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This programme
contains strong language

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KEVIN SIGHS

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As with most industrial relics,
it's quite hard

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to divine what the purpose
of this building was.

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In fact, it was constructed
to test elevators.

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And elevator music.

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The factory that was here,
surrounding this tower,

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is long gone, it was pulled down at
the end of the last century

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to make way for housing.

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Housing which,
as you look down at it,

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you realise is very familiar -

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it's the kind of housing that
we all enjoy,

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that we all choose to live in.

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Not some industrial behemoth
like this.

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It does have amazing views, though.

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Many of us may dream of living
in extraordinary spaces,

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but very few have the resilience
and bravery

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to turn their backs
on modern conventional housing,

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and venture down that
treacherous road

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to do something unique and risky

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to craft
their own exceptional home.

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KEVIN CHUCKLES

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Wow.

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What a magnificent brute.

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This concrete column stretches
over 20 metres

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into a cold Northamptonshire sky.

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It was built to supply water
to a local piano factory,

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and it's been derelict
for almost 40 years.

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It's not the most elegant
water tower I've ever seen.

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This is infrastructure central -

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there's a trainline running
through there,

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an electricity substation just here,

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and this thing
commanding the whole site.

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It is a colossus,
poured from liquid stone,

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but never intended to be a home.

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Yet a home is exactly
what Tassy and Adam, its new owners,

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want it to become.

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Yeah, I've always had a dream,
passion to self-build.

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It isn't what we were looking for.
We were looking

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for old farms or barns or something
like that that we could convert,

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and then we came across this.

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I-I thought it was amazing. I still
remember...

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No, Adam's always been confident,
I'm a bit more like,

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"Oh, my God, what have we done?"

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They're no strangers to risk.

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Adam once raced motorbikes
and met Tassy at Brands Hatch.

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Together, they travelled the world
in a broken-down motorhome

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and started a family,
before settling in Northampton.

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Now Tassy works in a bank
and Adam is a plumber.

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They have two children
and another on the way,

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and yet they feel this is the time
for their biggest-ever challenge.

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The whole idea of what we want
to do with it is for it

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to be fun
but it to be practical as well.

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Fun and practical are not
the first words to spring to mind

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about this conversion.

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But now, over a year since
they bought this beast,

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Tassy and Adam are ready
to start building.

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Hey, how you going on?
Good to meet you.

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Good to meet you. Nice to meet you.
And your water tower.

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Thank you. What a building.
When's your baby due? Next month?

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Six weeks. Oh, wow.

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Building a house with
a very young family,

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that's marvellous. Yes. Yeah.

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So how much did you pay
for this, then, this site?

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I think we got it for a steal.
A hundred thousand,

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just under a half an acre of land
and a...

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And a lot of concrete.
..concrete tower.

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There's all these brand-new houses
just next door -

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were you not tempted
just to buy one of those?

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No. Never.
They've got no character.

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The last thing we wanted
to live in was

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a square box really, isn't it?
And all new-builds are just boxes.

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No, you chose a round tube instead!

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Can we get inside? Yeah.
Yeah, lead the way.

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Tassy and Adam have limited building
experience, which makes this new

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challenge all the more terrifying.

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Good grief!

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But it's only once you peer into
the dark cavernous space enclosed...

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Echo!

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..that the design ambition

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and the scale of this project
become clear.

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It is twice as big inside
as you think it's going to be,

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looking at the outside of it.

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It just gets bigger
once you walk into it.

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Wow, it...it's huge.

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Can you use the structure of this
as your kind of support

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for what you're putting in?

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Yes. It's here,
it's not going anywhere.

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What about the floor?

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Literally smash this out.

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Really?
I'm hoping it's not full of steel.

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Listen, mate, I have seen
a few structures like this,

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and I can tell you that
they are always full of steel.

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We will get it out
one way or another.

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It will come out eventually.
OK. Well, good luck with that.

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I think that's a monster task.

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I mean, it is very, very tall
in here,

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and this is just you?
Just you tackling this?

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Mainly me,
95% of the work is going to be me.

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To tame and then domesticate this
industrial relic will be a battle

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of huge proportions
and their plans are far from simple.

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The current structure is made
of 12 thick concrete legs

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tied together by four ring beams,

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including one in the ground.

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All this strength is to support
a water tank engineered

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to hold almost 1,000 tonnes
of water.

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Adam's plan is to dig out
the old floor

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and replace it
with a new concrete floor,

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but this time insulated

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and structural to support
a heavy concrete interior.

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Crafted wooden formwork will be
filled with

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a special mix to mould the exposed
concrete walls of the ground floor.

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This will house
one of five bedrooms,

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a kitchen and a small extension
with a dining room and snug.

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On the first floor,
more concrete will form the walls

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and floor of three more bedrooms,

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a bathroom and even
a secret room for the kids.

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The top floor of the tower will be
the open-plan main bedroom suite.

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Five pours and over 250 tonnes
of concrete will create

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a rabbit warren
of three and a half floors,

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connected by stairs,
a slide and a fireman's pole.

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It may seem extraordinary,

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but it's all quite pedestrian
compared to their plans

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for the tank itself.

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Big enough to hold
two three-bedroom houses,

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Adam and Tassy want to make

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a two-floor luxury entertainment
space,

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with a swimming pool, a cinema room,

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kitchen and an outside sky garden,

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formed by removing a quarter of
the tank's roof.

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The ambition is spectacular,

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the materials unforgiving,

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and the challenge
completely bonkers.

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It is a beast, isn't it, this?
It's got a personality to it.

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Beast sums it up, that's what I call
it a lot of the time as well,

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a beast of a tower, so, yeah,

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just everything about it is big
and brutal and it's there.

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How much does this gargantuan thing
cost to do?

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We're getting a self-build mortgage.

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We're currently looking
at getting 200, 250.

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That's going
to run out very, very quickly.

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We can then sell
our current property,

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funds from that
which will be roughly 200-ish.

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We can then push it home.

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So just to be clear, your notion of
spending

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between £400,000 and £500,000
on this now is based on,

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not what it will cost
but what you have available.

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Yeah. I mean, the biggest cost-saver
is going to be labour.

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It's going to take you years
to do this.

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Yeah. We're planning two and a half,
three years, aren't we? So...

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To get living. To get in here
and to get living in there.

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Living. It won't be complete.

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Pray God that it doesn't drag on
so long that you end up,

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you know, employing your children
as teenagers.

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If it does go on too long,

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then we could grow to hate it. Yeah.

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Or each other.

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There is no doubt that this task is
so big,

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it will put huge pressure
on their young family.

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But their journey
with this building will be guided

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in part by their architect,
Tom Bell.

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I do think it's a challenge
and I think the sheer volume of

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the space sets up challenges
with the budget.

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There is 550 square metres
of floor space.

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Size is one big issue,
but sound is another problem.

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A problem so serious,

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it could jeopardise this hulk
ever becoming a home.

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There's a lot to be done in terms
of acoustics,

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given the substation
and the proximity.

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The conditions in planning are
set up such that

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an acoustic test has to be done on
the building once it's completed,

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before it can be declared
inhabitable. Right.

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Wow. So you've got to finish
the thing...

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Finish the thing. ..before you can
find out whether you can live in it?

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Yes.

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If Adam cannot control

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the constant substation hum
that embraces his site,

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the years of work he plans
to invest in this building

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will be in vain.

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MACHINERY RUMBLES
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

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Adam starts digging
the foundations for

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the ground-floor extension in
early spring,

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with the help of Tassy's dad.

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Diggers, dumper, I hired in myself,
markings, done it myself,

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that's my father-in-law
in the digger.

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It's literally, there is no real
professional

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in the term of the word.

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We've got to save money
wherever we can.

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I'm not a millionaire,
never have been,

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never will be, hence free labour.

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Adam's working full-time,

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and he wants to hold off getting
a self-build mortgage

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for as long as possible,

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just spending what he has available.

