# Grand Designs



## badlands (Sep 16, 2010)

Back with a belter.

Beautiful house, built with passion and a wing and a prayer.

Kevin McCloud is a fantastic presenter. He's both a tad patronising and a tad in awe in equal measure.

Great TV


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## Proper Tidy (Sep 16, 2010)

Aren't they always just so middle class though? Fucking yoghurt ffs.

Every single couple thinks the environment 'is just such a major issue and one we are both really really passionate about' blah blah. Don't get me wrong, I like the house porn. I just feel a bit ashamed afterwards. Like with real porn.

When will they stop calling them 'eco-houses' and just call them houses? When, damn it.


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## madzone (Sep 16, 2010)

It wasn't a beautiful house.


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## Macabre (Sep 16, 2010)

I liked the house, but when the woman started making fractals with yoghurt and cow dung i wanted to set fire to it.


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## Bahnhof Strasse (Sep 16, 2010)

It was a good house, but the bloke seemed to have based his persona on David St. Hubbins.


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## trashpony (Sep 16, 2010)

Kevin McCloud is a good kisser too allegedly (haven't snogged him myself)


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## bi0boy (Sep 16, 2010)

Let me guess, it was a modernist masterpeice using lots of glass?


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## Vintage Paw (Sep 16, 2010)

I love Grand Designs, but I slightly hate myself for it.

If he says a house has 'honesty' one more fucking time ...


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## QueenOfGoths (Sep 16, 2010)

trashpony said:


> Kevin McCloud is a good kisser too allegedly (haven't snogged him myself)


 
I would 

As for "Grand Designs" I usually just end up getting annoyed with the people and hoping their houses will collapse into a pile of brick dust and eco-straw


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## bi0boy (Sep 16, 2010)

Proper Tidy said:


> When will they stop calling them 'eco-houses' and just call them houses? When, damn it.


 
"Eco-houses" cost at least £500000 and so prove you have made it in the world.

"Energy-efficient homes" are built on the cheap by developers mandated by local authorities and building regulations.


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## Vintage Paw (Sep 16, 2010)

QueenOfGoths said:


> I would


 
As would I.


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## QueenOfGoths (Sep 16, 2010)

Proper Tidy said:


> Aren't they always just so middle class though? Fucking yoghurt ffs.
> 
> Every single couple thinks the environment 'is just such a major issue and one we are both really really passionate about' blah blah. Don't get me wrong, I like the house porn. I just feel a bit ashamed afterwards. Like with real porn.
> 
> When will they stop calling them 'eco-houses' and just call them houses? *When, damn it*.


 
When you say please!


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## Proper Tidy (Sep 16, 2010)

Never


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## dlx1 (Sep 16, 2010)

live yoghurt 40 years time maybe, top bit look like an anderson shelter nan had in garden.


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## madzone (Sep 16, 2010)

No. No. No. Kevin Mcloud is NOT hot.

What is the matter with all of you?


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## sparkling (Sep 16, 2010)

Vintage Paw said:


> I love Grand Designs, but I slightly hate myself for it.
> 
> If he says a house has 'honesty' one more fucking time ...



and integrity...he always says integrity and I just wish someone would explain how a house has integrity?  I've never met a house that lied or had a devious past or tried to put one over me.


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## madzone (Sep 16, 2010)

sparkling said:


> and integrity...he always says integrity and I just wish someone would explain how a house has integrity?  I've never met a house that lied or had a devious past or tried to put one over me.



Honesty is the new vernacular


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## QueenOfGoths (Sep 16, 2010)

madzone said:


> No. No. No. Kevin Mcloud is NOT hot.
> 
> What is the matter with all of you?


 
It's like eating two custard creams at once. You know you shouldn't but you can't help yourself. Actually that would be more accurate if it were Kevin Mcloud plus Phil from "Location, Location".


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## Steel Icarus (Sep 16, 2010)

madzone said:


> No. No. No. Kevin Mcloud is NOT hot.
> 
> What is the matter with all of you?



He's no Phil Spencer. 

ETA QoG, that'd be like a custard cream and a year-old Garibaldi biscuit that's been dropped in a puddle.

Whereas Kirstie Allsopp...


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## Gromit (Sep 16, 2010)

I haven't seen it yet (recorded) so am not reading this thread. Just posting to subscribe.


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## teuchter (Sep 16, 2010)

sparkling said:


> and integrity...he always says integrity and I just wish someone would explain how a house has integrity?  I've never met a house that lied or had a devious past or tried to put one over me.


 
It mainly just means it's not one thing pretending to be another. For example a new-build house dressed up with "period features" like fake brick arches or those stupid windows with plastic glazing bars glued onto a continuous piece of glass.


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## Melinda (Sep 16, 2010)

QueenOfGoths said:


> It's like eating two custard creams at once. You know you shouldn't but you can't help yourself. Actually that would be more accurate if it were Kevin Mcloud plus Phil from "Location, Location".


We talking a bit of DP or a spit roast?

You'd have to muffle your guffaws when they tried talking dirty though.


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## QueenOfGoths (Sep 16, 2010)

Melinda said:


> We talking a bit of DP or a spit roast?
> 
> You'd have to muffle your guffaws when they tried talking dirty though.


 
I wonder if they'd talk about my structural integrity


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## trashpony (Sep 16, 2010)

QueenOfGoths said:


> I wonder if they'd talk about my structural integrity


 
And the honesty of your tits


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## QueenOfGoths (Sep 16, 2010)

trashpony said:


> And the honesty of your tits


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## Bahnhof Strasse (Sep 16, 2010)

Plenty of lime render for QoG


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## stavros (Sep 16, 2010)

Last night's was a bit different, in that Kevin wasn't horrendously pessimistic, and the woman didn't get pregnant.

Still, always good to watch, because it's been ages since the last new series and the More4 repeats do get a tad dull after a while.


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## Proper Tidy (Sep 16, 2010)

eco clunge


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## trashpony (Sep 16, 2010)

Have just watched it. Some very nice ideas but from the outside the house looked like a fire station practice tower tacked onto a scout hut. Ugly as fuck.


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## madzone (Sep 22, 2010)

I couldn't live in something that had hundreds of tons of soil on top of it. It's making me anxious just thinking about it.


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## Looby (Sep 23, 2010)

madzone said:


> I couldn't live in something that had hundreds of tons of soil on top of it. It's making me anxious just thinking about it.


 
Yeah, I don't think I'd like it either. It was well done but it was far too sparse and industrial for me.


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## Motown_ben (Sep 23, 2010)

I loved how it looked outside but internally it looked like ssome sort of institution. It really needed a bit more luxury inside for my liking.


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## Gromit (Sep 23, 2010)

Let's not forget that they lost their contingency money at the start and propping the barn came to more than expected. 

I think the sparseness was more of a must than a choice.

I didn't like that grey pool outside the bedroom. The fact then barn had no windows in the end. How much light those blinds let in. The price. Quite a few bits tbh.


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## madzone (Sep 23, 2010)

The industrial sparseness was a design choice.


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## Gromit (Sep 23, 2010)

madzone said:


> The industrial sparseness was a design choice.


 
Yeah of course it was. I'd make out it was a preferred design choice also if had no other design option due to budget restraints. 
I bet they slowly tart the place up more as and when they can afford it.


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## madzone (Sep 23, 2010)

Gromit said:


> Yeah of course it was. I'd make out it was a preferred design choice also if had no other design option due to budget restraints.
> I bet they slowly tart the place up more as and when they can afford it.


 
It probably cost them more to have the industrial stuff out on show than it would to have covered it all with plasterboard.


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## Dan U (Sep 23, 2010)

i quite liked it in the end, although the windows pointing in to the courtyard and not at the view would piss me off i reckon.


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## Gromit (Sep 23, 2010)

madzone said:


> It probably cost them more to have the industrial stuff out on show than it would to have covered it all with plasterboard.


 
Remind me never to employ you as a project manager if you think no materials is more expensive than have to buy materials.

Though I agreed with them that in a passive house plasterboarding the ceilings would have been a mistake.

High ceiling are essential in underground dwellings to limit that I'm underground feeling. Plus it would have blocked some of the heat.

There are other ways to hide the wiring and ducts though. More expensive ways but its possible.


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## Spion (Sep 23, 2010)

It was pretty ugly, IMO, and they'll be lucky not to be living at the bottom of a pond during the first winter. Seemed silly to me to be building a house in a hole in a field with no mention of how water drained away from it. I didn't trust that waterproofing to last either. It'll be a dripping mess in 10 years time if it's not submerged.

Can you tell I've had water ingress issues, btw?


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## madzone (Sep 23, 2010)

Gromit said:


> Remind me never to employ you as a project manager if you think no materials is more expensive than have to buy materials.
> 
> Though I agreed with them that in a passive house plasterboarding the ceilings would have been a mistake.
> 
> ...


 
Oh dear


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## WouldBe (Sep 23, 2010)

I thought passive meant it didn't require heating. So why the wood burner?


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## gentlegreen (Sep 23, 2010)

stavros said:


> Still, always good to watch, because it's been ages since the last new series *and the More4 repeats do get a tad dull after a while*.



They must be the most repeated programmes on TV 

(and they aren't usually even the "revisited" versions )


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## madzone (Sep 23, 2010)

WouldBe said:


> I thought passive meant it didn't require heating. So why the wood burner?



Maybe it's passive aggressive.


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## Gromit (Sep 23, 2010)

WouldBe said:


> I thought passive meant it didn't require heating. So why the wood burner?


 
Same reason people have them in central heated homes. Decorative feature. 

Plus there are bound to be instances where in a really fierce winter where passive just isn't warm enough and it needs a little help.


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## wayward bob (Sep 23, 2010)

turned out nicer than you would have expected for an airtight underground box. is it just me that was rather alarmed at the airtight bit? do they never fart?


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## Gromit (Sep 23, 2010)

wayward bob said:


> turned out nicer than you would have expected for an airtight underground box. is it just me that was rather alarmed at the airtight bit? do they never fart?


 
Extra heat from the hot air expelled. They'll wish to keep that in.

Not sure how they are meant to breath though.


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## WouldBe (Sep 23, 2010)

wayward bob said:


> turned out nicer than you would have expected for an airtight underground box. is it just me that was rather alarmed at the airtight bit? do they never fart?


 
It can't be "airtight" airtight just draft proof. I think they use those heat recovery ventilation things to get fresh air in while not losing all the heat.


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## Proper Tidy (Sep 23, 2010)

Petty sure they will have just used heat exchange pumps to pump the stale old air out, transfer its heat, and therefore pump fresh clean new warm air in.

She kept saying 'cool' which got on my tits, and she was clearly a bit frightened by the oik builders. Ugly house too.


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## miniGMgoit (Sep 23, 2010)

Steel☼Icarus said:


> He's no Phil Spencer.


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## stavros (Sep 24, 2010)

gentlegreen said:


> They must be the most repeated programmes on TV


 
Nah, that's Friends, easily.


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## gentlegreen (Sep 24, 2010)

stavros said:


> Nah, that's Friends, easily.



Yes, but presumably they repeat the whole series and not just half a dozen programmes ?


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## stavros (Sep 25, 2010)

gentlegreen said:


> Yes, but presumably they repeat the whole series and not just half a dozen programmes ?


 
Haven't got a clue; I thought it was shite from the very start.

GD, on the other hand, I'm a relatively late-comer to, starting watching about three years ago, so I do sometimes find there's a repeat that I haven't seen (although they are all on 4od).


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## spliff (Sep 25, 2010)

The best, or at least the nicest IMO was a woodsman named Ben Law in West Sussex.

Series 3 Episode 5 
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/grand-designs/4od#2920078


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## WouldBe (Sep 26, 2010)

spliff said:


> The best, or at least the nicest IMO was a woodsman named Ben Law in West Sussex.


 
That was good but I don't think they need to show it *every* week or so it seems


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## stavros (Sep 26, 2010)

spliff said:


> The best, or at least the nicest IMO was a woodsman named Ben Law in West Sussex.
> 
> Series 3 Episode 5
> http://www.channel4.com/programmes/grand-designs/4od#2920078


 
I liked that one a lot as well, and I seem to remember reading that Kevin thought it was his favourite too.


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## Gromit (Sep 29, 2010)

This week's should have come with an emotional warning. 

I'm rather choked up and am wishing with all my heart it works out for her.


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## Gromit (Sep 29, 2010)

It works and works well. 

I'd happily live there and agree with Kev. Great template for the modern family home.


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## trashpony (Sep 29, 2010)

It's a really nice house  and she seems a really nice (and very unself-pitying) lady.

I can't see the front door from my bedroom so maybe we're going to get murdered in our beds. I don't think I could cope with the drama of building my own house though - it's stressful enough just buying another one and deciding what colour to paint the rooms


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## Scaggs (Sep 30, 2010)

Gromit said:


> This week's should have come with an emotional warning.
> 
> I'm rather choked up and am wishing with all my heart it works out for her.


 
Yea, it was sad. Liked the house though. They didn't concentrate on the detail of the construction but that seems to be the way in this new series. More moody shots of kevin spouting pretentious, meaningless cliches and less of the actual build.


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## stavros (Sep 30, 2010)

It was a nice-looking building, but for me it didn't look like a home externally. The front facade had no windows which made it look a bit drab, but still a nice building, and with a clever roof trick.

Amazingly, we're now three episodes into this series and still none of the women have got pregnant during building. Plus Kevin hasn't been too pessimistic about schedules and costs yet.


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## madzone (Sep 30, 2010)

I thought the house was ok. Despite feeling sorry for the woman her mouth aggravated the fuckety fuck out of me. It was a weird mouth and it moved strangely


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## Scaggs (Sep 30, 2010)

She had no top lip.

The house was nice but it looked a bit like a modern chapel from the front. Pity they couldn't afford to keep the deck.


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## stavros (Oct 7, 2010)

Wasn't blown away with last night's one. I quite liked the main building and the link, but the big hall seemed over the top and the colour they'd chosen for it was awful.


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## JWH (Oct 8, 2010)

I've come to the realisation that I am envious and jealous of Kevin McCloud. Bastard speaks French pretty well too. Wanker.

(Would like to see more about the actual technical/construction bits as well e.g. like Sarah Beeny used to do in property ladder).


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## Gromit (Oct 14, 2010)

I'm quite speechless at tonight's. Not in a good way.

So often people on here say i'm going to manage it myself and somehow work a miracle against all odds. Not this time. Shot himself in the foot.

70% over budget. No turbine. Grim walls. Awful worktop. Pokey bedrooms. Annoyed locals.

I'm not convinced that concrete is going to be giving out warmth stored in the summer months later in cold March.

He made such a balls up that Kevin did a god bless trail blazers speech at the end in an attempt to ward off some of the discouragement the project will have sent to prospective innovators watching.


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## Looby (Oct 14, 2010)

Gromit said:


> I'm quite speechless at tonight's. Not in a good way.
> 
> So often people on here say i'm going to manage it myself and somehow work a miracle against all odds. Not this time. Shot himself in the foot.
> 
> ...


 
I hated it too. It really wound me up that they have 4 daughters and built 3 pokey bedrooms for them. Then they build a fuck off garage next door that was bigger than all their rooms put together. 

The worktop was fucking crap wasn't it? I've made rock cakes with a smoother finish than that old toss.


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## madzone (Oct 14, 2010)

I quite liked it


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## Looby (Oct 14, 2010)

madzone said:


> I quite liked it


 
I guess I don't understand why you would make massive compromises with space (bedrooms etc) and style (breezeblocks) when you're building your own, dream home. Surely that's the whole point of doing it?

You can be Eco friendly without being totally fugly. 

I felt sorry for the kids I guess.


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## madzone (Oct 14, 2010)

It was away too expensive for what they got though and I agree the bedrooms were tiny. I just liked the way it looked. Those kids were near the age of moving out though - fuck em.


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## Gromit (Oct 14, 2010)

They didn't look 26-35  

Kids aren't moving out till late these days thanks to housing prices.


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## dlx1 (Oct 14, 2010)

This Grand Designs Series is a bit wanky old one were better there home own built with there own hands like Ben Law the woodsman Kelly carpenter and wife Masako were built a staircase rounds a old tree& or a stylish house like Huf Haus most of this Series shit is dull and boarding.

