This week's Grand Designs

Genius!

dont know yet, skys on pause 😀

I always thought the idea of Grand Designs was to laugh at the person fail miserably…

Tonight’s is the first one I have ever watched from start to finish.

She’s a smart cookie!

Couldn’t watch tonights. Saw the start, and it looked a fantastic place. Though there’s something I like about the builds that are a struggle in every way, yet succeed through sheer hard work and passion.
There was something about the way they seemed to have been given the plot, and borrowed on the parents house that put me off. It felt like a great final job was a done deal?

Loved the house, probably one of my favourite (UK)Grand Designs so far.

She was indeed a smart cookie, also modest, and also really rather horny. A fine overall package 🙂 And a woman who designs in a large underground garage – superb!!!!

I also liked the fact that once they had moved in it did actually look lived in (lots of “stuff” everywhere, books, ceramics etc), something rare in most Grand Designs.

Its been a good series so far 🙂

Liking this one much more than some of the efforts in this series.

Fair play, she did have it a bit handed to her but that was still a bloody lovely house, nothing too ostentatious or arty, but beautiful to look at and practical to live in. Ace really. And sure, not a small budget but not really megabucks either.

Very inspiring.

Great to see someone using intelligence and great design rather than just throwing money at the problem.

I really want an underground garage/bike store.

I liked it, and her and her green vest.

Kevin liked it too because he got his hands dirty.

My theory about the outcome of the show is still valid. If you see the builder’s logo or find out his name then it is a good one. If the builder has been editted out then it is a dud. The builder’s name was shown very early on in this one.

Sod the house, she was HOT HOT HOT!!!

i would

Nice house, but how did she manage to put in those stairs with no handrail and get them past building regs?

I wasn’t over keen on the building, it was ok s’pose. I think if you’re going to build modern – go modern and eco – no concrete for a start. Source local materials, not stuff that’s travelled the world from Travis Perkins. And, I don’t get what’s innovative about making the place look like it’s from an era 50 years ago – that’s just copying (said in a Carl Pilkington style) I remember seeing some very early 60’s footage of George Best driving his new E-Type Jaguar into the under garage of a very similar looking house to that – 50 years ago!

Kev was a fanboy though, not sure if it was the house or the girl……

I think my fave was the guy who built that place in the forest, he was a forester, and built it from the forest – some where in Surrey I believe.

🙂

Did anyone else notice the size of her ears?

Ho ho.

She did at least one massive ear (you only saw the left one). I assume that the other one matched.

ears are great for holding on to, not so great if she gets her heels caught on her earings

Best build so far in this series, maybe best one ever.

Should have built a secret tunnel/chrome slide from the house to the garage where all the bike would be keep and then it would have been PERFECT.

The high level outside BBQ area was great, should have had a glass wall round to keep it cosy and stop the wind.

Oh, I would have reemed her as well, purly to get my mitts on her house.

upset that i have to watch again to see her ear imbalance

The boyfriend knew his place. I suspect that the underground bunker complex was for him to live in when he wasn’t need in the main house. I bet that there was a lock on the outside of it too.

When granny at the top of the hill pegs out they could install several massive slides down the hill linking all three buildings. Awesome.

I missed the word “have” out of my previous post.

Here it is. Enjoy.

have

Well done Harry the Spider, never thought of the inter connecting slide system you designed between the houses, will head on over to big ears house pronto, get her up the duff, give Uncle Kev a wedgy, batty the shedbloke and kill her Mum.

Build afore mentioned slide system and play on the slides for ever with my bikes in the garage.

Lifes so simple.

batty the shedbloke

😯

That will upset him quite a lot I should imagine.

Nice house, but how did she manage to put in those stairs with no handrail and get them past building regs?

