‘This Build Will Save Lives'

Nick Knowles on teaming up with Pudsey for an incredible project

- Victoria Wilson

For the past 20 years, Nick Knowles and the DIY SOS team have been transforming the homes of families in need and rejuvenating community spaces across the UK.

Few are more deserving, though, of a warm, comfortable place to stay than homeless youngsters.

So, in a special episode for Children in Need, DIY SOS is heading to Blackburn, Lancashire, to convert the rundown St Silas church hall into accommodation and a support centre for Nightsafe, a charity that helps young people aged 16 to 24 who are homeless or vulnerably housed.

Here, TV Times chats to Nick, 57, about the ambitious project that provides much-needed sanctuary and could also save lives…

What was the brief for this build?

Children in Need asked if we could build some night accommodation for Nightsafe, a charity that looks after homeless young people in and around Blackburn. But we thought we could do better than that! Inside, we built six self-contained flats, a communal area, a huge kitchen and storerooms, too. It was a vast undertaking and it took us two weeks, not nine days, which is a bit of a letdown for us! But it was so worthwhile given who we’d be looking after.