I play Grand Designs bingo 

Eco
Light Air
Streamline
Clinical
so on ...................


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## madzone (Oct 14, 2010)

Gromit said:


> They didn't look 26-35
> 
> Kids aren't moving out till late these days thanks to housing prices.


 Another thing you're an expert in eh?


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## Gromit (Oct 14, 2010)

madzone said:


> Another thing you're an expert in eh?


 
Have you got a point with regards the thread or just sniping at me as per usual?



> While the average age of first-time buyers has stayed at around 31 over the last few years, the average age of those doing it without financial backing from relatives has risen from 33 to 37 in the past two years.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8454455.stm


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## teuchter (Oct 14, 2010)

Gromit said:


> They didn't look 26-35
> 
> Kids aren't moving out till late these days thanks to housing prices.


 
That's nonsense - I don't know anyone in that age group who lives with their parents. Most people just have to rent for longer before being able to buy, that's all.


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## madzone (Oct 14, 2010)

Gromit said:


> Have you got a point with regards the thread or just sniping at me as per usual?
> 
> 
> 
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8454455.stm



Fuck off you prick.


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## madzone (Oct 14, 2010)

teuchter said:


> That's nonsense - I don't know anyone in that age group who lives with their parents. Most people just have to rent for longer before being able to buy, that's all.



^^^

This as well.


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## Gromit (Oct 14, 2010)

madzone said:


> Fuck off you prick.


 
So sniping it is you sad pathetic stalker psycho.


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## Gromit (Oct 14, 2010)

teuchter said:


> That's nonsense - I don't know anyone in that age group who lives with their parents. Most people just have to rent for longer before being able to buy, that's all.


 
Its really common now honestly. I'd google some stats but can't be arsed.

It varys according to region. I knew a girl from Birmigham i think it was who said no one lived at home past 18 so she was surprised to see how many men in their mid 20's still lived at home in Cardiff.

Recession and house prices have pushed that up with the number of university students returning to home after graduation steadily increasing over the past few years.

I personally know 3 people living at home 2 of which are over 40.

I myself left home aged 26.


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## Gromit (Oct 14, 2010)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8000924.stm

2009 article.

3rd of men and a 5th of women between 20-34 living at home.



> The ONS suggests this trend may be a result of higher property prices, unemployment and people choosing to continue their studies.
> 
> Another possibility mentioned in the survey is that marriage is becoming increasingly unpopular. Divorce has also forced some people back to the family home.


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## madzone (Oct 14, 2010)

Gromit said:


> So sniping it is you sad pathetic stalker psycho.


 
Stalker?? YOU responded to MY post


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## badlands (Oct 14, 2010)

the blokes partner looked permanently disappointed,

like she was sucking on slug trails


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## stavros (Oct 16, 2010)

Externally it looked OK, but the infrastructure inside was a mess. The rooms were tiny "to preserve heat", but then they made them taller and put the elevated beds in, so all the hot air will go up to the ceiling.  And the internal brickwork was so soulless. Plus why didn't Kev pry into why their garage was so huge?


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## madzone (Oct 20, 2010)

Loved it tonight


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## trashpony (Oct 20, 2010)

Was fab wasn't it? I loved her and loved the house.


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## teuchter (Oct 21, 2010)

Gromit said:


> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8000924.stm
> 
> 2009 article.
> 
> 3rd of men and a 5th of women between 20-34 living at home.



Well, that's more than I would have thought, that's for sure. 

I'm guessing that most of them will be in the lower bit of that age bracket though. You did say 26-35 earlier.


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## quimcunx (Oct 21, 2010)

teuchter said:


> That's nonsense - I don't know anyone in that age group who lives with their parents. Most people just have to rent for longer before being able to buy, that's all.


 
But you live in london and, I'll wager, most of the people you know's parents aren't from london so they wouldn't be living with their parents, would they?  Most of the rest will have gone to uni away from home which, although it doesn't preclude living with their parents afterwards, would reduce incidents of that.   I'm surprised and dismayed at your apparent lack of intellectual rigour with regard to this matter, citing personal experience.  tut.


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## madzone (Oct 21, 2010)

trashpony said:


> Was fab wasn't it? I loved her and loved the house.


 
There's no way you could get a house like that in Falmouth for less than 350-400k I reckon. The girl done good.

It was verging on boring as there were no dramas, no running out of money.....


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## trashpony (Oct 21, 2010)

madzone said:


> There's no way you could get a house like that in Falmouth for less than 350-400k I reckon. The girl done good.
> 
> It was verging on boring as there were no dramas, no running out of money.....


 
I do hate the way that Kevin tries to inject a bit of drama when there clearly isn't any. Oooh aren't you worried about all this rain on the wood? No, it's waterproof. Oh.  The access road stuff was quite exciting though - loved the skateboarding windowframe


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## zenie (Oct 21, 2010)

I thought her staircase was a work of art and she was a fantastic designer/technical person/woman/perfectionist but I thought the house was a bit ermm dull. No wow factor for me  

The skateboarding window frame was funny.


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## Idaho (Oct 21, 2010)

I used to love Kevin, but now I just find him annoying 

He always looks alternately at people's chests and eyes when he speaks to them.


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## zenie (Oct 21, 2010)

Kevin McCloud  *rubs knees* 

/daddy complex


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## Gromit (Oct 21, 2010)

madzone said:


> There's no way you could get a house like that in Falmouth for less than 350-400k I reckon. The girl done good.
> 
> It was verging on boring as there were no dramas, no running out of money.....


 
Interesting that the perfect build show followed the absolute fuck up that was last week's. Deliberate? I think so. 

I liked the house. It wasn't the structure that made it interesting but the fact she'd deliberately built a canvas that she could use to show how her interior design could make the place not the architecture. 

That staircase was so good. 

My only reservations....

I thought the bedrooms looked tiny on the plan and was proved wrong. 

I thought that bbq chimney thing would look horrid and was proved right.

No wardrobes anywhere?


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## littlebabyjesus (Oct 21, 2010)

Idaho said:


> I used to love Kevin, but now I just find him annoying
> 
> He always looks alternately at people's chests and eyes when he speaks to them.


 
Don't know him in person, but I used to subedit his articles for Grand Designs magazine and exchanged emails a few times. He's alright – not a great writer, but not precious about his work either.


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## madzone (Oct 27, 2010)

Another good 'un. Loved the house 

Loooks like we're back to Dramarama next week.


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## trashpony (Oct 27, 2010)

littlebabyjesus said:


> Don't know him in person, but I used to subedit his articles for Grand Designs magazine and exchanged emails a few times. He's alright – not a great writer, but not precious about his work either.


 
He's a good snogger apparently (I'm sure I've mentioned this before )


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## stavros (Oct 29, 2010)

Throughout the show I didn't think I was going to like it and it'd be too square, but it turned out dead good in the end. We haven't had one yet this series which has truly knocked my out yet though.


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## stavros (Nov 3, 2010)

Apparently, tonight's is a shocker in terms of their budgeting.


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## teuchter (Nov 3, 2010)

Ludicrously overambitious but you have to take your hat off to him - to get that far for £185k is not bad.

It'll be quite something when it's finally finished (even if it seems a little oversized for one family).


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## mentalchik (Nov 3, 2010)

teuchter said:


> That's nonsense - I don't know anyone in that age group who lives with their parents. Most people just have to rent for longer before being able to buy, that's all.


 
Really i know a few people at work that have children that age living with them and i have one too...........


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## stavros (Nov 6, 2010)

Easily the best of the series so far. Would've been truly stunning if he'd had all the money needed.


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## Wookey (Nov 7, 2010)

What happened, I missed the end!! Did he finish it? With the grass roof and everything?


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## madzone (Nov 7, 2010)

No


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## Wookey (Nov 7, 2010)

madzone said:


> No


 
A fulsome reply and one that completely satisfies my curiosity,  you're so there for me!


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## stavros (Nov 7, 2010)

He got the guest suite finished and the family had moved into that, with the main area interior needing doing before they settled there.


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## London_Calling (Nov 8, 2010)

Wacted this one: You live in the rural north west in  a house worth several hundred thousand and the kids won't be able to afford to move out? Felt like another one-dimensional, cock-waving exercise again.


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## teuchter (Nov 8, 2010)

I did think it was a bit of a presumption, to assume that the kids would want to live next door when they grow up...


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## London_Calling (Nov 8, 2010)

In the mean you'll need the several thousand extra sq.f for when the in-laws come over for Christmas.


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## teuchter (Nov 8, 2010)

I wouldn't be surprised if the real plan is to rent it out or run as a B&B.


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## London_Calling (Nov 8, 2010)

LOL - exactly. It reminded me of the one a few years ago when the couple took on  a derelict castle from English Heritage and weeks after it was on this programme . . . It was good they rebuilt the castle but the whole Grand Design pretext was bogus and a smart business promo thing.


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## Gromit (Nov 8, 2010)

He was an idiot. 

A brave and creatively talented idiot but an idiot nevertheless who put his wife through hell and his kids at risk for an ego project.

1. Starting a project when not all the funding is in place? Ever heard of the phrase don't count your chickens? Criminal enough on a build that isn't your home but when you are going to have to live in the unfinished result should it go pear shaped! Idiot.

2. His project management didn't have a critical path to limit distruption to him and his family. Instead he tried to do it all at once and fixated on the ego nicey new things like the roof and the extention.

The sensible thing to do would to have concentrated on the main part of the house first and tack the extention on after (money permitting). Get the kitchen storted as soon as possible before anything else.

3. From the inside that roof was horendous with all those ugly bolts and things. That was without being able to see the rust and stuff he was on about.


Good design. Crap project management.

It was a project that should never have been started.

He probably was hoping to let the extention out as holiday accomodation. That didn't work out so well afterwards did it?


----------



## Scaggs (Nov 9, 2010)

I hope they'll do a follow-up on this one. I'd love to see what it's like when it's finished. The roof looked fantastic on the original drawings but it still looked pretty good, even with the alterations. Agree that it was the best of the series.


----------



## madzone (Nov 9, 2010)

Gromit said:


> He was an idiot.
> 
> A brave and creatively talented idiot but an idiot nevertheless who put his wife through hell and his kids at risk for an ego project.
> 
> ...


 
OMG I agree with you


----------



## Cloo (Nov 9, 2010)

Saw bits of a repeated, I think, one this week with a couple building a sort of penthouse in Bournemouth, and they came over as right tits, especially as regards wildly inconveniencing the people who lived in the flats below and then being all 'Well, they knew there'd be some disruption' and then not, as far as we could tell, doing anything like inviting them over for a big party to see the view and apologise for all the disruption and leaks and so on, which would seem to me to be the damn obvious response once you were done.


----------



## stavros (Nov 10, 2010)

Tonight's is a revisit, which is a bit odd given it's a new series.


----------



## teuchter (Nov 10, 2010)

Earthship type thing, built in same aesthetic as usual with these people, and with slave labour. They just can't help themselves with the niches and bottle walls. Personally I'd rather not feel like I'm living in a Moroccan theme restaurant. It would be nice to see someone do something self-build, off-grid and using recycled materials that _didn't_ look like that. There's no particular reason it has to.


----------



## Gromit (Nov 11, 2010)

Revisit of a project I'd never saw before.

I liked it. Best eco house of this series.

But...

God didn't they go overboard with bottlewall features. Seemed like every door frame in the place had one.

Felt the water heater panels spoilt the line of the house but hey they had to have them i guess.


----------



## Idaho (Nov 11, 2010)

teuchter said:


> Earthship type thing, built in same aesthetic as usual with these people, and with slave labour. They just can't help themselves with the niches and bottle walls. Personally I'd rather not feel like I'm living in a Moroccan theme restaurant. It would be nice to see someone do something self-build, off-grid and using recycled materials that _didn't_ look like that. There's no particular reason it has to.



The bottle walls were overdone, but the general shape of it was nice. I liked the big round yurt room. There veg patch was a mess though! My allotment looks better than that and I don't wake up looking at it every morning.


----------



## stavros (Nov 11, 2010)

I liked the circular room on the right, but the rest of it looked a little one-dimensional. They didn't play up to too many Brighton stereotypes either.


----------



## teuchter (Nov 12, 2010)

stavros said:


> They didn't play up to too many Brighton stereotypes either.


 
heh


----------



## London_Calling (Nov 12, 2010)

Got a taste now: This guy set off several alarm bells but in the end I didn't mind he reminded me at every turn that he knew one side of a pound coin from the other; wouldn't be surprised if he's now set up as a professional 'eco-building consultant'. Good luck.

Kev's "entirey recycled materials" was obviously nonsense and sat interestingly alongside our eco-capitalist's "about £200,000 <pause> we included something for our time [but not that of the mug volunteers]"

Be interested on the net yield of the investment vs. 5 euro a day on the solar stuff. Missed the start, where did the kids go to school, obviously on the electricity grid, but not mains water? Did that  veg plot look a bit token?

/peace, man


----------



## teuchter (Nov 12, 2010)

One of the main downsides to the tyre/rammed earth wall construction is of course the amount of labour required. But it strikes me that it could be mechanised. I wonder how it would compare to other types of construction in terms of cost, embodied energy, etc, if it were built with two people and some machinery instead of 15 people with sledgehammers.


----------



## London_Calling (Nov 12, 2010)

At one point he did make me wonder how they built the Acropolis without used tyres.


----------



## teuchter (Nov 12, 2010)

I'm guessing they may have used a few "volunteers" for the Acropolis too.


----------



## stavros (Nov 13, 2010)

London_Calling said:


> Missed the start, where did the kids go to school


 
I think they were just his from a previous relationship and had their permanent residence with their mum. I think.


----------



## stavros (Nov 25, 2010)

I know it was a revisit last night, but I hadn't seen the original before. I thought throughout that it'd be overambitious and too big, but it was really rather stunning in the end.


----------



## teuchter (Nov 25, 2010)

Is that the double timber & glass houses one, amidst back gardens in Dulwich?


----------



## trashpony (Nov 25, 2010)

Nope, it was in Northern Ireland. stavros - did you see what happened to the neighbour's house? I got interrupted a few times but they said at the start they were going to do things to it and then I never heard it mentioned again


----------



## silverfish (Nov 26, 2010)

Is it only a matter of time before some one creates a design based on hesco bastion?


----------



## stavros (Nov 27, 2010)

trashpony said:


> Nope, it was in Northern Ireland. stavros - did you see what happened to the neighbour's house? I got interrupted a few times but they said at the start they were going to do things to it and then I never heard it mentioned again


 
I thought they said they were going to sell it in order to fund/pay off the credit from the new build. Can't remember for sure, but it'll by on 4OD if you want to check.

ETA: Oh and Teuchter, they said it was in Belfast, although it must've been very much on the edges.


----------



## rover07 (Nov 2, 2011)

Anyone watching this?

£800,000 'eco' house the size of a warehouse


----------



## rover07 (Nov 2, 2011)

Oh good he's run out of money halfway through.


----------



## rover07 (Nov 2, 2011)

oh they've found the money £400,000. So thats nice.

Ah, its now a B+B which of course they didnt have permission for when they started. 

Thats a bit of luck.


----------



## teuchter (Nov 2, 2011)

Grand Designs keeps cheating, by saying they are "revisiting" an old project, then just playing the old programme that we've already seen with an extra 5 minutes on the end.


----------



## stavros (Nov 5, 2011)

I'm not sure, but maybe people are less willing to take the financial risks of a self-build in the last three years or so.


----------



## Cid (Nov 9, 2011)

Anyone watch the mine pump tower ep (http://www.channel4.com/programmes/grand-designs/episode-guide/series-7/episode-18)? One for a revisited unfortunately, but the guy doing it is a stonemason who's clearly helped out a lot of people along the way, one of those builds where they really deserve to do well.


----------



## Casual Observer (Nov 10, 2011)

As has probably been noted before, the most enjoyable shows are when one of the subjects is a builder who not only has a hand in the design (with or without an architect) but gets stuck in and plays a key part in the actual building as well. When this isn't the case, the program is a middle class equivalent of Big Brother, a chance for tasteless attention seekers to get on telly and say ‘look at me, aren’t I successful, look how much money I’m spending’.


