Grand Designs Australia

Trevor Robinson loves a challenge and there's nothing he likes more than flying his ultralight aircraft over the NSW Snowy Mountains. It's a pastime that's all the more remarkable for the fact that Trevor was paralysed when hit by a car on his motorbike a number of years ago. Now Trevor and wife Jeanette are looking to build a very special home close to nature in which Trevor can move about easily in his wheelchair. 

When a 15 acre block comes on the market in the Snowy's spectacular Goobarragandra hills they pounce with plans to build a remarkable underground home overlooking their 1.5 kilometre river frontage. With Trevor as project manager the build gets underway, but as the months roll on his health starts to deteriorate not only impacting how much time he can spend onsite, but whether he will be able to move to his underground retreat at all.

In 2016, a fire destroyed the much-loved old family homestead on Alistair and Belinda's dairy farm, in Inverloch, Victoria. And while a lifetime of happy memories went up in smoke, the couple were determined to create something new that would reflect the family's farming history, while providing a home to entice their kids to stick around. 

With Belinda supervising the build, they embark on a bold new project to create a comfortable home that looks like a dairy shed, complete with silos for bedrooms. But trying to recreate an authentic looking 100-year-old barn using both old and new materials is harder than it looks, and it's not long before Belinda feels the pressure to get it right.

Building a big house in inner city Melbourne is a tricky business stymied by heritage overlays, a lack of available space and soaring property prices. But architect Annalise and project manager Kim have a plan to thwart those hurdles and turn their tiny 1850s Carlton terrace into a multi-storied modern home with a large garden and a triple car-stacker. 

Their secret - to dig down and build up and out - creating a remarkable home that bridges the old and the new, and redefines living in the inner city. The catch - Annalise is based in Dubai with the kids, while Kim is left to project manager this complex and unusual build in the face of border closures, lockdowns and construction delays. As the project drags on with his family on the other side of the world, the pressure tests Kim's resolve and his relationships.

Obstetrician Gary and nurse Clare left the hustle and bustle of Sydney for a more peaceful pace in the lush, rolling hills around Nimbin, NSW. But it wasn't just the rural life they were seeking - Gary had long held plans of building a dome-shaped house, reminiscent of the beautiful vaulted structures he'd seen while travelling through Europe in his younger years.

With plans to trial an experimental construction system for their remarkable spaceship-like home they struggle with every step of the project from collapsing access roads to blocked cement trucks! With money running out and the project running over, Gary and Clare's relationship is strained, and hopes for relaxing country hideaway turn into what seems to be the impossible dream!

When Lynne and Paul met while sailing five years ago, neither had plans to fall in love, let alone relocate to the wilds of Tasmania to build a home. But that all changes for the Melbourne couple when they visit the Apple Isle and find a beautiful stretch of coastal wilderness with panoramic views over the Tasman Sea. 

With grand plans to build a huge Modern home, they decide that Paul will project manage construction. But living onsite for months on end in a battered up old caravan will test his skills, endurance and ultimately his health. 

Retirees and childhood sweethearts Liz and Warren have been together for over half a century, but a relaxed lifestyle is the last thing on their minds. They've taken on a hundred-acre Macadamia farm in the Byron Bay hinterland, with grand plans to build an epic five-bedroom Mediterranean style villa-cum-castle. 

Inspired by their adventures abroad their design is whimsical, unconventional, and extravagant. With no architect their plans embrace spontaneity and change on a whim, add in project managing it themselves and things soon freewheel. Question is, will this fairy tale dream have a happy ending?

Tani Richards has some fascinating pastimes. As well as practising yoga and horse riding, she has a passion for all things medieval, including dressing up like Maid Marion for a bit of horse back archery! After selling her and pilot husband Tim's medieval style family home known as the 'Sand Castle' in Perth's City Beach, she has plans to build an 'earth castle' on their 60 acre property north of Perth. 

But this is not your standard earth castle! Built into the sides of a man-made dam, there are plans for a drawbridge, turret and even a moate. With underground rooms and tunnels, and gothic features and finishes, the footprint is vast- nearly 2000 square metres in total. But Tani's endless modifications, coupled with fallout from the pandemic take a toll on the budget and the timelines- not to mention many of Tani's dreams for her medieval fortress!

Soaring property prices have put inner-city living out of the reach of many. But not for architect Ben and artist wife Tania, who decide to think laterally and get creative buying a tiny 64 square metre discarded scrap of land in one of North Melbourne's grittier back lanes. Their plans - to build a three storey, three bedroom, two bathroom home with a large garden - all for the not-so-grand price of $600,000. 

But their slim budget is in total contrast to their expansive ideas. Ben is working on a revolutionary concreting method using a giant robot that can transform boring concrete walls into soaring works of art. And while it's an interesting idea in theory, using their own family home to test it is high stakes indeed! With the family crammed into rental accommodation while Ben finesses his master work, the pressure mounts while the months drag on. 