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But developments at home suggest
that life will soon be getting

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a little more expensive.

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Peek-a-boo!

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Are we going to push you?

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Ready? Hold tight.

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Whee!

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So we had Flint
just over three weeks ago.

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All well and all good at home,
as planned.

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So the pressure's on Dad now

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to get building
as quick as possible.

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Adam's eager to get started inside,

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so he's planning the removal of

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the tower's original concrete floor.

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Some initial samples suggest
it shouldn't be too tricky.

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There's only a little bit
of steel in there

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so it will break up quite easy.

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He'll have to dig down
over a metre to allow space

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for insulation and the steelwork

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which will support their heavy
concrete interior.

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But it doesn't take long before
this concrete beast shows

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its true mettle.

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Painful. This is very, very painful.

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It's this top layer, which,
because it's got the rebar in,

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it's been an absolute pain
in the backside.

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It's been a day and a half, and this
is all we've got to show for it.

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If there were any doubt,

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Adam now knows he is in
a fight of biblical proportions.

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David versus Goliath.

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Tassy and Adam have begun chipping
away at their monumental

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and seemingly impossible dream -

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the conversion of this brutal
concrete water tower

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into a playful family home.

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With £400,000 to spend...

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Yeah. Mammoth task. I'm not denying
it, I'm not an idiot.

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..they're three months
into a project fraught with risk,

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and Adam has stopped digging holes
to turn his attention

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to an issue that could prevent
this building ever becoming a home.

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The problem is,
if we do not get the bedrooms down

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to below 30 decibels at night,

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it means we're not legally allowed
to live in the tower.

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In order to suppress
the constant substation hum,

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Adam wants to build a wall.

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The main wall will be 200mm thick
concrete

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and then on the backside of it,

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it will then have sound insulation
on there,

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and then hopefully it kills
the sound as much as possible.

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This planning condition is in place

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because noise pollution can have
a serious

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and deleterious effect
on our health.

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It's getting increasingly
hard isn't,

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in this very overcrowded country of
ours, to find any peace or quiet?

246
00:13:49,360 --> 00:13:53,680
Actually, it turns out there is
a really big link

247
00:13:53,720 --> 00:13:57,040
between background levels of noise
in our life,

248
00:13:57,080 --> 00:13:59,640
from planes and trains and
automobiles

249
00:13:59,680 --> 00:14:03,000
and, in Adam's case,
an electricity substation,

250
00:14:03,040 --> 00:14:04,480
and our health.

251
00:14:04,520 --> 00:14:08,480
Between noise pollution
and our stress levels

252
00:14:08,520 --> 00:14:11,680
and blood pressure.
So if that's the case,

253
00:14:11,720 --> 00:14:14,920
well, then, what can architecture
and design do about it?

254
00:14:14,960 --> 00:14:18,160
I mean, is it possible
to engineer structures

255
00:14:18,200 --> 00:14:19,840
to manipulate sound?

256
00:14:21,280 --> 00:14:25,240
Right here, there's an example
of exactly that.

257
00:14:27,160 --> 00:14:31,040
These lumps of concrete were
designed for defence.

258
00:14:31,080 --> 00:14:33,320
Good grief.

259
00:14:33,360 --> 00:14:37,400
But not to dull sound,
rather to amplify it.

260
00:14:38,600 --> 00:14:40,320
Hello!

261
00:14:40,360 --> 00:14:42,920
This is an acoustic
early warning system

262
00:14:42,960 --> 00:14:47,000
on the Kent coast,
built in the early 20th century,

263
00:14:47,040 --> 00:14:48,560
designed to detect

264
00:14:48,600 --> 00:14:52,520
the noise of approaching enemy
aircraft flying across the Channel.

265
00:14:53,840 --> 00:14:55,680
Oh...

266
00:14:55,720 --> 00:14:58,080
Oh, these are surreal.

267
00:14:58,120 --> 00:15:02,120
In their time, they were absolutely
the cutting edge.

268
00:15:02,160 --> 00:15:05,080
Of course, by the beginning of
the Second World War,

269
00:15:05,120 --> 00:15:08,880
they were already obsolete,
superseded by radar.

270
00:15:10,720 --> 00:15:13,640
That sound wall over there is
another mirror,

271
00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:15,760
it's curved to deflect the sound in.

272
00:15:15,800 --> 00:15:18,480
Now, it stands to reason, doesn't
it, that if it's reflecting sound,

273
00:15:18,520 --> 00:15:22,360
it also means, behind the mirror,
well, no sound gets through.

274
00:15:22,400 --> 00:15:24,360
So it's a sound barrier as well.

275
00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:26,880
These things were designed
by boffins,

276
00:15:26,920 --> 00:15:30,280
by the most talented engineers of
the time.

277
00:15:30,320 --> 00:15:32,560
So it would stand to reason,
wouldn't it,

278
00:15:32,600 --> 00:15:34,640
that Adam himself would employ

279
00:15:34,680 --> 00:15:37,480
a really talented sound engineer
of this time.

280
00:15:37,520 --> 00:15:40,600
So, of course Adam's wall
was designed...

281
00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:43,440
Fucking hell!
..well, by Adam, actually.

282
00:15:43,480 --> 00:15:46,560
Just doing everything I can do,
really,

283
00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:49,720
to get everything as cheap as
possible and mates' rates.

284
00:15:49,760 --> 00:15:51,720
Can't afford to pay anyone.

285
00:15:51,760 --> 00:15:54,600
He has an army of unpaid volunteers.

286
00:15:54,640 --> 00:15:58,400
He's not even paying for a pump,
and he's using a digger to slop

287
00:15:58,440 --> 00:16:01,640
the concrete
into his home-made formwork.

288
00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:04,720
I've got another lorry coming

289
00:16:04,760 --> 00:16:07,760
with concrete - can I get another
cubic metre added on to it,

290
00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:10,040
a full load, six metres?
Do you want me to pay

291
00:16:10,080 --> 00:16:12,520
for it now or do you want me
to call you later?

292
00:16:12,560 --> 00:16:15,760
Adam's first experience of concrete
has been procured

293
00:16:15,800 --> 00:16:19,080
for the bargain price of £8,000.

294
00:16:19,120 --> 00:16:22,840
When it's revealed, he's pretty
pleased with the effort.

295
00:16:24,080 --> 00:16:27,000
I absolutely love my wall.
I think it's brilliant.

296
00:16:27,040 --> 00:16:30,280
It would seem to be working
acoustically too.

297
00:16:30,320 --> 00:16:32,880
So it hasn't got
the acoustic material on

298
00:16:32,920 --> 00:16:36,280
the backside of it,
but just by having the sheer mass,

299
00:16:36,320 --> 00:16:39,320
it's already knocked off
eight decibels instantly.

300
00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:42,280
So it's actually doing
what it's meant to be doing.

301
00:16:42,320 --> 00:16:45,480
Adam will need to reduce
the hum inside the tower

302
00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:49,320
by another 15 decibels
with glazing and soundproofing.

303
00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:52,080
But he'll only know
if the sound defences are enough

304
00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:55,840
when he's finished,
and that's a long way off.

305
00:16:57,480 --> 00:17:01,280
As autumn sets in,
Tassy and Adam work on removing

306
00:17:01,320 --> 00:17:04,000
the tower's concrete floor together.

307
00:17:05,320 --> 00:17:09,320
And it's left to Tassy's mum
to look after baby Flint.

308
00:17:09,360 --> 00:17:12,400
I don't agree with it.
I think it's mad.

309
00:17:12,440 --> 00:17:15,240
Utter madness. If they were younger,

310
00:17:15,280 --> 00:17:19,000
no children, plenty of money...
But not now.

311
00:17:19,040 --> 00:17:22,440
See, that's what I brought her up
to do.

312
00:17:22,480 --> 00:17:25,880
There it is - it's their life,
their project, isn't it?