----------



## SpookyFrank (Nov 10, 2011)

They should do a squatter version of this program. Enterprising young go-getters transform a dilapidated hell hole into a beautiful home/music venue/bail hostel with a budget of five bent nails and a crate of special brew. The show would be hosted by Mark E Smith.


----------



## stavros (Nov 10, 2011)

SpookyFrank said:


> They should do a squatter version of this program. Enterprising young go-getters transform a dilapidated hell hole into a beautiful home/music venue/bail hostel with a budget of five bent nails and a crate of special brew. The show would be hosted by Mark E Smith.



Scheduled just before Knowing M.E. Knowing You and Monkey Tennis. 

The arch on last night's revisit was very impressive structurally, but I'm not really sure I'd want to live in it.


----------



## teuchter (Nov 10, 2011)

I thought the arch one (which was just another "revisited") was very nice indeed; one of the best they've had.

Why wouldn't you want to live in it?


----------



## rover07 (Nov 10, 2011)

teuchter said:


> I thought the arch one (which was just another "revisited") was very nice indeed; one of the best they've had.
> 
> Why wouldn't you want to live in it?



A £500,000 'eco' house. It was an oversized wooden box.


----------



## teuchter (Nov 10, 2011)

It was much nicer than 99.9% of other oversized £500k boxes though.


----------



## teuchter (Nov 10, 2011)

Also, while I recognise that building something that big could be argued to be contrary to "eco" principles, it was built to passivhaus standards and it looked like it was going to be genuinely self-sufficient energy-wise. So bloated as it may be, it will be using less energy than the most modest of hovels and at least a lot of their money went into investing in new and potentially useful technologies that others couldn't afford to gamble with.


----------



## stavros (Nov 12, 2011)

teuchter said:


> I thought the arch one (which was just another "revisited") was very nice indeed; one of the best they've had.
> 
> Why wouldn't you want to live in it?



Not sure. Perhaps partly because I'm not sure I like the internal brick work in a residential building. It can work nicely in an office or commercial space, but personally I wouldn't want to live around it.


----------



## stavros (Nov 17, 2011)

I'd seen the original of last night's before, but I still wasn't that keen on the revisit. It was the converted water tower, and it all seemed quite cramp, especially the master bedroom on the top floor.


----------



## teuchter (Jun 15, 2012)

Has anyone else been watching "Grand Designs Australia"?

I'll not say anything about stereotypes of Australians being unsophisticated or anything


----------



## bi0boy (Jun 15, 2012)

I'm not watching any more of that man since he did that Indian slum poverty tourism program.


----------



## stavros (Jun 16, 2012)

Aussie GD isn't with Kev. It's some guy who isn't quite so pessimistic.


----------



## Reno (Jun 16, 2012)

stavros said:


> It's some guy who isn't quite so pessimistic.


 
That sucks.


----------



## Gromit (Jun 16, 2012)

Reno said:


> That sucks.



Does it?

Kevin: ooh I have my doubts.
Kevin: ooh its all going to go wrong.
Kevin: This could be a disaster in taste.
Kevin: OOh its lovely, its a triumph, even that bit i was unsure about*, but how much over budget are you?

Repeat.

Any thing different to Kevin could be an improvement imo.

* Were you really Kevin or just trying to create drama?


----------



## Reno (Jun 16, 2012)

humour failure


----------



## teuchter (Jun 16, 2012)

Kevin is generally honest in his opinions during the body of the programme and then polite at the end.

The Australian one is polite all the way through and consequently boring. The one the other night was an idiot woman building a monstrosity on the gold coast and the presenter didn't have the balls to say as much except by means of a slightly sideways and pretentious remark to camera at the end. The thing didn't deserve to be on grand designs in the first place. Just rich people building faked-up rubbish from the pages of a magazine.


----------



## stavros (Jun 17, 2012)

How long is it since we had a new series of GD over here? I mean brand new, not just revisits.


----------



## teuchter (Jun 17, 2012)

Too long I reckon.


----------



## teuchter (Sep 12, 2012)

First of new series on at the moment.

Featuring a complete idiot trying to build a castle.


----------



## Badgers (Sep 12, 2012)

teuchter said:
			
		

> First of new series on at the moment.
> 
> Featuring a complete idiot trying to build a castle.



Any idiots watching it?


----------



## zoooo (Sep 12, 2012)

He was mental, but his ideas were quite fun. I hope I see the one where they revisit him some day and he's got it finished. Could look ace.


----------



## teuchter (Sep 12, 2012)

Badgers said:


> Any idiots watching it?


Yes


----------



## ringo (Sep 13, 2012)

He must have been a nightmare to work with - no plans to work off, no experience, knocking walls down and moving them at the weekend when his engineer was away, no regard for conservation etc. The sort of building which will be considered interesting in the future though, we're much better at appreciating this kind of nutter with hindsight than at the time.


----------



## teuchter (Sep 13, 2012)

I wonder whether all those guys he threw off the job got paid fully for the work they did.


----------



## astral (Sep 13, 2012)

He looked like a nightmare to work with. 

How can anyone even think about a build on that scale with no drawings or plans to work from?


----------



## TitanSound (Sep 13, 2012)

astral said:


> He looked like a nightmare to work with.
> 
> How can anyone even think about a build on that scale with no drawings or plans to work from?


 
"Visionaries"


----------



## teuchter (Sep 13, 2012)

ringo said:


> He must have been a nightmare to work with - no plans to work off, no experience, knocking walls down and moving them at the weekend when his engineer was away, no regard for conservation etc. The sort of building which will be considered interesting in the future though, we're much better at appreciating this kind of nutter with hindsight than at the time.


 
If the building ends up interesting or even good, it won't be thanks to his ideas or imagination, it'll be the result of throwing piles of money at it and thanks to a load of other people who put up with his behaviour and probably didn't get paid properly for the time and effort they put in. People who built stuff, took it down, changed it and rebuilt it according to his whims.

I don't think people like this should be seen as loveable rogues - the impression I got was that he was selfish, exploitative and basically like a spoilt kid. Kevin McCloud should have been much harder on him.


----------



## ringo (Sep 13, 2012)

teuchter said:


> If the building ends up interesting or even good, it won't be thanks to his ideas or imagination, it'll be the result of throwing piles of money at it and thanks to a load of other people who put up with his behaviour and probably didn't get paid properly for the time and effort they put in. People who built stuff, took it down, changed it and rebuilt it according to his whims.
> 
> I don't think people like this should be seen as loveable rogues - the impression I got was that he was selfish, exploitative and basically like a spoilt kid. Kevin McCloud should have been much harder on him.


 
I'd say if it ends up interesting that is entirely up to him, otherwise it would doubtless have continued to crumble into dust. Whether it's good or not is subjective, but good or bad it's still his 'vision'.

I don't see him as lovable at all, he's a twat. When we look at old buildings though we generally judge them for their lasting legacy and an interesting/foolish/ambitious/egotisical character adds colour to that history, little more. Nobody remembers the poor bloke who did the work and got badly treated and ripped off.

I think McCloud should have been harsher on him for the planning/listing misdemeanors because those levels of legislation are rightly there to protect our heritage from people like him, but the rest was just him being a twat and he demonstrated that without any further assistance. No doubt McCloud's producer wanted more made of it to make good telly.


----------



## stavros (Sep 13, 2012)

He was a fecking nutjob. Don't C4 demand more thorough plans before they commit to following the build, or did they just go with it and wait for the inevitable fuck-ups?


----------



## ringo (Sep 13, 2012)

stavros said:


> He was a fecking nutjob. Don't C4 demand more thorough plans before they commit to following the build, or did they just go with it and wait for the inevitable fuck-ups?


 
In reality TV nutjob + fuck-up = drama = good ratings and therefore, sadly, = good TV, especially to C4.


----------



## SpookyFrank (Sep 14, 2012)

What a nutcase. Can't believe you can get planning permission to work on a listed building without any drawings, or indeed that anyone would be stupid enough to try and build anything without them.


----------



## stavros (Sep 14, 2012)

"We put an extension on the extension and the house ended up going round in a circle."


----------



## teuchter (Sep 26, 2012)

Currently showing episode is in Brixton (or Clapham depending on your preference).

It's near the bottom of Lyham Rd and was open last weekend for Open House - I went to have a look at it.


----------



## stuff_it (Sep 26, 2012)

stavros said:


> "We put an extension on the extension and the house ended up going round in a circle."


----------



## quimcunx (Sep 26, 2012)

teuchter said:


> Currently showing episode is in Brixton (or Clapham depending on your preference).
> 
> It's near the bottom of Lyham Rd and was open last weekend for Open House - I went to have a look at it.


 
I was intending on nipping in on Sunday morning but it started raining and lazyitis overtook me.  Any good?


----------



## teuchter (Sep 26, 2012)

quimcunx said:


> I was intending on nipping in on Sunday morning but it started raining and lazyitis overtook me. Any good?


 
It was raining A LOT and I was completely soaked by the time I got there.

Worth seeing though. 

It's very well detailed and as minimalism goes it's pretty good. As was pointed out in the programme achieving that look of simplicity is very difficult, both to design and build. Hard to fault it in terms of execution.

I wouldn't want to live in it though. Thing is that if the building is all about space and light then the building kind of fades away to some extent and you become much more aware of the surroundings. That's the point of course and if it was on Venice Beach (or even on a British seafront) it would be amazing but when you look out the windows (which is inevitable) you just see the slightly crappy houses and back gardens of Lyham Road which would just depress me especially on a rainy day like Sunday. So that was my main problem with it, setting issues of taste aside.

Not sure how I feel about it from the outside. I have no problem with the basic idea of it being a glass box type thing and like the inside the detailing is all pretty good but I thought it could be a bit... better somehow. Feels slightly top heavy perhaps. Maybe I will have a look again on a sunny day.

It's interesting seeing it next to the one alongside it, the "Tree House" which I've seen on an Open House weekend in the past. They are very different and I wonder if the owners speak, or just glare across at another from their castles.

I suspect the glass box is actually more energy efficient than the cheesy hippy house.


----------



## quimcunx (Sep 26, 2012)

Is the tree house cheesy and hippy inside?  How does it compare to the eco house we saw?  I like tree house, never been in it. 

How did icecube house compare to the poddy, lovely cakey, and bricky houses we saw?


----------



## teuchter (Sep 26, 2012)

quimcunx said:


> Is the tree house cheesy and hippy inside? How does it compare to the eco house we saw? I like tree house, never been in it.
> 
> How did icecube house compare to the poddy, lovely cakey, and bricky houses we saw?


 
The tree house (as far as I remember) is a little bit like the one next to the Cambria Pub but more finished and less shabby, and new build. It's nice enough really, just striving for different aesthetic ideals than the ice cube.

The icecube was most like the brick one we saw, except made of different materials.

The other thing about the icecube was that they claimed it was "modest" but I noted that they had very expensive kitchen appliances.


----------



## ringo (Sep 27, 2012)

teuchter said:


> It's very well detailed and as minimalism goes it's pretty good. As was pointed out in the programme achieving that look of simplicity is very difficult, both to design and build. Hard to fault it in terms of execution.
> 
> I wouldn't want to live in it though.


 
We thought the same after watching the programme. I loved the idea of it, and the finish on the cabinetry was incredible and beautiful, but I wouldn't want to live in it. First thing that struck me was that our cat would hate it, nowhere soft to sit, so that would make it very uncomfortable for humans too.

And then there's the fact that they built it in the middle of some rubbish looking garages. For the amount they spent on it, why build it there? Better to spend slightly less on the building and put it somewhere nicer I'd have thought.

She was bloody annoying too


----------



## stavros (Sep 27, 2012)

Nothing really went wrong last night. OK, they had to sell their old place, but other than that it all went fairly to plan.


----------



## teuchter (Sep 28, 2012)

Depends to what extent you consider a £300,000 budget turning into a £550,000 budget as "going wrong".

But yes, other than that it seemed pretty successful.


----------



## stavros (Sep 28, 2012)

That's two as-planned GDs in a row, after the two women last week. Obviously that's offset by the mad Irishman and his castle the previous week.


----------



## stavros (Oct 11, 2012)

I really liked last night's one, especially the interior. It was different to its neighbours, but by no means looked like it totally fucked up the scenery.


----------



## Libertad (Oct 11, 2012)

Vince Hill wasn't impressed though was he?


----------



## Sweet FA (Oct 11, 2012)

stavros said:


> I really liked last night's one


Complete opposite here; everything about it revolted me! The couple were arrogant, privileged cunts who wanted what they wanted regardless of everyone else and dressed it up in some 'it's a reflection of us as people' bullshit and the neighbours were horrible little Englander tosspots. The house exterior was dull while the interior had some good bits but wasn't all that.

I quite like GD but that episode was the epitome of all the reasons why people don't like it. 

*breathes in 2, 3, 4 aaaand out 2, 3, 4*

Anyway, next week's should be good - we've got urban interest too


----------



## 1%er (Oct 11, 2012)

For anyone not in the UK you can watch the first of 3 episodes here. Link to season 12 episode 1 click next episode above links for episode 2 and 3.


----------



## teuchter (Oct 11, 2012)

Sweet FA said:


> Complete opposite here; everything about it revolted me! The couple were arrogant, privileged cunts who wanted what they wanted regardless of everyone else and dressed it up in some 'it's a reflection of us as people' bullshit and the neighbours were horrible little Englander tosspots. The house exterior was dull while the interior had some good bits but wasn't all that.
> 
> I quite like GD but that episode was the epitome of all the reasons why people don't like it.
> 
> ...


 
I kind of agree... it wasn't all that.

It wasn't particularly great architecture. Fine for it to be different from the neighbours, but the building just wasn't all that great. As a design it was nothing on the glass house from the week before. And this couple were worse than the glass house couple too.


----------



## stavros (Oct 19, 2012)

I'm not sure I'd want to live in a very striking water tower in central London, especially if it landed me with ~£2m debt, but you had to be kind of impressed with the end product. His partner didn't seem all that interested in the whole project though.

It was the 100th episode apparently.


----------



## teuchter (Oct 31, 2012)

Tonight's episode - on now - is on Skye in the western highlands. should be interesting.


----------



## Hassan I Sabha (Nov 1, 2012)

The final view of their house from the side made it look a bit like the weird squirrel from the ice age films


----------



## Dan U (Nov 1, 2012)

really really liked this property - no bells, no whistles, no bling. Just good design in keeping (imo) with it's setting.

Kevin showed a lot of emotion for once, it was really obvious he properly liked that project even before he fessed up it was his favourite ever at the end.

i also realised i have never been that far north and should do really.


----------



## teuchter (Nov 1, 2012)

Yeah it was a very nice project. The couple (an addition to Skye's already extensive collection of mediocre "artists") were likeable and it felt like they deserved the house more than most on GD.

I also really liked the builder, just getting on with stuff without drama and obviously proud of doing things well.

Kevin made a bit too much of a deal about it supposedly being the first "contemporary" house on Skye deviating from the standard form...this is not really true at all. 

The design was good - more deserving of the term "modest" than most GD projects - and fitted in well in landscape terms. We'll see what that larch cladding looks like after 20 years of winter storms. 

I did think that the lack of sea view out from the upstairs bedroom would be frustrating though - as pointed out by Kevin. I do think that was a little bit of a flaw and don't really buy the excuse allegedly given by the architect - that they couldn't afford it. It's something that's a result of the fundamental form of the building.


----------



## teuchter (Nov 1, 2012)

Dan U said:


> i also realised i have never been that far north and should do really.


Yes you should. Do it!


----------



## Dan U (Nov 1, 2012)

teuchter said:


> Yes you should. Do it!


 
It is pretty shameful. I have barely been to Scotland except for a couple of work trips to Edinburgh and Glasgow and a wedding in Aberdeen.

My Aussie Wife was mocking me about it while we watched the show as it goes, she loves Scotland and Skye is just about her most favourite place ever.


----------



## teuchter (Nov 1, 2012)

Skye is largely populated by retired Yorkshire people these days. But is still very beautiful nonetheless. I know the south end best but up the north end is great too. Spent a couple of days camping not far from where that house is last summer, as it happens.


----------



## stavros (Nov 2, 2012)

Dan U said:


> Kevin showed a lot of emotion for once, it was really obvious he properly liked that project even before he fessed up it was his favourite ever at the end.


