Grand Designs 2017: series highlights
Grand Designs 2017: series highlights
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1/49 Grand Designs: The ultimate shed in County Down
Architect Micah Jones and wife Elaine decide to build their own home in County Down as property prices in Belfast mean their dream home is out of reach...
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2/49 Grand Designs: The ultimate shed in County Down
Micah is a shed fanatic on a tight budget, and so it makes perfect sense to build the family home based on a shed-like design...
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3/49 Grand Designs: The ultimate shed in County Down
The new build is based on the footprint of the agricultural buildings that were on the site before...
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4/49 Grand Designs: The ultimate shed in County Down
...and the bottom half of the house is clad in the stone reclaimed from their demolition.
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5/49 Grand Designs: The ultimate shed in County Down
It is an upside down house, with the bedrooms on the ground floor in the concrete half of the house...
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6/49 Grand Designs: The ultimate shed in County Down
The semi open-plan living area upstairs is made from cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels that took a matter of days to construct, while a stone-clad interior wall links the upstairs and down, and serves as a reminder of what came before.
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7/49 Grand Designs: The ultimate shed in County Down
The staircase is constructed from the offcuts of CLT - the large pieces of wood popped out for windows.
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8/49 Grand Designs: Blackdown Hills
Kevin McCloud outside the entrance to the house that Stephen and Elizabeth Tetlow built.
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9/49 Grand Designs: Blackdown Hills
The skin of the house is broken to provide light and even an outdoor terrace.
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10/49 Grand Designs: Blackdown Hills
The house snakes around the meadow, hugging the ornamental garden that forms a centrepiece.
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11/49 Grand Designs: Blackdown Hills
The double height atrium is unlike the hallway of any house ever seen on the show.
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12/49 Grand Designs: Blackdown Hills
The roof timbers on display inside highlight the structure of the house even in the kitchen.
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13/49 Grand Designs: Blackdown Hills
The sinuous curves stretch seemingly on forever in the upstairs corridor.
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14/49 Grand Designs: Blackdown Hills
McCloud and the couple inside the conservatory that hugs the side of the house.
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15/49 Grand Designs: Blackdown Hills
Every piece of timber on the roof is different - all 4,600 of them!
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16/49 Grand Designs: Herefordshire
Thhis house sits in the couple's eight-acre smallholding in Herefordshire where Rowena manages the goats, sheep and chickens.
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17/49 Grand Designs: Herefordshire
The huge curved window is the eye of the house, providing breathtaking views.
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18/49 Grand Designs: Herefordshire
The huge Hobbit-style door is overlooked by an equally Middle Earth curved window.
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19/49 Grand Designs: Herefordshire
Ed admits that the house is sparsely furnished at the moment, but that designing and making his own furniture is his next step: "I can't wait."
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20/49 Grand Designs: Herefordshire
Kevin McCloud and Ed and Rowena Waghorn admire the view of the surrounding hills from the great hall's first-floor balcony.
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21/49 Grand Designs: East London
The trio outside the front door of the house which was hand timber clad by Joe.
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22/49 Grand Designs: East London
Kevin McCloud on the roof terrace of the house built by Joe Stuart and Lina Nilsson.
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23/49 Grand Designs: East London
Joe and Lina found a tiny plot of land in east London, three miles from Canary Wharf.
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24/49 Grand Designs: East London
The land is on the site of a former coffin workshop and cost £73,000.
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25/49 Grand Designs: East London
At just 83 square metres (893sq ft) the couple had to work to squeeze in as much as they could to the space, with no inch wasted.
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26/49 Grand Designs: East London
The plans included a vast top floor kitchen-living area...
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27/49 Grand Designs: East London
two bathrooms
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28/49 Grand Designs: East London
and outside space on the bijou roof terrace.
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29/49 Grand Designs: East London
McCloud says the property is a "tiny house with a view to infinity".
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30/49 Grand Designs: East London
McCloud perches on the open staircase which brings light down to the lower levels.
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31/49 Grand Designs: Peak District earth house
A hole in the ground with a ‘car park aesthetic’ is how Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud describes this property in the Peak District.
