Grand Designs On Now Ch4

[Jasandjules]

Well, I think it was rather unfair to get a unanimous vote of acceptance which is then retracted because it was not in writing. I don't know why he didn't just use the GD footage of the vote etc.. as evidence? Because waiting 18 months for the same thing to happen again just seems wrong to me.

I bet he loves his new neighbour.....

How did he actually manage to build the house 3ft (or 6ft, depending on which measurement you use it seems) too high? GD was not clear on what approval he got etc.. because presumably there would have been measurements on the application which notes the height of the "stilts"...

[scotal]

Falling water was built for a very rich family. The mill cost ~£120k I think.

One of the problems with the Mill is that there is no water there.

Falling water is also held together with steel cables these days (the balcony wings on the sides of the house were begining to droop.)

Planning for something radical would have been a bugger to get I bet.

[scotal]

Jasandjules said:

How did he actually manage to build the house 3ft (or 6ft, depending on which measurement you use it seems) too high? GD was not clear on what approval he got etc.. because presumably there would have been measurements on the application which notes the height of the "stilts"...

I wondered this, and i suspect he knew from the getgo that he was outside planning but took the "once its up they wont make me take it down view"

They alluded to him using the balcony as a datum point for the height of the building, I did wonder if the plans used ground level as that point.

[sleep envy]

blade runner said:

Agree. What a stunning waste of a fabulous hill-side plot... I'm amazed he ever got planning permission for something quite so ugly and out of character. Who ever heard of a water mill on the side of a 'waterless' hill anyway? The barn he had the frame stored in was actually far nicer than the finished house itself. And what was all that about staining the (natural) cedar wood that revolting artificial orange colour? Left alone, cedar would have mellowed just fine over a few years and blended into the woodland perfectly.

With a plot like that why not do somethething a bit more interesting? So much potential from that site so utterly wasted. Personally, I'd have done something more like Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water on a plot like that.

without water?

[blade runner]

sleep envy said:

blade runner said:

Agree. What a stunning waste of a fabulous hill-side plot... I'm amazed he ever got planning permission for something quite so ugly and out of character. Who ever heard of a water mill on the side of a 'waterless' hill anyway? The barn he had the frame stored in was actually far nicer than the finished house itself. And what was all that about staining the (natural) cedar wood that revolting artificial orange colour? Left alone, cedar would have mellowed just fine over a few years and blended into the woodland perfectly.

With a plot like that why not do somethething a bit more interesting? So much potential from that site so utterly wasted. Personally, I'd have done something more like Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water on a plot like that.

without water?

Obviously...

[scotal]

blade runner said:

sleep envy said:

without water?

Obviously...

Stagnant Dust? Doesn't have quite the same ring to it.

[sleep envy]

scotal said:

blade runner said:

sleep envy said:

without water?

Obviously...

Stagnant Dust? Doesn't have quite the same ring to it.

doesn't qite work without the water

would love to know the build cost of that though - stunning dwelling

[scotal]

sleep envy said:

scotal said:

blade runner said:

sleep envy said:

without water?

Obviously...

Stagnant Dust? Doesn't have quite the same ring to it.

doesn't qite work without the water

would love to know the build cost of that though - stunning dwelling

The mill or falling water.

I'm sure they said the mill had gone a bit over budget at £120k+

Falling water (wiki link)

"At the time of its construction, the house cost a total of $155,000. broken down as follows: house $75,000, finishing and furnishing $22,000, guest house, garage and servants quarters $50,000, architect's fee $8,000. Accounting for inflation, this translates to about $2.3 million in 2007 dollars."

[sleep envy]

the mill doesn't work at all IMO

falling water doesn't work without the water

[clonmult]

sleep envy said:

the mill doesn't work at all IMO

falling water doesn't work without the water

So dust isn't a viable alternative to water?????

[blade runner]

sleep envy said:

falling water doesn't work without the water

I didn't say 'do falling water', I just gave it as an example of an alternative style of house built on a steep hill-side plot.

[monthefish]

ehyouwhat said:

Bloody Channel 4 and their timings - looks like Sky+ missed the end of the programme yet again (it missed it last week too).

