'It took us ten years to transform this abandoned public toilet into a lovely home by the beach'
If you've ever passed an unusual building that's for sale, for example an abandoned seaside public toilet, and been tempted to spend a penny or two transforming it into something amazing, just stop for a moment and remember the story of Elaine and Alan Taylor.
A stroll along the sea front in Barmouth changed their lives, eventually for the better, but not before a decade of stress and around £290,000 was flushed down a renovation hole that only now has rewarded them with a very impressive outcome.
Elaine explains: "We have a love of Wales, a love of Barmouth and a love of the ocean. We were on holiday in Barmouth and the council had put a for sale sign up on the building. We thought that it would amazing because of its proximity to the sand dunes and the sea, and what an opportunity to renovate something and improve the area, take something that’s unloved, unused and make it into something really nice." For more property stories sent to your inbox twice a week sign up to the property newsletter here
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The couple stalked the council's website for months waiting for the bog by the beach to be released for bidding to buy to begin and when it did they weren't sure what the right level of offer would secure the building.
They ended up offering in a blind bidding process £33,000 which was accepted, back in 2015. Elaine says: "A lot of people told us ‘that’s an interesting choice!’ and I think you hear about things like this a bit more now but when we bought it I think it was quite unusual and people kept asking if we were keeping them as toilets!"
Elaine says that obviously weren't going to do that, especially as the town had beach public toilet that were well established but they were hoping to realise a personal dream.
Elaine explains: "We had always thought about buying a property by the seaside but we’d always resisted because I understand why it’s not a good thing for the local economy, not good for young people in the area, and pushes the house prices up.
"So part of the reason we bought and transformed the empty toilet block was because we felt like we weren’t taking housing stock away and we were just improving the area by reviving an abandoned building.
"It has been shut for years and inside it was awful, it has been essentially boarded up for years and everything was still there, all the toilets and everything, it was very sandy as it had managed to get into the building from the beach and it was very smelly is how I remember it!"
But that excitement of transforming an old toilet block into something amazing was going to have to sustain them for almost a decade, with delays happening almost immediately.
Elaine says planning was approved in autumn 2016 but one of the conditions of the planning was because we were taking the old one down and it’s next to a school we couldn’t start the build until the school holidays so they couldn't start until the summer holidays in 2017.
But that wasn't the most stressful part of this pre-build period of this story, and what happened at the planning stage changed everything. Elaine says: "As the toilet block is located by the beach the planners wanted us to consult with Natural Resources Wales.
"Our vision all along was we would renovate the toilet block including the slate roof but NRW wanted us to raise the floor level by about a metre for flood mitigation. So when the floor level was raised, the roof level would have to be raised.
"And that’s when it all changed completely because at that point we had to put in completely different plans, the vision changed completely, and when we discussed it with the planners they said if we couldn’t retain the features of the building then they wanted it to be a brand new, quite modern looking building, they didn’t think we could replicate the old."
More delays, costs and stress came with the classification of the building too, with Elaine remembering that because it went through planning as a renovation and not a new build, even though everything is new, we had to retain the foundations which meant the building had to be taken down by hand not to damage the foundations.
Bidding totally blind on the toilet block resulted in even more challenges that the couple had to overcome. Elaine says: "When it was up for sale we couldn’t go into the property and so it was a blind bid so we assumed it would have electric because it has been a toilet block and water too.
After we bought it we discovered that the electrics were hooked up to the street lamps and unfortunately with the water once the pipes had gone past a certain age you have to replace them. So the pavement had to be dug up to install electric and replace all the plumbing so the project just grew and grew."
Elaine, aged 53 and from Greater Manchester, estimates that the total build cost to create this special one-bed home by the beach with the most incredible sea, sand and sky views is around £260,000 on top of their initial £30,000 purchase price and even with Alan, aged 63 and originally from Aberdeenshire, a painter and decorator doing all the décor inside.
Luckily for the couple Elaine says their builders, G & W Wigglesworth from Talsarnau and all the contractors that they chose from the local area apart from the specialist roof company were amazing and they say they could not have created this truly unique Welsh home without them.
The local community were intrigued and somewhat bemused too but Elaine says totally supportive. She says: "When we were there working a lot of the locals would pass and stop and ask us questions because I don’t think people realised it was going to be transformed into a home. We were very open to the local interest, we’d say 'come inside and have a look!'
"What we really learnt about Barmouth is that the community there all talk, a rumour went round that we went bankrupt and everyone who passed when we were working on it said, ‘oh, we’d heard you’d gone bankrupt!’. No-one has come up to us with any objections or criticisms, the local community have been wonderful, really supportive."
Now the couple's circumstances have changed in that Elaine no longer works a substantial amount of time in Wales and so they are keen for the property not to stand empty again but be used and loved, but it's been a very tough decision after a decade of hard work and sleepless nights.
Elaine says: "It’s been a real labour of love really, it’s been a long journey. But I think it is so important that people now find buildings that are unused and unloved and make them into something wonderful, to give them a purpose again. We kept joking that if it could go wrong it did go wrong but we wanted to see it through even though there were a few times we thought about packing it in."
But with the stress came some fun too with the couple's friends all volunteering a special name for this home by the sea based on its former use at the site.
Elaine says: "Because of Alan's name the winning pitch was 'Ur in Al's' (urinals) but we didn't go with that! The new home is called Hafan Y Traeth and for us it was the perfect place to be but now we have to let it go to someone who can live there and get the benefit of it because it is such an amazing place."
Hafan Y Traeth is soon to be launched on the market by Fine and Country West Wales, call 01974 299055 to find out more including the asking price.
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