As the presenter of the BBC houses under the hammer, former football player Dion Dublin is used to see how budding real estate developers buy their bargain house and turn around for a quick win.
But when it comes to building his own dream house, it seems like the ex-manchester United, Coventry City and Aston Villa Striker to rather start with a precious renovation.
Dublin, 55, and his wife, Cheryl, £ 1.24 million splashes on a mansion in the chic village of Caldy, on the Wirral Peninsula, last year in Merseyside with a view to renovating the expired building.
Consultants approved their renovation, but according to new plans that have been submitted to Wirral Council, the couple decided that the 'poor physical condition' of the 1930 house means that they have changed ideas since then. They now believe that it will be easier and cheaper to build the existing building and build a new house in place.
The new house includes a cinema room, a large kitchen dinner with pantry, plus games and playrooms for the five-year-old daughter Ruby of the couple on the ground floor, and five en-suite bedrooms and a laundry room upstairs.
New gate pillars are installed at the entrance, but the existing large hedges are kept to maintain the natural feeling of housing that is enjoyed, “says the application.
There will be off -road spaces for at least three cars, including the charging of electric vehicles and the parking of bicycles, and a garden of 715 m² accessible via a tiled terrace and steps.
Specialist bat boxes are also installed on the outside walls after four different types of the protected animal were observed, either from the roof edge of the house or foraging in the garden during surveys last summer.
Former footballer Dion Dublin started presenting houses under the hammer in 2015
He has bought a £ 1.24 million house that he is now planning to start all over again
The new house will contain a cinema room, a large kitchen dinner with pantry, plus games and playrooms
The application claims that the new house better reflects the needs and ambitions of the family. It is designed to create 'creating a new new living environment' while retaining 'a sympathetic appearance within the StraScene,' says it.
The plans also state that the replacement house, which has an impressive view of the River Estuary and Noord -Wales and only five minutes walk to the nearest beach, would not overlook whether 'loss of privacy problems' would create for existing neighboring properties.
Dublin, who moved to punditry and television work after he had withdrawn from football, previously revealed how he was asked to present houses under the hammer when the BBC discovered that he had set up a construction company after he had finished playing.
He said, “(They) said,” Do you want to walk around an empty house in Salford and tell us what you think? “And that is actually what happened.
'I walked around an empty house in Salford with a cameraman, looked around and I said what I would do if it were mine. They liked it and you go there, that's how I am on houses under the hammer. '
Dublin, who married Vrouw, Cheryl in 2017, is currently also director at former Club Cambridge United.