 
I thought he'd always said that his favourite ever was that copicer building in the woods, which was very good as I remember. Has this one usurped it?


----------



## Dan U (Nov 3, 2012)

stavros said:


> I thought he'd always said that his favourite ever was that copicer building in the woods, which was very good as I remember. Has this one usurped it?


 
it may well have done! that copicers building was great.


----------



## Buckaroo (May 13, 2013)

The Adams family style house with gargoyles and Disney gothic shit is on now on More4. Gargoyle with a laptop is the best bit. Each to their own and all that but still, fucking ridiculous.


----------



## Chemical needs (May 13, 2013)

Does that Highland one usurp the woodman's house?! No chance! It's too idyllic and too picturesque in that there woodland.


----------



## stavros (Sep 17, 2014)

Has anyone been watching the new series? Last week's condensed box in Cornwall was lovely, apart from the pitch black cladding. Tonight's looks quite ostentatious based on the trailer.


----------



## 8115 (Sep 17, 2014)

Last weeks box was ok, nice house, not sure about all the wood everywhere.  I liked the week before or the week before that when the cliff started falling into the sea (coastal erosion, who knew) and they were  at the thought of their unfinished house following it.  The stone sculpture in the garden was seriously ugly though.


----------



## teuchter (Sep 17, 2014)

8115 said:


> The stone sculpture in the garden was seriously ugly though.



I liked the bit where they are talking about it and discussing the skill of balancing it and the notion of precariousness and so on, and then the narration cuts in and tells us that "the stones are later bolted together for safety"


----------



## aqua (Sep 18, 2014)

I loved last nights house


----------



## Looby (Sep 18, 2014)

aqua said:


> I loved last nights house



Nice house but I didn't like the couple much.

I thought he was very selfish and arrogant to steam ahead when she was so unsure about the design. It really felt like he didn't give a toss about her opinion or what she wanted.

I really thought when it was finished she'd like it but she still didn't. Awkward!


----------



## aqua (Sep 18, 2014)

sparklefish said:


> Nice house but I didn't like the couple much.
> 
> I thought he was very selfish to steam ahead when she was so unsure about the design.
> 
> I really thought when it was finished she'd like it but she still didn't. Awkward!


yes but given they'd been together 20 years I doubt this is the first time he's been like that. I quite liked them. Better than the hideous up their own arse people they normally have on.


----------



## Looby (Sep 18, 2014)

aqua said:


> yes but given they'd been together 20 years I doubt this is the first time he's been like that. I quite liked them. Better than the hideous up their own arse people they normally have on.



True, it just grated on me massively.


----------



## aqua (Sep 18, 2014)

sparklefish said:


> True, it just grated on me massively.


Oh yeah he'd do my fucking head in, but less than the normal types on that show and tbh, I could see quite a bit of bees in him


----------



## stavros (Sep 19, 2014)

I'm not sure I'd want my GP to be that stubborn, but then many people are very different in their private lives.

I liked the house though, although I'd have lost the aircraft hanger.


----------



## teuchter (Sep 20, 2014)

I'd be suspicious of my GP if he was married to an "alternative medicine practitioner".


----------



## Vintage Paw (Sep 20, 2014)

stavros said:


> Has anyone been watching the new series? Last week's condensed box in Cornwall was lovely, apart from the pitch black cladding. Tonight's looks quite ostentatious based on the trailer.



I really liked last week's. I loved that they said they didn't need any more space, they just built what they needed. Contrast that with the utter fucking cunts from the week previous to that. How fucking selfish and twattish can you get not giving a shit about what happens to it because you'll be dead by then. I'm alright jack, fuck the rest of youse. Nearly made me want to go and chip away at the fucking cliff myself while they slept.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Sep 20, 2014)

Next week's looks fun. I usually hate most of the people on there, I expect I might end up hating that guy (I know, I'm judging a book by its cover... but that hat...). Interesting idea of making a house from shipping containers though. Have we had one of those on there yet?

I must say, I simultaneously loathe and adore Kevin.

He said a new thing this week... what was it? Oh yes, the house was 'heroic'. Oh Kevin.


----------



## stavros (Sep 21, 2014)

I may be wrong, but has Kevin toned down the McCloud-isms in recent years? The hopeless pessimism and cynicism aren't quite so prevalent these days.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Sep 21, 2014)

I like the ones where things go wrong while he's filming. Like the time he was doing a piece to camera with a little cardboard model of something and the whole roof collapsed behind him.


----------



## dlx1 (Sep 25, 2014)

Moby house make out of shipping containers lastnight looked smart outside, not do keen on the hammock bath.


----------



## Looby (Sep 25, 2014)

I loved it, great house. He was lovely and sweet, liked his family too.  

The bath was clever and stuff but not for me. 

The downstairs space was pretty small though, even for a 2 bed. Not sure I could live in it, I've got too much stuff. I started getting the fear about storage.


----------



## Tankus (Sep 25, 2014)

He was the first architect that Kev's had on that I've actually liked .....the building didn't turn out to be yet another architectural wank fest for other architects to glop over. . it was just all round good design from a challenging base.... Not that I know much ..

...I didn't like the bath either ...wetroom kick off shower would have done it for me...

....and I also would have been tempted to run those stairs all the way to the top and run another barbies chimney from a roof patio.... Full on  views all around .....A missed trick there ? Dunno ?

Loved that balcony extension ..


That house was only filmed completed only a week or two ago ....?  I wonder of they are running short of projects ?


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Sep 25, 2014)

The one last night (shipping containers) was utterly fantastic.


----------



## stavros (Sep 25, 2014)

dlx1 said:


> Moby house make out of shipping containers lastnight looked smart outside, not do keen on the hammock bath.



I thought Moby from the very start.

A lovely house and he seemed like a lovely bloke. I did have trouble understanding quite a lot of what he said though, but that's my failing.


----------



## SpookyFrank (Sep 25, 2014)

Tankus said:


> He was the first architect that Kev's had on that I've actually liked .....the building didn't turn out to be yet another architectural wank fest for other architects to glop over. . it was just all round good design from a challenging base.... Not that I know much ..



Yeah I had a hard time believing that the bloke was an architect, because he wasn't a total twat. The building wasn't my cup of tea but you could see it was well designed and the attention to detail was impressive.

I wonder if the 130,000 price tag included the (horrid) bath and the fancy fitted kitchen and all that? Either way it's a fucking bargain, especially when you think that developers are forever claiming they can't possibly build homes for a price normal people can pay, and the local authority simply _must _get rid of the requirement for them to build affordable units alongside their yuppie flats because there's simply no way they'd be able to turn a profit. Homes in the UK being so vastly undervalued and all


----------



## aqua (Sep 25, 2014)

I loved the concept of the bath but it just looked shit in that house. Nice bloke though


----------



## SpookyFrank (Sep 25, 2014)

aqua said:


> I loved the concept of the bath but it just looked shit in that house. Nice bloke though



Kevin nailed it IMO. 

"You've not bought a comfortable bath, you've bought an uncomfortable hammock."

...for _sixteen grand_. The bloke selling it had a look on his face like he was on a bet to try and palm the thing off for the most ridiculous price he could think of.


----------



## Tankus (Sep 25, 2014)

SpookyFrank said:


> Yeah I had a hard time believing that the bloke was an architect, because he wasn't a total twat. The building wasn't my cup of tea but you could see it was well designed and the attention to detail was impressive.
> 
> I wonder if the 130,000 price tag included the (horrid) bath and the fancy fitted kitchen and all that? Either way it's a fucking bargain, especially when you think that developers are forever claiming they can't possibly build homes for a price normal people can buy, and the local authority simply _must _get rid of the requirement for them to build affordable units alongside their yuppie flats because there's simply no way they'd be able to turn a profit. Homes in the UK being so vastly undervalued and all



Land was already theirs though 

It would need quite a big square plot


----------



## teuchter (Sep 25, 2014)

stavros said:


> Last week's condensed box in Cornwall was lovely, apart from the pitch black cladding.


Just watched this one. Very nice indeed. One of the best GD projects I've seen. Very ambitious and they absolutely pulled it off.


----------



## The Boy (Sep 25, 2014)

SpookyFrank said:


> I wonder if the 130,000 price tag included the (horrid) bath and the fancy fitted kitchen and all that? :



Think so, but the land was owned by the family so that needs taking into account.

Was grinning ask the way through that episode though.  Cracking house.


----------



## stavros (Sep 26, 2014)

Is labour likely to be significantly cheaper in Northern Ireland than the rest of the UK, or, more specifically, England, where the majority of GDs are?


----------



## ddraig (Oct 2, 2014)

was the one last night in or near Lordship Lane? the artist couple with the shed/plastic finish?
and if so where was the pub with the blue tiles? was really confusing me last night as have forgotten some of the area
ta


----------



## braindancer (Oct 2, 2014)

ddraig said:


> was the one last night in or near Lordship Lane? the artist couple with the shed/plastic finish?
> and if so where was the pub with the blue tiles? was really confusing me last night as have forgotten some of the area
> ta


 
I didn't catch where it was but I did think I heard Kevin say it was in South East London?  I didn't find it a particularly inspiring one - much preferred the shipping container chap last week and the Cornish project the week before (which was absolutely beautiful).


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Oct 2, 2014)

I thought it was awful. And the site? All surrounded by the older victorian terraces? Urgh.


----------



## aqua (Oct 2, 2014)

braindancer said:


> I didn't catch where it was but I did think I heard Kevin say it was in South East London?  I didn't find it a particularly inspiring one - much preferred the shipping container chap last week and the Cornish project the week before (which was absolutely beautiful).


last nights was horrible  what the fuck must the neighbours see now!


----------



## braindancer (Oct 2, 2014)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> I thought it was awful. And the site? All surrounded by the older victorian terraces? Urgh.


 
And I can't imagine the residents of those Victorian terraces would have been too chuffed to see that massive thing go up at the back of their yards....


----------



## ddraig (Oct 2, 2014)

yeah, was wondering how much light they would have all lost


----------



## ddraig (Oct 2, 2014)

braindancer said:


> I didn't catch where it was but I did think I heard Kevin say it was in South East London?  I didn't find it a particularly inspiring one - much preferred the shipping container chap last week and the Cornish project the week before (which was absolutely beautiful).


agreed
reckon it was lordship lane area/way


----------



## pseudonarcissus (Oct 2, 2014)

I took the dog for a walk half way through, but I heard the presenter say "they were running out of money so they fired the architect....which I think was a mistake"...I guess that's the architect that massively underestimated the build costs, and didn't work through the details meaning it didn't fit together without a huge amount of site work, oh, and didn't anticipate objections over the height so they had to bury it by 2'


----------



## aqua (Oct 2, 2014)

They struck me as a couple I really REALLY wouldn't get on with


----------



## tufty79 (Oct 2, 2014)

I thought it was lordship lane way too..  Pub might have been Franklin's?
It's 5+ years since i've been anywhere near there,  so i could well be wrong


----------



## ddraig (Oct 2, 2014)

tufty79 said:


> I thought it was lordship lane way too..  Pub might have been Franklin's?
> It's 5+ years since i've been anywhere near there,  so i could well be wrong


longer than that for me! around 10 years


----------



## Pickman's model (Oct 2, 2014)

aqua said:


> last nights was horrible  what the fuck must the neighbours see now!


i thought it was good on the outside although i wouldn't have got on with some aspects of the interior.


----------



## tufty79 (Oct 2, 2014)

It made me yearn for glowy panels instead of walls


----------



## ringo (Oct 2, 2014)

It looked a hell of a lot better at the end than I thought it would, but they only showed the glowing panels, not the sides and back. What a view for the neighbours. That corrugated farm material is grim, the piece showing what it will look like in a few years should have warned them. Anyone who's ever visited a farm knows how grim it looks once it's weathered and started to disintegrate.


----------



## SpookyFrank (Oct 2, 2014)

Sounds like they're claiming to be artists but they've actually made their money flipping houses.


----------



## spliff (Oct 2, 2014)

I thought it was crap. The building turned it's back on it's neighbours which might not be a bad thing because it was so fucking ugly.
A lesson in not letting scenic artists and props buyers build houses. 

However I did like the builders Remi and Romus, the dogs were lovely and the car was spiffing.


----------



## teuchter (Oct 3, 2014)

pseudonarcissus said:


> I guess that's the architect that massively underestimated the build costs, and didn't work through the details meaning it didn't fit together without a huge amount of site work



That didn't work through the site details because they didn't pay him to. That would have been the stage of work that they decided not to engage him for. Detailed construction drawings. They actually did a pretty good job of it themselves, though, although they probably wasted a very large amount of their own and the builder's time doing it that way.


----------



## teuchter (Oct 3, 2014)

I though the N. Ireland one was ok in terms of the finished house (if a little cheesy for my liking). However I didn't really buy the whole shipping container thing. Surely the whole point of using a prefabbed unit like that is to use it in a way that exploits the way it's already been designed. But as was repeatedly pointed out (with a lot of hammed-up "OMG no one knows if this is going to work" pantomine from Kevin) stacking the containers on their weakest points meant that they had to do loads of structural alteration to them. Was this really cheaper than just designing and building a purpose-built steel frame? I'm very skeptical. Plus he must have set himself up with a few very awkward thermal details doing it the way he did (with steel elements passing from inside to outside of building at the junctions).

The SE London one I thought was more original and thoughtful and more sophisticated. Not sure why everyone's fretting so much about the neighbours; as far as I understood, the whole point of the courtyard is that it backs onto existing high walls around the perimeter, so effectively has no "back" for the neighbours to look at.


----------



## hash tag (Oct 3, 2014)

The last two epsiodes were pretty original. As for this weeks in SE London, horrid and ugly and built by a couple with too much money. With all that money they could have built something half decent. A little worried for their neigbours; 5 of them had to have their main drainage altered just to cope with the depth of the new place!
The geezer in NI was far nicer and down to earth. Reminded more of the lovely couple in a very early epsiode who converted an old water works or the chap on the Welsh Border who rebuilt an old cottage at the top of the hill and was phased by nothing, and goodness knows he ha everything thrown at him, snow, ice, floods, falling trees, foot n mouth........


----------



## SpookyFrank (Oct 3, 2014)

This was one of those houses where I thought, the design is interesting but it wouldn't work as a house for living in. 

All these people with their big open-plan spaces, they never think about where they're gonna keep the hoover.


----------



## teuchter (Oct 3, 2014)

SpookyFrank said:


> All these people with their big open-plan spaces, they never think about where they're gonna keep the hoover.


You really think they've never heard of cupboards?


----------



## SpookyFrank (Oct 3, 2014)

teuchter said:


> You really think they've never heard of cupboards?



But they never have any cupboards


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 3, 2014)

they have roombas


----------



## dlx1 (Oct 3, 2014)

Very much her project look like he was on for the ride. Not sell his camper very quik she to sell her car.

I like the old Grand Designs were the owners to the work get their hands dirty not sit back and pay someone.

One favourite couples were one in water pump building there had a mini cut down as a desk. 

They did alot of work scrape ceiling.


----------



## teuchter (Oct 3, 2014)

SpookyFrank said:


> But they never have any cupboards


How do you know


----------



## SpookyFrank (Oct 3, 2014)

teuchter said:


> How do you know



Because they show you all round the house on the TV show, and they do a 3D computer mock up of the whole layout...


----------



## SpookyFrank (Oct 3, 2014)

dlx1 said:


> Very much her project look like he was on for the ride.
> 
> I like the old Grand Designs were the owners to the work get their hands dirty not sit back and pay someone.
> 
> ...



Yeah, when they just say, 'oh well we had to throw another half million at the budget so we're gonna have to tighten our belts for the next few weeks' that does make me a bit mad. And usually what they're building ain't that great anyway, constraints are good for creativity IMO.


----------



## SpookyFrank (Oct 3, 2014)

When they're constantly fucking their builders around and making them change stuff halfway through, that annoys me too. Chances are those long-suffering souls doing all the graft will never get the chance to build themselves a custom made luxury gaff, they just have to move on to the next bunch of idiot amateurs or bone-idle house flippers.


----------



## teuchter (Oct 3, 2014)

SpookyFrank said:


> Because they show you all round the house on the TV show, and they do a 3D computer mock up of the whole layout...


They don't show you all of the house; they show you the most interesting bits, and the 3d mockups are simplified.