313
00:17:25,920 --> 00:17:29,360
I'll probably be dead
and won't see it, will I?

314
00:17:29,400 --> 00:17:30,720
SHE CHUCKLES

315
00:17:33,160 --> 00:17:37,000
Adam and Tassy's hope that some
glorious future may be buried

316
00:17:37,040 --> 00:17:39,520
within this structure is soon badly
knocked

317
00:17:39,560 --> 00:17:41,680
by the cynicism
of the outside world.

318
00:17:42,960 --> 00:17:44,480
We got robbed.

319
00:17:44,520 --> 00:17:45,880
SHE CHUCKLES WRYLY

320
00:17:45,920 --> 00:17:48,640
So...a lot of Adam's tools got taken
from inside the tower.

321
00:17:50,640 --> 00:17:54,440
So this is now the thieving toerags
coming out of the tower,

322
00:17:54,480 --> 00:17:57,000
and then this is him now trying
to bust the padlock off.

323
00:17:57,040 --> 00:17:58,440
Amateur hour.

324
00:17:58,480 --> 00:18:01,040
Adam and Tassy have lost close

325
00:18:01,080 --> 00:18:04,000
to £5,000 worth of essential tools.

326
00:18:06,360 --> 00:18:09,520
But adversity would seem
to fuel Adam.

327
00:18:09,560 --> 00:18:11,960
He responds by digging out
the floor.

328
00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:13,280
By hand.

329
00:18:16,680 --> 00:18:23,760
HE GRUNTS
This is now the lovely, glamorous
side of digging.

330
00:18:23,800 --> 00:18:27,320
Adam's working full-time
as a plumber.

331
00:18:27,360 --> 00:18:30,240
He comes straight to site
after work,

332
00:18:30,280 --> 00:18:32,480
and that leaves little time
for his family.

333
00:18:32,520 --> 00:18:35,640
Hello, smelly!
What are you doing?

334
00:18:35,680 --> 00:18:38,040
Er, playing at the tower.

335
00:18:38,080 --> 00:18:39,760
Oh.

336
00:18:41,320 --> 00:18:43,360
It's just a hard slog at the moment,

337
00:18:43,400 --> 00:18:46,000
but the hard slog will be worth it
in the end.

338
00:18:46,040 --> 00:18:48,840
There's no doubt progress
has been slow,

339
00:18:48,880 --> 00:18:51,400
but six months into
a three-year schedule,

340
00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:54,880
Tassy and Adam have built a wall
and removed a floor -

341
00:18:54,920 --> 00:18:57,760
their first small victories.

342
00:18:59,960 --> 00:19:01,200
This pile of stuff behind you,

343
00:19:01,240 --> 00:19:03,680
this is all the floor, isn't it,
out the water tower?

344
00:19:03,720 --> 00:19:06,120
Yeah. I can't wait until we start
pouring some concrete.

345
00:19:06,160 --> 00:19:07,920
Oh, I see, yeah, putting stuff in?

346
00:19:07,960 --> 00:19:10,280
Putting stuff in
instead of just taking stuff out.

347
00:19:10,320 --> 00:19:13,360
Do you fully expect to be on site
by Christmas,

348
00:19:13,400 --> 00:19:15,760
concreting, putting the slab in?

349
00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:18,480
Yeah, if the weather doesn't go
absolutely Baltic,

350
00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:21,080
but what we've done,
it just doesn't feel enough

351
00:19:21,120 --> 00:19:23,440
in the time that
we've been doing it.

352
00:19:23,480 --> 00:19:25,200
Yeah. Yeah. It is too slow for me.

353
00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:26,880
We saw ourselves further on
than this.

354
00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:28,760
Yeah, a hell of a lot further on.
Yeah. You know,

355
00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:31,600
this is now you versus the beast,
isn't it?
FLINT BABBLES

356
00:19:31,640 --> 00:19:35,120
Yeah. It's not going to beat me.
I've never failed at anything yet

357
00:19:35,160 --> 00:19:38,520
and this isn't
going to beat me yet. That, that...

358
00:19:38,560 --> 00:19:41,280
Is that your input?
..those are strokes and messages

359
00:19:41,320 --> 00:19:44,040
of support you're receiving
from your son there. I know!

360
00:19:44,080 --> 00:19:46,480
He's saying, "Go, Dad, go.
It's good."

361
00:19:46,520 --> 00:19:49,200
I reckon,
if you went the procurement route

362
00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:52,760
and employed a contractor,
you'd get five blokes on site,

363
00:19:52,800 --> 00:19:55,760
18 months to finish, right?

364
00:19:55,800 --> 00:19:58,320
Well, instead it's one man on site.

365
00:19:58,360 --> 00:20:03,440
Yeah. So at the very least it's
going to be five times 18 months,

366
00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:05,360
which is seven and a half years.

367
00:20:05,400 --> 00:20:07,520
Plus I'm working full-time as well.

368
00:20:07,560 --> 00:20:08,880
Oh, yeah, sorry, forgot that, yeah.

369
00:20:08,920 --> 00:20:11,840
So let's just double it
and say 15 years.

370
00:20:11,880 --> 00:20:15,680
Sticking true
to his new 15-year schedule,

371
00:20:15,720 --> 00:20:18,520
Adam is ready to pour his new floor,

372
00:20:18,560 --> 00:20:21,000
four months later than planned,

373
00:20:21,040 --> 00:20:24,160
in the middle
of the first Covid lockdown.

374
00:20:24,200 --> 00:20:26,600
Work's dropped off a cliff,

375
00:20:26,640 --> 00:20:28,760
so no money's coming in.

376
00:20:28,800 --> 00:20:31,280
I'm here all the time now.

377
00:20:31,320 --> 00:20:33,560
As long as I can still keep
getting deliveries

378
00:20:33,600 --> 00:20:37,120
and as long as money stays
in the bank, I'm all right.

379
00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:42,560
A socially distanced skeleton crew,
including Tassy's brother, Taryn,

380
00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:46,800
helps to make a new structural
and insulated floor.

381
00:20:46,840 --> 00:20:49,640
I don't fail,
I don't do well with that.

382
00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:51,840
Where there's a will there's a way.

383
00:20:51,880 --> 00:20:55,480
By the end of the day,
Adam now has a floor to build off.

384
00:21:00,600 --> 00:21:02,160
Two months later,

385
00:21:02,200 --> 00:21:04,720
and the pandemic begins
to seriously affect the funding

386
00:21:04,760 --> 00:21:06,000
for this project.

387
00:21:06,040 --> 00:21:11,280
We've had a setback cos
we needed to remortgage our house.

388
00:21:11,320 --> 00:21:14,880
But we can't get that money unless
we sell the house,

389
00:21:14,920 --> 00:21:17,640
and we had no intentions
of selling the house yet.

390
00:21:17,680 --> 00:21:21,160
Because of the pandemic,
Adam has not been working.

391
00:21:21,200 --> 00:21:25,360
They can't take any more equity
out of their house in Northampton.

392
00:21:25,400 --> 00:21:29,080
The worst that's
going to happen is we go bankrupt,

393
00:21:29,120 --> 00:21:33,640
um, we get divorced
and I live in a caravan full-time.

394
00:21:34,840 --> 00:21:37,080
So we need to make some plans now

395
00:21:37,120 --> 00:21:39,960
and change...change
the way we go about things.

396
00:21:44,640 --> 00:21:47,560
With all hopes of
a mortgage now gone,

397
00:21:47,600 --> 00:21:51,600
Adam can only shuffle on with the
little money he has in the bank,

398
00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:54,680
and his attention turns
to the timber formwork

399
00:21:54,720 --> 00:21:56,280
for the internal walls.

400
00:21:56,320 --> 00:22:00,120
Walls that are already built
in Tassy and Adam's imagination.

401
00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:03,400
First of all, you're going to be hit
by a mass amount of concrete -

402
00:22:03,440 --> 00:22:06,840
that's going to be going 10m high.

