Tonight’s new series of Grand Designs kicks off with a “superman” style property worth £1.5 million.
Channel 4’s Grand Designs is back with a brand new series tonight, with Kevin McCloud set to visit a couple building an impractically-designed £1.5 million property in tonight’s episode, RadioTimes.com can exclusively reveal.
In a first-look at tonight’s premiere, McCloud visits Claire and Joe in south Devon, who’re building a complicated 70 metre long house and quickly start to encounter problems as their budget doubles in size when the first walls go up.
“It’s like being on the set for superman,” McCloud says as he visits the property, which the couple commit to spending £1.5 million on, before questioning Joe and Claire’s designs of the grand building.
“They’re both so removed from the design process, they haven’t hugely considered what it’ll be like to live in,” McCloud says in a voiceover, before we watch him point out to the couple that the property’s showers are on the other side of the house to the gym.
“Where are the bins? What are they doing there? Why have you put them next to the bedroom?” he asks. “You need the bins by the kitchen.”
“I’ve not really thought practicalities,” Claire responds.
The episode, which will see the couple try to build “one of the best homes on the planet”, is the first of the new series, which McCloud has revealed is set to explore “eco-experimentalism, wild design, planning issues, conversation and craftsmanship”.
“We have an expression of success and arrival with one of the largest houses we’ve ever filmed that looks like Superman’s Crystal Fortress, except it’s not in the North Pole, but near Exeter. There’s also a poignant story of bereavement and family; a house for a widow designed and built out of love in effect.
“Plus, there is a small and inexpensive triangular house crafted by a passionate expert in wood and built on one of the most difficult sites that I’ve ever encountered.”
The new series of Grand Designs starts tonight (Wednesday 1st September) at 9pm on Channel 4. Catch up on All 4. Looking for something else to watch? Check out our TV Guide.