1 00:00:03,080 --> 00:00:06,720 {\an2}I think there's a lot to be learned from watching people build... 2 00:00:06,760 --> 00:00:07,880 {\an1}HE GRUNTS 3 00:00:07,920 --> 00:00:10,400 {\an2}..the remarkable homes that we've covered on Grand Designs 4 00:00:10,440 --> 00:00:11,920 {\an2}over the years. 5 00:00:11,960 --> 00:00:17,560 {\an2}So I would like to go back into the archive of Grand Designs 6 00:00:17,600 --> 00:00:21,320 {\an2}and explore, over 25 years, some of the wisdom about building 7 00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:22,960 {\an2}your own home. 8 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:26,840 {\an2}Building your own house can be a real struggle. 9 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:29,200 {\an2}It's a bit like going on an adventure without a map 10 00:00:29,240 --> 00:00:30,280 {\an2}or a compass. 11 00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:34,680 {\an2}It's nearly always an epic journey, and one that usually overruns 12 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:38,200 {\an2}and costs you much, much more than you ever thought it would. 13 00:00:38,240 --> 00:00:40,040 {\an2}The desire to make a mark in the landscape, 14 00:00:40,080 --> 00:00:42,280 {\an2}to leave something behind, and many people... 15 00:00:42,320 --> 00:00:46,120 {\an2}..spend years digging and delving and constructing. 16 00:00:46,160 --> 00:00:49,120 {\an2}Do not expect an easy ride. 17 00:00:49,160 --> 00:00:51,280 {\an2}You need to be born without fear. 18 00:00:51,320 --> 00:00:52,720 {\an2}And... 19 00:00:52,760 --> 00:00:55,280 {\an2}In the end, will it look any good? 20 00:00:56,360 --> 00:00:58,640 {\an2}Sounds like a bloody nightmare to me. 21 00:01:20,400 --> 00:01:23,840 {\an2}Hello! Well, this is a milestone. 22 00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:27,320 {\an2}Grand Designs is 25 years old this year, 23 00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:29,520 {\an2}and, in that time, 24 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:32,880 {\an2}we've had the fortune to witness the building of some of the most 25 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:35,400 {\an2}remarkable homes in the United Kingdom. 26 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:39,680 {\an2}Now, some are dreamy, slick and velvety smooth creations. 27 00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:43,000 {\an2}Others are crafted to sweet perfection. 28 00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:45,320 {\an2}Quite a lot are nutty, frankly. 29 00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:49,280 {\an2}Personally, I love a slice of fruit cake, white iced modernism. 30 00:01:49,320 --> 00:01:51,640 {\an2}Yum. Pretty well all of them, however, 31 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:55,000 {\an2}have been at the leading edge of design, or of construction, 32 00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:58,320 {\an2}and we're going to look at the best of the best. 33 00:01:58,360 --> 00:02:02,360 {\an2}As the architect Mies van der Rohe said, "Less is more." 34 00:02:02,400 --> 00:02:07,200 {\an2}Actually, when it comes to cakes, more is more, right? 35 00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:09,160 {\an2}Aw... I'll go there. Yes! 36 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:14,040 {\an2}I've looked through the hundreds of projects we filmed 37 00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:16,080 {\an2}over the last 25 years... 38 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:18,000 {\an2}Oh, gosh! 39 00:02:18,040 --> 00:02:19,960 {\an2}Oh, dear. 40 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:21,360 {\an2}Is this it? 41 00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:23,440 {\an2}..and a number of themes emerge. 42 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:26,440 {\an2}Oh, shit! So we'll see some of the hardest... 43 00:02:27,440 --> 00:02:28,880 {\an2}Pain in the arse. 44 00:02:28,920 --> 00:02:31,080 {\an2}..and the most life-changing project. 45 00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:33,560 {\an2}It's just turned into an enormous, great family. 46 00:02:33,600 --> 00:02:35,160 {\an2}How beautiful. 47 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:37,320 {\an2}We'll also celebrate the quickest... 48 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:39,320 {\an2}I'll come back at 4:00 this afternoon, 49 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:40,760 {\an2}it'll be a finished house. 50 00:02:40,800 --> 00:02:42,160 {\an2}..and the longest. 51 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:44,360 {\an2}When do you think you'll be in? About ten years. 52 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:45,640 {\an2}That's nice! 53 00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:47,920 {\an2}We'll look at the biggest... 54 00:02:47,960 --> 00:02:50,680 {\an2}Mother of the gods of construction! 55 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:52,320 {\an2}..and the smallest projects. 56 00:02:52,360 --> 00:02:53,800 {\an2}9.5 x 4. 57 00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:56,600 {\an2}That's, erm...small. 58 00:02:56,640 --> 00:03:00,200 {\an2}We'll also look at the weirdest places people have chosen to build. 59 00:03:00,240 --> 00:03:02,000 {\an2}Oh, my God. 60 00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:03,800 {\an2}It looks horrific. 61 00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:06,280 {\an2}I wasn't thinking I was going to be living in a cave. 62 00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:10,640 {\an2}But first we'll be looking at the most experimental projects. 63 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:12,040 {\an2}Wait. Oh! THEY GASP 64 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:13,880 {\an2}Ooh! 65 00:03:13,920 --> 00:03:16,400 {\an2}So I think there's enough vinegar in there. 66 00:03:16,440 --> 00:03:18,960 {\an2}Please be warned. Don't try this at home. 67 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:24,240 {\an2}Bicarb... If I squeeze the cork in, that should do it. 68 00:03:24,280 --> 00:03:26,560 {\an2}The thing about experimentation 69 00:03:26,600 --> 00:03:29,480 {\an2}is that you don't really know what the outcome is going 70 00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:32,200 {\an2}to be, do you? I mean, that's the whole point of experiments. 71 00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:33,800 {\an2}That's what they're for. 72 00:03:33,840 --> 00:03:36,440 {\an2}They're for scientific inquiry, 73 00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:39,000 {\an2}to discover just how provable 74 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:41,000 {\an2}a theory might be. You know? 75 00:03:41,040 --> 00:03:43,000 {\an2}FIREWORK SCREECHES Bloody hell! 76 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:49,920 {\an2}Monty in Peckham was a true Grand Designs experimenter. 77 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:53,560 {\an2}He was an actor and film-maker in love with inventing things. 78 00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:55,600 {\an2}The helicopter training device. 79 00:03:55,640 --> 00:03:59,280 {\an2}So you can train to fly the real machine using a model. 80 00:03:59,320 --> 00:04:01,560 {\an2}His dad's Hampshire home was a dumping ground 81 00:04:01,600 --> 00:04:03,200 {\an2}for past experiments. 82 00:04:03,240 --> 00:04:05,840 {\an2}This is a spinning summerhouse. 83 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:08,000 {\an2}Shopping trolley wheels 84 00:04:08,040 --> 00:04:10,640 {\an2}and a trailer axle. 85 00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:14,680 {\an2}But his powers of invention were tested to the limit 86 00:04:14,720 --> 00:04:18,120 {\an2}when he had to build a house for himself and his wife, Clare, 87 00:04:18,160 --> 00:04:21,280 {\an2}on a site so tightly hemmed in it couldn't have windows 88 00:04:21,320 --> 00:04:22,480 {\an2}down the side. 89 00:04:22,520 --> 00:04:24,200 {\an2}It's one of the things I want to prove with this project, 90 00:04:24,240 --> 00:04:28,000 {\an2}that you can take shitty little urban spaces and make special 91 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:31,840 {\an2}houses with them if you're prepared to broaden your horizons a bit. 92 00:04:31,880 --> 00:04:36,240 {\an2}So Monty decided to experiment by designing a sliding glass roof 93 00:04:36,280 --> 00:04:37,840 {\an2}to let the light in. 94 00:04:37,880 --> 00:04:40,080 {\an2}Today is the day the glass gets craned in. 95 00:04:40,120 --> 00:04:43,600 {\an2}I brought my overalls so I can offer my services as a labourer. 96 00:04:43,640 --> 00:04:46,600 {\an2}He needed first to invent a sliding mechanism. 97 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:50,200 {\an2}So this whole stainless steel frame slides across? 98 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:52,840 {\an2}On balls. On these. Drifts. 99 00:04:52,880 --> 00:04:54,320 {\an2}This is what he does. 100 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:56,320 {\an2}He's in his element, isn't he? 101 00:04:56,360 --> 00:05:00,360 {\an2}To speed up his project, Monty took the risky step of ordering his glass 102 00:05:00,400 --> 00:05:02,520 {\an2}from just the drawings. 103 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:05,800 {\an2}The plan now is to lift up through the hole. 104 00:05:05,840 --> 00:05:08,080 {\an2}Normally you'd build the frame, measure it, 105 00:05:08,120 --> 00:05:09,720 {\an2}and then order the glass. 106 00:05:09,760 --> 00:05:11,560 {\an2}Monty, stop it! 107 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:14,240 {\an2}Are you happy that the steelwork is absolutely as it should be? 108 00:05:14,280 --> 00:05:16,000 {\an2}You're scaremongering. You're scaremongering. 109 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:18,680 {\an2}No, no, no. It will fit. I'm just keen to know that it will fit. 110 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:20,360 {\an2}Yeah. So am I. 111 00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:22,720 {\an2}It needs to tilt back. We need some instructions for the crane driver. 112 00:05:22,760 --> 00:05:23,840 {\an2}We nearly lost a piece. 