403
00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:09,960
You're going to see these curved
walls going round,

404
00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:12,280
and then it'll lead you around
the curve

405
00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:14,640
and that's then when it will open up

406
00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:17,160
and then go "boom" to your
extension.

407
00:22:17,200 --> 00:22:19,640
A summer of sweat and sawdust
produces

408
00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:22,680
hundreds of precisely cut pieces
of plywood,

409
00:22:22,720 --> 00:22:26,240
designed by Tassy to be glued
together to make a strong

410
00:22:26,280 --> 00:22:30,240
and meticulous wall
of patterned concrete formwork.

411
00:22:30,280 --> 00:22:32,320
Adam often works alone,

412
00:22:32,360 --> 00:22:34,720
but does rope in
Tassy's brother, Taryn,

413
00:22:34,760 --> 00:22:39,080
and the man who helped design this
wellspring of pain and purgatory,

414
00:22:39,120 --> 00:22:40,560
his architect, Tom.

415
00:22:40,600 --> 00:22:43,560
As an architect, you're often thrust
together with clients,

416
00:22:43,600 --> 00:22:46,560
so you do have this point
where you're questioning,

417
00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:49,640
does this person have
the capability of doing this,

418
00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:50,920
does he have the skill set?

419
00:22:50,960 --> 00:22:53,160
But I think slowly but surely,
as you see it,

420
00:22:53,200 --> 00:22:54,960
yeah, he can,
he can definitely do it.

421
00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:56,960
And he's clearly
a talented craftsman.

422
00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:00,360
Ultimately, time can't be
the governing factor, though.

423
00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:02,920
I think it will take
as long as it takes.

424
00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:06,480
It may be messy and time consuming,
but amidst the ambition

425
00:23:06,520 --> 00:23:09,680
and grinding labour,
it is a focus of creative energy

426
00:23:09,720 --> 00:23:12,720
for Adam and Tassy,
and a distraction from

427
00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:15,680
the biggest challenge ahead,
which lurks above.

428
00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:17,840
Right, I'll head on down, yeah?

429
00:23:17,880 --> 00:23:19,640
Bloody hell.

430
00:23:19,680 --> 00:23:23,320
What a weird, weird space this is.

431
00:23:23,360 --> 00:23:27,720
This was never intended
to be occupied by people, was it?

432
00:23:28,840 --> 00:23:33,720
Wow. It's weird, it's like being
in a sort of huge cave.

433
00:23:33,760 --> 00:23:36,080
So how much of this roof comes off?

434
00:23:36,120 --> 00:23:38,240
It's going to be nearly a quarter.

435
00:23:38,280 --> 00:23:42,320
What?! Yes. I'm not sure
I would touch that roof.

436
00:23:42,360 --> 00:23:44,600
There's not a doubt in the mind,
it's got to be done.

437
00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:46,800
Why have this space living above
your head

438
00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:48,760
and not do anything with it? It's...

439
00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:50,800
Because it will kill you
trying to change it.

440
00:24:01,400 --> 00:24:02,600
I think there's a very good reason

441
00:24:02,640 --> 00:24:04,680
that nobody's tried
to live in this water tower before,

442
00:24:04,720 --> 00:24:07,960
and that is because it's made out of
extraordinarily thick concrete.

443
00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:10,520
I mean, this skin, this drum roof...

444
00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:13,360
..is about six to seven inches thick
here,

445
00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:15,040
probably much thicker at the edges,

446
00:24:15,080 --> 00:24:16,880
the walls are ten inches thick,

447
00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:18,880
and Adam, he's sort of meeting,
I think,

448
00:24:18,920 --> 00:24:21,240
the limits of his abilities here.

449
00:24:22,640 --> 00:24:26,200
He can't see
how big this building is

450
00:24:26,240 --> 00:24:28,880
or how big the task is ahead of him.

451
00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:46,160
Adam and Tassy are mid-battle,

452
00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:49,400
employing all their guile,
sweat and creative energy

453
00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:53,800
to tame their monster water tower
and somehow domesticate it.

454
00:24:53,840 --> 00:24:55,960
But halfway through their
three-year schedule,

455
00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:59,280
it's clear things will take
much longer than planned.

456
00:24:59,320 --> 00:25:01,600
If you're going to build a house or
you're going to do

457
00:25:01,640 --> 00:25:04,600
any sort of like building project,
don't buy a bloody water tower.

458
00:25:04,640 --> 00:25:08,840
Don't buy anything that's got
silly angles like this.

459
00:25:10,040 --> 00:25:13,400
Adam is now spending every spare
moment on this project

460
00:25:13,440 --> 00:25:16,480
and family life is just on hold.

461
00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:20,480
It's too slow, isn't it?
It's too slow for Mum.

462
00:25:20,520 --> 00:25:22,800
We've learnt something, though,
haven't we?

463
00:25:22,840 --> 00:25:25,800
Whatever Daddy says it's going
to take, we double the length.

464
00:25:27,520 --> 00:25:32,000
It takes Adam almost ten months
to perfect the timber formwork

465
00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:36,480
that'll transform Tassy's design
into exposed concrete curved walls.

466
00:25:38,200 --> 00:25:40,920
It needs to be right.
It's just, I'm worried

467
00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:43,760
that if one of these pieces
of steel ping out,

468
00:25:43,800 --> 00:25:45,960
you've ruined a wall basically.

469
00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:50,600
That's it, one shot, one hit,
and there's your finished article.

470
00:25:56,360 --> 00:26:00,360
Months and months of work have led
to just one day.

471
00:26:00,400 --> 00:26:02,640
The day of the pour.

472
00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:05,280
We were going to keep it
quite simple

473
00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:07,480
and then I said to Adam,

474
00:26:07,520 --> 00:26:11,760
"This is...this is our dream house,
I want more."

475
00:26:11,800 --> 00:26:14,360
Basically. We've done a pattern

476
00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:16,720
and we're about
to find out if it's going to work.

477
00:26:16,760 --> 00:26:20,280
The formwork is not only
oak-veneered and curved,

478
00:26:20,320 --> 00:26:23,960
but Tassy's designed it to be
inlayed with a complex pattern.

479
00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:28,280
I did pick the design, yeah.
I wanted geometric pattern.

480
00:26:28,320 --> 00:26:30,760
The amount of detail that's gone
into this bloody wall

481
00:26:30,800 --> 00:26:33,400
and it only takes one thing
to be wrong.

482
00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:36,640
To ensure the concrete can shape
itself

483
00:26:36,680 --> 00:26:41,440
around every detail of the delicate
veneer, its flow is tested on site.

484
00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:44,960
The concrete's been designed
to be fluid,

485
00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:48,840
something Tassy's brother,
Taryn, is wary of.

486
00:26:48,880 --> 00:26:50,840
The concrete's twice as thin.

487
00:26:50,880 --> 00:26:54,640
Super-thin to get super-detail,
virtually like water,

488
00:26:54,680 --> 00:26:57,640
and it will want
to find every little weak spot,

489
00:26:57,680 --> 00:27:02,120
and the weight is going to be
25 tonnes. It can't not work.

490
00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:05,600
The heavy liquid concrete is pumped
from the bottom, up.

491
00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:09,360
This expels any air
and is eerily quiet.

492
00:27:11,400 --> 00:27:12,720
Good to go.

493
00:27:14,600 --> 00:27:17,520
As the concrete begins to flow,
the only sound is

494
00:27:17,560 --> 00:27:20,320
that of the handmade timber
formwork groaning

495
00:27:20,360 --> 00:27:22,840
and straining
under immense pressure.

496
00:27:22,880 --> 00:27:25,200
The creaking,
the creaking is nerve-racking.

497
00:27:28,040 --> 00:27:29,920
There is some leakage.

498
00:27:29,960 --> 00:27:31,880
It's flowing everywhere.

