Grand Designs Wed 13th Feb

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

What a stinker. An unremarkable box set into a slope and as for that irritating woman... are they friends of his? That's the only reason I could see for them being on the series.

[sm_jamieson]

And it was only granted planning since it was to be a building of outstanding architectural merit. Friends of the planners as well ? I note he was a Managing Director (nicely not a CEO) of a "design" company. Simon.

[mogga]

I did like the bookcased room. It had lovely views but until that last room they could have stuck with the cottage they'd had for me! In the meantime are they holiday letting the cottage? If they're waiting for their son to be old enough to live on his own before putting him into it, then it's just sat empty?

[DM]

I suppose there were considerable restrictions which limited the options

Strangely enough I found her a lot more pleasant than the usual suspects. She came across as a lot more honest, and was prepared to have a laugh about herself.

cheers

David

[Doctor Drivel]

I didn't see the beginning. What was the situation on planning? Was it in Greenbelt. etc?

[teddysnips]

Were we watching the same programme? If that was an unremarkable box then I'd love to see what you think a remarkable box would look like. Irritating woman? She was delightful, intelligent, amusing and amused, and she made the builders bacon butties (ok, the cameras were there). Much better and more interesting than that horrible mess in Oxford earlier in the series, that looked like a poorly-designed primary school (though it had a wonderful wall)

Edward

[Doctor Drivel]

One weathered the cladding will set the house off. I think this house is one that in real life looks 100% better than pictures.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I would like to see it again in a few years with mature landscaping and when the cladding etc has weathered in. And I quite liked the interior.

I thought she was rather fun. Didn't exactly try and say how good she was at project managing either like so many do with the project falling apart. The builders obviously liked her too.

[boltmail]

Yes, and I think the lime kilns were listed as well.

[Doctor Drivel]

Yes, and I think the lime kilns were listed as well.

[boltmail]

[Doctor Drivel]

[Peter Johnson]

Me too. Interesting that the programme spent quite a lot of time on the final visit. There can't have too many problems during construction to make exciting TV. I also wondered why there was no interview with the architect - you'd think that someone newly started would want to be involved in a TV prog.

[Andy Burns]

They mentioned having demolished a barn on the site (before the filming began)

[Adrian Simpson]

In article , Peter Johnson writes

If the project (rather than the design) turned out to be a disaster, would you want your face appearing in the programme with it ?. I've noticed in some earlier programmes, some faces have been pixelated.

Adrian

[Antony Jones]

I agree with Dave on this. The only problem I had with the design was all the straight lines... I know it would have cost more, but a curved roof (curved in two planes preferably) and facade would have looked more organic and sympathetic to the environs. The engineered timber they were using should have made that possible. Also, perhaps using some stone to fit in with the lime kilns might have worked - in fact a larger, modern take on the kilns might have looked pretty good.

Of course, we have no idea how hideous the barn was that stood beforehand...

-Antony.

[Andy Wade]

Me three - much more homely-looking than any of the other neo-modernist boxes they've covered.

I'm not sure about the wiring though - at one point we saw a cable tie being applied round an enormous bundle of T&E cables, although whether permanent or temporary wasn't clear. The phrase "grouping factors" came to mind though. There also seemed to be some distinctly less than vertical drops through studwork.