On Mar 8, 4:26*pm, R D S wrote:
I know of a building which has been gutted by fire, stone and brick
construction.

It was empty for ages before the fire and I had my eye on it coming up
for sale as it would be perfect for my needs.

Most buildings in this state seem to end up demolished, it would need
new floors and a roof but other than that is there any reason why it
couldn't be usable?

Nobody mentioned heath and safety.

By the time you have had it inspected the weather will have got to
work on the internals, it was already suffering from damp. Now the
upper storey has to be made safe to work under.

If you rip it down and have no trouble with planning permission and
the like, you get to design it to suit you. Otherwise you are stuck
with the original design vss modern materials.