113 00:05:23,880 --> 00:05:25,720 {\an2}I can't let it go, cos it's going to swing and smash. 114 00:05:25,760 --> 00:05:29,800 {\an2}19 years later, his approach still seems as risk-laden as ever. 115 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:35,520 {\an2}So, looking back at Monty's project, which was a long while ago... 116 00:05:35,560 --> 00:05:37,160 {\an2}OK, hold it there, please, Roger. 117 00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:40,280 {\an2}..I remember watching him in admiration of his skills 118 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:41,880 {\an2}as an engineer and as a maker, 119 00:05:41,920 --> 00:05:44,840 {\an2}and can handle materials and engineer solutions 120 00:05:44,880 --> 00:05:46,840 {\an2}and do the maths at the same time. 121 00:05:46,880 --> 00:05:50,240 {\an2}That, to me, is magical to watch. 122 00:05:50,280 --> 00:05:52,960 {\an2}Right. Down again. 123 00:05:54,040 --> 00:05:55,680 {\an2}Beautiful. Ay! 124 00:05:55,720 --> 00:05:58,160 {\an2}APPLAUSE Hey-hey! Thank you, Kevin. 125 00:05:58,200 --> 00:05:59,520 {\an2}That was a magical experience. 126 00:05:59,560 --> 00:06:02,560 {\an2}When that roof slid open, it became a cloister. 127 00:06:02,600 --> 00:06:04,960 {\an2}It introduces so much more light. 128 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:09,480 {\an2}The piece of glass I'm lying on is six millimetres thick. 129 00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:11,000 {\an2}So we did this piece to camera. 130 00:06:11,040 --> 00:06:15,320 {\an2}We had an assistant pushing the window shut with a big stick. 131 00:06:15,360 --> 00:06:17,600 {\an2}You couldn't see him because he was out of shot, so it felt 132 00:06:17,640 --> 00:06:19,520 {\an2}a little bit more hairy. 133 00:06:19,560 --> 00:06:24,400 {\an2}But it is toughened, which means it's very, very strong. 134 00:06:24,440 --> 00:06:28,680 {\an2}Health and safety in 2005 was not what it is today. 135 00:06:28,720 --> 00:06:30,320 {\an2}But worth doing, eh? 136 00:06:31,720 --> 00:06:34,040 {\an2}Hello. Hey. Hello. 137 00:06:34,080 --> 00:06:36,520 {\an2}The finished house was magical. 138 00:06:36,560 --> 00:06:39,200 {\an2}Good lord! 139 00:06:39,240 --> 00:06:44,120 {\an2}It was as wild and experimental as the process of building it. 140 00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:46,800 {\an2}So what we have here is a light fitting, for instance. 141 00:06:46,840 --> 00:06:49,680 {\an2}So you turn on here LEDs, which also doubles 142 00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:50,720 {\an2}up as a shower. 143 00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:52,000 {\an2}And what a lovely thing. 144 00:06:52,040 --> 00:06:54,240 {\an2}And that just drains straight onto the floor and away underneath. 145 00:06:54,280 --> 00:06:57,520 {\an2}Just sort of a wet bedroom. 146 00:07:01,120 --> 00:07:04,760 {\an2}It's been 19 years since Monty first finished his home. 147 00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:07,200 {\an2}His son Flint has grown up here. 148 00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:10,640 {\an2}It's given him a different perspective on what a home is. 149 00:07:10,680 --> 00:07:13,800 {\an2}Yeah, I'd always find it so strange going into other people's houses, 150 00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:17,360 {\an2}because growing up in a house like this, I'd be so confused 151 00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:20,960 {\an2}that they had an entire room for a bath because you could just put 152 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:22,480 {\an2}it under your bed. 153 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:25,240 {\an2}Monty's not stopped experimenting either. 154 00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:27,160 {\an2}He recently designed this. 155 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:31,400 {\an1}HE SIGHS 156 00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:32,720 {\an2}A moment of peace. 157 00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:38,320 {\an2}I had my dad at home for his palliative care, 158 00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:42,280 {\an2}and that process is really undignified and not very hygienic. 159 00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:45,200 {\an2}And I thought, "What I need to do here is to have a loo in the room, 160 00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:46,720 {\an2}"but not one that you see." 161 00:07:46,760 --> 00:07:48,640 {\an2}So I decided to fold it into a box. 162 00:07:48,680 --> 00:07:52,680 {\an2}Space saving devices like this can transform the way we think 163 00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:54,560 {\an2}about configuring our homes. 164 00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:59,200 {\an2}Projects like this change our perception of how we build. 165 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:02,440 {\an2}People like Monty, pioneers, are essential. 166 00:08:02,480 --> 00:08:05,160 {\an2}Without them, there would be no progress. 167 00:08:07,320 --> 00:08:09,880 {\an2}I bet the common factor with Grand Designs contributors 168 00:08:09,920 --> 00:08:11,360 {\an2}is they're all quite naive, 169 00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:15,440 {\an2}they're all quite, as I've been called, delusionally optimistic. 170 00:08:15,480 --> 00:08:18,040 {\an2}Because you're trying to stretch beyond something that's normal. 171 00:08:18,080 --> 00:08:21,600 {\an2}That's why you're doing a grand design, and it's just extraordinary 172 00:08:21,640 --> 00:08:23,120 {\an2}to have that journey. 173 00:08:23,160 --> 00:08:24,840 {\an2}What more could you want? 174 00:08:24,880 --> 00:08:28,520 {\an2}With any construction project, experimental or otherwise, 175 00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:31,680 {\an2}there is always complicated engineering... 176 00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:33,160 {\an2}Good grief. 177 00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:37,120 {\an2}..and involved ideas that need to be understood. 178 00:08:37,160 --> 00:08:39,680 {\an2}To explain it, I'm a big fan of models, 179 00:08:39,720 --> 00:08:41,800 {\an2}mostly involving food. 180 00:08:42,960 --> 00:08:46,800 {\an2}My mother used to make a pudding called abricot suedois. 181 00:08:46,840 --> 00:08:53,280 {\an2}Imagine that this jelly has got insulating material in it. 182 00:08:53,320 --> 00:08:55,760 {\an2}Represented here by an ice cream wafer, which I think 183 00:08:55,800 --> 00:08:57,720 {\an2}is a fairly representative model. 184 00:08:57,760 --> 00:09:01,160 {\an8}On top of that, you add more layers of meringue. 185 00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:05,560 {\an8}It is a real caramel shortbread conundrum. 186 00:09:05,600 --> 00:09:08,840 {\an2}They are not, however, designed to be stacked like this, 187 00:09:08,880 --> 00:09:11,320 {\an2}which could just then crush 188 00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:13,200 {\an2}and collapse. 189 00:09:13,240 --> 00:09:16,480 {\an2}It has the structural integrity of, well, toast. 190 00:09:18,240 --> 00:09:19,520 {\an2}That's what happens. 191 00:09:19,560 --> 00:09:22,760 {\an2}Think of these little pink wafers as building blocks. 192 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:24,800 {\an2}Look, it's a floor! 193 00:09:24,840 --> 00:09:27,600 {\an2}And it's so strong you could dance across it. 194 00:09:27,640 --> 00:09:28,720 {\an2}There you go. 195 00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:34,640 {\an8}Staying with the theme of experimental homes, one of the most 196 00:09:34,680 --> 00:09:38,440 {\an8}extraordinary houses I've ever visited was in Kent. 197 00:09:38,480 --> 00:09:39,920 {\an2}Good morning. Good morning. 198 00:09:39,960 --> 00:09:42,960 {\an2}The brave pioneers building it were an architect, Richard, 199 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:45,320 {\an2}and an investment manager, Sophie. 200 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:50,640 {\an2}They started in 2007, with a plan to replace a tired old cottage 201 00:09:50,680 --> 00:09:52,960 {\an2}with something far more radical. 202 00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:55,360 {\an2}Well, the form of it is an arch. 203 00:09:55,400 --> 00:09:58,920 {\an2}The bottom of the arch will be sort of here. 204 00:09:58,960 --> 00:10:01,120 {\an8}You're going to live under an arch? Yes. 205 00:10:01,160 --> 00:10:05,520 {\an2}Richard was building a timbrel vault, a type of self-supporting 206 00:10:05,560 --> 00:10:10,160 {\an2}curved arch that likely was first used in Spain in the 14th century. 207 00:10:10,200 --> 00:10:12,800 {\an2}Many timbrel vaults were built in masonry. 208 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:16,440 {\an2}Richard was determined to use tiles, though, stuck together 209 00:10:16,480 --> 00:10:18,120 {\an2}with plaster of Paris. 210 00:10:18,160 --> 00:10:21,400 {\an2}I mean, that sounds like an act of lunacy. 211 00:10:21,440 --> 00:10:24,160 {\an2}When you start these things and you're building 212 00:10:24,200 --> 00:10:26,480 {\an2}it without really solid centring, you think, 213 00:10:26,520 --> 00:10:29,440 {\an2}"I hope the engineers have got this all right." 214 00:10:29,480 --> 00:10:34,520 {\an2}Do you know, there are 25,000 of these tiles 215 00:10:34,560 --> 00:10:37,000 {\an2}going up onto that roof, each of them made by hand, each 216 00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:38,160 {\an2}of them made here. 217 00:10:38,200 --> 00:10:42,000 {\an2}And that is an extraordinary number of tiny little components of pieces 218 00:10:42,040 --> 00:10:43,280 {\an2}of baked clay. 219 00:10:43,320 --> 00:10:45,640 {\an2}It was one giant experiment, 220 00:10:45,680 --> 00:10:49,120 {\an2}so Richard started off by making a model. 221 00:10:49,160 --> 00:10:51,640 {\an2}Ready? If this goes, it's going to really hurt. 222 00:10:51,680 --> 00:10:54,680 {\an2}You know that, don't you? Yeah. One, two, three. Go. 223 00:10:56,120 --> 00:10:57,120 {\an2}There we are. 224 00:10:58,560 --> 00:10:59,760 {\an2}Voila. 225 00:10:59,800 --> 00:11:02,240 {\an1}HE SCREECHES 226 00:11:02,280 --> 00:11:04,640 {\an2}In fact, I haven't even got the lighter weight on my other foot, 227 00:11:04,680 --> 00:11:06,840 {\an2}really. I've got it on my left foot, mainly. 