Grand Designs

Kevin McCloud revisits Jeremy Till and Sarah Wigglesworth in Islington, London. Will they have realised their dream of using straw bales in the construction of their house?

Kevin McCloud revisits a group of people in a Brighton co-operative who are building their own homes and the homes of their neighbours.

Helen and Mark had always dreamed of owning a Georgian house but knew they couldn't afford the genuine article. So they decided to build their own. They bought a large plot of land in Surrey, surrounded by trees, and commissioned an architect who specialised in conservation architecture to design it.

With a plot of land in Sussex overlooking the South Downs, newly-weds Jane and Willem wanted a house that would be atmospheric and open to the countryside. Inspired by memories of America, Jane planned a New England-style gabled house with large windows to make the most of the views.

A derelict woollen mill in a Yorkshire village may not say 'modernist' to everyone. But Chris and Gill - who, fortunately, run their own specialist joinery business - saw it as the perfect opportunity to create a visionary home. They liked the traditional brick of the building and opted to keep the exterior virtually untouched. Inside, they would strip everything out and make a home of fluid spaces, based around an open-plan ground floor, an atrium and a galleried upper floor.

An isolated hilltop in the Brecon Beacons might seem an inhospitable place for a couple's first home. But Adrian and Corinna both grew up in the area, and the ruined farmhouse they chose to restore had been in Adrian's family for generations. The site's lack of mains water and electricity gave them no qualms. True, the track up the hill was often inaccessible in winter. But the landscape was beautiful and they both felt they belonged there

When Rupert and Julie bought a hilltop site in the Berkshire Downs, they were determined to build a house that would make the most of the countryside and stunning views. They turned to architecture firm Roderick James, which specialises in modern design and traditional timber craftsmanship. Together with architect Hugh McGann, they came up with a house of green oak and glass, built in an unusual cruciform (cross) shape.
 

In May 1999, 11 people in Bordesley, West Birmingham, set out to build their own homes. Few of them had any professional experience in construction. For the previous two years, the Accord Housing Association had been training them in the skills they would need. Now they were to put them to the test. Angela, who worked for Accord, would be the project co-ordinator. Peter, a builder with 20 years' experience, would be site manager, overseeing the work. The group members; Calvin (who was appointed leader), Paul, Carol, Mr Azad, Petrona, Tab, Gerald, Paul, Yasser, Richard, Bash - had not known each other when they signed up, having been attracted to the project through advertising and word of mouth

Sarah, a maker of modern jewellery, and Coneyl, a freelance photographer, wanted a modern home from which they could both work. But they also wanted a uniquely personal house. So they commissioned architect Mike Tonkin to come up with a radical design for their long, thin site in a north London residential street.
 

Sue and Martin took a holistic approach when they converted a pair of Devon barns into a family home. They believed that the house should look like a natural part of the landscape. So they built it using environmentally sustainable techniques and allowed much of its design to evolve during the build. The oldest barn, dating from the 1600s, was built from stone and cob - a straw-and-mud mixture characteristic of Devon - while the newer, 19th-century barn was totally of stone. The older barn would have a thatched roof, the newer barn slates. A south-facing sitting room would overlook a double-height glass atrium, which would become an indoor garden, filled with citrus trees. Four bedrooms and a study would go upstairs.

Kevin McCloud travels back to Doncaster to catch up with self-builders Michael Hird and Lindsay Harwood and their futuristic glass and steel house in a suburb of Doncaster.

Kevin McCloud travels to Suffolk to revisit a couple who dreamed of building a 100% environmentally friendly house. How far have they managed to stick to their green ideals?

Kevin McCloud revisits an innovative housing scheme in Birmingham. Just over two years ago a group of 11 men and women agreed to build, not just their own, but each other's homes.

Kevin McCloud returns to Wales to visit Adrian and Corrina, who have decided that their first home will be a 300-year-old ruin. The cottage is set in the Brecon Beacons National Park, Corrina and Adrian have a very small budget and an enormous amount of work to do to return the ruin to its former glory but they are eager and seemingly undaunted by the scale of the project. But how will they cope when the elements suddenly turn on them?

Kevin McCloud revisits Sharon and Tony Relph a couple who hoped to restore a dilapidated Georgian house in London to its former glory. Once 200 years of redecoration and refurbishment had been stripped away, the property boasted elegant period features, but the pair still had to overcome daunting interior decay problems.

Kevin McCloud returns for a second visit to The Water Tower. As one of Grand Design's first projects, Andrew Tate and Deborah Mills found a site with a monstrous, dilapidated, 100 foot tall water tower on it. Unusually, they saw it as the perfect spot to build a contemporary family home and convert the old water tower into a seven-storey bedroom wing. Andrew is a commercial architect and so the modern new build went up in just four months, using fast-track methods alongside unconventional building materials. Kevin went back to see Andrew and Deborah three years after they had moved into their contemporary extension, but they had still made no progress on the water tower, and were living with minimal bedroom space.

Kevin McCloud returns to south Devon to revisit Sue Charman and Martin Whitlock whose dream was to create a family home which feels part of the earth, using old English building techniques. They were not starting from scratch, but rebuilding two ancient run-down barns. Environmental concerns were extremely important to them, but did they manage to realise their vision of rebuilding the barns in same meticulous way they were built originally, whilst incorporating energy efficient, 21st century technology?