Here's a floor plan of the "open plan" SE london one. It's not all open plan; just the main living areas.
There's what looks like a giant storage area for bikes etc. Off that is what I'm guessing is probably a large utility room (the hoover's probably in here). There's what I'm guessing is a generous larder storage area accessed from the kitchen, hidden round the corner. There's a whole wall of the bedroom (about 7 or 8 metres long) that's storage cupboards. Something off the corridor between kitchen and bedroom that looks like more cupboards. Loads of storage space everywhere. And that's only the ground floor.

Whether or not a house is "open plan" has little to do with how much storage space there is. In fact, the more "open plan" the design is, usualy the more thought has been given to storage because if you want big open clean spaces you need somewhere to hide all the clutter that would be in there in a more "conventional" house.


----------



## dlx1 (Oct 8, 2014)

mm tonight's nice views dull house.


----------



## stavros (Oct 10, 2014)

It was nice enough but, as you said, a bit dull. Judging by when her and Kev went back to her childhood home I got the feeling she was quite moneyed.


----------



## 1%er (Oct 10, 2014)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> The one last night (shipping containers) was utterly fantastic.


If you liked that little place made from shipping containers, take a look at this place from the new series of the Australian version of Grand designs.

This is a 3 stories high container house made from 31 shipping containers 

Container house Australian grand designs


----------



## BandWagon (Oct 11, 2014)

Quite enjoyed tonight's show. She ended up with a liveable place at a reasonable cost.


----------



## stavros (Oct 11, 2014)

There's a rolling GD thread in the Books, Films, TV and Radio forum.


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## BandWagon (Oct 11, 2014)

stavros said:


> There's a rolling GD thread in the Books, Films, TV and Radio forum.


I searched 'Grand Designs' before posting that, and the newest thread was a year ago.


----------



## stavros (Oct 12, 2014)

No worries. Some handy mod seems to have merged them.


----------



## aqua (Oct 12, 2014)

Sorry that was me, normally I merge and post but I got called away and then forgot


----------



## dlx1 (Oct 15, 2014)

Tonight one [emoji41] 
Like the dragon skin and wind vane. The AstroTurf needs rolled out flat looked a bit rushed. 

Be good to see a revisit on this one. 

Next week one should be good as hands on.


----------



## madamv (Oct 16, 2014)

It was extra interesting this week coz of the river.   Liked it.


----------



## braindancer (Oct 16, 2014)

dlx1 said:


> Like the dragon skin and wind vane. The AstroTurf needs rolled out flat looked a bit rushed.


 
Hmmmm - I thought that the dragon skin zinc wrapping was horrendous....

An impressive notion though to build that kind of floating house - but I'm never as inspired by the ones where they have piles of money and can just keep stumping up the cash when things don't go to plan.  The places on the tight budgets are the ones that make you think  - woah, it's not beyond the realms of possibility that _I _could do something like that some day!

You had to admire the bloke's never-ending optimism though - even when the island was completely submerged with surging torrents of Thames. 

Would be indeed be interesting to go back if flooding like that were to happen again to see how it had coped...  you can't help but think that a surging Thames is somewhat different to the controlled test that they did early in the build.


----------



## dlx1 (Oct 16, 2014)

> You had to admire the bloke's never-ending optimism though


 Easy to do if you got deep pockets


----------



## ddraig (Oct 16, 2014)

ai, was impressed by the engineering but not the house last night
and why didn't they get civil engineers with decent kit who know what they're doing in in the first place? 
that poor site manager bloke, fair play for building the ferry but that picker was never going to hold that first load of the lorry!


----------



## ddraig (Oct 16, 2014)

also, anyone else think they lied about the price at the end? or left some stuff out?


----------



## braindancer (Oct 16, 2014)

I bet that farmer who was letting his field out couldn't believe his luck!  £750 per week for month after month....  Ker-ching! 

You could be right about the price at the end - at the beginning they stated that the budget would be £1.2m and they claimed at the end that this what they would end up spending or thereabouts.  With everything that went wrong that seems pretty dubious....


----------



## Looby (Oct 16, 2014)

Didn't they save a shitload when they brought in the new contractor though? 

It was an interesting one and the house was ok but I wouldn't want to be in it when it started floating up. What if there was a freak swell which pushed the house over the dolphins and it set off down the Thames?

I have no idea if this is even possible but I wouldn't take the chance.


----------



## dlx1 (Oct 16, 2014)

Seen something similar like at battlesbridge ESSEX boat moorings wooden deck with metal runners the riSe and fall with river.


----------



## teuchter (Oct 16, 2014)

sparklefish said:


> Didn't they save a shitload when they brought in the new contractor though?
> 
> It was an interesting one and the house was ok but I wouldn't want to be in it when it started floating up. What if there was a freak swell which pushed the house over the dolphins and it set off down the Thames?
> 
> I have no idea if this is even possible but I wouldn't take the chance.


I'd be more worried that one of the sliders would get stuck and then everything would get jammed, the water would rise, the house would stay stuck and then the basement would be flooded.

Also, I was wondering if they have to think about the weight of the construction on top of the concrete tank; and make sure it isn't unevenly loaded because that could make it tip over a bit and increase the chances of the sliders getting stuck. But maybe the weight of the bit on top is negligible compared to the massive concrete bit.


----------



## Looby (Oct 16, 2014)

teuchter said:


> I'd be more worried that one of the sliders would get stuck and then everything would get jammed, the water would rise, the house would stay stuck and then the basement would be flooded.
> 
> Also, I was wondering if they have to think about the weight of the construction on top of the concrete tank; and make sure it isn't unevenly loaded because that could make it tip over a bit and increase the chances of the sliders getting stuck. But maybe the weight of the bit on top is negligible compared to the massive concrete bit.



Oh god, yeah! I hadn't thought about it getting stuck.  

As the actual house was a wooden prefab, I'm assuming the overall weight wouldn't have increased enough to make a huge difference.


----------



## madamv (Oct 16, 2014)

Omg


sparklefish said:


> Didn't they save a shitload when they brought in the new contractor though?
> 
> It was an interesting one and the house was ok but I wouldn't want to be in it when it started floating up. What if there was a freak swell which pushed the house over the dolphins and it set off down the Thames?
> 
> I have no idea if this is even possible but I wouldn't take the chance.


Omg  That's so hilarious you creased me up!


----------



## Looby (Oct 16, 2014)

madamv said:


> Omg
> 
> Omg  That's so hilarious you creased me up!



Well if anyone can catastrophise like a pro, it's me!


----------



## TikkiB (Oct 22, 2014)

It's a repeat tonight of that rather depressing one about the two social workers building a houseboat using only spit and reclaimed materials.


----------



## aqua (Oct 22, 2014)

Not according to my TV guide it's not!


----------



## The Boy (Oct 22, 2014)

Is the English couple that rebuilt a maison bourgeoise that was burned down by the Nazis.  Quite near where my mum and dad live.


----------



## TikkiB (Oct 22, 2014)

It was on More4.  Sorry, forgot a new series had started


----------



## stavros (Sep 10, 2015)

A brand new series started last night, having crept up on me almost unnoticed. The guy last night spunked £1.5m on a ridiculous vanity project and stayed thoroughly unlikable throughout. I felt sorry for Kevin having to talk to him.


----------



## hash tag (Sep 10, 2015)

What a nice chap I thought. Right from the start he had no clues about budget! Ridiculous bloody house. Hope the kids cover his kitchen surfaces and 15 foot sofa in jammy, sticky finger prints. Wonder why his wife did a runner!


----------



## teuchter (Sep 10, 2015)

I just watched it. Yes a ridiculous vanity project.

His previous house looked pretty naff and i was expecting the new one to come out looking the same. But actually it was a lot better than I expected. There was some difficult detailing which it looked like they had done very well.

Nonetheless horribly extravagent. 

I wonder how much the employees of his cleaning business get paid.


----------



## SpookyFrank (Sep 10, 2015)

Gordon Bennet what a prat that bloke was


----------



## Looby (Sep 11, 2015)

He was awful but Kevin bloody loved that house. Not sure I'd be building a house that big and still have fairly small bedrooms. Plus he has 4 kids but only built 4 bedrooms? Did I get that right? Fucking millions on expensive tiles and glass and the kids still have to share a room. I didn't like it, too sleek and cold for me plus steel sets my teeth on edge.


----------



## SpookyFrank (Sep 11, 2015)

His kitchen didn't even have a kettle in it. 1.5 million quid down the cludgie and he can't even make a fucking brew. 

The clip from next week looks much more interesting.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Sep 11, 2015)

teuchter said:


> I just watched it. Yes a ridiculous vanity project.
> 
> His previous house looked pretty naff and i was expecting the new one to come out looking the same. But actually it was a lot better than I expected. There was some difficult detailing which it looked like they had done very well.
> 
> ...



Yeah, I was wondering how many more employees he shifted onto zero hours to help pay for that mortgage he's had to take out.

Utterly unlikable titweasel.

Looking forward to next week's. He looks fun.


----------



## danny la rouge (Sep 11, 2015)

SpookyFrank said:


> His kitchen didn't even have a kettle in it. 1.5 million quid down the cludgie and he can't even make a fucking brew.
> 
> The clip from next week looks much more interesting.


He didn't drink tea or coffee. Weirdo.


----------



## hash tag (Sep 11, 2015)

I am not sure his kids lived with him given that thier mother has seen the light and gone elsewhere. They may just be weekend kids wanting to be on television.


----------



## Looby (Sep 11, 2015)

hash tag said:


> I am not sure his kids lived with him given that thier mother has seen the light and gone elsewhere. They may just be weekend kids wanting to be on television.


Do you know something I don't about his relationships/domestic arrangements? There's a lot of assumptions there.


----------



## Bob_the_lost (Sep 11, 2015)

I quite liked the house's general feel but the scale and the obsession with some details would make it a crap place for me to live.

As for the brew, he probably has a tap that does boiling water. Very common in offices and i think on high end kitchens these days.


----------



## hash tag (Sep 11, 2015)

I did say I wasn't sure but do know the kids mother is no longer on the scene.


----------



## teuchter (Sep 11, 2015)

He said the kids were with him for a few days each week.


----------



## Dr. Furface (Sep 11, 2015)

SpookyFrank said:


> Gordon Bennet what a prat that bloke was


He was such a wanker, and when he said he'd paid £850k just for the land I turned off there and then.


----------



## stavros (Sep 12, 2015)

Middle-aged canal enthusiast looks more promising next week.


----------



## SpookyFrank (Sep 12, 2015)

Also open plan living space + giant 3 metre square front door = ruinous draught problem


----------



## Gromit (Sep 12, 2015)

The guy was anal obessive about tidyness and so made a business out of his obsession. So he thinks about tidyness pretty much 24/7 work and home.
He is the anti-me. My nemisis.

I took great delight in hearing Kevin ask him was he happy with the house and his response in my opinion was imo muted. He was like well its as good as possible I guess so I'll have to make do. He wasn't fully satisfied and never will be and so that is kind of a justice.

I didn't for one minute believe his little tale of his children wanting to come around at insistence of their friends all the time etc.
Most kids don't yearn for such sterile surroundings, except maybe when its really hot and they want access to that pool.


----------



## hash tag (Sep 12, 2015)

Maybe the friends just want to spread their sticky fingers and mucky shoes throughout that sterile gallery.


----------



## hash tag (Sep 17, 2015)

Did anyone see Jane's boat house being built. Very mixed feelings about it. He doesnt own the land and its under power lines, mixing with pylons. Great use of wood, very simple. A loo with a view by the river. Impressed by the plastered working on stilts.


----------



## pinkychukkles (Sep 18, 2015)

I'm getting to prefer watching The House That £100k Built, at least it's more realistic and achievable to us proles than all these vanity projects from rich narcissistic cockwombles. The budgets on Grand Designs never usually mention the cost of the land and frequently, just when you think the house has been built for an achievable wedge of cash by people who are fairly likeable, it's on a bit of land that belongs / has been bequeathed from a parent or some such.

Bah - I'm just bitter since I didn't manage to hitch a ride on the Property Gravy Train and the current prospects of being able to buy somewhere... anywhere to pay a mortgage instead of rent are precisely zero. Hooray to raising a family with the "security" of assured shorthold tenancy, not.


----------



## ddraig (Sep 18, 2015)

hash tag said:


> Did anyone see Jane's boat house being built. Very mixed feelings about it. He doesnt own the land and its under power lines, mixing with pylons. Great use of wood, very simple. A loo with a view by the river. Impressed by the plastered working on stilts.


fair few plasterers and shop fitter types work on stilts!


----------



## SpookyFrank (Sep 18, 2015)

That was much nicer house than last week, but it does grate a little that most of these houses are beyond the wildest dreams of most ordinary folk.

I did like the old bloke though.

"Where do you keep your records?"
"I haven't got any."
"Where do you keep your books?"
"I haven't got any."
"Where do you keep your hat?"
"On my head."


----------



## Gromit (Sep 23, 2015)

Tonight's couple has taken YOLO to the extreme.

Budget £850k may go a little over.



Spoiler



End cost including land £3.2mil



The moment they got a taste of reality (groundworks bill) they should have made some compromises imo. Firstly the outside finishes. Hand made custom pepple dash, really expensive. Hand made custom paper cladding. Really expensive.

Some grey paint and some black paint could have save them tens of thousands.

I'm truly amazed that an accountant didn't plan a proper budget and took credit options that are plain reckless. Bridging loans are stupid expensive and you only ever want to use them super short term (like a week only). Credit card debt is stupid expensive too.

I'm dread to think how much of the cost is interest and how much interest he'll still have to pay.

Its an awesome house. However he is going to be working his arse off forever to pay it off. So much for living his life to the max after his scare.

Oh and his location wasn't exactly going to help witht the costs. Ferries to the IoW are the most expensive ferries (cost per mile) in the world. How many ferry trips did the budget pay for i wonder?


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## Vintage Paw (Sep 24, 2015)

I mean, clearly I haven't had a brush with death, but "I nearly died and I could die any day really so I'm going to spunk all my savings and take out a couple of million in loans and mortgages so that if I do die my family are up shit creek" sounds a bit shit really.


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## pinkychukkles (Sep 24, 2015)

Yes - totally indulgent, which was the point I guess. Hope the stress of working rather than (I assume) an early retirement, to pay it all off doesn't finish him off. Didn't mind the finished house though, did look subtle from the shore. Hope that beach front is on a sheltered bay though, climate change an'all.

I struggle to understand the motivation of most people to appear on GD apart from 'look at me, look at me and my wonderful new house' - there _must_ be a financial incentive, i.e. they get paid to be part of the program? If I was lucky enough to have the land, cash and / or access to credit to do something like what they feature in GD, getting the cameras in would be the last thing I would want. If Kevin wanted to pop in for a cuppa and chat, he would be welcome however , perhaps he does private consultancies...


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## scifisam (Sep 24, 2015)

I liked the Grand Designs revisited one yesterday with the hippy carpenter and his Japanese wife building a sort-of self-sufficient home  the Hexagon House one. They didn't have an enormous budget, they planned it really well (planting the willow that they use for fuel right at the beginning, before the house build had started) and it looked like a pleasant house to live in. The wood carvings are maybe a little twee but they're very creative.


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## stavros (Sep 24, 2015)

Three shows in and, whilst the canal man and the accountant haven't been quite as objectionable as the clean freak in the first episode, I can't say I've warmed to any of the protagonists so far. Last night's house was the nicest, but far too indulgent. Hopefully we'll get some building in inner city gaps squeezing space out of nowhere at some point.


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## Manter (Sep 24, 2015)

pinkychukkles said:


> Yes - totally indulgent, which was the point I guess. Hope the stress of working rather than (I assume) an early retirement, to pay it all off doesn't finish him off. Didn't mind the finished house though, did look subtle from the shore. Hope that beach front is on a sheltered bay though, climate change an'all.
> 
> I struggle to understand the motivation of most people to appear on GD apart from 'look at me, look at me and my wonderful new house' - there _must_ be a financial incentive, i.e. they get paid to be part of the program? If I was lucky enough to have the land, cash and / or access to credit to do something like what they feature in GD, getting the cameras in would be the last thing I would want. If Kevin wanted to pop in for a cuppa and chat, he would be welcome however , perhaps he does private consultancies...