228 00:11:08,760 --> 00:11:10,760 {\an2}High five! Phew! 229 00:11:12,560 --> 00:11:16,360 {\an2}Richard couldn't resist seeing if it could take an uneven load. 230 00:11:16,400 --> 00:11:17,920 {\an2}Oh! THEY GASP 231 00:11:17,960 --> 00:11:19,320 {\an1}THEY LAUGH 232 00:11:19,360 --> 00:11:21,320 {\an2}What did I say? 233 00:11:21,360 --> 00:11:24,360 {\an2}Richard and his team spent weeks building the arch 234 00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:26,520 {\an2}with painstaking care. 235 00:11:26,560 --> 00:11:31,160 {\an2}They got as far as glazing, but then disaster struck. 236 00:11:31,200 --> 00:11:36,440 {\an2}I'm making a technical model of the average Beano Homes 237 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:37,800 {\an2}timber framed house. 238 00:11:37,840 --> 00:11:39,640 {\an2}I remember we were doing a little piece to camera, 239 00:11:39,680 --> 00:11:43,160 {\an2}we were working with the model, some tape and a box to sort of talk 240 00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:44,280 {\an2}about air tightness. 241 00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:46,880 {\an2}And there's this terrible noise, this great crash. 242 00:11:46,920 --> 00:11:50,240 {\an1}CRASHING 243 00:11:51,960 --> 00:11:54,320 {\an2}And we all knew something had happened. 244 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:01,000 {\an2}And this guy had gone through it. 245 00:12:02,560 --> 00:12:05,040 {\an2}He'd fallen onto some staging beneath. 246 00:12:05,080 --> 00:12:09,280 {\an2}In the end, he was bruised and not seriously injured. 247 00:12:09,320 --> 00:12:13,320 {\an2}My first concern was make sure everyone's all right. 248 00:12:13,360 --> 00:12:15,200 {\an2}The rest of the structure is absolutely fine, 249 00:12:15,240 --> 00:12:19,240 {\an2}but where it's single layer, it's got no strength at all. 250 00:12:19,280 --> 00:12:23,360 {\an2}A bit like when you perversely tried to put your foot on that arch 251 00:12:23,400 --> 00:12:26,840 {\an2}that we made and I thought, "What's he doing? He knows it's..." 252 00:12:26,880 --> 00:12:29,120 {\an2}But you, for some reason, I think you just felt 253 00:12:29,160 --> 00:12:30,760 {\an2}that it was going to support your weight. Well, it's 254 00:12:30,800 --> 00:12:33,280 {\an2}a kind of, I don't know, misplaced confidence. 255 00:12:33,320 --> 00:12:35,040 {\an2}Lucky escape. 256 00:12:35,080 --> 00:12:37,680 {\an2}But they did manage to repair it. 257 00:12:37,720 --> 00:12:39,600 {\an2}The finished result of the experiment 258 00:12:39,640 --> 00:12:42,960 {\an2}was something completely extraordinary. 259 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:46,840 {\an2}It's rearing out of the ground, like a bridge or something. 260 00:12:46,880 --> 00:12:50,360 {\an2}It's a magnificent looking building. 261 00:12:50,400 --> 00:12:52,880 {\an2}The reality is much better than I'd imagined. 262 00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:56,240 {\an2}If I'd stayed in my comfort zone and then looked back 263 00:12:56,280 --> 00:12:59,960 {\an2}at what I'd created, would it inspire me? 264 00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:01,120 {\an2}I don't think so. 265 00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:03,360 {\an2}To look back at this and be proud of the fact that I had the courage 266 00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:04,720 {\an2}to do it, 267 00:13:04,760 --> 00:13:09,680 {\an2}I love that. That will give me memories that will last forever. 268 00:13:11,480 --> 00:13:15,400 {\an2}Richard and Sophie's house remains one of the most distinctive homes 269 00:13:15,440 --> 00:13:18,160 {\an2}in 25 years of Grand Designs. 270 00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:30,000 {\an2}If you think about where you might like to build, 271 00:13:30,040 --> 00:13:33,320 {\an2}you might choose, I don't know, a bustling street, 272 00:13:33,360 --> 00:13:35,160 {\an2}the magic of the suburbs, 273 00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:37,720 {\an2}a beautiful rural location, I don't know, 274 00:13:37,760 --> 00:13:42,440 {\an2}by the sea somewhere, but Grand Designers are a breed apart. 275 00:13:42,480 --> 00:13:46,680 {\an2}Where they choose to build can be sometimes as odd 276 00:13:46,720 --> 00:13:49,520 {\an2}and as thrilling as the houses themselves. 277 00:13:49,560 --> 00:13:51,680 {\an2}I've known people build on airfields... 278 00:13:53,560 --> 00:13:55,400 {\an2}He keeps flying past the window. 279 00:13:55,440 --> 00:13:57,000 {\an2}It's very amusing. 280 00:13:57,040 --> 00:13:58,800 {\an2}..on piers, over the sea... 281 00:13:58,840 --> 00:14:00,560 {\an2}The obvious question is, why? 282 00:14:00,600 --> 00:14:01,680 {\an2}..up mountains... 283 00:14:01,720 --> 00:14:04,760 {\an2}You can see miles, can't you? You can see a long way from here, yeah. 284 00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:05,880 {\an2}..into cliffs. 285 00:14:05,920 --> 00:14:08,240 {\an2}This is our bedroom. It looks terribly dark and poky. 286 00:14:08,280 --> 00:14:09,640 {\an2}There's just black. 287 00:14:09,680 --> 00:14:11,440 {\an2}..and near graveyards. 288 00:14:11,480 --> 00:14:15,160 {\an2}I shall walk around with my lantern, candle lit. 289 00:14:15,200 --> 00:14:18,920 {\an2}But there's one sight that, to me, is stranger than all of those. 290 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:23,560 {\an2}For Angelo in the Wyre Forest, his perfect site was a cave... 291 00:14:24,880 --> 00:14:26,080 {\an2}Oh, wow. 292 00:14:26,120 --> 00:14:28,920 {\an2}..which came to him almost miraculously. 293 00:14:28,960 --> 00:14:32,600 {\an2}Literally opened the local property supplement and it just fell open, 294 00:14:32,640 --> 00:14:34,080 {\an2}and there, the centre page... 295 00:14:34,120 --> 00:14:37,400 {\an2}You don't open a property supplement and find a cave! 296 00:14:37,440 --> 00:14:39,120 {\an2}No. That's exactly what happened. 297 00:14:39,160 --> 00:14:42,960 {\an2}So these rock houses in the local area are said to be the oldest 298 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:46,600 {\an2}inhabited rock houses in the whole of Europe. 299 00:14:48,360 --> 00:14:51,280 {\an2}I volunteered to help him make a wardrobe. 300 00:14:51,320 --> 00:14:54,480 {\an2}It gives a whole new meaning to the word 'built-in'. 301 00:14:54,520 --> 00:14:57,400 {\an2}The red sandstone here is from when dinosaurs 302 00:14:57,440 --> 00:14:58,640 {\an2}roamed the earth. 303 00:14:59,880 --> 00:15:01,600 {\an2}Great fun, isn't it? 304 00:15:01,640 --> 00:15:05,640 {\an2}Er, yeah. Beats checking your emails, anyway. 305 00:15:05,680 --> 00:15:09,320 {\an2}So I was pretty excited to put my overalls on and join Angelo. 306 00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:13,080 {\an2}I thought it would be fun and I thought I'd have an enjoyable 307 00:15:13,120 --> 00:15:15,680 {\an2}time chiselling away at stone, you know? 308 00:15:15,720 --> 00:15:18,400 {\an2}But this wasn't stone as I knew it. 309 00:15:18,440 --> 00:15:20,600 {\an2}This was like steel. 310 00:15:20,640 --> 00:15:22,560 {\an2}It was hardened rock. 311 00:15:22,600 --> 00:15:26,520 {\an2}It's remarkable that human beings actually manage to construct 312 00:15:26,560 --> 00:15:30,040 {\an2}anything, because most of us would just give up. 313 00:15:30,080 --> 00:15:33,520 {\an2}There was also the question of why do it in the first place? 314 00:15:33,560 --> 00:15:37,280 {\an2}Italy, where Angelo's family is from, has a rich tradition 315 00:15:37,320 --> 00:15:41,240 {\an2}and history of living in beautifully crafted caves, primitive 316 00:15:41,280 --> 00:15:42,840 {\an2}or luxurious. 317 00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:45,080 {\an2}Although in the UK... 318 00:15:45,120 --> 00:15:47,960 {\an2}It is a damp Monday morning. 319 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:51,200 {\an2}I can quite understand why you would want to live in a cave 320 00:15:51,240 --> 00:15:56,960 {\an2}when it's 30 or 35 degrees outside, but here, in the soft Worcestershire 321 00:15:57,000 --> 00:16:00,320 {\an2}rain, I'm not so sure. 322 00:16:00,360 --> 00:16:05,280 {\an2}But thousands of hours of work, 300 barrel loads of rubble and nine 323 00:16:05,320 --> 00:16:10,400 {\an2}months later, an eccentric idea suddenly started to make sense. 324 00:16:13,920 --> 00:16:15,560 {\an2}It's delightful, isn't it? 325 00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:19,800 {\an2}Fred Flintstone would be very happy here. 326 00:16:19,840 --> 00:16:22,840 {\an2}Limewash was a bit of a labour of love, but it does look good. 327 00:16:22,880 --> 00:16:26,000 {\an2}And I like to see the kind of texture of the stone coming through. 328 00:16:26,040 --> 00:16:29,960 {\an2}A bit of contemporary luxury combined with a bit of primitive 329 00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:32,360 {\an2}man cave convenience. 330 00:16:32,400 --> 00:16:35,000 {\an1}20th century toilet paper, however. HE LAUGHS 331 00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:39,840 {\an2}Angelo's story was over 130 episodes in to Grand Designs. 332 00:16:41,200 --> 00:16:44,400 {\an2}But now I'd like to go back in time, 333 00:16:44,440 --> 00:16:48,800 {\an2}way, way back through to the house that started it all off. 334 00:16:50,760 --> 00:16:54,880 {\an2}This is the house featured in the first episode of series one 335 00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:55,920 {\an2}of Grand Designs. 336 00:16:55,960 --> 00:17:00,320 {\an2}It's in New Haven in East Sussex, and it was built by Tim and Jules, 337 00:17:00,360 --> 00:17:02,520 {\an2}who constructed it on the edge of a cliff. 338 00:17:02,560 --> 00:17:06,160 {\an2}This project also introduced us to an idea 339 00:17:06,200 --> 00:17:09,520 {\an2}that we have been grappling with for 25 years - 340 00:17:09,560 --> 00:17:13,000 {\an2}the continuing struggle between how long people think 341 00:17:13,040 --> 00:17:17,000 {\an2}a project is going to take and how long it actually does take. 342 00:17:17,040 --> 00:17:19,720 {\an2}Tim was a hang gliding and paragliding instructor, 343 00:17:19,760 --> 00:17:22,400 {\an2}and his partner Jules ran the office. 344 00:17:22,440 --> 00:17:27,680 {\an2}Their vision was for a timber clad seaside home with panoramic windows. 