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I haven’t watched it yet, but it’s just up the road from where I grew up. My mum knows them and one of my best mate’s Dad worked on it, who sadly died 18 months ago, I think before it was finished. Not exactly sure but I think he did a lot of the groundwork.
Not exactly sure but I think he did a lot of the groundwork.
Having started watching it I’ll have to find out. He wasn’t the guy that they got rid of once they had to do the underpinning.
I do know Callum though who’s just turned up with the steel work for the cube 🙂
That was brilliant, and very inspirational. What a driven young man that lad is.
Wish them every happiness.
Loved the guys can do attitude and modesty, not to shabby an outcome either despite Kevin sneering at the pool table.
The girls cancer seems really harsh, to be reoccurring so frequently really doesn't look good ☹️
Finishing it looks well doable for £25k which takes them to £295k, 15% tax back for the change of purpose, bang on budget! Great effort
Lovely place - I thought it was going to tick all the 'usual" GD boxes but it turned out so much better.
Her folks seemed lovely too. Was that an e-type in the barn at the start?
Loved that one. Couldn’t believe how good the re-used external cladding looked. Just imaGive how long it took to removed them, scrape, sand, Re-assemble, oil (4 coats) must’ve taken.
His attitude of trying his hand at anything and everything by watching some YouTube guides was brilliant. I do that on a small scale but anything that looks like a bit too much of a challenge I get a pro in. He ended up turning into the pro.
I thought there were two classic Corvettes in the barn in the opening scenes. Unfortunately didn't get to see any more of them...
What a contrasting set of characters to last week. Could we have had two such different people? Likeable, inspiring, talented, driven - more or less every good quality you could want in a person.
Really really enjoyed this weeks and I wish them all the best going forward - i really hope it works out for them.
If ever there was proof that hard work and enthusiasm beats talent that was it.
I loved the house, even more with their background. Like a few have mentioned, I was dreading the credits at the end as I didn't think she would make it.
Probably the best GD episode I've seen.
I reckon that the commissioner/ editor knew what they were doing in lining those two episodes next to each other in the series.
Also- who knew that Pink Lady apples had any kind of marketing budget for TV adverts in a semi prime TV slot.
Twodogs
Not a chance building control would sign off those stairs😁
Yes, I liked the way that Kevin said "oh, and of course for building regs there'll be a handrail installed?" so they were covered if the building inspector watched it!
That was superb. Awesome house and a lovely couple who deserve to be able to enjoy it for a long time. Loved it
Really pleased for them, and yeah, we were holding our breath until the end too.
Remarkable build.
and of course for building regs there’ll be a handrail installed
That's one from Grand Designs bingo. Non conforming stairs is a reoccurring item, and the work-in-progress cover up.
Good episode.
So, these conservation rules that meant they had to ‘preserve’ a rotten 80’s barn/shed. What’s occurring there then? Do they (planners/councils I assume) just pick a moment in time and say ‘right, the area is perfect, no changes allowed!’
Seems a bit silly for something so, relatively, new with such little merit so what’s the thinking behind it? And what would the punishment have been had it fallen down?
That’s one from Grand Designs bingo. Non conforming stairs is a reoccurring item, and the work-in-progress cover up.
or do what my builder is doing...installing a Gate handrail. As soon as you hear the building inspector close the gate behind him, you remove it 🙂
Excellent house. Loved both the exterior and the interior, which was sharp but not stark. Really great design in the end.
Their attitude was remarkable too.
The conservation area issue was just crazy. There needs to be the ability to exclude a building on a special case basis from a CA, but I doubt planning officers would have time to deal with those kind of applications.
On the handrail thing, in fairness they hadn't finished a lot of things - bedrooms, utility etc. As he was welding everything himself, it needed a fair chunk of his time so fair enough that it got pushed down the list of jobs to do.
When we did some work on our house it took me about a year to put a handrail up, another 6 months to put the spindles below it and until a week before we sold it for it to get a decent coat of paint.
Fantastic episode, up there with one of the very best. Good luck and best wishes to both of them.
My only question was over the 'dead' oak tree, that went onto make the table, and stairs.
Does a felled tree not require a process of drying over a considerable period before being used in what is in effect 'fine furniture'. Correct me please but won't it split and crack as it dries in the warm house environment?
Great to see some people getting stuck in for once and doing it so well.
I'd have knocked it down and rebuilt to match though - planners would neither have known or noticed and it would have saved a load of money on groundworks. (though the 'feet' for the uprights was a good cheap solution)
Couldn’t believe how good the re-used external cladding looked. Just imaGive how long it took to removed them, scrape, sand, Re-assemble, oil (4 coats) must’ve taken.
