Grand Designs returns....

[cla5h]

Hey, nowt wrong with the Ercol/G Plan stuff. That coffee table for example is a future classic in the making.

There are a couple of places doing it now in the Clydeside Antiques warehouse - better quality than the tat down the Barras.

[kenny]

Bumparama.

This is looking expensive already.

And will leak...

[ikarl]

really enjoyed that episode.....it's good to see something different from the norm

[j2 lot]

I thought it was simply stunning from outside when it was complete.

[kenny]

Well if a cold war era style concrete bunker floats yer boat..

I thought it was biggest pile of crap for yet another Architect to showpiece their practice and their vain version of eco pretentiousness. I notice they didn't show the inside of the barn/office or the courtyard in the ruin, I suspect they had blown the cash and it was a shell still.

I would also have been interested in just how economical it actually turned out to be but how it was ventilated (other than the shots of the hideous exposed ductwork), how warm/cool it was in the end out and running costs were not discussed in any detail or if they were I missed it.

The programmes with the naive and hopelessly bewildered guy trying to build his eccentric dreamhome on a showstring are better.

[ruadh08]

Why anyone would want to live in an airless home, dug into the ground, with no views whatsover, despite being in a lovely part of the country, beats me!

[MacK]

I would also have been interested in just how economical it actually turned out to be but how it was ventilated (other than the shots of the hideous exposed ductwork), how warm/cool it was in the end out and running costs were not discussed in any detail or if they were I missed it.

It was mentioned at the outset it would have a Heat Recovery Ventilation System, to provide fresh air/extract air. Never saw any of it though, other than the "stainless steel" (aye right) spiral ducting.

Also noticed the log burner fire/stove for a house that needed no heating.

In the end though I thought it looked pretty good.

[cla5h]

I liked the look of it too.

No idea about whether the heating, ventilation, etc. would work as described, but liked the idea of the house being at the bottom of a hill giving a secluded garden/courtyard thing.

[kenny]

It was mentioned at the outset it would have a Heat Recovery Ventilation System, to provide fresh air/extract air. Never saw any of it though, other than the "stainless steel" (aye right) spiral ducting.

Ah right, I missed the first couple of minutes. I suspected it would have that but I would like to have heard more about it, usually Kevin goes into it in more detail on these things. Can’t help wondering that the fabulously airtight building that they did make a big deal of in the programme will make ventilating an area the size of two Olympic swimming pools as he described it rather costly in the long run.

Yeah, and noticed the log burner as well, if they ever do a revisited to that one in the future I will put money on heating having been installed as well. Can’t imagine the prison like shower room will be much fun in winter.

[jason]

Kevin's early suspicions that it was going to look a bit Walt Disney with the (now) folly on top were proven right IMHO.

I thought the whole point was to have only the barn visible, yet rendered concrete jutting out beneath - with it's uneasy marriage to the stonework above - was clearly visible from the road. Left me completely cold. Pair of overly smug architects building an antiseptic marketing exercise. Kevin was way too kind to them.

I too prefer the naive, amateur, self-build projects.


Was there not a sealed house with no heating built in a previous Grand Designs series? Sure I remember seeing the same thing, with pressure test, no opening windows, etc (maybe it was a different program)

[Mike Scib]

Bump!

[MacK]

Bump!

Ta

[kenny]

Unusual twist to the start of this one

[MacK]

Unusual twist to the start of this one

Yea, didn't see that one coming!

[j2 lot]

Absolutely. Let's hope there isn't the usual pregnancy in this one or Kevin will be a stick on for it.