Grand Designs Season 8

Mark Seen

Cheltenham Jan 16, 2008 A couple who live in a Regency house in Cheltenham that is expensive to run decide to sell up and build a modern low maintenance house in their back garden. However, height restrictions mean they have to build 60 per cent of their new home underground and neighbours make 90 complaints about their planning application. Undeterred, the pair continue as planned, but the project encounters further problems including the departure of the builders.

Mark Seen

Oxford Jan 23, 2008 Henry Chopping finds his plans to build a new home in Oxford hampered by a listed wall and planning restrictions. With a budget of over three quarters of a million Henry is determined to make his dream home a reality.

Mark Seen

Bristol: The Modernist Sugar Cube Jan 30, 2008 An architect plans to build a new house for his family using only white materials. He ends up using stuff more commonly used in commercial buildings.

Mark Seen

Gothic House Feb 6, 2008 Jo and Shaun Bennett want to build an Addams Family style Gothic house with a £400,000 budget. With the challenge growing bigger than they ever imagined they face financial problems and struggle to stay within their budget.

Mark Seen

Midlothian Feb 13, 2008 Pru and Richard make plans to build a bespoke family home on an industrial site in the middle of the Midlothian countryside.However, the plot of land, an old industrial site complete with lime kilns, comes with a condition. They can build on it only if they become custodians of the kilns, and more importantly, that the house they build blends in with the landscape.It's a huge challenge and Pru and Richard want to build an uncompromisingly modern and, moreover, large box of a house. It could become a blot on the landscape instead of an enhancement. Pru and Richard sensibly plan to start building in the summer, but because it is an industrial site, are forced to do numerous soil tests. The build is delayed until the harsh Scottish winter.With Richard grafting hard to pay for the build, it's down to Pru, a food writer, to project manage. Naively she doesn't consider this a full time job, but when her trusty builder goes away and she is left to manage alone, she starts to realise just what she's let herself in for. This giant of a house is a giant of a project. Until it's complete, nobody is quite sure whether it will fulfill its brief.

Mark Seen

Bath Feb 20, 2008 Kevin attempts to help helps Tiffany and Jonny with their dream of creating an ultra-modern, eco-friendly home in Bath in the west country.Rather than go down the traditional building route, Tiffany and Jonny opted for a German pre-fabricated kit house with great green credentials.But before they could even think about building their house they had to prepare their site: a fiercely steep hillside. Tiffany and Jonny embarked on the biggest ground works project Grand Designs has ever seen, costing around £300,000.And, just when they were about to complete these mammoth works, the weather turned bad and disaster struck. Their neighbour's wall collapsed in a storm. The resulting damage could have cost them nearly £100,000. Determined to carry on, even through 80 tonnes of extra mud, Tiffany and Jonny persevered, and a year into their project, were finally able to go to Germany to choose their house. Every fixture and fitting had to be decided and, once made, no changes were allowed.Now, with the promise of the house taking only five days to go up on site, and with no possibility of landslides, hopefully their build will now run smoothly.

Mark Seen

Puglia Revisited Apr 2, 2008 In Maidstone, Jean and Bill Letley, a septuagenarian couple plan a highly contemporary bungalow complete with underfloor heating and prototype steel foundations. The project would test even the most accomplished workmen, but is left to their daughter and son-in-law, who have little building experience and have to make personal sacrifices.

Mark Seen

Peterborough Revisited Dec 15, 2010 Kevin returns to see how Pru and Richard Irvine fared one-and-a-half years after they began building their bespoke home in the Midlothian countryside.

Mark Seen

Pre Fab House Revisited

Mark Seen

Victorian Barn Revisited Kevin McCloud revisits Philip Trail and his wife Angela who moved to stress-free Surrey and renovated a 150-year-old threshing barn after Philip was diagnosed with a brain tumour.

Mark Seen

Cumbria Underground House Revisited Five years on, Kevin McCloud goes back to the wilds of Cumbria to see how the Reddy family have adapted to their ecologically sound earth-sheltered home.

Mark Seen

Maidstone: The Hi Tech Bungalow In Maidstone, Jean and Bill Letley, a septuagenarian couple plan a highly contemporary bungalow complete with underfloor heating and prototype steel foundations. The project would test even the most accomplished workmen, but is left to their daughter and son-in-law, who have little building experience and have to make personal sacrifices.