499
00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:34,920
But it would seem
the formwork is holding.

500
00:27:34,960 --> 00:27:37,760
It doesn't look like...
it looks like it has stopped.

501
00:27:37,800 --> 00:27:42,200
After two years of toil, they know
any fault would be catastrophic

502
00:27:42,240 --> 00:27:44,200
for the entire project.

503
00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:47,560
It's that far from the top now.
It's almost there.

504
00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:50,040
But I tell you what -
it's terrifying.

505
00:27:50,080 --> 00:27:53,400
Eventually the creaking subsides.

506
00:27:53,440 --> 00:27:55,520
The formwork has held.

507
00:27:55,560 --> 00:27:57,160
Now it's just a waiting game

508
00:27:57,200 --> 00:28:02,480
and see what we've got pattern-wise
and result-wise, really.

509
00:28:05,520 --> 00:28:09,120
A few days later...
Push your end out there.

510
00:28:09,160 --> 00:28:11,600
..and Tassy and Adam are ready
to reveal what

511
00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:15,480
the exposed concrete walls of their
new ground floor will look like.

512
00:28:15,520 --> 00:28:19,440
I'm a bit concerned that you might
see the lines and the separation

513
00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:23,120
between the pattern - that's the
part I'm most worried about.

514
00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:24,600
It's going to be really tricky,

515
00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:27,320
it's going to be stuck in
and pull the pattern off with it.

516
00:28:27,360 --> 00:28:30,600
The imprint of the complex formwork
is wafer thin,

517
00:28:30,640 --> 00:28:34,480
so removing these chunky panels
requires care and delicacy.

518
00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:37,480
It's coming, it's fighting me,
it's trying to come back in.

519
00:28:37,520 --> 00:28:40,480
We knew it was going to be tough,
it's just tough.

520
00:28:40,520 --> 00:28:42,200
CREAKING

521
00:28:46,720 --> 00:28:49,440
But it seems
this concrete experiment...

522
00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:51,120
It looks pretty good.

523
00:28:51,160 --> 00:28:53,080
..has worked.

524
00:28:53,120 --> 00:28:56,240
I haven't seen one bit
of honeycombing.

525
00:28:56,280 --> 00:28:58,400
Yeah, it's good.

526
00:28:58,440 --> 00:28:59,880
It's been a long time waiting,

527
00:28:59,920 --> 00:29:02,400
a long time waiting
to see these walls go in,

528
00:29:02,440 --> 00:29:05,840
because this is, to us, still really
the first stages of the build.

529
00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:07,200
Yeah.

530
00:29:07,240 --> 00:29:09,200
The concrete pattern
is breathtaking,

531
00:29:09,240 --> 00:29:11,880
and its success gives this project
new impetus.

532
00:29:11,920 --> 00:29:14,640
The kids are growing up
quicker and quicker.

533
00:29:14,680 --> 00:29:17,720
So, yeah, I want to get in now.

534
00:29:17,760 --> 00:29:20,800
Readying themselves
for the next concrete pour on

535
00:29:20,840 --> 00:29:25,160
the first floor,
Adam and Taryn install a steel deck.

536
00:29:25,200 --> 00:29:28,280
A permanent mould for the floor
of the children's bedrooms.

537
00:29:29,880 --> 00:29:33,360
The one thing that could really
bugger us up here is if it leaks.

538
00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:36,960
If it finds a hole,
it's going to piss through.

539
00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:39,560
As the concrete begins to flow...

540
00:29:41,240 --> 00:29:45,280
..granite lava rains down
on those beautiful new walls.

541
00:29:45,320 --> 00:29:47,680
HE GROANS

542
00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:52,400
Adam is beginning to doubt
his choice of steel shuttering,

543
00:29:52,440 --> 00:29:55,400
but he is determined
to get his floor poured.

544
00:29:58,920 --> 00:30:02,240
The second lorry's here and I think

545
00:30:02,280 --> 00:30:04,360
I'm just going to close my eyes
for this one.

546
00:30:04,400 --> 00:30:07,400
They've propped
all the possible weak areas,

547
00:30:07,440 --> 00:30:10,120
so they feel they can carry on
pouring,

548
00:30:10,160 --> 00:30:12,760
though concrete continues
to leak through.

549
00:30:12,800 --> 00:30:16,400
You wanted concrete, babe, and
you've got concrete. Everywhere.

550
00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:19,960
They try all manner
of makeshift solutions to keep

551
00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:22,320
the concrete in place until it sets.

552
00:30:22,360 --> 00:30:24,120
At which point...

553
00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:27,000
I don't know what everyone was
moaning about.

554
00:30:27,040 --> 00:30:30,880
I think it went brilliant.
Not one hiccup at all.

555
00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:34,280
The clean-up takes some time.

556
00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:37,440
But when I'm back on site
a month later,

557
00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:40,440
everything seems crisp and tidy.

558
00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:45,080
Oh, this is good.
A cave of concrete wonders.

559
00:30:45,120 --> 00:30:48,600
This is like...this is like being
in a medieval castle.

560
00:30:48,640 --> 00:30:52,280
A great central pier...

561
00:30:52,320 --> 00:30:54,200
Oh, my goodness, it's hollow.

562
00:30:54,240 --> 00:30:57,560
This is special.
And it is also beautifully done.

563
00:30:57,600 --> 00:30:59,920
The formwork's actually like feeling
a piece of wood.

564
00:30:59,960 --> 00:31:01,320
Oh, my Lord!

565
00:31:01,360 --> 00:31:03,640
Oh... Oh...!

566
00:31:03,680 --> 00:31:04,800
Oh!

567
00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:06,880
This is nuts.

568
00:31:06,920 --> 00:31:08,640
This is magical.

569
00:31:08,680 --> 00:31:10,600
I mean, this is fabulous

570
00:31:10,640 --> 00:31:14,880
but, of course, if they had built
their interior out of timber,

571
00:31:14,920 --> 00:31:17,640
which they could easily have done,
they'd be living in it by now.

572
00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:23,760
But for Adam and Tassy, this project
is as much a concrete work of art

573
00:31:23,800 --> 00:31:26,440
as it will be a concrete home.

574
00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:31,400
You could have finished
the whole of the interior,

575
00:31:31,440 --> 00:31:34,440
and it could be made in timber,
and it could have been beautiful.

576
00:31:34,480 --> 00:31:37,360
Yes. I will absolutely give you
that one.

577
00:31:37,400 --> 00:31:38,800
We could have done it in timber

578
00:31:38,840 --> 00:31:42,040
and we would have been stood
on the top now going, "Thumbs up.

579
00:31:42,080 --> 00:31:45,360
"Brilliant job."
But the thing with that is,

580
00:31:45,400 --> 00:31:48,640
it's not doing the building justice.
It needs to be solid.

581
00:31:48,680 --> 00:31:50,800
At the end of the day,
it's just what we wanted.

582
00:31:50,840 --> 00:31:53,480
Yeah. That's the finish we wanted.

583
00:31:53,520 --> 00:31:55,360
The thing, is it's not the end of
the day,

584
00:31:55,400 --> 00:31:57,840
it's the end of two and a half years
and you've got to the first floor.

585
00:31:57,880 --> 00:32:01,160
I know. I have told him,
many a times,

586
00:32:01,200 --> 00:32:03,320
it's not moving fast enough!

587
00:32:03,360 --> 00:32:06,480
Yeah, but you want this.
You want this.

588
00:32:06,520 --> 00:32:08,600
Oh, yeah, but Adam wants it just
as much. Oh, yeah,

589
00:32:08,640 --> 00:32:13,320
well, I think I've been driving this
as much as anybody, haven't I?

590
00:32:13,360 --> 00:32:14,920
How many more floors?

591
00:32:14,960 --> 00:32:16,680
Another three floors. Yeah.

592
00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:18,960
And if it's taken you two years
to get this far,

593
00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:21,640
it's going to take you,
I reckon it's going to take you

594
00:32:21,680 --> 00:32:24,480
another two years
to finish the concrete work.