345 00:17:27,720 --> 00:17:29,120 {\an2}So what's the deadline? 346 00:17:29,160 --> 00:17:30,840 {\an2}It's the bump line, no? 347 00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:32,800 {\an2}It's the bump line. It's about here. 348 00:17:32,840 --> 00:17:34,440 {\an2}When's it due? Early June. 349 00:17:34,480 --> 00:17:35,840 {\an2}And what happens if the house is not ready? 350 00:17:35,880 --> 00:17:38,560 {\an2}Is that going to matter to you? Well, it does to me. 351 00:17:38,600 --> 00:17:41,880 {\an2}There isn't any reason at this stage why that shouldn't be so. 352 00:17:41,920 --> 00:17:45,120 {\an2}No sooner had they started than Tim and Jules were hit by their first 353 00:17:45,160 --> 00:17:47,080 {\an2}problems on site. 354 00:17:47,120 --> 00:17:50,600 {\an2}All the work they've done this morning in the middle there 355 00:17:50,640 --> 00:17:54,240 {\an2}has got to be redone, so it's a bit of a blow. 356 00:17:54,280 --> 00:17:58,200 {\an2}Then the windows didn't fit and their builder had to step 357 00:17:58,240 --> 00:17:59,440 {\an2}in to save the day. 358 00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:03,520 {\an2}And it's due tomorrow. Ah! 359 00:18:03,560 --> 00:18:05,360 {\an2}Ready to go! Tomorrow, tomorrow. 360 00:18:05,400 --> 00:18:07,760 {\an2}So it's not going to be born here? 361 00:18:07,800 --> 00:18:09,880 {\an2}There's still hope. There's still hope. 362 00:18:09,920 --> 00:18:12,280 {\an2}There's tonight. And there may be tomorrow. 363 00:18:12,320 --> 00:18:15,600 {\an2}Though eventually, of course, the house did get finished. 364 00:18:15,640 --> 00:18:17,120 {\an2}Oh, yeah. Look at this. 365 00:18:17,160 --> 00:18:18,360 {\an2}It's wonderful. 366 00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:19,680 {\an2}It's one big living space. 367 00:18:19,720 --> 00:18:21,560 {\an2}Do you have a posh room in this house? Yeah. 368 00:18:21,600 --> 00:18:23,440 {\an2}You're standing in it. THEY LAUGH 369 00:18:23,480 --> 00:18:24,600 {\an2}The kitchen! 370 00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:27,560 {\an8}25 years later... 371 00:18:28,680 --> 00:18:29,960 {\an2}Ah! How are you? 372 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:32,960 {\an2}..Tim and Jules are still enjoying their house 373 00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:35,840 {\an2}as much as they did when they first moved in. 374 00:18:35,880 --> 00:18:39,720 {\an2}It's worked out beyond our wildest hopes, and the kids 375 00:18:39,760 --> 00:18:41,400 {\an2}have all thrived. 376 00:18:41,440 --> 00:18:45,760 {\an2}We know how lucky we've been and we hope the show goes on. 377 00:18:45,800 --> 00:18:48,800 {\an2}We hope to see you in 25 years' time. 378 00:18:48,840 --> 00:18:51,280 {\an2}Oh, I'd love that. That would be... I would be 90. 379 00:18:51,320 --> 00:18:54,840 {\an2}In another life. We might still be going! 380 00:18:54,880 --> 00:18:57,040 {\an2}The house will still be here. Yeah. 381 00:18:57,080 --> 00:18:59,320 {\an1}THEY LAUGH 382 00:18:59,360 --> 00:19:02,240 {\an2}Tim and Jules were lucky that the problems they faced 383 00:19:02,280 --> 00:19:05,160 {\an2}when they were building weren't greater. 384 00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:07,880 {\an2}That suggests you come down now. 385 00:19:07,920 --> 00:19:12,040 {\an2}Many Grand Designers after them have had to deal with much worse. 386 00:19:12,080 --> 00:19:14,400 {\an2}Oh! Not that wall! 387 00:19:14,440 --> 00:19:16,360 {\an2}Plasterboard ceiling landed on the floor. 388 00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:17,840 {\an2}It sounded like a herd of elephants. 389 00:19:17,880 --> 00:19:18,880 {\an2}Just boom! 390 00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:22,080 {\an2}Ah, you're coming home with us! 391 00:19:22,120 --> 00:19:23,280 {\an2}That is big. 392 00:19:25,560 --> 00:19:28,720 {\an2}Oh, Christ. What the BLEEP have I done? 393 00:19:28,760 --> 00:19:31,520 {\an2}Well, you've trashed the garden. You put a bloody great black lump in it. 394 00:19:31,560 --> 00:19:33,080 {\an2}Agh! Agh, you...! 395 00:19:33,120 --> 00:19:34,720 {\an2}It's weeing, isn't it? 396 00:19:34,760 --> 00:19:37,000 {\an2}It's just a mess. It really is. 397 00:19:37,040 --> 00:19:39,400 {\an2}It's the great motto for building in Britain, isn't it? 398 00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:40,680 {\an2}Put a roof on first. 399 00:19:40,720 --> 00:19:42,840 {\an2}I'm just a bit disappointed with the quality. 400 00:19:42,880 --> 00:19:45,360 {\an2}I mean, it's like a badger's backside. 401 00:19:45,400 --> 00:19:48,080 {\an2}Derek, will you come and explain something to me 402 00:19:48,120 --> 00:19:49,440 {\an2}that I don't understand? 403 00:19:49,480 --> 00:19:50,800 {\an2}I will make an attempt to. 404 00:19:50,840 --> 00:19:53,400 {\an2}On the right-hand side, there's a pillar and the roof 405 00:19:53,440 --> 00:19:55,280 {\an2}is just sliced off. It doesn't look as though 406 00:19:55,320 --> 00:19:57,280 {\an2}the roof's going out to join it. What's going to happen there? 407 00:19:57,320 --> 00:20:00,800 {\an2}Oh, that's so easy to explain away. It was built by mistake. 408 00:20:04,520 --> 00:20:10,360 {\an2}The Grand Designers who have wished for a speedy project and got one 409 00:20:10,400 --> 00:20:13,000 {\an2}are few and far between, but they do exist. 410 00:20:13,040 --> 00:20:16,360 {\an2}But not because they fervently wish it to happen, nor 411 00:20:16,400 --> 00:20:19,120 {\an2}because they're lucky, but because they actively build 412 00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:23,360 {\an2}in a mechanism into their project to deliver speed. 413 00:20:23,400 --> 00:20:25,720 {\an2}Fifth gear! Ha-ha! HE RINGS BELL 414 00:20:25,760 --> 00:20:27,000 {\an2}Bye! 415 00:20:29,520 --> 00:20:33,880 {\an8}Rob and Kate in Tunbridge Wells hold the record for one of the fastest 416 00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:36,640 {\an8}houses ever built on Grand Designs. 417 00:20:36,680 --> 00:20:38,960 {\an8}They decided to go for a super organised, 418 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:41,880 {\an2}very carefully managed method of construction, 419 00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:43,880 {\an2}having it made in pieces off site 420 00:20:43,920 --> 00:20:45,400 {\an2}and then delivered and put up. 421 00:20:47,640 --> 00:20:50,360 {\an2}There's a lot of things in our life that we've not been able to control, 422 00:20:50,400 --> 00:20:53,560 {\an2}and I think that's possibly why we've done the project the way 423 00:20:53,600 --> 00:20:55,240 {\an2}we're doing it. 424 00:20:55,280 --> 00:20:58,640 {\an2}The type of house they'd chosen meant it was going to take hardly 425 00:20:58,680 --> 00:21:00,920 {\an2}any time at all to go up. 426 00:21:00,960 --> 00:21:04,200 {\an2}In theory, we should be in sort of by Christmas, 427 00:21:04,240 --> 00:21:05,560 {\an2}or if not just after. 428 00:21:05,600 --> 00:21:08,080 {\an2}So, a few months. Bingo. 429 00:21:08,120 --> 00:21:09,560 {\an1}SHE LAUGHS 430 00:21:09,600 --> 00:21:13,680 {\an2}The house itself was made in a factory in six giant modules. 431 00:21:13,720 --> 00:21:17,200 {\an2}Each piece needed only 12 days on the production line. 432 00:21:17,240 --> 00:21:20,120 {\an2}It took two months to make the lot. 433 00:21:20,160 --> 00:21:21,520 {\an2}I love watching this. 434 00:21:21,560 --> 00:21:23,560 {\an2}I love watching this because there's no mud. 435 00:21:23,600 --> 00:21:25,760 {\an2}Making it, though, was the easy bit. 436 00:21:25,800 --> 00:21:28,040 {\an2}What would be the biggest problem? Transport. 437 00:21:28,080 --> 00:21:30,720 {\an2}Literally getting to site would be the biggest problem. 438 00:21:30,760 --> 00:21:32,760 {\an2}Ha-ha-ha! Oh, look! 439 00:21:32,800 --> 00:21:38,120 {\an2}It's going very slowly, but that's because it's so wide. 440 00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:40,920 {\an2}But width wasn't the real problem here. 441 00:21:43,360 --> 00:21:45,360 {\an2}Oh, shit. 442 00:21:48,520 --> 00:21:49,920 {\an2}I measured that wrong. 443 00:21:49,960 --> 00:21:53,040 {\an2}Even the problems here were solved quickly. 444 00:21:53,080 --> 00:21:57,000 {\an2}The structure went up in 24 hours and the rooms were plumbed, wired 445 00:21:57,040 --> 00:21:59,760 {\an2}and decorated over a few months. 446 00:21:59,800 --> 00:22:01,000 {\an2}Oh, yeah. 447 00:22:02,240 --> 00:22:03,480 {\an2}Wow! 448 00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:06,160 {\an2}This is amazing. 449 00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:09,600 {\an2}What I wasn't expecting was that it would actually look so good. 450 00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:11,760 {\an2}A proper bit of architecture. Yeah. Thank you. 451 00:22:11,800 --> 00:22:13,280 {\an2}It is almost like a work of art. 452 00:22:13,320 --> 00:22:15,600 {\an2}It's quite sculptural. Mm. Yeah. 453 00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:18,480 {\an2}So how long was it all in all, then? 454 00:22:18,520 --> 00:22:20,280 {\an2}Five months almost to the day. 455 00:22:20,320 --> 00:22:22,800 {\an2}From moving out to moving back in? Yeah, not long at all. 456 00:22:22,840 --> 00:22:25,640 {\an2}It just makes me so happy. 457 00:22:25,680 --> 00:22:28,000 {\an2}And seeing Kate happy as well. 458 00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:33,440 {\an2}It's here and we just kind of grow old with it. Yeah. 459 00:22:36,360 --> 00:22:41,480 {\an2}Kate and Rob's project was almost ridiculously fast, but there again, 460 00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:44,200 {\an2}there are those projects at the opposite end of the scale 461 00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:48,600 {\an2}where progress seems glacial and our coverage of events takes not 462 00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:50,920 {\an2}months, but years. 463 00:22:50,960 --> 00:22:52,960 {\an2}I mean, decades sometimes. 464 00:22:54,360 --> 00:22:58,600 {\an2}In 2007, Ed and Rowena in Herefordshire embarked 465 00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:01,240 {\an2}on the longest ever Grand Designs project. 