We met our architect at the house today for his first look through. I think I heard him say that it was "more of a knock down job than he thought" - yikes! But as the day progressed, he felt his creative juices starting to flow. We may look to keep half the boundary walls leaving an L shape, with the shared wall remaining to avoid any contentious issues with the neighbour who has claimed 1 foot of our property (been like that for over 40 years!).
But today was just a measure up of the house and property, as well as the neighbours' window positions so as to consider them when designing our renovation. Its going to be major, no doubt about it, just hope its going to be affordable!!