This is true.

While Elizabeth will stay in her current home with her young

daughter, Luke plans to take on the lion's

share of the work in a bid to keep renovation costs down.

I have helped my dad on occasions, shifting rubble, mixing cement

but I've never done any plastering or brickwork.

I will be looking to him to teach me how to do some of these jobs.

So, with very little experience Luke is

completely reliant on his dad's skills, which will be essential

if they are to complete the overhaul themselves.

I think my dad is really itching to get his hand stuck in

and he's going to have to be here for quite a bit of it to

pass on his skills and show me what I need to do.

Luke is a novice renovator, and although his dad is not a full-time

builder, Luke is still lucky he'll be there to guide the renovation.

But working with family often brings its own set of issues.

I think one of the challenges possibly will be me and my dad.

We are very similar to each other. More than we possibly care to admit.

To some degree, it's like having two South Poles trying to connect together.

And I'm always right.

LAUGHTER

'This is all very new.

'Luke and Elizabeth have only just signed the contract for the house

'and they're rearing to go.'

I'm Joe. How you doing? Nice to meet you.

This is your place.

Am I right in thinking your first place together? That's right.

Our first one. How does that feel? Really exciting.

THEY LAUGH

Were you open-minded, Elizabeth?

Were you open to anything you saw in terms of taking on quite

a big project? I quite liked the idea of a house you could just move into.

But that's miles out of our budget. Let's have a look inside.

Luke and Elizabeth are yet to pin down any plans,

but they'll need to be mindful, as they have a tight renovation budget

of ?25,000, with Luke's dad estimating the cost closer to 40,000.

Look at this. You've got some holes in your front room. Yeah.

What's going on?

These holes were put in to check the structure of the property.

The surveyors have done this? Yeah.

They were looking for subsidence in the walls

because it's evident on this wall.

They were trying to see if it extended anywhere else.

This is a supporting wall for the whole building, is it, in the middle?

At the moment, yeah. It's keeping the roof and the first floor up.

It's quite vital. So what is the plan?

This is clearly a sitting room. The main living space.

Tell me how the house is laid out and what you want to do with it.

The plan is to open up into a big space.

The whole of the downstairs? Yeah.

How does that suit the way you want to live? You've got a young girl.

Do you like that feel where the children are around you

and you can always see what she's doing? Yes.

Very important to know where she is.

I suppose that's a big challenge if you're going to take out a wall,

and this wall is the main supporting wall in the middle of the house.

We're talking big structural work. Yup.

No, we don't reckon that it will be, actually. Yeah, time will tell. OK.

If you're going to take it out, you need to put something else in there.

Steel joists, that kind of stuff. Yeah.

Am I right in thinking your dad can't be here all the time? He's got a business to run.

That's right. So you guys will be the ones who are always here.

Is that fair? Yeah. That's a responsibility.

He's already told me that I'm going to be building the support

pillars for the steel beams so that's quite a vital point.

If it falls down, it's his fault.

Where are you guys going to be living when this is going on?

I'm going to be camping outside.

And then try and get some of it into a liveable state, and move in

and slum it really. I see. You're going to be here.

Are you prepared for that? It's all very well on a lovely sunny day.

That's not always how it is, is it? No. It's fine.

As long as we're not going to get minus 30 degree snowstorms,

I'll live.

Well, let's see a bit more of the house.

'This house had been abandoned for quite some time

'before Luke and Elizabeth snapped it up.

'As a result, the three bedrooms upstairs and the bathroom

'are in desperate need of some serious work.

'Back downstairs, there are the remnants of a tiny kitchen,

'but outside reveals the real jewel in the crown of this property.'

So out in the garden, it's absolutely lovely.

This was one of the main attractions for the property. Yup.

For my little girl. How important is it to have this space? Really important.

Somewhere for her to run around.

What kind of things concern you at this point? It's all ahead of you.

What do you know? What don't you know? It's quite early on.