466 00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:05,360 {\an2}They lived off the land with goats for milk, chickens for eggs, 467 00:23:05,400 --> 00:23:06,840 {\an2}and sheep for wool. 468 00:23:08,200 --> 00:23:12,040 {\an2}Having so much to do outside is 469 00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:15,000 {\an2}hugely important for the children. 470 00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:17,280 {\an2}The jobs have to be done. 471 00:23:17,320 --> 00:23:19,440 {\an2}It doesn't matter whether it's beautiful sunshine 472 00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:21,400 {\an2}or pouring with rain. 473 00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:25,600 {\an2}I think they have a really good grounding in the things 474 00:23:25,640 --> 00:23:28,520 {\an2}which I suppose Ed and I put a value on, 475 00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:31,520 {\an2}which is your home and feeding yourself. 476 00:23:31,560 --> 00:23:33,800 {\an2}With just £100,000, 477 00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:36,880 {\an2}they wanted to build an extraordinary hand-crafted home 478 00:23:36,920 --> 00:23:38,360 {\an2}on their land. 479 00:23:38,400 --> 00:23:41,720 {\an2}They decided to do it themselves with no previous experience 480 00:23:41,760 --> 00:23:43,240 {\an2}of house building. 481 00:23:43,280 --> 00:23:48,080 {\an2}There's a long period of time of me staring at figures in here, 482 00:23:48,120 --> 00:23:50,640 {\an2}trying to figure out how one thing connects to another. 483 00:23:50,680 --> 00:23:53,440 {\an2}They didn't have a specific schedule either. 484 00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:56,120 {\an2}It might be that we don't finish for another five years, 485 00:23:56,160 --> 00:23:58,840 {\an2}but it's all part of life, isn't it? 486 00:23:58,880 --> 00:24:01,280 {\an2}Five years was optimistic. 487 00:24:01,320 --> 00:24:04,640 {\an2}In 2013, six years after they started building, 488 00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:08,280 {\an2}they had a house they could only just about move into. 489 00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:11,960 {\an2}I've got my big kitchen and I will have a larder 490 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:14,480 {\an2}and I will have a veranda... 491 00:24:14,520 --> 00:24:17,080 {\an2}..when that end is done. 492 00:24:18,640 --> 00:24:21,840 {\an2}Ed, who'd learned most of his skills building his home, 493 00:24:21,880 --> 00:24:24,120 {\an2}actually made the kitchen himself. 494 00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:28,120 {\an2}Incredibly, he ended up spending just a few hundred quid. 495 00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:30,760 {\an2}It does go to show you don't need to spend a huge 496 00:24:30,800 --> 00:24:33,280 {\an2}amount on kitchens. 497 00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:36,200 {\an2}The kitchen is a very expensive-looking kitchen. 498 00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:39,920 {\an2}A lesson thoroughly ignored by some Grand Designers. 499 00:24:39,960 --> 00:24:41,960 {\an2}How much was this? 500 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:44,480 {\an2}Well, it's probably the most expensive piece in the chalet. 501 00:24:44,520 --> 00:24:47,480 {\an2}This was £34,000. Good God! 502 00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:49,840 {\an2}I think it was 100 and... About 125 grand. 503 00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:51,480 {\an2}What...? What? 504 00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:52,840 {\an2}Where...? Where's the money gone? 505 00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:54,480 {\an2}I think the design and the detail. 506 00:24:54,520 --> 00:24:56,360 {\an2}It's huge! Look at the knobs. 507 00:24:56,400 --> 00:24:58,280 {\an2}What is this material, Claire? 508 00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:01,160 {\an2}Dekton. What? Dekton. What? 509 00:25:01,200 --> 00:25:03,880 {\an2}I mean, you just have to look at, you know, the seamlessness of, 510 00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:05,200 {\an2}you know, no handles. 511 00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:07,160 {\an2}Oh, yeah. You pay a lot for no handles, don't you? 512 00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:09,240 {\an2}This is a kitchen which has come from another universe. 513 00:25:09,280 --> 00:25:10,920 {\an2}This, I recognise, is a sink. 514 00:25:10,960 --> 00:25:12,720 {\an2}What's this thing? This is the frying pan. 515 00:25:12,760 --> 00:25:13,800 {\an2}You're joking. Yeah. 516 00:25:13,840 --> 00:25:15,560 {\an2}And then we've got our extractor fan. 517 00:25:15,600 --> 00:25:17,080 {\an2}The death ray extractor. 518 00:25:17,120 --> 00:25:19,880 {\an2}This is the kind of thing you find in The Savoy, in the kitchens there. 519 00:25:19,920 --> 00:25:22,120 {\an2}Well, that's true. It is there, actually. 520 00:25:22,160 --> 00:25:24,600 {\an2}All mod cons. Very expensive. 521 00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:28,080 {\an2}You can't go and put some nasty, rubbish tat in here, can you? 522 00:25:28,120 --> 00:25:32,640 {\an2}Is £125,000 on a kitchen, Claire, justifiable? 523 00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:34,320 {\an2}I mean, it looks amazing. 524 00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:42,200 {\an2}By 2017, ten years into Ed and Rowena's project, 525 00:25:42,240 --> 00:25:45,280 {\an2}there was what looked like a finished house. 526 00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:47,560 {\an2}Hello. Hello! How extraordinary. 527 00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:50,920 {\an2}The time it had taken to build had been well spent, 528 00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:53,360 {\an2}beautifully crafting every detail. 529 00:25:53,400 --> 00:25:57,360 {\an2}Every joint is covered by a little boss, 530 00:25:57,400 --> 00:26:01,600 {\an2}but the boss is like a timber wrap, a timber rope. 531 00:26:01,640 --> 00:26:03,440 {\an2}Yeah, we thought they looked like ribbons. 532 00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:04,720 {\an2}I'm overwhelmed by this. 533 00:26:04,760 --> 00:26:06,560 {\an2}I'd never been in a building like it. 534 00:26:06,600 --> 00:26:07,800 {\an2}But the time it took 535 00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:11,080 {\an2}to build the project did have other consequences. 536 00:26:11,120 --> 00:26:13,240 {\an2}Tell me, up here, how many have you got? 537 00:26:13,280 --> 00:26:14,800 {\an2}One, two, three bedrooms there. 538 00:26:14,840 --> 00:26:16,480 {\an2}The youngest is now 17. 539 00:26:16,520 --> 00:26:19,520 {\an2}So it's not long before you find yourself with quite a lot 540 00:26:19,560 --> 00:26:22,000 {\an2}of empty bedrooms quite a lot of the time. 541 00:26:22,040 --> 00:26:23,960 {\an2}Has this happened too late? No. 542 00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:27,640 {\an2}The experience of them growing up and it all happening around them, 543 00:26:27,680 --> 00:26:29,600 {\an2}I think, is incredibly valuable. 544 00:26:29,640 --> 00:26:31,880 {\an2}And, even now, they're still tweaking it. 545 00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:34,200 {\an2}That's the sitting room in there, Kevin. 546 00:26:34,240 --> 00:26:36,800 {\an2}But at the moment it is... 547 00:26:36,840 --> 00:26:38,560 {\an2}Yes, I see. ..the workshop. 548 00:26:38,600 --> 00:26:41,840 {\an2}To be honest, I'm not sure they're ever going to stop. 549 00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:43,000 {\an2}I was going to ask you, you know, 550 00:26:43,040 --> 00:26:44,280 {\an2}what happens when the project's finished, 551 00:26:44,320 --> 00:26:46,080 {\an2}but, first of all, I don't think it's going to be 552 00:26:46,120 --> 00:26:47,280 {\an2}ever completely finished. 553 00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:48,360 {\an2}And secondly... 554 00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:50,200 {\an2}What's the confines of the project, as well? 555 00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:52,680 {\an2}It's the grand universal project of life, isn't it? 556 00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:54,600 {\an2}Maybe it is. 557 00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:57,080 {\an2}17 years and counting. 558 00:26:57,120 --> 00:27:00,560 {\an2}That is the very definition of time well spent. 559 00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:15,480 {\an2}The brave souls on Grand Designs are self-builders. 560 00:27:15,520 --> 00:27:19,360 {\an2}They are, I think, all-in kinds of people. 561 00:27:19,400 --> 00:27:23,560 {\an2}By which I mean that they will pour everything into one single idea, 562 00:27:23,600 --> 00:27:28,240 {\an2}this idea of building a home in their own image. 563 00:27:28,280 --> 00:27:32,040 {\an2}They're invested fully, emotionally, financially. 564 00:27:32,080 --> 00:27:34,520 {\an2}And that, of course, raises the stakes 565 00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:37,640 {\an2}and it makes their journey all the more powerful. 566 00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:43,880 {\an2}It's one of the nicest homes I've ever, ever been in, I think. 567 00:27:46,880 --> 00:27:49,720 {\an2}You're being too nice about the building. Sorry. 568 00:27:49,760 --> 00:27:51,600 {\an2}That's all right. 569 00:27:51,640 --> 00:27:52,840 {\an2}Sorry! 570 00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:53,960 {\an2}The pair of you! 571 00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:55,160 {\an2}You'll get me crying in a minute. 572 00:27:56,320 --> 00:27:57,840 {\an2}We're going to enjoy it. 573 00:27:57,880 --> 00:28:00,160 {\an2}And I've grafted. 574 00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:01,280 {\an2}You really have. 575 00:28:01,320 --> 00:28:03,440 {\an2}This is our forever home. 576 00:28:11,240 --> 00:28:12,960 {\an2}Well, you've done it, mate. 577 00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:14,720 {\an2}We've done it, kid, haven't we? 578 00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:20,200 {\an2}You seem quite, both of you, 579 00:28:20,240 --> 00:28:21,640 {\an2}quite emotional about it. 580 00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:24,720 {\an2}OK? Mm. 581 00:28:24,760 --> 00:28:28,200 {\an2}I've never cared about a building more than the mill. 582 00:28:28,240 --> 00:28:32,120 {\an2}We just want to do right by her, guarantee a future. 