My thoughts exactly - can't believe how good that looks then, 'that was a *lot* of work.
His attitude of trying his hand at anything and everything by watching some YouTube guides was brilliant.
thats what we did on ours. You can get a long way with YouTube and crossed fingers.
Does a felled tree not require a process of drying over a considerable period before being used in what is in effect ‘fine furniture’. Correct me please but won’t it split and crack as it dries in the warm house environment?
You can either let it dry naturally over a few years, in which case it will still shrink and crack considerably (see my uncle in law's ash flooring from the farm in their last house) or you can get it kiln dried (which is what happens to commercial timber) and use it quickly.
“oh, and of course for building regs there’ll be a handrail installed?”
Well, having lived with no banisters or handrails for a while it's surprising how many people get freaked out by open stairs (even with a wall to one side). Having put a handrail in I'd not take it back out (though I wouldn't miss the railing on the other side.
That staircase really was an accident waiting to happen.
I suspect the 'open' stairs was a bit staged. i would guess a blockade was removed from the top for the cameras (it did look striking!).
The stairs in the bedroom up to that level were a lot safer and had a rail on the wall IIRC.
Seems a bit silly for something so, relatively, new with such little merit so what’s the thinking behind it?
I'm assuming it's to stop people knocking whatever down and building a gaudy monstrosity that was never agreed to at planning, resulting in years of legals that the council can't really afford to fight.
You’d still need to get planning approval for its replacement though, no? Just specify that it needs to replicate, or at least be in keeping with, what it replaced visually.
All they’ve done there is made a coupe with a modest budget spend tens of thousands more than they needed to, on something with no real merit. It’s not like they wanted a glass box or a mansion in its place.
His attitude of trying his hand at anything and everything by watching some YouTube guides was brilliant.
thats what we did on ours. You can get a long way with YouTube and crossed fingers.
I can guarantee that if I’d even thought about doing something like that, I’d presently be sat in a smouldering pile of rubble or quiet probably be dead
Seems a bit silly for something so, relatively, new with such little merit so what’s the thinking behind it?
Could be to do with Class Q Permitted Development Rights, which allow conversion of agricultural buildings to dwellings without having to go through the more thorough planning process.
Although I don't think that Class Q PD Rights can be applied in a Conservation Area or AONB, and I'm sure that they mentioned it was in one of these are the beginning of the episode.
That was a great episode. The planning issue was crazy though, they've been able to change the pitch of the roof for some of it yet couldn't take down the timber structure and then repair and reinstall it exactly as it was. I could understand the structure having to be built exactly as before with the same timber where it was still structurally sound but not being able to take it fully apart appeared to achieve nothing but add cost. Perhaps if they'd had the money to employ a specialist in planning appeals or better still go to a charity dinner with the right minister it could have been avoided.
I hope they get a long time together to enjoy it, however long I'm sure they'll make the most of every moment.
I'm sure it would have been agricultural conversion - we know some people who did it and it was similar (except theirs was steel framed). Everything came down except the steels though they used new wood to clad it.
it was effectively a loophole - intended to allow people to convert attractive old stone barns it suddenly opened up converting any agricultural building, no matter how little merit it had, as long as you didn't completely demolish it and kept the appearance very similar.
Still makes no sense.
Fist episode was a load of toff tosh; got some balls though.
The guys from episode 2 were fabulous. I hope she has as long a life as anyone in her forever home - her immensely driven husband kept saying he wanted to enjoy whatever time she has left so I do hope it wasn’t terminal.
The money spent vs what they ended up with was immense. The effort she put into the wood and the end result, stunning.
It did look a bit National Trust Cafe from the outside but I quite like that.
Great house, great couple, great epsisode.
Me and the mrs were very concerned the entire way through - wishing them the very best.
It did look a bit National Trust Cafe from the outside but I quite like that.
One could make the argument that the National Trust employ better architects for their cafe's than any major UK house builder has in 40 or 50 years (a lot of pre-1980ish housing estates have aged pretty well. 60's and 70's houses didn't look backward, good room sizes, large windows, decent plots. I may be picking the best and ignoring the dross)
I don't normally watch GD but have been to a few of their roadshows and Self build exhibitions via work. After reading this thread I watch these last two episodes and really liked them. The first guy had exception taste and it worked, but it felt a like a bit of a shopping trip really. This last one however was brilliant and it was a great ending. Really good upbeat TV.
If GD was 'live' and did a weekly update on current builds sorta thing - this week's couple would get loads of people wanting to give them a hand, they were great.
