The UK’s beloved architectural show, Grand Designs, is officially back, with Kevin McCloud traveling across the country to meet ambitious individuals building their dream homes.
Now in its 25th series, the Channel 4 show has previously featured everything from giant curved glass houses to mansions made of clay and repurposed water towers.
Now, more determined builders are taking on this challenging journey as Kevin travels across the UK to explore new projects in Grand Designs. The latest series begins with Sarah and Howard, who are set on creating their dream “floating home.”
Advertisement Designer Sarah and architect Howard, who have worked together for 30 years, are now embarking on what Kevin describes as one of Grand Designs’ most “ambitious self-building projects” yet. Their goal is to create a “sleek, angled, metallic floating home” on an estuary near Worthing by repurposing a Second World War landing craft.
Designed to resemble a boat and blend into the houseboat community, the structure will rest on an “experimental prefabricated polystyrene slab to deal with high tides,” according to Radio Times. With a budget of £385,000 and an 18-month timeline, the pair are ready to bring their vision to life.
The pair aim to handle as much of the work as possible themselves, but the project faces a challenging and slow start.
Before construction can begin, they must carefully remove a condemned D-Day landing craft from the site, all while battling constant tidal changes that nearly spell disaster for the build.
Grand Designs airs on Channel 4 on Wednesday evenings at 9 PM and is available to stream on All4.