[GreatGranny]

Agree with HS, he was an arrogant selfish arse who used the build as a way to run away from his normal life whilst leaving his wife to carry the can.

The planning Department didn't handle the situation very well but if he had bothered to do everything by the book he could have avoided all the stress and hassle.

The end product looked hideous, white UVPC windows in a wood window? Yuk!

It was such a waste of a great piece of land.

I feel sorry for his wife and family more.

I bet it took a lot of persuasion to get her in the house for the end piece.

GD is fast becoming 'How not to build a house'.

[monthefish]

GreatGranny said:

GD is fast becoming 'How not to build a house'.

I think it's becoming less about the 'design' and more about the 'drama'.

There always needs to be be some 'angle' that KM goes on about at the start of the program (pre-music), that's supposed to 'intigue' you into watching.....

[BigBen]

scotal said:

They alluded to him using the balcony as a datum point for the height of the building, I did wonder if the plans used ground level as that point.

I wondered if the problem was ground level at the back of the house PRIOR to the hillside being excavated was more or less the same level as the balcony, perhaps three feet under. The planning datum was ground level at the front of the house hence the 3ft becoming 2m later

Ben

[Hub]

It wasn't finished either, so is an ideal candidate for a 'revisited' episode in a later series - you know, where they play the entire episode again bar about 5 minutes where they catch up with what has happened since!

[Simpo Two]

monthefish said:

GreatGranny said:

GD is fast becoming 'How not to build a house'.

I think it's becoming less about the 'design' and more about the 'drama'.

There always needs to be be some 'angle' that KM goes on about at the start of the program (pre-music), that's supposed to 'intigue' you into watching.....

Well yes, watching a bunch of ordinary builders making a Barratt Box would be rather dull.

It was hardly a 'mill', just a house with a wheel on the end. And without the wheel, it's just a house.

[scotal]

monthefish said:

GreatGranny said:

GD is fast becoming 'How not to build a house'.

I think it's becoming less about the 'design' and more about the 'drama'.

There always needs to be be some 'angle' that KM goes on about at the start of the program (pre-music), that's supposed to 'intigue' you into watching.....

Its always had that. It would be a pretty short lived concept if every week we saw 2 completely normal, non-arty people with 9-5 jobs execute a well designed (if unimaginative) house on a bog standard plot on the edge of a pretty village, and the planning went well, the neighbours were lovely the couple were sensible, the project manager stayed to the end of the job, they didnt use some "revolutionary" new build system that their contractor didnt understand and actually brought the whole thing in on time, and on buedget except they spent extra to get an electronic garage door opener, no these near car crash schemes are much better telly.


You want ordinary selfbuild, read the selfbuilder mags.

[sleep envy]

funny how no one commented on this last week when he had commissioned the right consultants...

something worth noting

[Tuna]

scotal said:

Its always had that. It would be a pretty short lived concept if every week we saw 2 completely normal, non-arty people with 9-5 jobs execute a well designed (if unimaginative) house on a bog standard plot on the edge of a pretty village, and the planning went well, the neighbours were lovely the couple were sensible, the project manager stayed to the end of the job, they didnt use some "revolutionary" new build system that their contractor didnt understand and actually brought the whole thing in on time, and on buedget except they spent extra to get an electronic garage door opener, no these near car crash schemes are much better telly.


You want ordinary selfbuild, read the selfbuilder mags.

Agreed - given the planning system, conservatism and NIMBY house owners, you have to be a nutter to produce anything that has much flair in this country. GD is about houses that are brave enough to stand out, so pretty much by definition they're going to be built by brave or mad people.

As for the stuff about drama on the show, very, very few people build homes like these, even fewer are 'serial developers'. So again, most of the builds have drama and chaos because the people involved haven't done it before. It's tough putting together something as complex as a house build - and even tougher the moment you step away from bog standard Barrat boxes.

Not sure how I feel about the neighbour - it looks like the guy quite deliberately built too high, but at the same time it smacked of NIMBYism. The neighbour had a nice plot next to some land that had been bought 20 years ago. He was probably quite smug about the nice open space next to his house, but has no right to expect it not to be built on.