Well we didn't see it as so cut and dried, and was expecting a nice one after the posts above, but didn't see it as a sweet story. He embarked on a huge project, when time together would be better spent than stressing out trying to convert a building so badly suited to conversion. Really he expected the agricultural barn foundations to be good enough to use, without modification, was he a complete idiot or naïve? (or just good GD drama?) Then, to not make is more disabled friendly, when she is definitely very ill, and wheel chair access would be more useful long term. She looked terrible mid build, what would have happened, if she hadn't made it?
The the finished product, how awful was it for the most part inside, clinical white nasty? Lots of great features, like the stairs and the circular walk, but features do not make a home.
I love GD and have watched it for many years, but is it only me who look at theirs and many other GD homes and think, why do you need such a large space, how the f*** are you going to heat that effectively, whose/how are you going to keep it clean? If only they hadn't gone so large (majority of GD programs, not specifically this one), they could have retired and had a nice life, instead of needing to work through your retirement.
Wasn't a good one for us, even with the great efforts he was willing to put in.
Cause it’s ‘Grand Designs’, not ‘Most practical and smallest we can get away with Designs’
I’d imagine her health is EXACTLY why they did it tbh. She wanted her own place, having not left home before... have you got any idea how much property in Sevenoaks costs?! This way she gets her own space, right next to her parents, for a fraction of the cost of buying a house or even a plot of land with PP elsewhere. No they probably didn’t need somewhere so big, but the size was 100% determined by the existing structure. It was a no-brainer tbh.
'Modest Designs' Doesn't quite have the same ring haha. Liked the end result, happy for the couple. Having worked on a barn exterior last year I didn't envy all the work involved in the cladding! Interior was a tad clinical but a lick of colour easily sorts that.
It was effectIvely a bungalow so she could easily move about, the only bit upstairs was her hobby room which could be moved downstairs if needed. I took the ‘generous’ corridor space to mean it would be wide enough for a wheelchair if that became necessary
The decking leading up to the door was also Ramped so I'm sure it was considered for the future if her health got bad enough to need a wheelchair
@phil5556, grumpier but my partner isn't, and she agree with me on this one.
No they probably didn’t need somewhere so big, but the size was 100% determined by the existing structure. It was a no-brainer tbh.
Your telling me they couldn't (impossible eh?) have done half the barn, and left the other half as it was? Yeah, real no brainer.
tomhoward
Cause it’s ‘Grand Designs’, not ‘Most practical and smallest we can get away with Designs’
if you & the others and the other believe a house can only be a great grand design if it huge, your just wrong... this is one of the best GD ever, and just shows size means nothing for a great Grand design
Personally I didn't see it was designed well for a disabled person.
This may come as a disappointment, but they probably didn't take your wishes into consideration when they were planning it. Jolly thoughtless of them, I know...
Then, to not make is more disabled friendly, when she is definitely very ill, and wheel chair access would be more useful long term.
...how the f*** are you going to heat that effectively,
...whose/how are you going to keep it clean?
Disabled access is pretty much built into building regs now. When got planning permission well over 5 years ago we needed to comply with most of the stuff in the Lifetime Homes Standards - level thresholds, minimum corridor and door widths (and spaces between worktops in kitchen). Downstairs toilet needed to be large enough for wheelchair use and be able to be converted into a shower-room in future. Their place had all those things as far as I could see.
They were planning on an air source heat pump so suspect they had a reasonable awareness of green building practices. With a good level of airtightness and insulation, (or even just at current building regs standards) heating a large space isn't expensive. We spend far more on water heating than space heating in our house.
As for cleaning, shut the door on the rooms you're not using.
I'm pretty sure that with how involved they were in the design and build, they will have taken their own requirements in to consideration. With their ambition, skills, resources and position they looked to have made something that they were proud of.
It isn't compulsory for those with medical, physical or other constrains to live on an estate of small one bed, terraced bungalows, with red cords in every room.
Sorry wrote a reply and then the page decided to crash losing it all... thought I'd best reply before the next program is shown
@Pondo, nope but that what makes it interesting TV, but see my reply to Peekay below..
@B33k34 I think you'll find that the minimum requirement for disabled, is a different matter to actually being disabled and having the place designed with that in mind.
Also you obviously don't do the cleaning in your own house then?
@Peekay, no I don't believe it's necessary to have red cord in every room if your disabled, but i do believe it's stupid as **** to spend a shit load of money on a property, and not take into consideration your future lives.
All that said, it's a TV program created to cause conversation, with all the tricks of the producers to have the home owner lives become empathic or apathetic to the audience (particularly horribly done in this case, I thought). With a quick glancing tour of their home that doesn't give, me at least, a great feel for the property. All said and done, I did admire the chaps ability to get on and do the work needed (footing), and both their restoration of the outer boarding.
@Phil5556, g/f says grumpier