We're undecided on quite a bit of it. But we are kind of...

We've got lots of ideas.

We haven't decided which ones we want.

So everything is at a fluid stage.

You've got the keys, and you know you've got to sort out the structure

but after that, who knows?

I think what will be useful is to see another property in this area.

One that's been fully renovated.

I think there will be a lot of inspiration there.

It'll also be good to meet the people behind it.

They've been through the renovation. It's your first renovation. I know you've got your dad's help

but it would be great to get some practical advice, tips,

any things they wouldn't do again to help guide you on your way.

Hopefully that could be useful for the stage you're at now.

How does that sound? Yup, sounds good. Sounds very good. Excellent.

I think it's going to be a lovely first family home for Luke and Elizabeth.

They've got their head round the big problems here,

the structural issues.

But I don't think, because it's so early in the project, they've got to grips with some of the details.

The little things that will make this from just another

renovation project into their perfect home.

It will be good for them to see another property that IS

fully finished, they can take some inspiration from that.

But also there'll be some good help and advice to get them started.

Across the UK, there are many abandoned buildings like

Luke and Elizabeth's that could be restored to use.

With some imagination, the results can be surprising,

as architect Elspeth Beard has proved.

She was in the market for an unusual building in Surrey that she

could breathe life into and turn into her home.

I was looking to buy a property that hadn't been originally

designed as a house.

I wanted somewhere where I could convert and

design the internal spaces as I wanted to.

A friend of mine saw this and he told me about it.

The minute I saw it, I decided, literally,

straight away that I wanted it.

It's just such a beautiful building, and in the fact that inside was just

a huge empty space I could do whatever I wanted to with.

So Elspeth bravely paid ?121,000 for it at auction.

The tower, built in 1898, reaches 130 feet high,

and had supplied water to the local villages for 70 years.

In the mid-19th century, these water towers were a focal point of UK

towns and cities, but now many are disused and abandoned.

It had been empty for 20 years when I bought it.

It was full of pigeons and doves.

I spent six months shovelling out the bird poo.

I managed to get an entire skipload.

And that was just the beginning.

Elspeth spent a year securing planning permission to turn

the tower into a home.

Ironically, one of her biggest jobs was making the six-level

water tower waterproof.

We spent nine months doing all the brickwork repairs,

64 new windows, a new roof, put in the lantern light on the top floor.

So after three years, I basically had a waterproof shell and

the planning and listed building consent.

Elspeth went on to spend a further four years

and ?220,000 on the renovation.

When I moved to the tower, it was very much still a building site.

It didn't have a kitchen, a bath or a toilet.

For the first three or four years, I managed to keep my spirits up.

When I got into year four, five and six, I'd had enough of it.

But despite these trying times, Elspeth has created a unique

and totally bespoke home.

What I love about the building is, once you enter the front door,

I feel as if I'm in my own space.

Everything in this building was designed by me

and a lot of it was built by me.

I just wanted to have one large room on each floor

and I didn't want any rooms within rooms, which is why,

in the bedrooms, the bathrooms are open to the main bedroom space.

There are a lot of stairs in the building.

It's 89 stairs to my kitchen, 116 to my living room

and 141 to the roof terrace.

For Elspeth, creating an amazing home from this historic water tower

wasn't her only motivation.

Somebody needed to save this building for the future

so I was very pleased I was able to do that.

The project may have dominated her life

and bank balance for seven years,

but having seen the renovation through, Elspeth has no regrets.

It was definitely worth it. I love living here. It's a great building,

it's a great space. And I certainly worked for it.

And I feel I've certainly earned it.

Restoring Britain's forgotten working buildings

and turning them into housing stock is undoubtedly rewarding

and also helps keep our industrial past alive.

Britain's role as the workshop of the world

and the pioneer of the Industrial Revolution has left its own

legacy in terms of property here in the UK.

Thousands of mills, factories and old mine

buildings lie dotted around the country,

often empty and forgotten.

