Terraced houses being renovated

Victorian terraces in danger of demolition under the government’s controversial regeneration programme are being given a new lease of life by developers hoping to bring ‘loft style’ living to the suburbs.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott’s ‘Pathfinder’ scheme will see 10,000 homes in the Midlands and north of England flattened by 2006, with more facing demolition after that. But a housing association, Adactus, has pioneered what it dubs the ‘Tardis terrace’ - a reworking of the cramped two-up two-down - which it hopes will keep the wrecking ball at bay by attracting more people to depopulated areas with dilapidated housing stocks.

‘We’ve had a problem with terraces in the north - people think they’re small, dark and ugly,’ admits Adactus chief executive Paul Lees. ‘We’ve got to accept that they’re not family houses anymore. People want more space.’

The conversion of the terraces is innovative. Part of the first floor is removed, leaving an airy double-height living space, overlooked by an open-plan bedroom and lit by a skylight in the roof. A newly fitted kitchen is at the front, with a snug, second bedroom and patio at the rear.

Contemporary-themed interiors are geared towards singletons and childless couples, but the company says some over-60s were among those queuing down the street to view the four pilot houses in Preston that were completed last month.

Adactus plans to expand the ‘Tardis terrace’ blueprint. It has recently won planning permission to convert a row of seven houses in Nelson, East Lancashire, creating five larger houses with eco-friendly features such as solar panelling and windmill-powered external lights.

A further six houses are planned for Manchester’s troubled Moss Side district, and proposals have been made to renovate 25 houses in both northern Manchester and in Bootle near Liverpool. The company is also looking at other areas of Liverpool and Lancaster.

Half the houses at each scheme will be available to buy at around £75,000; the rest will be for rent at £55 a week. Shared-ownership options will be available. ‘People buying will hopefully have some commitment to the area,’ says Lees. ‘And those renting have to have a demonstrable housing need.’

Whether the rundown areas surrounding the new terraces will put off buyers remains to be seen; successful regeneration depends more on local social and economic issues than snazzy interiors. But it is likely that ‘Tardis terrace’ residents will be well-behaved: Adactus was the first housing association to pilot what became the anti-social behaviour order.

Adactus already owns some of the terraces it plans to convert; others it will buy from local councils for £15,000-£30,000 each. It says refurbishing a ‘Tardis terrace’ costs £45,000, compared with the cost of demolishing 10 terraced houses and rebuilding five new homes at £95,000 per unit.

Developer Urban Splash also has an innovative take on the terrace. It has won permission to convert 349 houses in Langworthy, Salford. The area, once featured in the opening shots of Coronation Street, was once called a ‘place of hopelessness and despair’ by Hazel Blears, MP for Salford.

But, through Blears’s encouragement, Urban Splash hopes to breathe life back into the area by attracting young professionals who are priced out of the city-centre market. The new-design terraced houses will have the same facades, but the inside is reversed: bedrooms will be downstairs and living space above. Alleyways and outbuildings will make way for communal gardens.

Prices for the houses will be around £100,000. ‘In London [such properties] are called mews and sell for half a million,’ says a spokesperson, adding that the site for the houses was chosen with care. ‘It doesn’t necessarily transpire that it will work in other areas. It depends on the condition of the housing and infrastructure.’

In light of such schemes, John Prescott’s Housing Market Renewal Pathfinders policy has come under fire. Some have claimed that it puts 400,000 houses - some ripe for renovation - at risk of demolition.

In May, ITV’s Tonight with Trevor McDonald challenged Prescott’s plans by refurbishing a terraced house in Liverpool at the cost of £24,000. The property’s value rose from £15,000 to £60,000 - and could have fetched up to £80,000 if neighbouring houses received similar treatment.

A government spokesman claims that only 10,000 homes will be demolished in the first stage of the programme, against 20,000 to be refurbished. ‘Refurbishing homes is a key part of the programme [but] there will be instances where it is not always economically viable to refurbish, where the house condition is too poor or where refurbishment has been tried but failed.’

Jonathan Ellis, CEO of the Empty Homes Agency, is not convinced: ‘We’re becoming concerned that demolition is becoming the default option. You cannot rescue every property, but each case has to be argued.’

Michael Chambers, head of policy at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, cautions that local infrastructure is key to regeneration: ‘People aren’t going to live in these areas if there’s not a decent school. Unless you can regenerate the local economy, the housing will stay empty.’

Rics says there is a shortfall in specialist skills in the property and construction industries needed to restore Victorian terraces.

· www.adactus-group.com (0161 872 7731); http://www.urbansplash.co.uk (07000 37 37 37)

source: Guardian

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