595
00:32:24,520 --> 00:32:26,840
We will definitely be divorced then.

596
00:32:26,880 --> 00:32:28,040
Yes.

597
00:32:30,240 --> 00:32:34,440
Tassy and Adam have been so frugal
in inching this project forwards

598
00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:38,160
that they're only spending what they
manage to save from Adam's income.

599
00:32:40,040 --> 00:32:42,040
But these exquisite walls show you

600
00:32:42,080 --> 00:32:47,960
that this project's focus is not
time or money, but rather quality.

601
00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:54,160
If there's one tension
that the concrete work sets up,

602
00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:56,840
it's - is the building
going to turn out as some kind

603
00:32:56,880 --> 00:32:59,160
of giant art installation

604
00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:02,880
or will it be a successful home?

605
00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:05,960
I don't even think they care
about that,

606
00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:10,040
because this is just really one big
adventure for them, isn't it?

607
00:33:11,160 --> 00:33:14,000
Tassy and Adam's big adventure.

608
00:33:31,520 --> 00:33:35,560
Most people see construction
as a process to be endured,

609
00:33:35,600 --> 00:33:39,400
an arduous journey that eventually
delivers a result.

610
00:33:39,440 --> 00:33:42,520
Most people want to complete that
journey as simply

611
00:33:42,560 --> 00:33:44,240
and quickly as possible.

612
00:33:45,720 --> 00:33:46,960
But if there is one thing

613
00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:51,080
I have learnt since I first visited
this Northamptonshire site,

614
00:33:51,120 --> 00:33:55,040
Tassy and Adam are not most people.

615
00:33:55,080 --> 00:33:58,560
Well, you know, it's been five years

616
00:33:58,600 --> 00:34:00,680
since these guys started this
project,

617
00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:02,440
two years since I was last here.

618
00:34:02,480 --> 00:34:06,560
So...what's the chance
of them having moved in, eh?

619
00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:17,880
This is...this is odd.

620
00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:22,080
The exterior of this concrete
monster has remained unchanged

621
00:34:22,120 --> 00:34:24,080
since this project began,

622
00:34:24,120 --> 00:34:28,320
and now, in its shadow there's
a dystopian playground,

623
00:34:28,360 --> 00:34:30,240
for toddlers.

624
00:34:31,320 --> 00:34:34,560
It's probably even more apocalyptic
than it was.

625
00:34:34,600 --> 00:34:37,360
I mean, it's like they abandoned
the site,

626
00:34:37,400 --> 00:34:40,560
and instead a preschool playgroup
have moved in.

627
00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:44,680
It's clear
the tower has not been finished,

628
00:34:44,720 --> 00:34:48,480
but they are obviously spending more
time on site as a family,

629
00:34:48,520 --> 00:34:52,240
redressing an important imbalance
on this project.

630
00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:54,720
Hey. All right, Kevin?

631
00:34:54,760 --> 00:34:56,800
Good to see you. How are you?
Good, yeah.

632
00:34:56,840 --> 00:35:00,680
You...you've let the site
to a nursery school?

633
00:35:00,720 --> 00:35:04,240
Yeah, we've sold the house,
released a load of funds.

634
00:35:04,280 --> 00:35:06,120
Yeah. So does that work out,

635
00:35:06,160 --> 00:35:09,000
does that give you
a little bit more cash fluency?

636
00:35:09,040 --> 00:35:11,240
Yeah, it's been sitting in the bank
for a while, though,

637
00:35:11,280 --> 00:35:13,480
because we haven't had the time
to spend it.

638
00:35:13,520 --> 00:35:15,960
It's the time that we struggle with.
Last time we met,

639
00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:18,600
it was two years ago, and at that
point you had just poured

640
00:35:18,640 --> 00:35:20,640
the first-floor slab, you know?

641
00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:23,000
It was good and you had great plans,
I mean, you know, you were

642
00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:25,160
just going to charge ahead
from that point. Yes.

643
00:35:25,200 --> 00:35:27,280
And the plan was to have all
the concrete done by

644
00:35:27,320 --> 00:35:29,600
the end of that year, wasn't it?
Yeah, it was, yeah.

645
00:35:29,640 --> 00:35:32,280
And then I'd been having
back problems.

646
00:35:32,320 --> 00:35:34,080
A pretty bad one, wasn't it?

647
00:35:34,120 --> 00:35:36,080
Yeah, I had a really large
slipped disc in my back.

648
00:35:36,120 --> 00:35:38,840
I needed Adam's support
with the kids and stuff.

649
00:35:38,880 --> 00:35:41,040
This pretty much stood still,

650
00:35:41,080 --> 00:35:43,640
and nobody was here,
nothing got touched,

651
00:35:43,680 --> 00:35:45,720
and it just collected dust,
didn't it, basically?

652
00:35:45,760 --> 00:35:47,080
I mean, seriously,

653
00:35:47,120 --> 00:35:50,360
is there any improvement
on what I saw two years ago?

654
00:35:50,400 --> 00:35:52,400
Is there some stuff to see at all?
Yeah.

655
00:35:52,440 --> 00:35:54,560
Yeah, we've got a recent pour.
There's a few bits and pieces.

656
00:35:54,600 --> 00:35:55,840
Really?

657
00:35:57,160 --> 00:36:00,640
It's clearly been
a difficult few years.

658
00:36:00,680 --> 00:36:04,600
But then, with this project,
even small progress...

659
00:36:05,800 --> 00:36:08,920
Oh!
..assumes epic proportions.

660
00:36:10,840 --> 00:36:13,680
A great, big, flying...

661
00:36:13,720 --> 00:36:17,280
It's like a sort of...
bit of castle.

662
00:36:17,320 --> 00:36:20,720
A great, big sort
of buttress curving tower wall.

663
00:36:20,760 --> 00:36:23,360
It's glorious cos it floats.

664
00:36:23,400 --> 00:36:27,440
In engineering terms, just forming,

665
00:36:27,480 --> 00:36:32,200
shuttering, to these curves
is extraordinary.

666
00:36:32,240 --> 00:36:35,360
It wasn't easy. No. No.

667
00:36:35,400 --> 00:36:37,680
But what a glorious thing.

668
00:36:37,720 --> 00:36:39,240
Wow.

669
00:36:41,040 --> 00:36:45,280
There are now two floors of bold
endeavour inside the tower.

670
00:36:45,320 --> 00:36:48,840
Tassy and Adam are made of
the same stubborn resilience

671
00:36:48,880 --> 00:36:50,880
as the walls they've poured.

672
00:36:50,920 --> 00:36:54,280
Walls that speak
of something truly magnificent,

673
00:36:54,320 --> 00:36:56,600
albeit on a distant horizon.

674
00:36:56,640 --> 00:36:58,560
This is like walking through
a sculpture.

675
00:36:58,600 --> 00:37:01,280
I just, I love this,
you must love this, don't you?

676
00:37:01,320 --> 00:37:02,920
Yeah. It's great. It's good, yeah.

677
00:37:02,960 --> 00:37:04,840
And this is, what, the fireman's
pole? The fireman's pole.

678
00:37:04,880 --> 00:37:07,800
Yes. Oh, my word,
it's even taller now.

679
00:37:07,840 --> 00:37:09,880
Yes. Full height.

680
00:37:09,920 --> 00:37:12,200
Bloody wonderful.

681
00:37:12,240 --> 00:37:17,000
Downstairs, Tassy's geometric
patterned walls set the standard.

682
00:37:17,040 --> 00:37:19,000
And on the first floor...

683
00:37:19,040 --> 00:37:21,320
Ooh, nice.

684
00:37:21,360 --> 00:37:24,480
..there are yet more concrete
curves.

685
00:37:24,520 --> 00:37:26,840
These seem more finely jointed here?