That is particularly the case here in the Northeast, which was once

the heartlands of our coal industry.

'I'm at the abandoned Bowes Railway site near Newcastle.

'Built in 1825, it was once a thriving industrial hub.

'But since its closure in 1979, it's fallen into disrepair

'and its buildings have been declared at risk due to vandalism.

'Leading the campaign to change its fortunes is

'Martin Holst from the Tyne and Wear Building Preservation Trust.'

How are you doing? I'm Joe.

A very intriguing backdrop here.

Tell me about the history of the site. This is Bowes Railway.

It was a rope-hauled railway system which moved

coal from coalfields to Jarrow. What do we mean by rope-hauled?

So, the majority of the movement of the trucks was done by ropes

pulling trucks. Where does the power for this come from?

There would've been a number of static engines along the line,

and gravity, because of the inclines, they could use gravity to move.

So the idea was to link the coal mines here with the river and the transport.

How long would this rope-hauled railway have been at its height?

The system was about 15 miles. There's about three miles of that track left.

How important is it now that we remember this?

This is a scheduled monument, so it's of national significance

because of the track, the buildings and the trucks.

There is so much surviving fabric. Tell me about your trust.

It's not so much about railways, it's specifically about buildings

and bringing them back into good use.

We run across Tyne and Wear, and we're looking for buildings

of historical interest that we can bring back into use.

And you've seen something here you think can do just that?

Yes, I've been working here for a number of years

and it's got potential.

Fantastic. Let's go and take a look.

Black Fell House was one of the essential engine rooms on this

railway, used to power the rope system that pulled the coal

trucks along. Now the preservation trust want it to be someone's home.

But it's a long way from that point.

The driver would have been in the door there

looking down the incline, controlling the engine.

It looks very well built. Can this be used? It's still standing now.

It's extremely solid. The machinery is very heavy.

OK. Shall we try and have a look in?

So it's been attracting a bit of attention, has it?

Yeah, the building's been empty for 20 years. You come to expect it.

They've been climbing through here, stealing parts of the machinery.

The metal. They've wrecked the machinery. So what is the plan?

It's a big building, it's a good space. What can you do with this?

The idea is for a live-work unit.

So we'd put a pod up in the roof for someone to live.

Probably an artist or a carpenter or joiner.

So they'd be able to live over their workshop.

So it's definitely going ahead? You've got funding...?

We've got ?200,000 of funding

so far from the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation and English Heritage.

That's most of the money that we'll need. 1913 it was built?

It's the centenary this year.

Quite a special time to bring it back to life.

It seems fitting that you've managed to secure its future on the centenary.

Yes. It should all click into place now.

Fantastic. Best of luck with it. Thanks.

I think what's happening here is a really good compromise.

Sadly, some of the fabric inside the building has been lost over

the years so you can't really preserve this as a museum piece.

The next best thing is to find a way of celebrating its industrial past.

And so to make this into a workshop or a studio is just perfect,

and then to also have someone living here is ideal.

It means the site will be secure, and that person can effectively

act as a guardian to look after this building for many years to come.

Sadly, not all of Britain's forgotten buildings are rescued

and brought back to life.

But local councils ARE taking action,

and it's the job of empty property officers to track these

buildings down and work on bringing them back into the community.

In Birmingham, Matt Smith does just that, and he's on his way to

a house that's been on his radar for six months.

Since the owner died, his family have had trouble maintaining

the house, and Matt has been responding to complaints.

A few months ago, the front porch to the property collapsed

and it was in a really dangerous condition.

I contacted the homeowner to get a skip to the property, to start

putting some of the dangerous debris into the skip.

Having spoken to the neighbour,

it seems that some of the dangerous work to the porch hasn't been done.

It looks like we've got a car on the drive this time.

I'm wondering whether there's somebody in.

HE RATTLES LETTER BOX

But the presence of the car is misleading.