583 00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:40,480 {\an2}The journey to build can be emotional, 584 00:28:40,520 --> 00:28:43,680 {\an2}but the effects of some Grand Designs projects 585 00:28:43,720 --> 00:28:45,480 {\an2}can be life-changing. 586 00:28:48,360 --> 00:28:52,760 {\an2}One of the most powerful projects I've visited in the last 25 years 587 00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:56,240 {\an2}is the Hedgehog Co-operative in Brighton. 588 00:28:56,280 --> 00:28:58,040 {\an2}They don't want to build just houses, 589 00:28:58,080 --> 00:29:00,320 {\an2}they want to build a community. 590 00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:03,360 {\an2}A group of ten households with little money, 591 00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:06,400 {\an2}who'd really struggled to get stable homes to live in, 592 00:29:06,440 --> 00:29:09,200 {\an2}came together to help build each other's. 593 00:29:09,240 --> 00:29:11,440 {\an2}It's great that we're going to be living next door to each other. 594 00:29:11,480 --> 00:29:15,320 {\an2}What's even greater is that they're all our best friends now. 595 00:29:15,360 --> 00:29:17,600 {\an2}It's just turned into an enormous great family. 596 00:29:17,640 --> 00:29:22,280 {\an2}These ten households built an entire street with their bare hands. 597 00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:25,480 {\an2}It was a street which changed lives. 598 00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:29,840 {\an2}It was the brainchild of Paul Crouch and his partner, Jennie. 599 00:29:29,880 --> 00:29:32,880 {\an2}I think originally it was the realisation that the way 600 00:29:32,920 --> 00:29:35,600 {\an2}that I'd been living was quite insecure. 601 00:29:35,640 --> 00:29:37,400 {\an2}I'd been living on the road as a traveller, 602 00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:39,440 {\an2}and I had a two-year-old daughter, 603 00:29:39,480 --> 00:29:42,880 {\an2}and the gradual realisation that as she grew up, 604 00:29:42,920 --> 00:29:45,680 {\an2}she was going to have a lot less opportunity, I think, in life, 605 00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:47,480 {\an2}because of the way that I was living. 606 00:29:48,760 --> 00:29:52,760 {\an2}Everyone had to put in 30 hours a week of work on site 607 00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:54,960 {\an2}or risk losing their home. 608 00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:58,240 {\an2}It was a struggle that meant sacrifice. 609 00:29:58,280 --> 00:30:02,760 {\an2}Paul was forced to give up his cherished Land Rover. 610 00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:06,280 {\an2}It's very important to have a Land Rover to tow my caravan, 611 00:30:06,320 --> 00:30:10,320 {\an2}so I spent all my time and effort and money and love 612 00:30:10,360 --> 00:30:13,520 {\an2}and all sorts of things on this vehicle. 613 00:30:13,560 --> 00:30:15,600 {\an2}The time has come to sell it, 614 00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:21,280 {\an2}through being extremely broke, which is a bit of a problem, 615 00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:24,720 {\an2}mostly to do with the fact that you can't really have 616 00:30:24,760 --> 00:30:28,440 {\an2}a full-time job and build a house for 30 hours a week. 617 00:30:28,480 --> 00:30:32,160 {\an2}So, as a family, we've become very poor over the last year 618 00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:36,360 {\an2}and a half and that's where it's come to now, 619 00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:39,280 {\an2}selling your possessions to keep yourself going till the end 620 00:30:39,320 --> 00:30:41,080 {\an2}of the build. 621 00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:42,840 {\an2}But Paul did keep going, 622 00:30:42,880 --> 00:30:46,280 {\an2}and he did manage to get to the end of the project. 623 00:30:46,320 --> 00:30:49,360 {\an2}And when I came back 13 years later... 624 00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:52,600 {\an1}Wow. How beautiful. 625 00:30:52,640 --> 00:30:55,960 {\an2}..it had worked out incredibly well. 626 00:30:56,000 --> 00:30:57,600 {\an2}How many of the households that moved in are still 627 00:30:57,640 --> 00:30:58,960 {\an2}in those same houses? 628 00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:00,000 {\an2}All of them. Yeah? 629 00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:02,040 {\an2}You would be utterly crazy to leave here. 630 00:31:02,080 --> 00:31:03,520 {\an1}KEVIN CHUCKLES 631 00:31:03,560 --> 00:31:07,720 {\an2}All of the children in the community here have benefited from the efforts 632 00:31:07,760 --> 00:31:10,000 {\an2}of Paul and the other adults. 633 00:31:10,040 --> 00:31:11,880 {\an2}It's just wonderful to think that our parents, like, 634 00:31:11,920 --> 00:31:14,680 {\an2}put that much hard work in and they, like, built our, you know, 635 00:31:14,720 --> 00:31:16,520 {\an2}future of living here and everything. 636 00:31:16,560 --> 00:31:18,320 {\an2}My experience here has been amazing. 637 00:31:18,360 --> 00:31:21,640 {\an2}And if my kids could have the same thing, it would just be great. 638 00:31:23,520 --> 00:31:28,000 {\an2}Brighton is a self-built community with a shared vision, 639 00:31:28,040 --> 00:31:31,640 {\an2}but, unfortunately, what's emotionally positive 640 00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:35,360 {\an2}for the self-builder can be quite the opposite for the neighbours. 641 00:31:36,880 --> 00:31:38,920 {\an2}It's on the route for my dog walk every day. 642 00:31:38,960 --> 00:31:41,400 {\an2}Stone cladding, it just looks ugly. 643 00:31:41,440 --> 00:31:43,680 {\an2}It's wrong. It is wrong. 644 00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:45,080 {\an2}A rusty metal build. 645 00:31:45,120 --> 00:31:47,640 {\an2}It doesn't... It doesn't even sound right. 646 00:31:47,680 --> 00:31:49,440 {\an2}Ugly, in one word. 647 00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:53,040 {\an2}There's not a lot I or anybody else can do, but I'm disappointed, 648 00:31:53,080 --> 00:31:56,360 {\an2}I'm angry and very sad that that's been built 649 00:31:56,400 --> 00:31:58,720 {\an2}and will be there forever. 650 00:31:58,760 --> 00:32:00,440 {\an2}It is so out of character. 651 00:32:00,480 --> 00:32:02,440 {\an2}I really am upset about it. 652 00:32:02,480 --> 00:32:04,800 {\an2}I hope it floods on them. 653 00:32:04,840 --> 00:32:07,320 {\an2}You'd like to see more contemporary architecture on the riverfront? 654 00:32:07,360 --> 00:32:08,600 {\an2}Oh, God. Yes, of course. 655 00:32:08,640 --> 00:32:11,280 {\an2}My next project is to knock the neighbours' houses down. 656 00:32:11,320 --> 00:32:12,320 {\an2}Is it? 657 00:32:13,760 --> 00:32:17,920 {\an2}The impact of a building can most obviously be felt 658 00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:19,720 {\an2}among human beings, 659 00:32:19,760 --> 00:32:22,360 {\an2}the way that it makes people feel who use it, 660 00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:26,520 {\an2}the way that it interacts with people who might live in the neighbourhood, 661 00:32:26,560 --> 00:32:27,760 {\an2}who have to live with it. 662 00:32:27,800 --> 00:32:30,160 {\an2}But there's also, of course, the environmental impact. 663 00:32:30,200 --> 00:32:33,800 {\an2}And given that nearly 40% of Britain's greenhouse gases 664 00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:35,280 {\an2}come from our homes, 665 00:32:35,320 --> 00:32:39,120 {\an2}it's a good thing that so many Grand Designs projects 666 00:32:39,160 --> 00:32:41,200 {\an2}have been ahead of the curve. 667 00:32:43,440 --> 00:32:47,120 {\an2}Many Grand Designs homes are super high-tech eco. 668 00:32:47,160 --> 00:32:49,560 {\an2}Duncan and Liz, in the north Cotswolds, 669 00:32:49,600 --> 00:32:52,720 {\an2}clad their roof with glass and metal solar tiles 670 00:32:52,760 --> 00:32:57,440 {\an2}to create a home that produced four times more energy than it used. 671 00:32:57,480 --> 00:32:58,960 {\an2}It has negative running costs. 672 00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:00,360 {\an2}It pays us to live in it. 673 00:33:00,400 --> 00:33:02,280 {\an2}Over the year, we should be able to power 674 00:33:02,320 --> 00:33:04,640 {\an2}around four three-bedroom houses. 675 00:33:04,680 --> 00:33:08,960 {\an2}Andrew and Margretta used the earth around their house as a battery 676 00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:12,280 {\an2}to store heat to keep it warm over winter. 677 00:33:12,320 --> 00:33:16,800 {\an2}This whole wall and the 500 tonnes of earth behind it 678 00:33:16,840 --> 00:33:20,040 {\an2}is, you know, steadily growing in temperature. 679 00:33:20,080 --> 00:33:24,520 {\an2}It's really warm in here and it is quite remarkable, actually. 680 00:33:24,560 --> 00:33:28,880 {\an2}Ed and Vicky in South Somerset used a precision-engineered wind turbine 681 00:33:28,920 --> 00:33:31,920 {\an2}in their drive to build a completely off-grid house. 682 00:33:31,960 --> 00:33:35,280 {\an2}The house is looking absolutely brilliant, 683 00:33:35,320 --> 00:33:38,880 {\an2}and the thing is capped by that great emblem of self-sufficiency. 684 00:33:38,920 --> 00:33:40,480 {\an2}Yeah. The wind turbine. 685 00:33:40,520 --> 00:33:42,800 {\an2}Your kind of statement of faith, 686 00:33:42,840 --> 00:33:44,680 {\an2}in alternative technology. 687 00:33:46,960 --> 00:33:51,280 {\an2}But one of the greatest eco projects I visited was super low tech. 688 00:33:51,320 --> 00:33:53,480 {\an2}It was Ben Law's home in the woods. 689 00:33:54,640 --> 00:33:56,320 {\an2}This is very beautiful, Ben. 690 00:33:56,360 --> 00:33:59,160 {\an2}Yeah, it's a magical spot. It is. 691 00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:03,680 {\an2}He was a forester who lived outdoors and decided that it was finally time 692 00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:06,000 {\an2}to build himself a permanent home. 693 00:34:06,040 --> 00:34:08,360 {\an2}I've been up here ten years, living under canvas. 694 00:34:08,400 --> 00:34:12,040 {\an2}I certainly never planned on living under canvas forever. 