Agree, especially based upon the ‘discussion’ my folks had with the Planning dept on their build…

And tbh it was downright dangerous along with a polished wood staircase.

br HEALTH AND SAFETY ALERT !!!! 🙄

Had nobody else noticed her huge lug sticking though the side of her hair?? Honestly I’m surprised, she looked like she belonged in a Lord of the Rings film

lol!! Her lugs were pretty huge, good for a pin job I reckon.

Still horny though.

And the slides idea – genius!

I watched with my dad. We were both very impressed. I loved the house although had the same thought about the building regs for the stairs.

He said “you’d hire her”. I thought I’d do more than hire her.

I would

Watching it tonight, watching Despicable Me in 3D last night. Enjoyed all so far, although the compromises forced on the builders of last weeks spoiled it a bit. And WTF was up with that turbine? I could see the solution almost immediately and I’m not even a engineer. I couldn’t believe the manufacturer had failed to provide a solution to the vibration issue. Looking forward to watching this weeks.

CountZero – Member
Watching it tonight,

Just avoid looking at the ears and you’ll be fine.

If you Google “Grand Designs Big Ears” you get this thread!

I think if you’re going to build modern – go modern and eco – no concrete for a start. Source local materials, not stuff that’s travelled the world from Travis Perkins.

Sorry, but concrete has to come into it somewhere, unless you have an unlimited budget, and there’s nothing really non-ecological about concrete; it hasn’t travelled halfway around the world for a start. Plus it has good mass for heat retention. The house used reject bricks, that’s ecologically sound, it used timber from sustainable sources, like English oak. It’s a really beautiful house, and if I had the money to get a house built on a bit of ground, I’d be straight on the phone to her, and I’d let her design and project manage the whole thing, with completely free reign based on her own house.
Oh, and she ticks all my boxes too, she’s petite, intelligent, artistic and Asian. Utterly lovely. Yowza. And I really didn’t notice the ears, much too taken with everything else to care.

The production of concrete produces more green house gasses than cars – apparently. 🙂

It was a great house, although my favourite ever Grand Design had to be the forester bloke who built his own house in the woods, almost completely out of materials sourced in the immediate vicinity. Only problem was that he could never sell it as planning permission was based on him living there while working the woods.

CountZero – Cement, prime ingredient of concrete, has a pretty horrendous environmental impact.

I thought her design was fantastic – I loved the 60’s styling, liked the layout, glass, the wood – pretty much everything about it. The big weakness was that the enviromental impact wasn’t something she really seemed to consider at all. Even looking looking at the site of the eco-engineer she had on the project the implication is that she did no more than she needed to in order to get Building regs. There was solar water but then that’s a no brainer on a south facing site.

Alternatives to concrete and brick are not necessarily expensive – timber frame and cement free render would have done the job. I’m not an architect and you need to look at lifetime costs of the materials but it felt strange how little mention it got.

I’m watching this tonight on More 4 but there is no nice looking lass, just a v stressed woman doing up a barn and over spending silly money and it’s v v late. I’m stressed out watching it and can’t take much more.

cement is horrendous.. but you can substitute 50% of concretes cement content for a carbon neutral industrial by-product (I forget what it is exactly..) without compromising the integrity of the concrete.. thus making it a lot less harmful to the environment

Maybe, in this era of austerity into which we are entering, Channel 4 should start a new series called “Petite Designs”. A show about the intelligent design of compact dwellings, that are affordable and yet still full of exciting ideas and packed with gadgets.

PS – I didn’t see the ears.

cement is horrendous.. but you can substitute 50% of concretes cement content for a carbon neutral industrial by-product (I forget what it is exactly..) without compromising the integrity of the concrete.. thus making it a lot less harmful to the environment

GGBS. Ground Granulated Blastfurnace Slag

It adopts cementicious properties when used in conjunction with cement. It won’t go off (set) unless cement is present. IIRC 55-60% is about the limit for a GGBS mix. There’s also PFA, Pulverized Fuel Ash but that’s not so common these days.

As bad as concrete may be, or society wouldn’t function without it.