The porch is full of unopened post, which suggests there is no-one home.

Disappointed really because I asked him to do...

There is a porch here that was part of the garage that was totally

falling down. He's done part of the work.

We've got potentially really dangerous wires...

I'm not going to touch them to see

whether they are live, but there is always the potential that they are.

Totally dangerous pieces of glass, which aren't very safe,

and pieces of the...

As you can see, which has nearly fallen on top of me.

Parts of the porch are still falling off so that's really dangerous still.

It's just one of these things with empty houses,

you never know what you're going to find when you're there.

Like many streets with empty properties,

it's often the neighbours who bear the burden of

an unsightly building and the antisocial behaviour it attracts.

So Matt wants to check in with them to give them an update.

Hello there. Matthew Smith from Birmingham City Council Empty Property Team.

It's about the empty house across the way.

Have you seen anybody working on the house recently?

I saw him probably about two weeks ago. OK.

He was mainly clearing out the garage and everything.

Have you got kids? I haven't got any young kids.

The next-door neighbour's got young kids,

there's young kids over the road.

Just if you can talk to the neighbours in terms of the safety element

and make sure that they don't visit -

with the glass,

who knows what they're treading on!

Thanks very much for your time, and obviously any problems

give me a shout.

Will do. Cheers.

Before Matt wraps up at the house, he puts in a call to the

owner, to inform him of the work that still needs to be carried out.

Slightly concerned that there's dangerous elements to the porch.

There's jagged pieces of wood and nails hanging down.

You need to ensure this work is done.

OK, so I've spoken to the owner.

I'm going to write to him formally now, asking him

to do certain safety work to the porch again.

Cut down the garden, try and make the place look a bit more presentable.

At least we've got to speak with the neighbours

and speak to the owner, and things look like they should move forward now.

If you've noticed abandoned properties in your area

and fancy the challenge of taking one on,

contact local estate agents, neighbourhood watch groups and

local shop owners and traders, and see if they have any information.

Or get in touch with your local empty property officer.

'Back in the Lake District, I'm with Luke and Elizabeth who,

'with the help of Luke's dad,

'have taken on an abandoned house they can turn into a family home.

'They're at the very beginning of the project, with plans

'still up in the air, so they've lots of questions.

'I'm going to introduce them to a couple who've done something

'very similar.'

Here we are. This is the place I want you to see.

The reason I brought you here is it used to be in a similar state

to yours. It had structural problems,

it needed a complete overhaul, and this is what they've come up with.

Hopefully, they'll be able to show us around and there'll be some advice.

Shall we say hello? Yeah. Come on.

Like Luke and Elizabeth, Stephen

and Marguerite loved the beauty of the Lake District and were desperate

to get on the property ladder here by restoring a local building.

We'd always fancied having a property up here but they are so expensive

in the Lake District, so we had to find something we could renovate.

It was a bit strange because we'd got here, and it was literally

falling to bits. We'd look through the windows and I think that was it.

It was love at first sight, wasn't it? Yeah.

But once they became the proud owners of the 100-year-old cottage,

the enormity of the project crept up on them.

When we first bought it

I remember we went to a little bar down the road and sat in it and thought, "What have we done?!"

We were both very quiet, which is unusual, and

we looked at each other and I said, "I don't think I can do this."

But we managed to get through that after the initial panic.

The house had only been empty for four months

when they bought it for ?280,000.

But it had been left completely exposed to the elements

and was declared uninhabitable by the local council.

There was a lot of damp all through the house.

And there was no central heating. All the electrics needed changing.

We basically had to gut it. We decided to turn it upside down.

Because of where it is in the Lake District, you get the views upstairs

in this house, and so we thought to have the living area upstairs

and move the bedrooms downstairs.

Stephen and Marguerite clearly planned out this renovation

with great care, and now they're reaping the rewards.

When we walk through the door after a week at work, it's just

a feeling of... We're completely chilled.