You don't get paid and you aren't allowed to use the name to get discounts for publicising products or anything. The contract is pretty strict. 

My parents built an eco-house and considered it as part of a plan to publicise green building techniques which they think is important. But they eventually decided not to as doing something expensive and stressful then adding cameras seemed to be asking for trouble


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## Gromit (Sep 24, 2015)

Praps people think adding "As seen on Grand Designs" will add value come sell time.


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## SpookyFrank (Sep 24, 2015)

I can't see the appeal of living in a house that big personally. The materials on the outside did look good though. Too much white on the inside but that seems to be the way with most of these more-money-than-sense types, 60 grand on pebbledash but won't spring for a few tins of paint


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## hash tag (Sep 25, 2015)

That bloke the other night; His wife said since his life changing experience he is leaner and nicer . The architect, project manager wasn't the most likeable person on the planet either!
I really have issues with people owning the beach. For keeping the house part of the landscape they covered some of it in pebbles. To do that they dug up hundreds of tons of nearby beach...nooooo.


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## stavros (Oct 1, 2015)

Woah, the series definitely picked its game up last night. It reminded me a bit of that coppicer from a few years back. Highly recommended.


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## Leafster (Oct 2, 2015)

I really enjoyed that one. I had a smile on my face throughout the programme.


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## Cribynkle (Oct 2, 2015)

Lovely house, so much more appealing to me than the expensive boxes they so often feature


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## scifisam (Oct 2, 2015)

It was lovely. Not the most practical home for a bloke with a progressive condition that causes mobility problems (and no room for his kids), but it was still a wonderful home to build. If he wanted to he could make a bomb letting it out in the summer.


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## ddraig (Oct 2, 2015)

And he wasn't letting Kevin's doom get him down either!


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## pinkychukkles (Oct 2, 2015)

£62k to buy it + came in under the £100k budget he had for it as well! Yes, excellent episode - so much more uplifting to watch than those ones where they just throw money at the project (→ Harry Enfield - Considerably More Richer Than Yeow).


scifisam said:


> Not the most practical home for a bloke with a progressive condition that causes mobility problems (and no room for his kids), but it was still a wonderful home to build.


True dat - guess he always has the option of digging out more room if he wanted although getting light into the extra spaces would be an issue.


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## Leafster (Oct 2, 2015)

pinkychukkles said:


> £62k to buy it + came in under the £100k budget he had for it as well! Yes, excellent episode - so much more uplifting to watch than those ones where they just throw money at the project (→ Harry Enfield - Considerably More Richer Than Yeow).
> 
> True dat - guess he always has the option of digging out more room if he wanted although getting light into the extra spaces would be an issue.


I'm sure they mentioned he could also build onto the front if he needed to. I guess it would lose some of the character but it's always a possibility if the extra space became essential.


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## 1%er (Oct 4, 2015)

For those of you who can't get enough of Grand designs, all 6 seasons of Grand designs Australia can be viewed here.

Also Grand Designs New Zealand has just aired its first episode and that can be viewed here.

Be warned that you will get pop-up adverts if you don't have an ad-blocker and don't download anything, it isn't necessary to watch the programs.


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## stavros (Oct 4, 2015)

More4 have shown various episodes of GD Aus over the years, and I've dipped in and out of them. Usually pretty enjoyable, much as our version is.


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## kebabking (Oct 5, 2015)

scifisam said:


> It was lovely. Not the most practical home for a bloke with a progressive condition that causes mobility problems (and no room for his kids), but it was still a wonderful home to build. If he wanted to he could make a bomb letting it out in the summer.



he's started renting it out already - its a lovely place, i've walked passed it a couple of times. blokes really nice as well...

personally i prefer the 'house that 100k built' series, much more inventive than GD, and without the somewhatwhat annoying 'oh, we'll have to just borrow another £200,000, nothing major...'.


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## spliff (Oct 5, 2015)

This from May 2010. _Rock house going up for auction._


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## scifisam (Oct 5, 2015)

spliff said:


> This from May 2010. _Rock house going up for auction._


Isn't that the one the bloke in the programme bought?


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## kebabking (Oct 6, 2015)

scifisam said:


> Isn't that the one the bloke in the programme bought?



yeah, this is the auction where matey-cakes bought it - actually, it might be the auction where the people matey-cakes bought it off bought it...

there's more than a handful of these houses in the wyre forest-kinver edge area, it was, up until 1945ish, a relatively 'normal' way of living, and conditions in them would have been on the better side of average relative to the general standard of housing.


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## DotCommunist (Oct 6, 2015)

looks like someone slapped a frontage on a pirate cave to me


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## SpookyFrank (Oct 6, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> looks like someone slapped a frontage on a pirate cave to me



You say that like it's a bad thing.


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## kebabking (Oct 6, 2015)

it sounds like the acist (word?) thing in the world to me - not just living in a cave motherfucker, but having every day as talk-like-a-pirate day.


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## DotCommunist (Oct 6, 2015)

oh I could well live there. But if your grand design is to live like a wrecker-king and scrimshaw whalebones while singing sea shanties, then people should be informed. They might want to join in.


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## stavros (Sep 21, 2016)

A quick heads up that what looks like a brand new series starts in half an hour. A treehouse in Gloucestershire apparently.


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## Vintage Paw (Sep 21, 2016)

It was a pretty enough house in the end but god if I don't end up hating the people on it more and more with each passing series.


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## teuchter (Sep 22, 2016)

Nice site and nice views but the house itself was a bit clunky and boring really, aside from the technicalities of the structural support.


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## Vintage Paw (Sep 22, 2016)

Do you remember that build many seasons ago that Kevin absolutely LOATHED?

It had a swimming pool indoors or something. 

He really let his snobby upper-middle-class arsehole come to the fore in that one.


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## Vintage Paw (Sep 22, 2016)

Here it is.

He was magnanimous at the end though, I suppose.

And tbf it is fucking hideous.


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## hash tag (Sep 22, 2016)

Did they not have a huge walkwayup to the house without any hand rails? Hope they are insured for people slipping of the sides. 
Can't remember what the rights of ay over other peoples property was like, which might be an issue.


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## Cloo (Sep 22, 2016)

Vintage Paw said:


> Do you remember that build many seasons ago that Kevin absolutely LOATHED?
> 
> It had a swimming pool indoors or something.
> 
> He really let his snobby upper-middle-class arsehole come to the fore in that one.


Was that a church conversion or something? Had a weird windowless pool in the basement .


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## Cloo (Sep 22, 2016)

Vintage Paw said:


> It was a pretty enough house in the end but god if I don't end up hating the people on it more and more with each passing series.


Gsv noted how horrified the wife looked throughout the build.

He was salivating at the house, tho, which I also liked.


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## teuchter (Sep 22, 2016)

Vintage Paw said:


> He really let his snobby upper-middle-class arsehole come to the fore in that one.



Isn't that the whole fun of grand designs?


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## Vintage Paw (Sep 22, 2016)

In the process of looking for that video I came across an interview with him from 2009 and it made me like him a bit more despite it leading with "my biggest fear is being poor."


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## Idaho (Sep 22, 2016)

It's not an unreasonable fear. I've been poor. It's really shit.


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## Vintage Paw (Sep 22, 2016)

I agree. It's more that coming from the mouth of someone who is incredibly posh and rolling in it doesn't seem to have the same effect as coming from someone who is or has a very real chance of experiencing it.


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## stavros (Sep 23, 2016)

According to Wikpedia, Kev was in the Cambridge Footlights with Fry and Laurie.


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## hash tag (Sep 29, 2016)

From the opening minutes, when you were shown into these rich kids office hidden inside a junk food place in Leicester Square, you know you were going to hate them. They bought a beautiful 19c cottage in a beautiful part of the Sussex countryside worthy of a Constable painting. So what did they do, they ignored it and built a huge box that totally overshadowed it next door. The crowning glory was when the bloke disapeared into a cavity behind the fireplace, the woman threw a switch and you could then see him from behind a mirror.
It's time rich architects Etc. were banned.
It was monsterous, there was nothing to like!


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## Idaho (Sep 29, 2016)

I liked the house, but the people were more-money-than-sense. 

Kevin was in heaven. Pretentious posh architects - identical wavelength.


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## danny la rouge (Sep 29, 2016)

stavros said:


> According to Wikpedia, Kev was in the Cambridge Footlights with Fry and Laurie.


They apparently fell out because at a dinner party he threw in his rooms, he served a sweet sherry with a brown soup, when he should have served dry sherry.


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## Septimus Rufiji (Sep 29, 2016)

danny la rouge said:


> They apparently fell out because at a dinner party he threw in his rooms, he served a sweet sherry with a brown soup, when he should have served dry sherry.



He was lucky it was just a falling out, worse than Hitler etc. ffs _sweet_ sherry, the man's an animal.


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## Vintage Paw (Sep 29, 2016)

I knew I'd hate them the moment the programme started. Vile people. Utterly vile.

The house was ugly as sin. However, I can't fault them for wanting to have a fun place for the kids, and a fun place for them. I just wish they weren't such massive fucking wankers about it all. And I did approve that they didn't much care if their kids broke all the bones in their bodies while exploring the house


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## stavros (Sep 29, 2016)

Kev focused a bit on the £880k budget, but only once mentioned the £700k they'd already spent on the cottage and land. I seem to remember one a few years ago, in Brighton I think, where they just threw their bottomless pit of money at it.


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## ringo (Oct 6, 2016)

Lovely bent wood house last night. I wanted to hate the couple for just being too perfect but they worked their arses off, showed grit, passion and talent and created a thing of beauty.


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## hash tag (Oct 6, 2016)

Yup, last night was good. Forgetting the house, he was just amazing with wood. Good hard workers and some brilliant wood touches to a relatively modest house house. Much better than last week. Good luck to them.


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## TikkiB (Oct 6, 2016)

I liked that one too. I knew she'd get pregnant.


I love their furniture.


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## Idaho (Oct 6, 2016)

I liked it, but it wasn't very real life. The kitchen was empty except for a few ornaments. Who lives like that?


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## hash tag (Oct 6, 2016)

Ornaments. kitchen. No way. I would have a totally clear kitchen if only I had the space. It looks so much tidier, not to mention, so much easier to keep clean.


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## Idaho (Oct 6, 2016)

The kitchen is a functional area. The tools should be available and easy to find.


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## stavros (Oct 6, 2016)

ringo said:


> Lovely bent wood house last night. I wanted to hate the couple for just being too perfect but they worked their arses off, showed grit, passion and talent and created a thing of beauty.



The only things that counted against them were calling their sons Bo and Bear (I think I heard that right). There was no mention of where baby was going to sleep either.

I liked them though and I definitely liked the house.


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## pocketscience (Oct 6, 2016)

lovely house no doubt, but when he said it was the first time he'd ever lived in a house with heating I got he feeling they were playing a game of "lets not let-on how rich we are, and appear to be like a poor couple, grown up on a council estate, happened on this great opportunity" number... their dialects didn't fit at all to that spiel.
My guess, they both came from money.
Yeah right, she struggled so hard during pregnancy etc and what a stroke of luck having a coincidental windfall at an exhibition in a major Oxford st reatil store just when they were about to do all the work... and that very windfall happened to pay a few builders to do that very work...
Cynic I am - the thing looked fake from start to finish.

rich kids doing rich kid things trying to look poor cool

and he looked liked Frank Lampard


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## pocketscience (Oct 6, 2016)

I call Bullshit!


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## pinkychukkles (Oct 7, 2016)

Haven't watched any of this new series. With the housing crisis as it is in the UK, progressively getting worse year on year, programs such as this seem increasingly obscene "hey proles, sit in your bedsit, watch Grand Designs and dream" soma for the working poor.


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## Libertad (Oct 7, 2016)

pinkychukkles said:


> Haven't watched any of this new series. Increasingly, with the housing crisis as it is in the UK, progressively getting worse year on year, programs such this seem increasingly obscene "hey proles, sit in your bedsit, watch Grand Designs and dream" soma for the working poor.



Aspirational innit. Fuck em.


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## 1927 (Oct 7, 2016)

ringo said:


> Lovely bent wood house last night. I wanted to hate the couple for just being too perfect but they worked their arses off, showed grit, passion and talent and created a thing of beauty.


I hated it!


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## stavros (Oct 20, 2016)

I quite liked last night's, although it was far too big. I'm glad they got the cash together in the end though.


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## ringo (Oct 21, 2016)

I didn't like it at all, he was out of his depth from a design perspective and it just looked lumpen and solid. Filling it with country cottage furniture didn't do it any favours either.


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## stavros (Oct 27, 2016)

Something a bit different last night.


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## Leafster (Oct 28, 2016)

Yes, I liked their commitment to the low-impact approach to construction but I can't help but think they'll be spending the rest of their lives there maintaining the structure. Not so much of a problem while they're young but as they get older it could be a problem. 

And the twee windows by the front door can do one.


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## stavros (Nov 17, 2016)

What's happened to this series? I think it got bumped off last week for a Last Leg special on the US election, but then it didn't appear last night either.


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## ringo (Nov 18, 2016)

stavros said:


> What's happened to this series? I think it got bumped off last week for a Last Leg special on the US election, but then it didn't appear last night either.


I saw it last night, or at least i think I was watching it live on C4. Bungalow converted into a big wooden thing. Started off looking like a dogs dinner but turned out pretty good.


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## hash tag (Nov 18, 2016)

Hmmm, the locals/nimbys weren't so keen though. Scouse land. posh.


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## stavros (Nov 19, 2016)

My research suggests that what you're talking about is some sort of GD spin off, "House of the Year". I'm not sure how it differs as I haven't watched it - clashes with The Apprentice - but is it worth seeking out on 4OD?


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## oneflewover (Jan 22, 2017)

-Just watched this one https://onthewight.com/grand-designs-isle-of-wight-house-photos-stunning/

"scrimped and saved and really struggled to get the last 500k of the £3.3million it cost"

Was it wrong of me to hope they went bust and ended up living in an empty windowless shell?


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## hash tag (Jan 23, 2017)

Typical first world problems of grand designs. 
Was this classic really 2001? A lovely couple with a wreck of a cottage on a hill top in Wales. They forught the weather, foot n mouth, fought for money Grand Designs - On Demand - All 4
Another real one, more recently was the Irish farmer who built a home out of 4 transport containers.


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## stavros (Sep 20, 2017)

Has anyone been watching the new series? I quite liked the hillside one in the first episode. The North London one last week was a bit less exciting. Tonight is "a shed fanatic" in County Down.


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## stavros (Sep 21, 2017)

That was definitely the best of the three so far. I could certainly live in that. They fucked up a little bit by having another kid without (I think) the extra bedroom, but even so.


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## quiet guy (Sep 27, 2017)

Wow that was a fantastically designed property. Loved the interior wood and the brick supports. With the level of detail and finishing I'm sure they didn't get much change out of £1m.


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## Idaho (Sep 28, 2017)

I liked the materials and the setting. The people were really weird. I think that it was well over a million.


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## stavros (Sep 29, 2017)

Meh. They, and especially he seemed very subservient to the architect.


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## scifisam (Dec 7, 2017)

The one on More 4 tonight, Matt and Sophie in Sussex, was really cool - lots of secret passages for the kids and aft features like a bookcase that swivels into another room (Kevin calls it a Scooby Doo bookcase). Much more imaginative and enjoyable to live in than most of these homes.


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## DaveCinzano (Oct 3, 2018)

Via


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## stavros (Oct 3, 2018)

How about cliché-ed McCloud scepticism? That usually crops up.


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## ringo (Oct 4, 2018)

Last night's was different, in that the couple had kids who were at the extreme end of allergic to everything and created a great home made almost entirely from materials which did not contain dodgy chemicals, toxic glue particles etc, right down to the smallest detail.

The only thing they didn't explain was why they didn't just move out of London, the most polluted area in Britain, I'd have thought.


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## hash tag (Oct 4, 2018)

Lots of issues and cliches again last night. £760,000 to buy a bit of someones garden. £500,000 budget. Very limited access so a race against time with the borrowed access they have.
Im thinking they stayed in London area because thats where they both have jobs. She owns a gallery and he a fitness company.