Will his plans to transform concrete buildings into habitable architecture works of art ever become a reality?

Bel and John are building a radical underground house on 25 spectacular acres at Whittlesea, in Victoria's Plenty Valley - so named for its fertile farmland and magnificent views. But the area has also acquired a more terrifying reputation. In 2009, 120 people died nearby at Kinglake in what's now known as the Black Saturday bushfires, and as a result Bel and John want a home that's fire proof! 

With John away at work for much of the build, it's up to Bel to project manage the difficult and complex build. But a number of unexpected challenges make the process harder than anticipated, and with their underground sanctuary looking more like an airport terminal than a stylish home, the pressure reaches breaking point!

If opposites attract, Fiona and Sal are a match made in heaven. He loves the beach but she hates sand, she likes cafes and shopping, while he's happiest hanging out at home with his turtles. Finding some middle ground isn't always easy, but their biggest challenge to date is agreeing on the location and design of their new home! 

The solution: Sal gets to decide its location - just a few streets back from the rolling surf at Torquay in Victoria - and Fiona gets to decide the design - a Modernist, super-contemporary home, made 100 per cent from concrete! With Sal's increasing concerns the house is going to look like a giant crypt, compounded by the stress of an ever-expanding budget and growing timelines, tensions reach an all-time high. 

Can Fiona keep the project on track, and deliver the slick, elegant concrete house of her dreams or will it end up an expensive drab box?

Warehouse living in the buzzy inner city! For Anita and Kris Martincic it was a long held dream after years living and raising their children in Sydney's suburban south. So when a 100 year old derelict building known as the Newtown Hat Factory comes on the market, they jump in - dazzled by its potential and the chance for a sophisticated life of music, art and great restaurants. 

But there's an enormous amount of work to be done first! This ruin of a building was once a squat inhabited by some of Newtown's more colourful characters, but now it is barely standing, with crumbled, falling down walls and rotten floors. With grand ambitions and starry-eyed excitement they finally get underway rebuilding the hat factory, but what starts as an interesting architectural challenge, soon becomes a nightmare of endless delays and relentless cost blowouts. 

With the stresses and the bills mounting, Anita and Kris are forced to consider what it is they value most - the old hat factory or their health. 

Dennis and Karen have long dreamed of living in the wilderness and in 2013 they finally bought their perfect bush block in Clarence, a tiny pocket of the spectacular Blue Mountains, west of Sydney. But beauty comes at a price... bushfires are an ongoing threat and designing a house to withstand them is a challenge. 

For Dennis, an engineer, the answer is obvious - a house made of steel. He sets about refurbishing seven giant shipping containers into his and Karen's new home.

Catherine and Mick found love later in life. After both confronting serious health issues they realised there was no time like the present to build their dream home The big question is what? Having spent two years scouring Australia on the hunt for the perfect block, they settle on 50 acres atop the spectacular rolling hills of South Australia's Fleurieu Peninsula and set about building a remarkable structure that more resembles a corrugated iron shed than a house! 

But weather conditions in this rugged coastal location can be ferocious, and time delays and budget blowouts put a huge amount of pressure on the project and Mick and Catherine's relationship. Will their new home become their own little patch of paradise, or a rattly and expensive tin shed in hurricane?

As building materials go, gold, copper and bronze are usually the domain of ancient temples rather than contemporary Australia design. But for Dr Shiva Gunapu and his psychologist wife Rima, incorporating the rich colours of their Indian heritage is an essential element for their new home. 

And if combining the vibrant colours of their culture with a super modern design isn't challenge enough, they are also building in one of Adelaide's oldest and most conservative suburbs. Will their house be a stunning example of Australia's evolving cultural landscape or a gaudy misfit in the neighbourhood?

Electrician Mick takes on the challenge of a lifetime when he and artist wife Belynda decide to build their dream Modernist home in the bucolic Dooralong Valley, on the NSW Central Coast. For Mick, this project is more than just a test of his building capabilities. Diagnosed with dyslexia from a young age, formal education was a challenge and this project is his chance to disprove the theory he would 'never amount to much'. 

With the help of friends in the building trade, and leaning heavily on his best mate Greg, the vast and elegant building slowly but surely takes shape. But devastating and unexpected events including a broken neck and the death of his beloved father take an enormous toll, both on the project and his family and Mick is forced to make a devastating decision

Constructing an Underground Acropolis in the South Australian Desert town of Coober Pedy is an ambitious undertaking - but when Paul Athanasiadis' parents retire, he wants to build them the ultimate 'underground Greek Mansion'. Underground homes are common in Coober Pedy as a way of keeping cool, but there's none of the scale or grandeur that Paul plans for Yannis and Maria's house. 

But constructing a house under the earth is never easy. As well as the risk of catastrophic collapse, tunnelling into rock-hard ground is a test of time and patience, and when equipment breaks down everything stops. Adding to the stress, Paul is juggling two businesses, being the town Mayor and commuting 850 kilometres to Adelaide to see his own family.