695 00:34:12,080 --> 00:34:15,560 {\an2}From the woods around him, he made a cruck frame using whole trunks 696 00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:18,560 {\an2}of naturally curving timber to support his building. 697 00:34:20,760 --> 00:34:23,720 {\an2}We'll try and put some human power behind the feet. 698 00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:25,480 {\an2}So eco was this project, 699 00:34:25,520 --> 00:34:28,000 {\an2}they didn't even use cranes to lift the frame up, 700 00:34:28,040 --> 00:34:29,360 {\an2}just people. 701 00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:30,440 {\an2}Yes! 702 00:34:30,480 --> 00:34:32,640 {\an2}Is it? It's spot on. Whoo! 703 00:34:32,680 --> 00:34:33,960 {\an2}Am I good or what? 704 00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:35,960 {\an2}It's literally... That is spot on. 705 00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:39,360 {\an2}Their home-made lifting system worked, until it didn't. 706 00:34:39,400 --> 00:34:41,360 {\an2}The second frame got jammed. 707 00:34:41,400 --> 00:34:43,520 {\an2}It's all a bit messy at the moment. 708 00:34:43,560 --> 00:34:46,320 {\an2}It's stable as it is, so it's time to have a little rethink, 709 00:34:46,360 --> 00:34:48,360 {\an2}I think, for a moment or two before we go any further. 710 00:34:50,120 --> 00:34:52,320 {\an2}They came up with a high-tech solution - 711 00:34:52,360 --> 00:34:54,320 {\an2}poke it with a ladder. 712 00:34:54,360 --> 00:34:55,440 {\an2}Yeah, keep going. 713 00:34:55,480 --> 00:34:56,720 {\an2}Yep, she'll do. 714 00:34:56,760 --> 00:34:59,680 {\an2}That's it. Then, time to put the kettle on. 715 00:34:59,720 --> 00:35:02,280 {\an2}Ben's was an eccentric project that drew to it 716 00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:04,720 {\an2}the most wonderfully eccentric people. 717 00:35:04,760 --> 00:35:06,480 {\an2}I remember it well. 718 00:35:06,520 --> 00:35:10,240 {\an2}# Biscuits and milk and a voice 719 00:35:10,280 --> 00:35:13,880 {\an2}# And a guitar as smooth as silk...cut. # 720 00:35:15,040 --> 00:35:17,560 {\an2}Biscuits and milk?Excellent. LAUGHTER 721 00:35:17,600 --> 00:35:20,800 {\an2}So the man with the guitar had a very important job 722 00:35:20,840 --> 00:35:21,880 {\an2}on Ben's project. 723 00:35:21,920 --> 00:35:25,560 {\an2}First of all, we used his music as incidental music in the film. 724 00:35:25,600 --> 00:35:26,680 {\an2}Isn't that lovely? 725 00:35:26,720 --> 00:35:29,440 {\an2}But his role on site was to entertain the troops. 726 00:35:29,480 --> 00:35:30,720 {\an2}That was his job. 727 00:35:30,760 --> 00:35:34,800 {\an2}He did absolutely no construction work whatsoever, 728 00:35:34,840 --> 00:35:38,200 {\an2}because his fingers were, of course, divine. 729 00:35:38,240 --> 00:35:40,480 {\an2}I've never been on a building site where, 730 00:35:40,520 --> 00:35:42,320 {\an2}instead of a health and safety officer, 731 00:35:42,360 --> 00:35:43,960 {\an2}you have a troubadour. 732 00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:46,600 {\an2}Some of the best Grand Designs projects 733 00:35:46,640 --> 00:35:49,480 {\an2}do have the most eccentric people behind them. 734 00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:55,600 {\an2}Paul, the alien, for the singing room. 735 00:35:55,640 --> 00:35:57,720 {\an2}It's got a cigar. 736 00:35:57,760 --> 00:35:59,400 {\an2}You're a man of interesting tastes. 737 00:35:59,440 --> 00:36:00,800 {\an2}Well, thank you. 738 00:36:00,840 --> 00:36:03,160 {\an2}This is where I have cocktails. 739 00:36:03,200 --> 00:36:04,520 {\an2}The sundeck, yeah. 740 00:36:04,560 --> 00:36:07,320 {\an2}Cocktails at six up here, very shortly. 741 00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:08,520 {\an2}He's quite eccentric. 742 00:36:08,560 --> 00:36:10,080 {\an2}We're having a crow's nest up the top, 743 00:36:10,120 --> 00:36:12,200 {\an2}so you get the view across the marsh. 744 00:36:12,240 --> 00:36:13,760 {\an2}It might be on hydraulics. 745 00:36:13,800 --> 00:36:16,040 {\an2}That tower is going to be a Jacuzzi. 746 00:36:16,080 --> 00:36:19,040 {\an2}You're joking. Absolutely serious. 747 00:36:19,080 --> 00:36:21,480 {\an2}It's the Scooby-Doo door! 748 00:36:21,520 --> 00:36:23,880 {\an2}It's a lifestyle sort of thing, really. 749 00:36:25,960 --> 00:36:28,120 {\an2}KEVIN LAUGHS It's brilliant! 750 00:36:28,160 --> 00:36:31,120 {\an2}I'd just like to light a fire under your bottom. 751 00:36:31,160 --> 00:36:36,240 {\an2}Fearless Grand Designs' eccentrics of the last 25 years, I salute you. 752 00:36:36,280 --> 00:36:38,600 {\an2}I declare the South Herefordshire Railway open. 753 00:36:38,640 --> 00:36:40,240 {\an1}LAUGHTER 754 00:36:51,440 --> 00:36:53,240 {\an2}This is part four. 755 00:36:53,280 --> 00:36:55,800 {\an2}You've been watching Susan and Michelangelo 756 00:36:55,840 --> 00:36:57,360 {\an2}for the last 36 minutes, 757 00:36:57,400 --> 00:37:00,440 {\an2}lovingly weaving a home out of spun hamster fur 758 00:37:00,480 --> 00:37:01,960 {\an2}and welded hempcrete. 759 00:37:03,200 --> 00:37:06,320 {\an2}They have no natural sources of light in their basement home, 760 00:37:06,360 --> 00:37:08,680 {\an2}so I bring them caged glow worms. 761 00:37:10,560 --> 00:37:12,480 {\an2}Ohh. HE CHUCKLES 762 00:37:12,520 --> 00:37:13,560 {\an2}Oh, I'm sorry. 763 00:37:13,600 --> 00:37:16,600 {\an2}I was just reading the Grand Designs Bot there. 764 00:37:16,640 --> 00:37:18,400 {\an2}Look, I'll start again. 765 00:37:18,440 --> 00:37:20,120 {\an2}This is part four. 766 00:37:20,160 --> 00:37:23,960 {\an2}Yeah? This is where we get to see the finished building, or a divorce. 767 00:37:24,000 --> 00:37:27,640 {\an2}This is where our audience numbers swell with enthusiasm 768 00:37:27,680 --> 00:37:31,720 {\an2}and the bosoms of our self-builders swell with pride. 769 00:37:31,760 --> 00:37:33,240 {\an2}This is the exciting bit! 770 00:37:33,280 --> 00:37:35,400 {\an2}This is where we get to see the completed project, 771 00:37:35,440 --> 00:37:38,200 {\an2}where we discover what the latest mode of transport is that 772 00:37:38,240 --> 00:37:41,680 {\an2}my director decides I'm going to arrive in, yeah? 773 00:37:41,720 --> 00:37:45,200 {\an2}But...there are limits. 774 00:37:53,600 --> 00:37:55,680 {\an2}Beautiful day for it, isn't it? 775 00:37:55,720 --> 00:37:58,040 {\an2}Oh, the house looks fantastic. 776 00:38:05,280 --> 00:38:06,600 {\an2}Magnificent. 777 00:38:08,560 --> 00:38:10,800 {\an2}Woohoo! That is the best view of the house. 778 00:38:10,840 --> 00:38:13,960 {\an2}Of course, how I arrive is not the most crucial factor 779 00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:16,720 {\an2}in a house's success. 780 00:38:16,760 --> 00:38:19,560 {\an2}Size is important in design. 781 00:38:19,600 --> 00:38:23,040 {\an2}As human beings, we like the scale of things to be proportionate 782 00:38:23,080 --> 00:38:24,800 {\an2}to their use. 783 00:38:24,840 --> 00:38:25,840 {\an2}Here we are. 784 00:38:26,880 --> 00:38:30,080 {\an2}But sometimes we want to make an impact. 785 00:38:30,120 --> 00:38:33,280 {\an2}We feel the need to make things bigger than they need to be. 786 00:38:33,320 --> 00:38:35,840 {\an2}I mean, much bigger. Vast, in fact. 787 00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:39,680 {\an2}I mean, magnificent, but useless. 788 00:38:40,800 --> 00:38:43,960 {\an2}There have been some epic houses on Grand Designs. 789 00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:45,520 {\an2}It is vast. 790 00:38:45,560 --> 00:38:49,480 {\an2}There's been the Hux Shard, a giant, jagged, rock-like house 791 00:38:49,520 --> 00:38:51,280 {\an2}sticking out of the ground. 792 00:38:51,320 --> 00:38:53,360 {\an2}It looks extraordinary. 793 00:38:53,400 --> 00:38:55,000 {\an2}Did it get out of hand? I'm not too sure. 794 00:38:55,040 --> 00:38:57,560 {\an2}I don't think I've ever seen a piece of glass that big. 795 00:38:57,600 --> 00:38:59,400 {\an2}It is amazing. 796 00:38:59,440 --> 00:39:01,480 {\an2}There's the water tower in Kennington. 797 00:39:01,520 --> 00:39:06,040 {\an2}What a jaw-dropping show stopper of a building. 798 00:39:06,080 --> 00:39:08,160 {\an2}Perhaps the tallest grand design ever. 799 00:39:08,200 --> 00:39:09,760 {\an2}Oh, my goodness me. What a view. 800 00:39:09,800 --> 00:39:12,720 {\an2}That's the whole of central London in one view. 801 00:39:12,760 --> 00:39:15,920 {\an2}But one of the largest homes we've ever featured on Grand Designs 802 00:39:15,960 --> 00:39:17,680 {\an2}has to be Clinton's. 803 00:39:17,720 --> 00:39:21,080 {\an2}Mind you, his previous home seemed pretty big to me. 804 00:39:23,240 --> 00:39:24,400 {\an2}How long have you owned this place? 805 00:39:24,440 --> 00:39:26,320 {\an2}Two... Nearly two years now. 806 00:39:26,360 --> 00:39:28,680 {\an2}Yeah, two years. That's not long to be somewhere 807 00:39:28,720 --> 00:39:30,520 {\an2}before you then decide to do it all over again. 808 00:39:30,560 --> 00:39:31,920 {\an2}I think it's a little bit squat. 809 00:39:31,960 --> 00:39:33,320 {\an2}I wanted it longer. 810 00:39:36,120 --> 00:39:39,240 {\an2}So, on a new plot of land in West Sussex, 811 00:39:39,280 --> 00:39:42,320 {\an2}Clinton set about building his epic vision. 812 00:39:42,360 --> 00:39:44,160 {\an2}Bloody Nora! 813 00:39:44,200 --> 00:39:47,560 {\an2}What box have you opened of Pandora's? 814 00:39:47,600 --> 00:39:49,040 {\an2}It does look big, I must say. 815 00:39:49,080 --> 00:39:51,200 {\an2}How long is it? 60m. 816 00:39:51,240 --> 00:39:54,200 {\an2}Good God, you're going to keep fit here, aren't you? 817 00:39:54,240 --> 00:39:55,840 {\an2}I think he's gone a bit large with it 818 00:39:55,880 --> 00:39:58,120 {\an2}to what he actually needs, but that's Clinton. 819 00:39:58,160 --> 00:40:00,920 {\an2}As the house went up, the scale of it was like nothing 820 00:40:00,960 --> 00:40:02,560 {\an2}I'd ever seen. 821 00:40:02,600 --> 00:40:04,600 {\an2}It's the size of a small housing estate. 822 00:40:04,640 --> 00:40:06,960 {\an2}I'm going to get a big five-metre couch here. 823 00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:08,680 {\an2}Who needs a five-metre couch?! 824 00:40:08,720 --> 00:40:10,320 {\an2}Well, it has to be to fill the space. 825 00:40:10,360 --> 00:40:11,960 {\an2}I'm going to have to put a big couch in here. 826 00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:13,080 {\an2}It's going to look silly otherwise. 