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## ringo (Oct 4, 2018)

hash tag said:


> Im thinking they stayed in London area because thats where they both have jobs. She owns a gallery and he a fitness company.


Yep I'm sure, but I think it made the whole venture utterly pointless. As soon as the kids walk out the door to go to school they're back to square one. 
If they were that bothered they should have moved to Scotland. Up a mountain.


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## scifisam (Oct 4, 2018)

ringo said:


> Yep I'm sure, but I think it made the whole venture utterly pointless. As soon as the kids walk out the door to go to school they're back to square one.
> If they were that bothered they should have moved to Scotland. Up a mountain.



Might be a trifle difficult to do that if it means both of them giving up work.


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## ringo (Oct 4, 2018)

scifisam said:


> Might be a trifle difficult to do that if it means both of them giving up work.


Yes I was being facetious about the mountain. Guildford then.


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## scifisam (Oct 4, 2018)

ringo said:


> Yes I was being facetious about the mountain.



Yeah, it's more the moving very far away from their jobs thing that's the issue, not how steep the gradient of their land is. Though obvs that is an issue when building a house.


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## ringo (Oct 4, 2018)

scifisam said:


> Yeah, it's more the moving very far away from their jobs thing that's the issue, not how steep the gradient of their land is. Though obvs that is an issue when building a house.


Norfolk. Very flat


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## hash tag (Oct 4, 2018)

Norfolk would not be good for the children as there are lots of farming folk up there spraying lots of insecticides and such like.


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## ringo (Oct 4, 2018)

hash tag said:


> Norfolk would not be good for the children as there are lots of farming folk up there spraying lots of insecticides and such like.


Finland has the cleanest air in the world. They should move to Finland.


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## trashpony (Oct 4, 2018)

I couldn't figure out why, given their children have such severe allergies, they weren't being treated on the NHS rather than at that Harley Street practice


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## ringo (Oct 4, 2018)

trashpony said:


> I couldn't figure out why, given their children have such severe allergies, they weren't being treated on the NHS rather than at that Harley Street practice


Yes, I found the whole thing very worthy but quite bizarre, which is why I've been joking about it today. A huge, monumental effort and really sincere faces saying we're just doing everything for the kids, but seeming to miss out a few very fundamental and quite obvious things which would make a lot more sense.
Of course we don't know what medical/care history they've had, no doubt they've looked into it all, but it just seemed like they were pinning their hopes on something which probably won't make that much difference. 
If it was my kids I'd have found a way to leave London, but that's a bit judgemental, not knowing them.


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## hash tag (Oct 4, 2018)

trashpony said:


> I couldn't figure out why, given their children have such severe allergies, they weren't being treated on the NHS rather than at that Harley Street practice



Oh why use the NHS when we can go private, we can easily afford it darling.


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## hash tag (Oct 4, 2018)

We need a follow up on the children in 6 months to see how they are doing.


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## stavros (Oct 4, 2018)

hash tag said:


> We need a follow up on the children in 6 months to see how they are doing.



They do the occasional revisits, where they show a condensed version of the original show before devoting the last quarter to Kev going back to see them.


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## Baronage-Phase (Oct 4, 2018)

ringo said:


> Finland has the cleanest air in the world.



This is true. 
When I came back to Ireland from Finland it felt like I was breathing soup.


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## scifisam (Oct 4, 2018)

ringo said:


> Yes, I found the whole thing very worthy but quite bizarre, which is why I've been joking about it today. A huge, monumental effort and really sincere faces saying we're just doing everything for the kids, but seeming to miss out a few very fundamental and quite obvious things which would make a lot more sense.
> Of course we don't know what medical/care history they've had, no doubt they've looked into it all, but it just seemed like they were pinning their hopes on something which probably won't make that much difference.
> If it was my kids I'd have found a way to leave London, but that's a bit judgemental, not knowing them.



TBF I don't have access to live TV atm so haven't actually seen it  I'm responding more in theory.

But if their jobs are in London, or they have other reasons to need to stay there, then moving isn't necessarily a good idea. Some of the suburbs are terrible when it comes to allergies because they have lots of agriculture pollutants as well as some of the city ones, so are actually worse than inner London. Other cities where they might be able to relocate their jobs would have the same issues. They don't sound like the kind of couple who could realistically relocate to the countryside and still have both parents have a career. So which of them should have to give it all up to restart it again when the kids are grown?

Also IME you can build up immunity to local allergens via repeated exposure, so their kids might be better with the crap in their area of London than elsewhere.


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## hash tag (Oct 5, 2018)

Returning to Norfolk as an example Two pest exterminators found dead after suspected 'chemical spill'


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## stavros (Oct 5, 2018)

As a structure, I quite liked the house.


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## stavros (Aug 28, 2019)

Kevin's Grandest Design starts tonight, seemingly looking back on the best bits of the last twenty years.

It may or may not feature McCloud Monologues.


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## Baronage-Phase (Aug 28, 2019)

stavros said:


> Kevin's Grandest Design starts tonight, seemingly looking back on the best bits of the last twenty years.
> 
> It may or may not feature McCloud Monologues.



What time? / Station?

Eta Found it.


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## stavros (Aug 30, 2019)

Whilst I won't profess to exhaustively watched them all, I was surprised that coppicer's house made completely of wood didn't make it.


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## hash tag (Oct 9, 2019)

New series on, watching? Tonight a white art deck lighthouse in Devon? Really.


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## hash tag (Oct 9, 2019)

Spoiler: oh



that's a twist. £3m. A little ambitious. Unfinished. Another £2m to finish. Divorce...


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## cantsin (Oct 10, 2019)

this clifftop sh*tshow has been a bit of a 'thing' round our way for years now... more to it all than meets the eye as well ( think : K Mclouds recent ' crowdfunding travails ' )


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## hash tag (Feb 4, 2021)

Anyone see last night's in Liskeard? Voley
Controversial. Kevin didn't like it 








						Grand Designs: Grand Designs - On Demand
					

Kevin McCloud follows intrepid individuals trying to design and build their dream home



					www.channel4.com


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## ddraig (Feb 4, 2021)

hash tag said:


> Anyone see last night's in Liskeard? Voley
> Controversial. Kevin didn't like it
> 
> 
> ...


Yes
Kevin was proper moaning! (more than he does every episode) 
The owner(s) got a bit cross with him


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## stavros (Feb 5, 2021)

Easily the best one of the (short) series I thought.


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## SpookyFrank (Feb 6, 2021)

hash tag said:


> New series on, watching? Tonight a white art deck lighthouse in Devon? Really.



It's such a beautiful area as well, but that's not the first giant eyesore that's been given planning permission there unfortunately. I was really pleased the wife left him tbh, seemed like his kids hated him too. And well they might.

Nobody will ever take that site off his hands either. The land it's built on will not exist in 20 years.


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## hash tag (May 26, 2021)

Anyone see last night's oldie? Rich twat buys an old lodge in a cemetery in SW London  for £1.2 m I think it was and spent millions doing it up. He was such an obnoxious arse that I turned off after a few minutes even though I wanted to find out where it was and I wouldn't have minded it.


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## stavros (May 26, 2021)

hash tag said:


> Anyone see last night's oldie? Rich twat buys an old lodge in a cemetery in SW London  for £1.2 m I think it was and spent millions doing it up. He was such an obnoxious arse that I turned off after a few minutes even though I wanted to find out where it was and I wouldn't have minded it.



That was the most recent series, I think. Agreed though; he did seem like a bit of a wanker.


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## clicker (May 26, 2021)

I also wondered where it was, but he wasn't watchable for long, so kept drifting in and out of it. I didn't like the finished product either.


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## hash tag (May 26, 2021)

I could not get past 10 minutes. I saw him go to some estate owned by a relative in Scotland...this is how I think of a home. Divorced, not surprised. Earns a living from extreme fishing...wtf


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## Artaxerxes (May 27, 2021)

Made the mistake of watching some of these, most of them are full of absolute cunts.


However I am so fucking jealous of the Welsh Japanese House it hurts because they fucking rule.


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## pbsmooth (Jun 1, 2021)

hash tag said:


> I could not get past 10 minutes. I saw him go to some estate owned by a relative in Scotland...this is how I think of a home. Divorced, not surprised. Earns a living from extreme fishing...wtf



"earns a living" - busied himself while spending inherited fortune

watched the treehouse in a tiny woodland behind a Sainsburys in Gloucestershire. four years in a shed but the final place looked great, proper earnt that one.


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## colacubes (Jun 1, 2021)

hash tag said:


> Anyone see last night's oldie? Rich twat buys an old lodge in a cemetery in SW London  for £1.2 m I think it was and spent millions doing it up. He was such an obnoxious arse that I turned off after a few minutes even though I wanted to find out where it was and I wouldn't have minded it.



It's Fulham cemetery. I looked it up at that time as I was baffled as to where it was. Agree he was a total arse.


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## hash tag (Jun 1, 2021)

Just checked it on Ariel view....looks about right


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## Badgers (Jun 1, 2021)

Show presented by cunts and watched by cunts


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## colacubes (Jun 1, 2021)

Badgers said:


> Show presented by cunts and watched by cunts


Cheers. It's one of my favourite programmes


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## Reno (Jun 1, 2021)

Having an interest in architecture doesn't automatically make you a cunt.


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## pbsmooth (Jun 1, 2021)

guessing badgers hasn't watched it much, which makes it strange he has such a strong opinion on it. ignorance is bliss.


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## hash tag (Jun 22, 2021)

Forget Kevin and all those twats with too much money who go over budget and behind schedule. Check this









						BBC World Service - Outlook, We bought the wrong house at auction
					

Cal and Claire tried to buy a flat, but ended up with a wrecked manor in rural Scotland




					www.bbc.co.uk
				











						What Have We Dunoon?
					

Hi we're Cal and Claire. We accidentally bought Jameswood Villa, a derelict building that has been empty for over twenty years. Together, we're taking on the enormous task of restoring this beautiful building. Join us in our journey!



					www.whathavewedunoon.co.uk


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## Reno (Jun 23, 2021)

hash tag said:


> Forget Kevin and all those twats with too much money who go over budget and behind schedule. Check this
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Plenty of stories on Grand Designs more interesting than two twats buying the wrong property by mistake and dining out on the media attention to raise money. This is about restoring an unremarkable property. I watch Grand Designs because at its best it's about restoring amazing buildings or creating interesting architecture, neither of which they are doing.


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## scifisam (Jun 23, 2021)

hash tag said:


> Forget Kevin and all those twats with too much money who go over budget and behind schedule. Check this
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I read about that a couple of years ago. It's basically Homes Under the Hammer. It wasn't really an accident, just not the one they'd planned on buying when they got there; they bid on the property knowing what it was. Then the refurb was bog standard except that they were appalled at having to comply with local laws.


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## scifisam (Jun 23, 2021)

Badgers said:


> Show presented by cunts and watched by cunts



Presented by one cunt and watched by many of us other cunts.

I liked the one recently about the couple who freely admitted they were incredibly fucking lucky that they were able to convert a barn in the wife's parent's enormous back yard, no pretence that they weren't fortunate that way. They didn't actually earn a ton (the husband was a pub manager) and the wife was diagnosed with cancer mid-way through the shoot, then there was covid. 

It looked like a lovely home at the end, which is what I like about these shows. Though they always seem to miss out bannisters - Kevin actually picked up on it this time, but generally it's here is this lovely staircase which doesn't break up the space and also it will probably kill you.


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## Leafster (Jun 23, 2021)

scifisam said:


> Presented by one cunt and watched by many of us other cunts.
> 
> I liked the one recently about the couple who freely admitted they were incredibly fucking lucky that they were able to convert a barn in the wife's parent's enormous back yard, no pretence that they weren't fortunate that way. They didn't actually earn a ton (the husband was a pub manager) and the wife was diagnosed with cancer mid-way through the shoot, then there was covid.
> 
> It looked like a lovely home at the end, which is what I like about these shows. Though they always seem to miss out bannisters - Kevin actually picked up on it this time, but generally it's here is this lovely staircase which doesn't break up the space and also it will probably kill you.


I've spotted the thing with bannisters and railings too.


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## Bahnhof Strasse (Jun 23, 2021)

This one around the corner from BB2's school is up for sale if you want it: Check out this 5 bedroom detached house for sale on Rightmove


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## beesonthewhatnow (Jun 23, 2021)

Bahnhof Strasse said:


> This one around the corner from BB2's school is up for sale if you want it: Check out this 5 bedroom detached house for sale on Rightmove
> 
> View attachment 274890View attachment 274891View attachment 274892


That’s fabulous.


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## Bahnhof Strasse (Jun 23, 2021)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> That’s fabulous.




Punt in a cheeky offer, it's back on the market having been taken off last summer after 18 months without a sniff of a sale...


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## Gromit (Jun 23, 2021)

Bahnhof Strasse said:


> This one around the corner from BB2's school is up for sale if you want it: Check out this 5 bedroom detached house for sale on Rightmove
> 
> View attachment 274890View attachment 274891View attachment 274892


I’m not sure if it should be called a 5 bedroom house or a 5 toilet house. As it has 5 toilets. That’s a lot of domestos.


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## Bahnhof Strasse (Jun 23, 2021)

Gromit said:


> I’m not sure if it should be called a 5 bedroom house or a 5 toilet house. As it has 5 toilets. That’s a lot of domestos.




We have four bogs, don't get though that much Domestos, it's still the same number of people using them as if we just had one...


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## beesonthewhatnow (Jun 23, 2021)

Bahnhof Strasse said:


> Punt in a cheeky offer, it's back on the market having been taken off last summer after 18 months without a sniff of a sale...


It's somewhat above my available budget.


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## hash tag (Jun 23, 2021)

Quite like it but not sure I could move back to that area


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## Artaxerxes (Jun 23, 2021)

Watching the one based on the Lammas community (Pembrokeshire 2016) and it’s fascinating. Starting budget of 500 quid and a bunch of scrap.

Spent some time around then looking into Lammas as well as I was fed up of London, it’s hard bloody work.


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## pbsmooth (Sep 2, 2021)

New series last night... Interesting choice to start with a gazillionaire, money no object folly where going 3x over an already huge budget barely mustered a shrug. Completely ridiculous house and while I didn't mind some aspects of the design - the views through the crazy glass and the shards outside - I thought ultimately it was not a nice house. and a waste of a great plot. and they seemed incredibly uninterested in 'their' project and very dull people. otherwwise, loved it!


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## Idaho (Sep 2, 2021)

That's just up the road from me. I go past it fairly often. I don't mind the place too much. And I'd rather than rich people spent money on creating new and interesting things that utilise a lot of skilled tradesmen.


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## pbsmooth (Sep 2, 2021)

yep, definitely see the argument in creating something interesting. they seemed strangely detached from the project, and fussing over his other investments, which made it hard to get involved. not sure there were that many skilled tradesman either, just a bonkers architect.


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## Idaho (Sep 2, 2021)

crojoe said:


> yep, definitely see the argument in creating something interesting. they seemed strangely detached from the project, and fussing over his other investments, which made it hard to get involved. not sure there were that many skilled tradesman either, just a bonkers architect.


There was an army of them! That much timber, carpentry, cladding and glazing can't be bodged. And the cost of the 150k kitchen will mainly be skilled time.


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## DaveCinzano (Sep 2, 2021)

Idaho said:


> And the cost of the 150k kitchen will mainly be skimmed time.


FTFY 👍

I would hope that an army of phantom trades helped redistribute some of their ill-gottens


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## pbsmooth (Sep 2, 2021)

Idaho said:


> There was an army of them! That much timber, carpentry, cladding and glazing can't be bodged. And the cost of the 150k kitchen will mainly be skilled time.


true, I guess I meant the way a lot of it was made off site (and then bodged on site with some of it!). the main builder seemed great, "I wouldn't live here".


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## Gromit (Sep 2, 2021)

I thought a 125k kitchen would be bigger.
1 wall of units and an island.
Fancy worktop
Big hob with fancy extraction And some other appliances.

I'm sure that could have been done for 50k.


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## SpookyFrank (Sep 2, 2021)

This is what all the money that gentrifiers gouge out of ordinary folk gets spent on then.


