The first episode of the new 25th series is a fabulous example of this. It has one of the best couples the show has ever seen: passionate interior designer Sarah and her preternaturally ambitious architect husband Howard, who claims upfront: “Our perfect project is something that’s almost unimaginably difficult. That other people go: ‘No, that’s impossible.'”
It took three years to complete Howard and Sarah’s floating home (Photo: Rob Brown)
The engineering, which involves prefabricated giant steel plates sandwiched between polystyrene to help the structure float (remember, it is being built on mud amidst a rising tide) is entirely “experimental”. Much of the build seems ad-hoc and strangely amateur.
But where are all the other many builders this job presumably needs? One of Howard and Sarah’s sons is helping out a bit to pay his father back for some money he had borrowed but there doesn’t ever seem to be quite enough professionals on site to make their dream house a reality.
Kevin McCloud likens the house to something from Star Wars (Photo: Rob Brown)After three years, there’s finally a dwelling on the water. A sort of houseboat. A really ugly one. “Like a floating warehouse,” murmurs one local. “Like Darth Vader’s boat house,” says McCloud, twirling his linen scarf with delight, later referring to a giant roof window as “like something out of a Star Wars episode”. I’m not sure McCloud has ever seen Star Wars, because the structure looks less like the Death Star and more like a forbidding naval vessel, a stark angry-looking thing with sharp corners and timber-clad, mirrored rooms that might have been designed by Travelodge.
The resulting house is sparse and underwhelming (Photo: Rob Brown)
But the whole thing is still a joy to watch – Howard and Sarah have unfathomable amounts of patience and energy, and are so very pleased with the end (over-budget and delayed) result. Usually, Grand Designs couples are on the verge of divorce but these two look like they’ve just been on a romantic spa break, even if Sarah does admit they are “a little weary”.
‘Grand Designs’ continues next Wednesday at 9pm on Channel 4
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