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32/49 Grand Designs: Peak District
Ecologist Fred Baker grew up in a Peak District village near Bakewell in Derbyshire and, despite many of his childhood friends deserting it for work and careers, was determined to stay there with wife Saffron and children Billy and Grace.
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33/49 Grand Designs: Peak District
Construction ran months over deadline thanks largely to the lack of a mortgage - and no budget in mind - when the owners started and bad weather added to the delays.
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34/49 Grand Designs: Peak District
Deep underground will lie three bedrooms and two bathrooms, while a sun-drenched middle floor will house a living room and kitchen that during the day will draw heat into the house through the south facing row of windows, while at night rubber-sealed, massively thick wooden shutters will seal off the home from the outside world, keeping in the heat.
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35/49 Grand Designs: Peak District
Surveying the “mesmerising” stonework cladding the finished house, McCloud hails it as a “buried concrete fortress wrapped in stone and timber” in a “heroic and momentous landscape”.
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36/49 Grand Designs: Peak District
Fred admits: “I couldn’t have done this without her. Saffron has taken my dream and turned it into our dream.”
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37/49 Grand Designs: Peak District
Surveying the “mesmerising” stonework cladding the finished house, McCloud hails it as a “buried concrete fortress wrapped in stone and timber” in a “heroic and momentous landscape”.
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38/49 Grand Designs: Herne Hill
Kevin McCloud with Beth Dadswell and Andrew Wilbourne in the courtyard of the former dairy.
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39/49 Grand Designs: Herne Hill
Floor to ceiling steel-framed windows bring in plenty of light to the living room.
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40/49 Grand Designs: Herne Hill
A latticework of rusting girders perches over the courtyard that McCloud calls "a little Eden".
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41/49 Grand Designs: Herne Hill
A skylight illuminates the former dark and dank dairy, and the newly created rear courtyard brings in even more light to the house.
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42/49 Grand Designs: Herne Hill
The bespoke, deliberately imperfectly made tiles in the kitchen were used throughout the house.
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43/49 Grand Designs: Haringey home
Couple Penny Talelli and Mark Edwards are determined to mix their love of period and contemporary design when building a home for their family of four.
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44/49 Grand Designs: Haringey home
They find a plot of land with a gate house that dates back to 1854 on a steep hill in north London, which they aim to restore and build a huge zinc-clad modern black box behind.
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45/49 Grand Designs: Haringey home
Penny and Mark decide to blend old and new with the interior design, too.
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46/49 Grand Designs: Haringey home
This steel staircase provides instant wow-factor when you walk into the home. But is the overall result the impressive fusion architecture this couple were hoping for?
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47/49 Grand Designs: Malvern Hills
The ambitious build started with a difficult excavation into fractured granite with risk of landslip.
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48/49 Grand Designs: Malvern Hills
Wooden homes are common in New Zealand, but how does this unusual structure fit into Worcestershire's Malvern Hills?
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49/49 Grand Designs: Malvern Hills
Inside, floor-to-ceiling doors and windows maximise the views and light
The countdown to the new season of Grand Designs is on.
Kicking off its 18th installment in Aylsebury Vale on September 19, 2018, the series promises seven episodes of extraordinary self-builds accompanied by Kevin McCloud's sage advice and celebrated commentary.
But what should we expect from the new series?
To whet your appetite, we've rounded up the best projects featured on Grand Designs 2017.
Last year’s series featured a vast array of homes ranging from idyllic country homes to the tiniest possible new house in London.
While previous seasons have often featured spectacular homes costing millions, in 2017 McCloud took a look at some more affordable projects.
However, despite not all being in the seven-figure price range, they offered inspiration to even the most jaded of property connoisseurs.
The Herefordshire Hobbit House
Costing just £100,000, the Herefordshire Hobbit house is a case in point.
A decade-long labour of love for owners Ed and Rowena Waghorn, the house was completely handmade by them — even down to the door hinges.
The couple and their four children lived on the site where they live off the produce of their smallholding while Ed toiled away every day on the house, even taking inspiration along the way from his geodesic domed chicken coop.