And that's a big thing for us.

'I'm in no doubt that this beautiful cottage will not only inspire

'Luke and Elizabeth,

'but will also focus their minds on the reality of what's ahead.'

What do you think? We're straight into the sitting room.

Yeah, it's very, very nice.

You were talking about liking a modern look and feel.

Yeah, definitely. Is this what you were meaning?

Yeah. Lots of light spaces as well.

Gorgeous. Well, look - start us at the beginning.

When you took on this project, what condition was this building in?

The walls were up but that was about it. The roofs were coming down. It was a real mess.

How long did it take you to do it? Well, we bought it in October 2010.

It took us till May the following year before we started work on it.

So in the end, from getting the keys to starting work,

you had seven months of planning. I know that wasn't always your choice,

but you made good use of that time.

It was good because it gave Marguerite the time for all

the design flair to come in and decide exactly what you want to do.

You need to think about things.

To play devil's advocate, these guys want to get going.

They want to knock down the wall.

Surely they can plan the rest of it later. What do you say to that?

Plan, plan, plan and plan. Yeah.

Think it through. Cos one day you might think it's a fabulous idea

and the next, you think, "That was really stupid."

I think we're going to get our notebook out, cos both of us

keep notebooks about everything else but we haven't started one, have we?

No, not for the house. One of the biggest things about it is, enjoy it while you're doing it.

Yeah. Just have fun. Don't put yourself under time constraints.

That's just giving yourself another stress that you don't need.

OK. Loads of advice there. Plan, plan, plan. Don't put yourself under time

constraints...despite your Christmas deadline. LAUGHTER

It's a target, not a deadline.

Well, this is lovely. Let's go and see a bit more.

Lead the way.

'It's clear Stephen and Marguerite's planning efforts have paid off,

'and they've designed this three-bedroom cottage to match their needs and surroundings.'

This is very interesting.

You've got your dining room here, and then stairs

and kitchen on the other side.

Is that how it was originally laid out? No.

This was a bedroom, and that was a bedroom as well.

Because we've got the views from the upstairs of the property,

we thought this needed to be the living area

so we've flipped the whole thing upside down.

In terms of the budget and how much this cost, just give us

a sense of what you thought it would cost and what it ended up costing.

It was about on budget. Yeah.

We'd planned to spend about 100,000 altogether including

the extension and that sort of thing, and it came in around that.

What are your top tips for trying to stretch a budget?

I think probably weigh things up, really.

The internet as well. Yeah.

And when you say weighing things up, you mean prioritising -

what you really must have and what's a luxury.

Also mix-matching, with expensive stuff and things that aren't.

If you were to start over again, what is it that you would change?

I don't think there is, is there?

I guess that is the biggest testament to planning, then -

if you come through this and think, "We've got it all."

It's really inspiring the way you've moved the house round to

fit your needs, and you've got such a great result and some lovely advice.

We'll take planning away from this. Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you. Thank you.

Cheers.

Having had a good look round and heard lots of advice, how are you feeling?

What are you going to take away from today? Planning.

Yeah, take planning a bit more seriously, and as we're going about

just pick up anything we like the look of, and try and see how we could work it into our house.

And looking forward, you've got everything ahead of you. Are you excited?

Definitely. Yeah. Give us a hammer!

Well, guys, you have a wonderful property. It's in a gorgeous location.

It's going to make the perfect first family home for you.

So I really do wish you the best of luck -

keep planning, work hard - and I'm sure you'll be there very soon. BOTH: Thank you.

I think today's been really useful for Luke and Elizabeth.

Sometimes, when you're a first-time renovator

the instinct is just to get stuck in, knock walls down

but actually, it really pays to stand back and make sure you've got

a proper plan, and that's the advice I think they've taken on board from today.

Yes, by all means keep that energy - but also have a really complete vision for the home.

And if they do that,

I'm sure they'll have their dream place in no time at all.

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