Last-minute rescue from bulldozers

"It wasn't listed and so it was unprotected," he says. "In fact, it was listed in the auction catalogue as a potential building plot. I couldn't believe it. I'd always wanted to live here."

So Andrew devised a last-minute rescue plan using his knowledge as a conservation builder and historic buildings consultant. "I arranged to view it again and took my camera to photograph all the features I could, so I could send them to English Heritage asking for the property to be listed.

"That way it would be of no interest to developers because they wouldn't be able to knock it down.

"As a building plot it was also worth more and was out of my budget, so I knew if it was a renovation there was a chance I could afford to buy it."

Just two days before the auction, there was confirmation that English Heritage were considering the property for listing. The developers backed off and Andrew made the winning bid. "The letter came just in time," says Andrew.

He had not had a survey done of the derelict property.

"I knew everything needed doing and so there was no point. I knew what I was taking on." The property, now grade two listed, was built in 1810 by the Wilson family for workers at their nearby snuff mill. It is a rare example of early industrial housing, which still bears reference to a rural vernacular. Now sandwiched between two garages, it's still a des res thanks to its location close to fashionable Ecclesall Road, Sheffield.

The property, which was split into a two- bedroom cottage and two back-to-backs, was tenanted until 1977 and was last owned by an elderly brother and sister who made it into two homes. "They didn't spend much on it, which was good because there's nothing worse for old properties than affluence and owners making alterations.

"What they had done was cosmetic. So there was a pretty awful fire in the sitting room made of hardboard sprayed in copper paint, but they hadn't taken the old one out behind, which was great."

Andrew works for the Buildings Preservation Trust and his main priority when he started the work in 2006 was preserving the building's integrity while tackling some significant problems. The first job was to repair the back wall of the house and the gable, which had split.

New brickwork was patched in to stitch the gap together rather than a full re-build which would have destroyed the interior surfaces. The whole place was then pointed with lime mortar, rewired and

re-plumbed and re-roofed.

Andrew lets off the smaller part of the property and lives in the larger space, where he made a third bedroom into a bathroom.

"Before we repaired the wall at the back, the fall on the floor was a full six inches. But we managed to save the floorboards and the original ceiling when we did the work on the back wall by jacking

them up."

The original windows were carefully restored by removing the glass and putty and burning layers of old paint off the solid wood frames. Although he managed to get some insulation in the roof space, Andrew admits the house will never be energy- efficient.

"I could dry line the walls and install double glazing. But then you'd lose the integrity of the building, so it leaks like a sieve I'm afraid."

The stripped-back dcor exposes the original features including the lime and horsehair plaster, which has survived for 200 years. It was covered with wallpaper that Andrew stripped off because he likes the rustic, uneven surface and has painted it with distemper or limewash.

"Most of the plaster is fine and it allows the walls to breathe. The only places it had failed and was damp was where someone had plastered over it with new gypsum plaster."

Other period features include the stove in the backroom, floorboards upstairs and the stone-flagged floors in the kitchen that were covered in lino, prised off using a heat lamp and Nitromors.

Where they were lacking, Andrew has installed them, like the stone fire surround in the kitchen.

The kitchen is made up of unfitted units and the stainless steel work bench was an expensive buy from Bulthaup in 1989, but has proved to be a great investment.

"I bought it when I lived in London and it cost me an absolute fortune

but it's brilliant and I've taken wherever I've lived."

The sitting room next door is cosy with a hint of Regency glamour, thanks to gilt-edged chairs and mirrors which came from an antique shop. "I like to shop in salesrooms and auctions too. I love old things. They add character and they also retain their value."

The property too has proved a good investment not least because it's exactly what Andrew has always wanted. He bought it for 220,000 and after spending 110,000 estimates its current worth at about 400,000.

"It's still a work in progress and the value is irrelevant because I don't intend to move. What I really like about it is that it is 200 years old and virtually nothing has been altered and now I've stripped it back I can see the nuts and bolts."

Andrew Whitham, conservation builder and historic buildings consultant, tel: 07595 223 158 or email: [email protected]

YP MAG 22/5/10