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## stavros (Sep 5, 2021)

I've just watched this. The couple didn't seem like nasty people, but it's very difficult to empathise with someone like that. In your early 30s, with two houses and a fat plot of land already, and a garage full of I counted 6 egotistic cars, you then spend £2.5m on another house, without even factoring in the original land purchase.

Do the producers no longer look out so much for more interesting projects and people than this? They seem to have had more over-moneyed builders over the last few series. There was that family in Brighton who shat several million on a place which didn't look much cop, and that utter bell end in the last series who completely fucked up the cemetery cottage in a graveyard.


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## hash tag (Sep 8, 2021)

Just caught up with this. Cant believe they got planning permission for such a huge place in such a beautiful spot. I would love to live on that spot.
Regardless of what she said, it was his, inside and out. It was devoid of character, personality, warmth. It was not a home. No pictures, books, CDs or colour even. All that glass and not a window to be opened 🙁


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## Aladdin (Sep 8, 2021)

crojoe said:


> yep, definitely see the argument in creating something interesting. they seemed strangely detached from the project, and fussing over his other investments, which made it hard to get involved. not sure there were that many skilled tradesman either, just a bonkers architect.



I thought it was hilarious that nobody has thought about the bins. He had to struggle out a door to them. The angle of the wall meant he had to bend and sidle out to the bins... 😁


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## ebay sex moomin (Sep 9, 2021)

There was no femininity or flow in the design, it was all harsh angles. "We've softened the look with some plants" yeah they do that outside Asda as well


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## scifisam (Sep 9, 2021)

Sugar Kane said:


> I thought it was hilarious that nobody has thought about the bins. He had to struggle out a door to them. The angle of the wall meant he had to bend and sidle out to the bins... 😁



That's OK, only the paid help or the wife will need to do that, and they don't matter.

I did get the impression they weren't living there yet, but it's still really odd that there weren't _any_ pictures on the walls. I don't think there was anything that wasn't monochrome.

Quite like the actual building itself TBH. It's weird but interesting, and sort of does reflect those granite tors.

The next episode has way more normal and very likeable people who are going through IVF at the same time as building a more modest building on a brown belt plot. The husband is getting stuck in - he's a carpenter. 

There's a fair bit of colour and it looks like a home. It's lovely.

And they have a double-decker bus as their carpentry workshop. Kevin thought it was a ridiculous idea, but my immediate reaction was "awesome!" And he was also aghast at the cost - £2k. 

They do once again have impractical stairs for a household with a child though. At least this one has a banister rail. But then there's the huge gap where the spindles should be. That'll be fun once the baby starts using the stairs. What is this thing people on Grand Designs have against safe stairways? They'll need to put something around that massive firepit too.

It's really sweet overall though.


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## hash tag (Sep 9, 2021)

How do they get the cobwebs off the high ceilings?


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## pbsmooth (Sep 9, 2021)

Yeah, great second episode.


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## hash tag (Sep 10, 2021)

Second episode was much better, but, there was no mention at the end to confirm they had sorted the windows and doors.
Fantastic kitchen considering the guy made it from scratch!


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## stavros (Sep 10, 2021)

That was one of the best they've done in quite a while, with echoes of the woodsman cottage of way back. If it wasn't next to a train track and a main road (not cat-friendly) I'd definitely live in that.


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## hash tag (Sep 13, 2021)

Drop this here ‘I would never spend that much on a kitchen!’: Grand Designs’ Kevin McCloud on money, ambition – and expensive mistakes


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## SpookyFrank (Sep 18, 2021)

This week: responding to an beautiful listed stone cottage by...sticking a vast featureless black cuboid on to it


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## pbsmooth (Sep 19, 2021)

I wanted to dislike it more than I did... Still feels a bit grim doing all that damage to the garden. And she was right, a lighter wood surely would have looked better.


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## Tankus (Sep 19, 2021)

Rising  the level  of  the  garden  , helped .

I   would  have  put  a trellis  up the  walls  with  a  6in air gap  , then something  rigid  and  impermeable  behind ,  instead  of  the  black  wood .  The  other side  was  in part ,Ivy all over , anyways  !


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## redsquirrel (Sep 20, 2021)

Bahnhof Strasse said:


> This one around the corner from BB2's school is up for sale if you want it: Check out this 5 bedroom detached house for sale on Rightmove


I remember that one. Not mad keen on the interior design but I fucking love the building.


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## Artaxerxes (Sep 21, 2021)

Wow, well impressed by Olaf’s work


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## pbsmooth (Sep 23, 2021)

Another good story. Someone building a home for all the right reasons and with family members doing the work. Final house and setting looked great


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## Idaho (Oct 7, 2021)

The couple last night were incredibly lucky that the planners insisted the ruin was knocked down. It allowed them to get in and build the house and put the old ruin back as a bit of facade at the end. So much easier and cheaper than trying to build around old crumbling crap.

Kevin is a bit of a bell end when it comes to old crap. He really believes that it has some magical properties to it. That somehow some old guff that hasn't fallen down yet is superior to anything else.


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## Artaxerxes (Oct 8, 2021)

Idaho said:


> The couple last night were incredibly lucky that the planners insisted the ruin was knocked down. It allowed them to get in and build the house and put the old ruin back as a bit of facade at the end. So much easier and cheaper than trying to build around old crumbling crap.
> 
> Kevin is a bit of a bell end when it comes to old crap. He really believes that it has some magical properties to it. That somehow some old guff that hasn't fallen down yet is superior to anything else.



Pretty much sums up British planning laws


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## stavros (Oct 8, 2021)

Idaho said:


> Kevin is a bit of a bell end when it comes to old crap. He really believes that it has some magical properties to it. That somehow some old guff that hasn't fallen down yet is superior to anything else.


You could cut about 5 minutes off each episode if you dumped Kevin's pseudo-intellectual monologues.

Not a bad house, and a decent narrative.


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## hash tag (Oct 13, 2021)

"i ate the wet, I ate the wet more than I ate Tottenham's fans".


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## Looby (Oct 14, 2021)

I hate everything about this week’s house. It’s awful. 😄


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## pbsmooth (Oct 14, 2021)

Not great. Wasn't even that good a view!


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## stavros (Aug 11, 2022)

Last night's seems to be a stand alone episode, as they're switching to a different programme next week. It was quite good, although it was a conversation rather than a new build.


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## Artaxerxes (Aug 13, 2022)

East Devon 2018 is quite remarkable, a cob building as big as some stately homes.


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## pbsmooth (Sep 1, 2022)

New series started last night... It was certainly a big fuck off piece of architecture. it seemed to have taken an age to be approved so I can imagine the neighbours hated it. parts of it were stunning - the higher up the building you went and the connection with outside, but the ground floor seemed a bit dingy and an underwhelming kitchen. and the amount of money was ridiculous. another one where the worrying about the budget seemed to be a bit of a joke considering how much they eventually spent. either richer than let on or very good at taking banks for a ride, or a bit of both.


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## Artaxerxes (Sep 2, 2022)

I tuned out after seeing them on the world adventure jollies.


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## Artaxerxes (Sep 17, 2022)

“We’ll be living here in 2020”
“Yeah as long as no other surprises”



Musing how noticeable it is that the sheer amount of cash involved in most of these builds has skyrocketed over the years. There’s still the odd one done for cheap but those are usually done by people with so much time to invest it’s clear they’ve got money or means.


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## scifisam (Oct 5, 2022)

Today's Grand Designs is lovely - an older couple, very wealthy of course, building an adapted bungalow so that the wife, who had a really bad stroke relatively young (I think she was a fair bit younger than her husband is the stepmum to the grown-up son), can live fully. It's basically the dream home for a wheelchair user, and it's also pretty, and they're a sweet, loving family. 

The only annoying thing is just _how_ rich they are and how unlikely anyone else is to live in anything even approaching this place. But still, it's good to see people who love each other making a liveable home.


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## Artaxerxes (Oct 5, 2022)

scifisam said:


> Today's Grand Designs is lovely - an older couple, very wealthy of course, building an adapted bungalow so that the wife, who had a really bad stroke relatively young (I think she was a fair bit younger than her husband is the stepmum to the grown-up son), can live fully. It's basically the dream home for a wheelchair user, and it's also pretty, and they're a sweet, loving family.
> 
> The only annoying thing is just _how_ rich they are and how unlikely anyone else is to live in anything even approaching this place. But still, it's good to see people who love each other making a liveable home.



Its why I zoned out last week, it was like a million plus for an older married couple and both sets of parents. The ones with a tight budget and/or doing something sustainable/innovative are more interesting.


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## scifisam (Oct 5, 2022)

Artaxerxes said:


> Its why I zoned out last week, it was like a million plus for an older married couple and both sets of parents. The ones with a tight budget and/or doing something sustainable/innovative are more interesting.



You might like this one then. The excessive wealth is the only thing that made it less than utterly wholesome.


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## hash tag (Oct 6, 2022)

scifisam said:


> Today's Grand Designs is lovely - an older couple, very wealthy of course, building an adapted bungalow so that the wife, who had a really bad stroke relatively young (I think she was a fair bit younger than her husband is the stepmum to the grown-up son), can live fully. It's basically the dream home for a wheelchair user, and it's also pretty, and they're a sweet, loving family.
> 
> The only annoying thing is just _how_ rich they are and how unlikely anyone else is to live in anything even approaching this place. But still, it's good to see people who love each other making a liveable home.





scifisam said:


> You might like this one then. The excessive wealth is the only thing that made it less than utterly wholesome.


It could give hints as to how properties for less able people could be built if nothing else ( not that I've had a chance to watch it yet. C4 is blocked on work PC's).


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## hash tag (Oct 6, 2022)

The pavilion itself was marginally better than than place on the Isle of Wight which had no room for books, records, pictures, personality or colour. 
Forget the building and the £2.2 million that went into it. wouldn't you want John on your side if anything serious like that woman's stroke happened to you.  He was clearly totally focussed and committed to her and her needs, not just for now but the long term.


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## Artaxerxes (Oct 6, 2022)

GD: The Streets had a similar one, very custom designed for disabled living. Own lift as well.

I'll give this one a whirl though.


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## pbsmooth (Oct 7, 2022)

what a lovely guy John seemed to be. so positive despite everything and seemingly unwavering in his loyalty to his wife. and great to see how her mind and body seemed to be helped by the new house. the 'snug' downstairs was a house in itself!


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## pbsmooth (Oct 12, 2022)

Sydenham Hill this week. Impressive design to make use of the space and great location - Rock Hill, I think - but I couldn't help thinking she already had a bigger version next door...


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## hash tag (Oct 12, 2022)

The house she sold wasn't pretty but that new place stood out like a sore thumb. I wonder how much that kitchen cost?
2 people with medical issues in 2 weeks....it's becoming like car SOS.


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## marty21 (Oct 13, 2022)

pbsmooth said:


> Sydenham Hill this week. Impressive design to make use of the space and great location - Rock Hill, I think - but I couldn't help thinking she already had a bigger version next door...


I liked her new gaff - looking out into a forest whilst having breakfast sounds good to me.


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## pbsmooth (Oct 13, 2022)

definitely but the old place had the same view and a bigger terrace! but hey each to their own. the cynical part of me couldn't help thinking it was all a nice story but ultimately she was just making a wad of cash out of the whole thing.


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## hash tag (Oct 13, 2022)

marty21 said:


> I liked her new gaff - looking out into a forest whilst having breakfast sounds good to me.


"Forest" 🤣


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## marty21 (Oct 13, 2022)

hash tag said:


> "Forest" 🤣


It is Dulwich Woods isn't it ? orginally part of the ancient Great North Wood?


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## hash tag (Oct 13, 2022)

marty21 said:


> It is Dulwich Woods isn't it ? orginally part of the ancient Great North Wood?


Woods at best, but forest! Lovely they are to.


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## hash tag (Oct 26, 2022)

I had to watch the North Devon Lighthouse revisit. Guy bought a house on a cliff edge for £1.4 million, demolished it to build a new home. His wife walked out with the kids, he went bankrupt and the place kept soaking up millions. I had to watch to see if the place ever got finished, to see if his family got back together. In so many was, this has to be the ugliest grand designs, for many reasons ever. It's on catch up if you want to see a happy ending, or not.


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## DaveCinzano (Oct 26, 2022)

hash tag said:


> I had to watch the North Devon Lighthouse revisit. Guy bought a house on a cliff edge for £1.4 million, demolished it to build a new home. His wife walked out with the kids, he went bankrupt and the place kept soaking up millions. I had to watch to see if the place ever got finished, to see if his family got back together. In so many was, this has to be the ugliest grand designs, for many reasons ever. It's on catch up if you want to see a happy ending, or not.
> View attachment 348982


Looks like the lair of a very minor league Bond villain


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## stavros (Oct 27, 2022)

Last night's was the first I'd watched in ages, and I really quite liked it.


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## ddraig (Oct 27, 2022)

stavros said:


> Last night's was the first I'd watched in ages, and I really quite liked it.


Yup! Fair play to them, obviously privileged and lucky etc, which they acknowledged iirc


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## pbsmooth (Oct 28, 2022)

were they that "privileged and lucky"? he did a load of the work himself and they started with a falling down barn.


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## ddraig (Oct 28, 2022)

pbsmooth said:


> were they that "privileged and lucky"? he did a load of the work himself and they started with a falling down barn.


They clearly had the money and time and family to help, so, yeah


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## paul mckenna (Oct 28, 2022)

ddraig said:


> They clearly had the money and time and family to help, so, yeah


has money === privileged. Pathetic


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## Babe Rainbow (Oct 28, 2022)

Best Grand Design ever was Ed & Rowena.  Absolutely stunning.


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## ddraig (Oct 28, 2022)

paul mckenna said:


> has money === privileged. Pathetic


pardon?


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## stavros (Oct 28, 2022)

There have been some GDs where the people have obviously had way too much money, and shat it all away on a vanity project. I remember there being a Brighton family doing that, and that single bloke building in a graveyard (SW London I think).


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## hash tag (Oct 28, 2022)

One of the better ones was a young couple who bought a piece of land/property of their family. It was a horrible uphill off-road drive on top of a hill. They fought against snow and ice and also foot and mouth I think it was.


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## pbsmooth (Oct 28, 2022)

ddraig said:


> They clearly had the money and time and family to help, so, yeah


Well, yes, someone with a bowl of gruel is privileged compared to someone without the gruel but in the grand scheme of Grand Designs, they were pretty low down the chain.


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## Fuzzy (Oct 30, 2022)

hash tag said:


> I had to watch the North Devon Lighthouse revisit. Guy bought a house on a cliff edge for £1.4 million, demolished it to build a new home. His wife walked out with the kids, he went bankrupt and the place kept soaking up millions. I had to watch to see if the place ever got finished, to see if his family got back together. In so many was, this has to be the ugliest grand designs, for many reasons ever. It's on catch up if you want to see a happy ending, or not.
> View attachment 348982


it's for sale on nrightmove for 10 million quid.


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## stavros (Oct 30, 2022)

Fuzzy said:


> it's for sale on nrightmove for 10 million quid.


So it is. I'll give my mortgage advisor a ring in the morning.


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## DaveCinzano (Oct 30, 2022)

Fuzzy said:


> it's for sale on nrightmove for 10 million quid.





stavros said:


> So it is. I'll give my mortgage advisor a ring in the morning.


The trouble with trying to put a deal together to buy a lighthouse is that one moment it's on, then it's off, on, off...


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## hash tag (Oct 30, 2022)

DaveCinzano said:


> The trouble with trying to put a deal together to buy a lighthouse is that one moment it's on, then it's off, on, off...


Blink and you could miss it


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## stavros (Oct 30, 2022)

Weird shit can happen when you live in a lighthouse.


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## DaveCinzano (Oct 30, 2022)

stavros said:


> Weird shit can happen when you live in a lighthouse.
> 
> View attachment 349559


Personally I have never never felt like that


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## hash tag (Nov 12, 2022)

Has this barn of a building been posted before? When seeing the master bedroom & bathroom teuchter springs to mind South Lincolnshire | Grand Designs


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## WouldBe (Nov 12, 2022)

hash tag said:


> One of the better ones was a young couple who bought a piece of land/property of their family. It was a horrible uphill off-road drive on top of a hill. They fought against snow and ice and also foot and mouth I think it was.


That was a good one. An old family farmhouse in Wales.


----------