686
00:37:26,880 --> 00:37:29,680
I mean, downstairs it's like
beautiful board-marked concrete,

687
00:37:29,720 --> 00:37:31,320
this just looks like timber.

688
00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:34,720
Yeah, that's what we want it to be
and so it sort of softens

689
00:37:34,760 --> 00:37:37,760
the concrete so it sort of warms it
up a little bit.

690
00:37:37,800 --> 00:37:40,040
Yeah, exactly. It's so exquisite.

691
00:37:41,320 --> 00:37:44,920
These internal walls represent
over three years of work,

692
00:37:44,960 --> 00:37:48,760
from when Adam first started
to make his intricate formwork.

693
00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:54,840
Now, all that effort resonates in
this finely detailed tactile finish.

694
00:37:54,880 --> 00:37:56,400
Do you know, I can't go anywhere

695
00:37:56,440 --> 00:37:58,880
without touching and stroking
these walls?

696
00:37:58,920 --> 00:38:00,560
I like that.

697
00:38:00,600 --> 00:38:03,800
I like that joint.
And, I mean, these edges.

698
00:38:03,840 --> 00:38:07,080
Oh, everything's done
so, so precisely.

699
00:38:07,120 --> 00:38:09,680
Exquisitely. What's this room here?

700
00:38:09,720 --> 00:38:11,880
This our eldest's bedroom.

701
00:38:11,920 --> 00:38:13,960
Ooh, what's up here?

702
00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:17,840
So we've got, in the kids' rooms,
they've got double-height rooms.

703
00:38:17,880 --> 00:38:19,840
Get away! What, like a mezzanine?

704
00:38:19,880 --> 00:38:21,600
Yes. They will do, yeah.

705
00:38:21,640 --> 00:38:23,600
Oh, bit of a squeeze. Yeah, yeah.

706
00:38:23,640 --> 00:38:25,840
There is real excitement

707
00:38:25,880 --> 00:38:29,080
about what Tassy and Adam
are trying to do here.

708
00:38:29,120 --> 00:38:31,960
Each child's bedroom has access to

709
00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:34,880
a curved secret hideout
on the central column.

710
00:38:34,920 --> 00:38:36,880
Its floor is, for the moment,

711
00:38:36,920 --> 00:38:40,160
the summit of Adam
and Tassy's concrete journey.

712
00:38:40,200 --> 00:38:42,080
So above here, what happens then?

713
00:38:42,120 --> 00:38:44,800
That'll be our bedroom floor, then.

714
00:38:44,840 --> 00:38:46,880
What, the whole floor? The whole...?

715
00:38:46,920 --> 00:38:49,600
Mm, pretty much, yeah. Pretty much,
yeah. Rather you than me.

716
00:38:49,640 --> 00:38:54,560
Yeah. It is... Uh,
retro-fitting a water tower -

717
00:38:54,600 --> 00:38:56,640
what a nightmare.

718
00:38:56,680 --> 00:38:59,400
It's just one crazy, difficult

719
00:38:59,440 --> 00:39:02,040
engineering challenge
after another.

720
00:39:02,080 --> 00:39:03,960
And then that's only one part
of it as well

721
00:39:04,000 --> 00:39:06,200
cos then we've got to do the
cutout for the tank as well.

722
00:39:06,240 --> 00:39:07,680
Don't.

723
00:39:07,720 --> 00:39:09,640
Cutting the roof out. Don't.

724
00:39:09,680 --> 00:39:11,560
The fins. Don't.

725
00:39:11,600 --> 00:39:15,560
There's three slides, so you've got
two connected to the staircase

726
00:39:15,600 --> 00:39:18,560
and then a spiral, ideally,
if it fits,

727
00:39:18,600 --> 00:39:20,320
from the first floor,

728
00:39:20,360 --> 00:39:22,440
going down to the front door.

729
00:39:22,480 --> 00:39:24,360
You complete nutcases.

730
00:39:24,400 --> 00:39:26,840
Yeah. Three slides in the building?

731
00:39:26,880 --> 00:39:30,200
Yeah. That's the plan so far, yeah.
Why? For adult use as well.

732
00:39:30,240 --> 00:39:32,960
Didn't everyone dream about having
a slide in their house

733
00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:35,480
when they were a kid?
What gets me is that, you know,

734
00:39:35,520 --> 00:39:37,080
you're taking forever to do this,

735
00:39:37,120 --> 00:39:40,760
you're way behind any deadline you
may have set yourselves originally,

736
00:39:40,800 --> 00:39:42,200
you know. Yeah.

737
00:39:42,240 --> 00:39:44,840
And yet you're still clinging
to these crazy ideas,

738
00:39:44,880 --> 00:39:47,160
which are going to be...
if not impossible,

739
00:39:47,200 --> 00:39:49,360
extremely difficult to pull off.

740
00:39:49,400 --> 00:39:52,960
It's something out
of a nursery rhyme, you know?

741
00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:55,880
The mad couple that lived in the...

742
00:39:55,920 --> 00:39:58,800
Tower. ..big water tower.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.

743
00:39:58,840 --> 00:40:01,360
It's like the old woman
who lived in the shoe.

744
00:40:02,960 --> 00:40:05,680
Having watched them struggle for
so long

745
00:40:05,720 --> 00:40:08,040
inside this stubborn concrete tube,

746
00:40:08,080 --> 00:40:11,400
it's hard to understand how Tassy
and Adam can maintain

747
00:40:11,440 --> 00:40:13,200
their ambitions for this project.

748
00:40:14,920 --> 00:40:17,560
But there is a beacon of hope.

749
00:40:17,600 --> 00:40:21,760
Over 200 miles away,
on the North Devon coast,

750
00:40:21,800 --> 00:40:24,440
there's a building that shows

751
00:40:24,480 --> 00:40:29,080
just how concrete water tower dreams
can come true.

752
00:40:29,120 --> 00:40:32,760
Listen, it's nothing
like your place, this, at all.

753
00:40:32,800 --> 00:40:34,480
But it is inside that skin,

754
00:40:34,520 --> 00:40:38,200
it is an old concrete water tower,
and it's done.

755
00:40:38,240 --> 00:40:40,360
I tell you what,
that's the big distinction

756
00:40:40,400 --> 00:40:41,800
between this and your place.

757
00:40:41,840 --> 00:40:43,640
Here comes the digs! Yeah.

758
00:40:46,760 --> 00:40:50,080
This concrete beast wears
a much more respectable

759
00:40:50,120 --> 00:40:53,680
and conventional skin
of metal cladding and windows.

760
00:40:53,720 --> 00:40:57,160
The tank is the same diameter as
Tassy and Adam's,

761
00:40:57,200 --> 00:40:59,240
but at only ten metres tall,

762
00:40:59,280 --> 00:41:02,080
it is much more tank than tower.

763
00:41:02,120 --> 00:41:05,840
Even so, I'm hoping that inside
they might glimpse

764
00:41:05,880 --> 00:41:09,120
a sliver of what their own future
home could be.

765
00:41:10,400 --> 00:41:13,120
I like this staircase,
it looks really simple

766
00:41:13,160 --> 00:41:16,080
but you just know, to make it,
it's not simple at all.

767
00:41:17,400 --> 00:41:20,240
There are no freshly poured concrete
walls here,

768
00:41:20,280 --> 00:41:24,280
but two floors of comfortable
contemporary accommodation,

769
00:41:24,320 --> 00:41:26,680
holding four bedrooms.

770
00:41:26,720 --> 00:41:30,280
Up above this is the top half
of the tank.

771
00:41:30,320 --> 00:41:32,160
One more staircase to go.

772
00:41:32,200 --> 00:41:36,440
And on the top floor, there's
something to truly inspire them.

773
00:41:37,840 --> 00:41:40,040
The ceiling looks awesome. Yes.

774
00:41:42,040 --> 00:41:45,240
The ceiling IS awesome.
Oh, and the lights. Yeah.

