It is hoped a huge renovation project on one of Sheppey’s most iconic buildings could be finished by this summer.

Work has been progressing on number 362 Minster Road, Minster, since Mark Soper bought the unusual property in 2012.

He and his father William paid £192,000 for the 1920s, art deco-style house at auction.

Anyone who has driven past it recently will have noticed the outside, which was covered in undergrowth, cracked and dilapidated, is now looking in a much better condition.

It has now been completely stabilised structurally, the damaged brickwork has been removed and replaced and it has been rendered.

Newington resident Mr Soper said water was getting into the cracks and making them worse, so this had to be completely rectified, which he said was a long process but it needed to be done properly.

“We are not sticking a plaster on it, we fixed the root of the problem,” he said.

The windows have also all been replaced and, although not much has changed inside the property, as the work has focused on the structure, the floors have all been taken up.

Now the outside is complete, the next job is to sort out all the electrics and plumbing inside the building, before a proper renovation can take place.

Mr Soper declined to say how much he had spent so far, but said it has depleted their funds considerably, and is still on track to be in excess of £100,000, which was his estimate last year.

The 39-year-old said: “It’s going quite well and it looks good. We are plodding along and I’m putting time into it when I can.

“It’s been quite daunting but I’m happy it’s gone so well. Hopefully it should be done by summer, touch wood.”

The house, which was built around 1925, sits on a site which is almost a quarter of an acre.

It was sold after the death of its owner Thomas Varty and when the executors of his will went inside they found a concert piano made by Bechstein, one of the world’s leading piano manufacturers, hidden under floor-to-ceiling piles of newspapers in the property’s music room and library.