Seen on screen: Warehouse conversions

The 16 aspiring tycoons in this season's Apprentice had a pretty tough time of it during their first televised task. But after attempting to flog fish at Chapel Market in Islington, north London, and being told by Sir Alan that their profits stank worse than their wares, the 15 survivors were driven to an apartment that gave off a pungent whiff of pure power living.

They gasped. They cooed. They smoothed aspirational hands over the slinky showpiece staircase and wriggled about decadently in the sunken bath. Contestants in previous series were barracked in a house on millionaires' Row in Hampstead, a Notting Hill townhouse and a 17th-century Chiswick estate. But this time around, the £5m converted Victorian warehouse, which is costing the BBC £3,000 per week in rent, has really caught the mood of the show – and the nation – like nothing before it. And as for the Big Brother house – well, there's no competition.

With its cavernous, cream-washed brick interiors and strategically placed designer furniture, The Glass Factory, in Candahar Road, Battersea, south London, was described by one property website as an "exceptional warehouse-style family house" and is owned by Scottish peer and ex-racing driver John Crichton-Stuart, the seventh Marquess of Bute, who flogged the family seat, Dumfries House, last year for £45m.

And as the 1980s revival in popular culture rolls on – with neons and chunky prints back on the catwalk and Gary Numan remixes back on the dance floor – it seems we're revising and remixing the loft-style apartments that came out of 1980s New York. Loft living was the real-estate dream of Charlie Sheen in Wall Street and Michael J Fox in The Secret of My Success.

As Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen says: "It recalls the yuppie culture, the shoulder pads and the bachelor pad. It's a home that – like Sir Alan – requires 'living up to'. But, like all American trends coming over here, it's taken a long while to adapt it to our way of living."

In fact, it has taken us 30 years to rejig the New York loft to English lifestyle. For a start, the American originals didn't come with kitchens: Charlie Sheen ate at his desk and, anyway, food was for wimps. They were also designed to keep high-flying occupants cool during sweltering New York summers and in our climate they often felt cold and damp.

Llewelyn-Bowen, the raven-haired maestro of middle England, has hit the nail on the head. Vanessa Brady, vice-president of the British Interior Design Association agrees. "It has taken three decades for us to figure out how to make these places warmer and cosier – and more family-friendly.

"You'll notice that the original spaces were all open plan and lacked storage space, which was impossible for family living. The Apprentice house has doors, closable bedrooms, clearly delineated social and private spaces. It's no longer aggressively masculine. Like the show, it represents a degree of equal-opportunities design, combining masculine and feminine influences. It works at being the best of both worlds," she says.

Look at the way styles have been balanced: stylised floral-print cushions have been scattered on to the advertising-agency sofas; the open-plan kitchen combines the comfort-food colour of Heinz tomato soup with brushed steel; curved walls meet hard-edged tables; a squiggle-pattern rug nestles before a flat-screen television. "The fact you've got nowhere downstairs to hide means you have to have quality," says Llewelyn-Bowen.

The wannabe entrepreneurs also come from the first generation to have grown up in a work-from-home world. Back in the 1980s, we Brits recoiled from homes that looked like offices. But in the wireless, broadband world of 2008, we see freedom and flexibility in it. Unchained from the nine-to-five routine, we need our homes to create the psychological space necessary for profitable thinking and we can reconcile it with the psychology of comfort.

And in the Grand Designs era, we at home can figure out how, as Brady says, "this whole look could be put together from B&Q. I'm sure there's a DIY warehouse version of those designer-ish, stand-alone glass basins in the bathroom. So it's aspirational real estate, but accessible style. Democratic."

Like the programme, The Glass Factory says that if you've got the brains, flair, gumption (and £5m to play with), then all this could be yours.

You’re inspired! Our shopping expert Trish Lorenz reveals how you can get the look

1. Dining table

This monster of a dining table has a distinctly boardroom feel to it. For similar curves and simple metallic legs, Fritz Hansen's Super-Elliptical, from £933, is a good match (020-7935 2077; www.skandium.com).

2. Vases

Group vases together for a sculptural effect; mix sizes and shapes but keep basic tones the same. Bo Concept has vases from £29, in materials ranging from bamboo to brass (020-7388 2447; www.boconcept.co.uk).

3. Kitchen units

Colour is back in a big way – and The Apprentice house's tangerine kitchen cupboards are spot on. To keep things hot in your kitchen, try Möben, which offers the Milano Orange Zebrano, from £7,500 (0800 413 413; www.moben.co.uk).

4. Candle holders

Available in two sizes and three colours, these Fell View candle holders in green, black or cream start at £30 (0870 411 5501; www.habitat.net).

5. Kitchen lights

Proof that mixing high-end design with everyday basics does work, these Septim lights from Ikea have a vintage feel and add a touch of industrial chic but only cost £10.49 each (0845 355 1141; www.ikea.com).

6. Dining chairs

Three years younger than Sugar himself, the Eames Eiffel DSR chair, £180, was designed in 1950, but with its classic modernist lines it still does the job with style – and though you might not believe it until you sit in one, they're surprisingly comfortable too (020-7589 7401; www.conranshop.co.uk).

7. Urban chair

This polypropylene chair, £25, can be used inside and out and has the perfect utilitarian look (0845 355 1141; www.ikea.com).

8. Cushions

Known for her graphic patterns and sophisticated palette, Orla Kiely's cushions, £165 each, add softness to the industrial look (020-7720 1117; www.orlakiely.com).

Warehouse conversions for sale

ORGAN FACTORY

London W11
Price: £3.95m
Agent: Cityscope (020-7830 9776)

Spread over a number of floors, this four-bedroom former church organ factory is a truly stunning example of luxury London living – and comes with a price tag to match. Period features such as the exposed brick walls, wooden beams and large windows mix effortlessly with the modern fittings.

CASTLE DYKE LANE

The Barbican, Plymouth
Price: £445,000
Agent: King Sturge (01752 202 121)

This conversion is bursting with maritime history – built in the 16th century by French prisoners of war, the roof timbers came from French and Spanish Galleons captured by the English. It is now a three-bedroom modern apartment boasting under-floor heating and fantastic lighting.

WATERLOO WAREHOUSE

Liverpool
Price: £244,950
Agent: City Residential (0151-231 6100)

This building was the world's first mechanised grain warehouse, and if you fancy a high-class apartment with wonderful views of the Mersey, then there are a number of flats available here. This particular flat has two bedrooms and wonderful feature windows.