775
00:41:45,280 --> 00:41:48,280
It's Tracy Island.
That's my cup of tea. Definitely.

776
00:41:48,320 --> 00:41:51,720
It's science fiction. It's like
Bond Villain-esque, isn't it?

777
00:41:53,480 --> 00:41:57,120
The single-domed circular space has
views in every direction,

778
00:41:57,160 --> 00:42:01,040
and it's sort of in line
with what Tassy and Adam want -

779
00:42:01,080 --> 00:42:03,760
certainly,
in their open-plan bedroom.

780
00:42:04,920 --> 00:42:07,240
We'll have this.
This'll be like our bedroom ceiling.

781
00:42:07,280 --> 00:42:11,240
Under the side of the tank, yeah.
The ceiling's awesome.

782
00:42:11,280 --> 00:42:14,000
It's just like... Yeah, just like
what we're going to have.

783
00:42:14,040 --> 00:42:16,320
Unbroken. This conversion began at

784
00:42:16,360 --> 00:42:19,520
the same time Tassy
and Adam started work.

785
00:42:19,560 --> 00:42:22,120
That's awesome. It is awesome.

786
00:42:22,160 --> 00:42:26,800
It too was self-built,
but with £700,000 -

787
00:42:26,840 --> 00:42:29,240
way more than what they planned.

788
00:42:30,600 --> 00:42:34,400
Now, in a positive move,
Adam has given up work

789
00:42:34,440 --> 00:42:39,400
to help bring their concrete
ambition closer to a conclusion.

790
00:42:39,440 --> 00:42:42,800
When we first met,
I thought, "Uh, not enough money,"

791
00:42:42,840 --> 00:42:45,800
you know, big ambitions,
big hopes, you know,

792
00:42:45,840 --> 00:42:47,920
big excitement.
But have you got enough drive,

793
00:42:47,960 --> 00:42:50,280
enough energy to do this?

794
00:42:50,320 --> 00:42:53,560
Now that I've packed in work.
Last day was on Monday.

795
00:42:53,600 --> 00:42:55,240
That is so good to hear.

796
00:42:55,280 --> 00:42:57,680
The amount of energy
I've had to give into work

797
00:42:57,720 --> 00:43:01,400
and to be doing that amount of hours
basically work full-time job,

798
00:43:01,440 --> 00:43:06,440
come home, carry on working
till the early hours. Early hours.

799
00:43:06,480 --> 00:43:10,040
I think it's going to be case
of now just going gung-ho

800
00:43:10,080 --> 00:43:13,760
and throwing ourselves
just full in at it.

801
00:43:13,800 --> 00:43:16,840
So I'm probably the one
that's worried about failing.

802
00:43:16,880 --> 00:43:19,720
That's quite a big word isn't it,
failing? Failure. Yeah.

803
00:43:19,760 --> 00:43:23,240
Yeah, but if you're not failing,
you're not trying, are you, as well?

804
00:43:23,280 --> 00:43:25,160
You've got to keep going.

805
00:43:25,200 --> 00:43:27,680
People that don't fail
are not trying.

806
00:43:27,720 --> 00:43:30,400
So do you know how much money
you've spent so far on the project?

807
00:43:30,440 --> 00:43:34,560
Probably 75 at the very, very most.
Yeah. Or maybe just under.

808
00:43:34,600 --> 00:43:37,760
Yeah. And you got the proceeds
from the sale of your house.

809
00:43:37,800 --> 00:43:41,240
Yes. Yes. So you've got some cash in
the bank. How much have you got?

810
00:43:41,280 --> 00:43:43,600
Not enough to finish. About 150.

811
00:43:43,640 --> 00:43:45,640
OK. That's probably enough
to get you through

812
00:43:45,680 --> 00:43:47,720
the next year or so, isn't it? Yeah.

813
00:43:47,760 --> 00:43:50,240
If we put down on paper
your circumstances,

814
00:43:50,280 --> 00:43:52,280
your resources,
how much money you've got,

815
00:43:52,320 --> 00:43:55,600
what's needed,
it does not make sense on paper.

816
00:43:55,640 --> 00:43:58,600
We're just average Joe Bloggs,
really, aren't we?

817
00:43:58,640 --> 00:44:01,520
No, you're not.
Well, we are, we just...

818
00:44:01,560 --> 00:44:03,960
..we just dream big
and that's the way I think of it.

819
00:44:04,000 --> 00:44:05,800
We're just normal people
that just dream big.

820
00:44:05,840 --> 00:44:10,080
I think it's about doing something
you haven't done before

821
00:44:10,120 --> 00:44:12,720
because if I was doing
something that I could already do

822
00:44:12,760 --> 00:44:16,280
that was cheaper and easier,
it'd be boring.

823
00:44:16,320 --> 00:44:18,600
I look at the pair of you

824
00:44:18,640 --> 00:44:21,280
and, as I've got to know you,

825
00:44:21,320 --> 00:44:25,760
I kind of now,
I'm now betting on you, doing this.

826
00:44:27,320 --> 00:44:29,640
In a way,
I'll be surprised if you don't.

827
00:44:29,680 --> 00:44:32,080
Because everything you have shown,
all the resolve

828
00:44:32,120 --> 00:44:35,040
that you have demonstrated,
all the hours you've put in,

829
00:44:35,080 --> 00:44:40,560
that, at every turn, says to me
it'll happen. You'll finish.

830
00:44:43,440 --> 00:44:47,080
It may seem that this polished
exterior is an ocean away

831
00:44:47,120 --> 00:44:50,320
from Tassy and Adam's austere
building site.

832
00:44:52,480 --> 00:44:56,360
Certainly, they have a long way
to go with their project.

833
00:44:56,400 --> 00:45:00,160
But I can't help
but feel that for the first time,

834
00:45:00,200 --> 00:45:03,080
the tide may be turning
in their favour.

835
00:45:03,120 --> 00:45:05,640
They at last have some money

836
00:45:05,680 --> 00:45:09,800
and some time to help bring their
madcap scheme a step closer.

837
00:45:13,560 --> 00:45:18,040
The thing about Tassy and Adam
is that they don't conform

838
00:45:18,080 --> 00:45:20,920
to the normal rules of self-build.

839
00:45:20,960 --> 00:45:23,200
I don't even think of them
as self-builders,

840
00:45:23,240 --> 00:45:28,200
more like, I don't know, sculptors,
you know, making a piece of art.

841
00:45:28,240 --> 00:45:31,000
And in the midst of all this,
you see,

842
00:45:31,040 --> 00:45:35,920
I think there are great signs
of beauty,

843
00:45:35,960 --> 00:45:39,720
of originality,
creativity, excitement.

844
00:45:39,760 --> 00:45:44,000
Which makes this project worth
waiting for.

845
00:45:44,040 --> 00:45:50,040
No. For them, the helter-skelter
ride is just gathering speed.

846
00:46:02,320 --> 00:46:05,880
25 years ago, I set sail on the
first Grand Design...

847
00:46:05,920 --> 00:46:08,600
We're here to meet a couple
who have got to build a house

848
00:46:08,640 --> 00:46:10,080
in double-quick time.

849
00:46:10,120 --> 00:46:12,400
Tim and Jules
had a hard finish date...

850
00:46:12,440 --> 00:46:14,480
What's the deadline?
It's the bumpline.

851
00:46:14,520 --> 00:46:16,360
..but were quickly met by obstacles.

852
00:46:16,400 --> 00:46:19,400
All the work they've done this
morning has got to be re-done.

853
00:46:19,440 --> 00:46:22,400
It's overdue,
and the house is so not ready.

854
00:46:22,440 --> 00:46:24,320
BABY WAILS
Shit.

855
00:46:24,360 --> 00:46:26,480
25 years later, I'm back.

856
00:46:26,520 --> 00:46:27,720
Can't wait to see it.

857
00:46:39,120 --> 00:46:42,840
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