The heartstopping tale of one of London's smallest homes
In London, one of the most surprising and heartstopping journeys was revealed in the first home of couple Joe Stuart and Lina Nilsson.
Clutching only a dream of escaping grasping landlords and £160,000 in finance, they found a tiny plot near Canary Wharf on the site of a former coffin workshop.
The site was so small that to meet the latest regulations they had to not only build on the entire footprint, but also create a basement to add enough floorspace that the rules required — 83 square metres.
Joe’s decision to use dry earth walls instead of a concrete lining ends in disaster when they basement fills with water before collapsing.
Undeterred, he became utterly obsessed with the house, turning it into an shining example of eco architecture without compromise — and £90,000 over budget.
The concrete Peak District home
Not many homes have been compared to a car park on Grand Designs, but McCloud was clearly unimpressed with this concrete Peak District home — until he saw the finished article.
Dug into the side of slope and costing £1million, the house appears to be nothing more than a small but pretty building, until visitors dig deeper.
Ecologist Fred Baker had a dream of creating a bill-free home for his wife and family and the two lower floors can be completely shut off from the harsh elements of winter behind rubber sealed and very thick wooden shutters.
Clad in hand-knapped stone and weathered timber, the house now looks nothing like a car park.
The Somerset Snake House
Lurking sinuously in a Somerset wildflower meadow, is the snake house that left McCloud lost for words for the first time ever.
Toying one evening with an ammonite fossil on their kitchen table, Stephen and Elizabeth Tetlow realised they could create a home drawn from one of the most common patterns of the natural world — the Fibonacci spiral.
This was easier said than done, however, and more than 4,000 pieces of timber had to be handsawn to fit the curved roof that changes its dimensions constantly along its length.
Coming in at £800,000, McCloud admits the never before attempted architectural spiral had taken his breath away.
The 'insanely ambitious' Herne Hill home
Back in London, Herne Hill, precisely, Beth Dadswell and Andrew Wilborne adapted and maintained rather than created something brand new.
However, McCloud branded the ambition of their plan for the former dairy as “insane”.
They wanted to retain the ruins, rust and decay as much as possible, reflecting their passions for 19th-century Parisian mansion flats.
In this case, however, their ambitions were somewhat thwarted despite the final budget of £1.2million, thanks to building regulations.
Still looking elegantly distressed, though, the house is a Parisian-inspired little jewel in a formerly crumbling piece of architectural heritage.
The Ultimate Shed
Stymied by property prices in booming Belfast, Micah and Elaine Jones took the concept of living in a shed to its highest level.
Living in a caravan on the plot outside the city, they created a deceptively simple concrete box and perched another plain-looking timber box on top of it to create their dream four-bedroom family home for just £245,000.
Plain from the outside, inside the house has a wealth of eye-catching details, including a beautiful bespoke staircase — made from offcuts and hand-painted kitchen tiles — painted by Elaine, proving that even the most modest of ideas can produce something truly wonderful.
A Haringey home of two halves
A dream home is indeed what Penny Talelli and Mark Edwards ended up creating in Haringey — despite the couple having completely contrasting dreams.
Mark adored period architecture while Penny plumped for ultra-modern, but they managed to achieve both against the odds.
Restoring a Victorian gatehouse and adding a vast zinc-clad black box on the back of it, they managed to spend £1.25million on walking what McCloud said was a very fine tightrope in merging the two styles seamlessly to make an amazing home that has become a local landmark in the process.
The Wooden House built within a steep hillside
High in the Malvern Hills in Worcestershire stands a monument to ambition over practicality.
Fuelled by their hope of having a home in Britain with the spectacular views they were used to in New Zealand, Jon and Gill Flowers ignored the fact that no local builder would even take on the project because the site was so steep.
They ignored the advice to employ an experienced project manager — Jon quitting his job to take on the role despite no experience whatsoever.
Their refusal to compromise on their dream is the quintessence of Grand Designs projects down the years and McCloud was stunned by the result.
After such a standout series, what surprises and delights can the presenter bring to us this year?
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