Grand Designs: (Channel 4 Wednesday 25 October 2023)

Grand Designs: airs Wednesday 25 October 2023 on Channel 4.

What is this episode about

Kevin McCloud continues to follow some of Britain’s most daring self-building projects, where brave souls try to create their ideal dwelling from scratch. Graeme and Melanie’s daughters, Isla, 15, and Indi, 13, along with their parents, have lofty goals for their new Hackney home. To mark and solidify their new blended family, they would like to use the house.

The only catch is that they want to construct on a very small plot (the size of two garages) with no extra land for a whopping £275,000 total. Even though the street it’s on is typical Victorian terrace, architect Graeme has come up with an unabashedly modernist, bright red design. The interior will be strategically designed to make the most of the house’s three stories, especially the new basement, which will house the girls’ bedrooms.

The schedule is only 12 months long, despite the difficulty of excavating four metres deep in a confined urban site. From the get-go, Melanie and Graeme are met with an onslaught of difficulties: their main contractor pulls out of building the basement because of rising material costs; their mortgage rate skyrockets; construction delays aggravate the neighbours; and so on.

Graeme and Melanie are so committed to making their home something special and meaningful that they are willing to ship bespoke floor tiles designed by Mel all the way from Marrakech, despite the fact that they are both exhausted and under a lot of pressure. A final bombshell, however, threatens their hopes just as the project is about to be completed.

When can we see the episode

Grand Designs: airs Wednesday 25 October 2023 at 9:00pm on Channel 4

Featured Image Credit: Channel 4