827 00:40:13,120 --> 00:40:14,520 {\an2}What, and a five-metre-long TV? 828 00:40:14,560 --> 00:40:15,920 {\an2}No, I don't... No, no. 829 00:40:15,960 --> 00:40:18,240 {\an2}But, yeah, we have sort of pushed the boundaries, as it were. 830 00:40:18,280 --> 00:40:20,760 {\an2}When completed, walking into it was an experience 831 00:40:20,800 --> 00:40:22,040 {\an2}like no other. 832 00:40:22,080 --> 00:40:24,160 {\an2}It looks faultless. 833 00:40:24,200 --> 00:40:25,280 {\an2}Well, hello. 834 00:40:25,320 --> 00:40:26,680 {\an2}Congratulations. 835 00:40:26,720 --> 00:40:28,480 {\an2}I'm slightly awestruck by this. 836 00:40:28,520 --> 00:40:30,640 {\an2}The big question that still remains in my mind - 837 00:40:30,680 --> 00:40:33,200 {\an2}whether it is too big. 838 00:40:33,240 --> 00:40:34,520 {\an2}What do you think? 839 00:40:35,720 --> 00:40:37,120 {\an2}Well, the answer is, of course, yes, it is. 840 00:40:37,160 --> 00:40:38,960 {\an2}I mean, it's enormous. 841 00:40:39,000 --> 00:40:41,200 {\an2}I suppose my frustration with the project was that I thought 842 00:40:41,240 --> 00:40:44,120 {\an2}that Clinton really could achieve everything he needed 843 00:40:44,160 --> 00:40:45,720 {\an2}in a building a quarter of the size. 844 00:40:47,040 --> 00:40:50,040 {\an2}And that's what Joe and Lina in East London 845 00:40:50,080 --> 00:40:52,400 {\an2}managed to do beautifully. 846 00:40:52,440 --> 00:40:55,760 {\an2}Powerful big ideas can come in small packages. 847 00:40:56,960 --> 00:41:00,720 {\an2}But the value of a small project like Joe and Lina's 848 00:41:00,760 --> 00:41:03,800 {\an2}lies in how we can learn from them. 849 00:41:04,960 --> 00:41:07,840 {\an2}It's just really, really a light building. 850 00:41:07,880 --> 00:41:09,280 {\an2}The volume of the building isn't huge, 851 00:41:09,320 --> 00:41:12,720 {\an2}but where there's intricate storage and really clever design solutions 852 00:41:12,760 --> 00:41:15,720 {\an2}and a sense of space and a sense of connection. 853 00:41:15,760 --> 00:41:17,800 {\an2}It's everything we want, really. 854 00:41:17,840 --> 00:41:18,840 {\an2}Wow. 855 00:41:21,240 --> 00:41:22,480 {\an2}Oh! 856 00:41:22,520 --> 00:41:26,440 {\an2}You know, in life, as in yoga, 857 00:41:26,480 --> 00:41:28,840 {\an2}there are some things that are difficult, yeah. 858 00:41:28,880 --> 00:41:30,040 {\an2}And there are other things, 859 00:41:30,080 --> 00:41:33,200 {\an2}there are other things which are just anatomically impossible. 860 00:41:33,240 --> 00:41:34,400 {\an2}It's the same with self-build. 861 00:41:34,440 --> 00:41:37,600 {\an2}I mean, it will test the limits of your endurance, 862 00:41:37,640 --> 00:41:39,560 {\an2}it will test the limits of your bank balance, 863 00:41:39,600 --> 00:41:43,600 {\an2}and then it will extinguish all hope and kill all ambition, 864 00:41:43,640 --> 00:41:46,400 {\an2}and it'll probably tear a ligament as well. 865 00:41:46,440 --> 00:41:47,480 {\an2}I'm not doing that. 866 00:41:47,520 --> 00:41:48,880 {\an2}I'm really not doing that. 867 00:41:48,920 --> 00:41:52,640 {\an2}And that's not... I couldn't do that in 1999. 868 00:41:52,680 --> 00:41:56,040 {\an2}The most excruciating, difficult project in the whole 869 00:41:56,080 --> 00:42:00,680 {\an2}of Grand Designs' 25 year history is unquestionably in Devon... 870 00:42:00,720 --> 00:42:02,600 {\an2}You went further that time. 871 00:42:02,640 --> 00:42:07,440 {\an2}..where Hazel and Edward set about building a lighthouse home. 872 00:42:07,480 --> 00:42:10,480 {\an2}The thing is, you've got a perfectly good house here. 873 00:42:10,520 --> 00:42:12,080 {\an2}Why on earth would you want to knock this down 874 00:42:12,120 --> 00:42:13,120 {\an2}and build something else? 875 00:42:14,960 --> 00:42:16,440 {\an2}It's quite brutal. 876 00:42:16,480 --> 00:42:20,400 {\an2}They needed £1.8 million initially to build it, 877 00:42:20,440 --> 00:42:24,760 {\an2}which they intended to borrow before the bank pulled the loan. 878 00:42:24,800 --> 00:42:28,080 {\an2}My dad suddenly told us one of the banks said no 879 00:42:28,120 --> 00:42:30,200 {\an2}and we were, literally, we were so gutted. 880 00:42:30,240 --> 00:42:33,320 {\an2}And me and Nicole have been, like, trying to raise, like, some money 881 00:42:33,360 --> 00:42:36,480 {\an2}because... Yeah. We've been doing car boot sales and stuff, 882 00:42:36,520 --> 00:42:39,080 {\an2}but it's quite hard because, I mean, it rains a lot here. 883 00:42:40,280 --> 00:42:43,560 {\an2}Edward built another house on the plot to borrow against, 884 00:42:43,600 --> 00:42:45,880 {\an2}but then, when it came to starting the lighthouse, 885 00:42:45,920 --> 00:42:47,600 {\an2}he was hit by more expense. 886 00:42:47,640 --> 00:42:51,160 {\an2}The foundations cost him 1.2 million quid, 887 00:42:51,200 --> 00:42:53,920 {\an2}thanks to having to dig into super-hard rock. 888 00:42:53,960 --> 00:42:56,720 {\an2}Terrifying is an adjective that doesn't really sum it up, 889 00:42:56,760 --> 00:42:58,080 {\an2}if I'm honest. 890 00:42:58,120 --> 00:43:01,520 {\an2}Then he had to build a bridge from the road to the lighthouse, 891 00:43:01,560 --> 00:43:03,360 {\an2}which cost 80 grand. 892 00:43:03,400 --> 00:43:06,360 {\an2}Well, it's like a blinking RNLI slipway, this. 893 00:43:06,400 --> 00:43:10,160 {\an2}Sadly, seven years in, with the project still unfinished, 894 00:43:10,200 --> 00:43:13,600 {\an2}Edward and Hazel's marriage couldn't take the strain any more. 895 00:43:15,200 --> 00:43:17,520 {\an2}We parted company last year. 896 00:43:17,560 --> 00:43:19,920 {\an2}I put her through a horrendous time with this, you know, 897 00:43:19,960 --> 00:43:22,280 {\an2}knocking the family home down, not building another one. 898 00:43:22,320 --> 00:43:23,480 {\an2}I have to take it on the chin. 899 00:43:23,520 --> 00:43:26,520 {\an2}My ambition and vanity has probably collapsed the marriage, 900 00:43:26,560 --> 00:43:29,560 {\an2}so that's...that... I think that's probably the truth. 901 00:43:31,280 --> 00:43:33,720 {\an2}Eventually, Edward did finish. 902 00:43:33,760 --> 00:43:36,320 {\an2}It wasn't a home he'd ever get to live in, though, 903 00:43:36,360 --> 00:43:39,160 {\an2}as it was owned by a property development business. 904 00:43:39,200 --> 00:43:41,720 {\an2}But he had finished it. 905 00:43:41,760 --> 00:43:45,520 {\an2}Was it worth it? It's worth it because it's finished. 906 00:43:45,560 --> 00:43:49,080 {\an2}It would not have been worth it had it not been finished. 907 00:43:49,120 --> 00:43:50,920 {\an2}It would have been painful. 908 00:43:50,960 --> 00:43:52,680 {\an2}Yeah. Very painful. 909 00:43:52,720 --> 00:43:54,880 {\an2}Therefore, not an option. EDWARD CHUCKLES 910 00:43:54,920 --> 00:43:57,280 {\an2}Not an option, yeah. 911 00:43:57,320 --> 00:43:59,000 {\an2}Just getting to the finish line 912 00:43:59,040 --> 00:44:01,880 {\an2}and creating something of incredible beauty like this 913 00:44:01,920 --> 00:44:03,720 {\an2}is a remarkable achievement. 914 00:44:05,240 --> 00:44:07,320 {\an2}I never fail to be surprised by what Grand Designers 915 00:44:07,360 --> 00:44:08,920 {\an2}are capable of creating. 916 00:44:10,360 --> 00:44:12,280 {\an2}Holy reed beds! 917 00:44:12,320 --> 00:44:14,600 {\an2}Holy shards of glass! 918 00:44:15,960 --> 00:44:18,960 {\an2}If Darth Vader were to retire, move to Earth 919 00:44:19,000 --> 00:44:21,480 {\an2}and build himself a country house on his estate, 920 00:44:21,520 --> 00:44:23,200 {\an2}this is what it would look like. 921 00:44:23,240 --> 00:44:25,440 {\an2}It's like a concrete submarine, 922 00:44:25,480 --> 00:44:28,720 {\an2}which has breached the surface of a wild flower meadow. 923 00:44:28,760 --> 00:44:30,880 {\an2}The house is finished. 924 00:44:30,920 --> 00:44:32,000 {\an2}It's beautiful. 925 00:44:44,360 --> 00:44:48,400 {\an2}For 25 years, it's been my huge privilege and pleasure 926 00:44:48,440 --> 00:44:51,440 {\an2}to meet extraordinary people doing extraordinary things. 927 00:44:51,480 --> 00:44:53,400 {\an2}And from all walks of life, all different. 928 00:44:53,440 --> 00:44:57,080 {\an2}Different in tastes and agendas and budgets, of course, 929 00:44:57,120 --> 00:44:59,280 {\an2}and in hopes and dreams. 930 00:44:59,320 --> 00:45:02,840 {\an2}But all of them have chosen to do the same thing, 931 00:45:02,880 --> 00:45:05,480 {\an2}to open a door into this magical realm, 932 00:45:05,520 --> 00:45:07,240 {\an2}this realm of self-build, 933 00:45:07,280 --> 00:45:12,040 {\an2}which is full of cranes and mud and caravans and glass walls, 934 00:45:12,080 --> 00:45:13,800 {\an2}and, occasionally, a baby. 935 00:45:14,800 --> 00:45:16,560 {\an2}And Grand Designs, meanwhile, 936 00:45:16,600 --> 00:45:18,840 {\an2}has been there to record all of that, 937 00:45:18,880 --> 00:45:25,760 {\an2}to chart the energy, the creativity, the sheer bloody-mindedness needed 938 00:45:25,800 --> 00:45:28,120 {\an2}to build your own home. 939 00:45:28,160 --> 00:45:32,880 {\an2}So if you've enjoyed watching over that quarter century and more, 940 00:45:32,920 --> 00:45:34,960 {\an2}then I have one thing to say, 941 00:45:35,000 --> 00:45:40,280 {\an2}and that is that viewing doesn't quite convey the full experience. 942 00:45:40,320 --> 00:45:44,960 {\an2}If you want to understand what self-build is really like, 943 00:45:45,000 --> 00:45:48,360 {\an2}then I can only suggest you have a go yourself. 944 00:45:55,840 --> 00:45:58,440 {\an2}We're going to rebuild it as a family home. 945 00:45:58,480 --> 00:46:01,120 {\an2}I feel like my dad has big concept ideas 946 00:46:01,160 --> 00:46:03,600 {\an2}and it's proving to be a bit of a headache. 947 00:46:03,640 --> 00:46:06,120 {\an2}He's a very, very big risk taker. 948 00:46:06,160 --> 00:46:07,560 {\an2}To be fair, he's a nightmare. 949 00:46:07,600 --> 00:46:09,120 {\an2}Structurally, it's got to be more sound. 950 00:46:09,160 --> 00:46:11,840 {\an2}We've literally just stopped working on the site. 951 00:46:11,880 --> 00:46:14,240 {\an2}It's just a major, major cock-up. 952 00:46:14,280 --> 00:46:16,440 {\an2}When are you going to produce the detailed drawings? 953 00:46:16,480 --> 00:46:18,000 {\an2}Is it when it's finished? 954 00:46:18,040 --> 00:46:19,280 {\an2}Probably. 955 00:46:19,320 --> 00:46:20,320 {\an2}Oh! 956 00:46:35,720 --> 00:46:38,800 {\an2}Subtitles by Red Bee Media