Grand Designs

Few people would be brave or foolish enough to buy a building plot for their family home without visiting it first, but that’s exactly what ex-RAF pilot Jon and GP Gill Flewers did. Returning to the UK after a four year stint in New Zealand, this intrepid pair want to build a Kiwi style hill house on the slopes of the Malvern hills in Worcestershire. Their ambitious 3 storey upside-down wood and stone clad home, clinging to the hill, is designed to take advantage of and enhance the surrounding scenery. But there are problems right from the start. The site they bought is so steep and difficult that no local builders want the job. So Jon takes another massive gamble. Despite his complete lack of experience he quits his job and decides to run this tricky project himself. It proves an emotional rollercoaster ride. Unexpected challenges come thick and fast, the schedule slips and costs start to snowball, leaving Jon struggling to cope…

Penny Talelli has a passion for cutting edge contemporary architecture. However husband Mark Edwards loves period architecture. Somehow, these two neurologists want to build a family home that satisfies both their tastes. But will it be the best of both worlds or just an appalling mishmash? Taking the plunge they buy a derelict Victorian gatehouse on a very steep hill in north London that now sits abandoned and unloved. The plan is to lovingly restore it, paint it white and then add a giant, black, zinc clad box at the back, marrying their love of old and new. But right from the off they run into problems. The gatehouse is terminally cracked and needs knocking down completely. Excavating the tricky sloping site takes months longer than expected. Increasingly struggling to balance their busy work lives with project managing, the future of Penny and Mark’s unconventional home hangs in the balance…

There’s no doubt we are a nation that love our sheds – but not many of us would want to actually live in one. Not so young architect and shed fanatic Micah Jones in Northern Ireland.

For 30 years, no-one’s been allowed to build on the protected land surrounding one of Britain’s most historic abbeys in Hertfordshire. But no-one reckoned on golf-coach Chris and ex-figure skater Kayo. Incensed by anti-social behaviour on overgrown abbey land next to their current house, Chris and Kayo launch a 6 year battle to solve the issue by building a new family home on the land for them and their 3 children. Constrained by stringent planning conditions from English Heritage, the local council and even the church, Chris and Kayo put all their trust in friend and designer Rogan. Eventually Rogan manages to wrangle a design that’ll satisfy everyone – but Chris and Kayo’s problems are only just beginning. The unique, single story Roman courtyard inspired design is so intricate and complicated, and Rogan’s vision so unique, that immediately the 18 month build schedule and £600K budget come under enormous pressure. It proves a rollercoaster of delays, overspends and obsessive craftsmanship, with Chris and Kayo’s faith in Rogan tested to the limit. And remarkably one big question looms large throughout – will Chris and Kayo even like their radical family home when it’s finished?

For most of us, rust and ruin are not interior design choices, but Beth Dadswell and Andrew Wilbourne can’t resist a bit of decay. As designers, they are passionate about preserving the marks of time. So they’ve rescued a crumbling old Victorian dairy in South East London and plan to convert it into a family home for themselves and their young son, whilst retaining as much of the ramshackle roof and crumbling brickwork as they can. All in just 6 months and on a tight budget of just £260k. As they begin carefully stripping back the old dairy, the poor condition of the existing building becomes plain. It’s full of rusting metal and rotting wood and getting it past modern building regulations will be a real headache. Beth and Andrew have to make some painful decisions about just how much decay they can really live with. As time goes on, their vision of a ‘shabby chic’ unpolished finish, including a Parisian style courtyard, is under increasing threat by the pressure to make their new home fit for modern living.

This is one of the most ambitious homes ever seen on Grand Designs – a scaly, curving house reminiscent of a giant coiled snake in a field. Stephen Tetlow is head of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, wife Elizabeth is a committed horticulturalist. Together they want to build a home that reflects both their passions – one that pushes Stephen’s engineering skills to the limit and embraces Elizabeth’s deep affinity with nature. Taking inspiration from an ammonite shell found on their land in the beautiful Blackdown Hills in Devon, the house spirals onto the landscape over two levels and mixes natural materials with cutting edge technology. Construction of such a complex curving structure proves a huge challenge and progress is tortuously slow. It doesn’t help that engineering mastermind Stephen is working in London every week, so the pressure is on Elizabeth to project manage on site. They struggle to keep within their original 12 month schedule to move in and when their £600k budget runs short, have to clad the roof in 4600 wooden slats themselves. It’s a huge, gruelling labour of love – but if they pull it off it could be magnificent…

Ecologist Fred and communications manager Saffron Baker live in a beautiful village in the highly protected Peak District. After 15 years of saving and planning, they’re finally able to start building their large new family home on a steep slope on the edge of the village. Desperate not to annoy their neighbours their innovative design features just one storey visible from the main road, but two more storeys buried out of sight lower down the slope. The start of construction proves more a feat of civil engineering than a house build, with the difficulty of excavating into solid limestone compounded by an incredibly steep and muddy access road for the heavy machinery. Then when their self-build mortgage falls through, work stops for months. It’s a major test of Saffron and Fred’s commitment and resolve, when all they have to show for years of effort is a huge hole in the ground...

Design engineer Joe Stuart and service designer Lina Nilsson are taking on the London property market. Both in their twenties, they are fed up with renting but can't afford to buy. So now they're going to build their own house, for just £160k. Having already spent £73k on a miniscule 38 square metre plot in a run down part of East London, Joe has designed a split level, six half floor house that will cleverly maximise space. At 83 square meters it may be the smallest two double bedroom house that you’re allowed to build in the capital, but it’ll be theirs not a landlords. Despite their energy and enthusiasm Joe and Lina have never done anything like this before. Excavating their entire plot for a basement proves incredibly testing, running months behind and thousands over budget. But Joe, who’s project managing and building most of the house, galvanises himself. Adding more and more design flourishes as he goes along, his ambition for this tiny gem of a building becomes an obsession.

Ten years in the making, this is the longest running Grand Designs ever. In 2007 Ed and Rowena Waghorn started to build a handcrafted five bedroom house on their eight acre smallholding in Herefordshire – on just a £100k budget. Made from individually carved wooden beams and walls of straw and clay, the heart of the house was to be a huge medieval style hall complete with massive stone fireplace and a glorious cathedral like window with panoramic views across the valley. Using his carpentry skills Ed decided to do most of the work himself. A noble ambition, but it meant that progress was glacially slow. Four years in, the house was still a shell, with no internal walls. However Kevin McCloud was so intrigued by what might eventually emerge from Ed’s idiosyncratic and highly creative mind, that in 2012 he decided to follow the build for another 5 years. In the end it’s just possible this house might turn out to be Ed’s masterpiece...