Grand Designs is a British television series that first aired in 1999 on Channel 4. The show is hosted by Kevin McCloud and focuses on unique architectural projects, typically involving the construction or renovation of innovative, often ambitious, homes.
1. Knock down (Phrasal verb)
- Definition: to demolish or destroy a building or structure.
- Example: “They’re going to knock down the old cinema to build a new shopping centre.”
2. No compromise (idiom)
- Definition: A phrase indicating a refusal to accept anything less than one’s full demands or desires.
- Example: “He was adamant about the project details; he said ‘no compromise‘ on the quality of materials.”
3. Jaw-dropping (Adjective)
- Definition: Adjective describing something that is astonishing or impressive, often to the point of leaving one speechless.
- Example: “The magician’s trick was absolutely jaw-dropping; no one could figure out how he did it.”
4. Excavation (Noun)
- Definition: The act of digging out or removing earth or rock to uncover something or to create space.
- Example: “Archaeologists are excavating the site to find historical artefacts.”
5. Maritime (phrase)
- Definition: Relating to navigation or commerce on the sea or in reference to naval affairs.
- Example: “The city has a rich maritime, but I think we need to consider selling the house.”
6. Horrendous (Adjective)
- Definition: Extremely unpleasant, horrifying, or terrible.
- Example: “The traffic on the highway was horrendous on the holiday weekend.”
7. Perseverance (Noun)
- Definition: Steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.
- Example: “Her perseverance through medical school was truly inspirational.”
8. Defiant (Adjective)
- Definition: Showing bold resistance to authority or an opposing force; boldly resistant or challenging.
- Example: “The protesters were defiant in the face of police warnings.”
[Music]
Edward and Hazel’s project felt it might run onto the rocks from the moment they knocked down their 1950s home. Strange set of emotions because it’s a family home.
Oh my God.
Excavating deep into the cliffs, they were determined to build a great complex of Art Deco maritime buildings.
I was wondering whether you think you could have compromised here.
No compromise. No. No.
Costs ran into the millions. The pressures to keep their dream alive were horrendous.
All our money is gone, all borrowed, and it’s all gambled.
After 7 years, the building was still a gigantic steel and concrete shell.
I’ve just got to get out of this mess really… can’t come this far and give up.
The whole project, mired in debt, had finally run aground.
The end game could still be bankruptcy.
And Edward and Hazel’s hopes and dreams were but a wreckage. All in all, there are six bedrooms in this modernist Rockstar pad. The rather vast main kitchen and living space will enjoy uninterrupted views across the pool to the sea beyond and will connect via a small flight of stairs to the main tower and to the dining room, glazed with 9 ft high windows. Above this will be a dressing room on the third floor of the lighthouse, the master bedroom, and at the very top, a glazed observation room, Edward’s storm room. A pretty jaw-dropping canter access road will hang midair as it sweeps down from the main road, and as if there weren’t drama enough, time will add its own cliffhanger, literally, as the sandstone erodes over the years, leaving the building to float above the sea.
The diagnosis for the build was bleak. The main lighthouse complex was a huge concrete carcass. The much smaller eye at least gave a clue as to what might have been. Oh well, it’s they’re descending into a grotto.
It’s nice to have the opportunity to show you something I finished.
But the impact of this project had taken its toll on Edward and Hazel’s relationship.
We parted company last year. Uh, I mean, it’s, I’ve been put through a horrendous time with this, you know, knocking a family home down, not building another one, all our money into it, no one’s got any idea what the outcome is. I don’t think it gets much worse than that for a partner. So, um, that’s the guilt I have to take on the chin. My ambition and vanity is probably what collapsed the marriage. So that’s that. I think that’s probably the truth.
With total debts amounting to nearly £4 million, Edward was struggling to keep ownership of this project. No one would buy the eye at the premium price he needed because of the hazardous building site next door, and he would have to borrow huge amounts of money to complete the lighthouse.
Well, by Neptune, there is at least a lighthouse. Oh my giddy aunt, the rotunda punctures the skyscape and stands so proudly on this headland as if it had always been there. That looks finished. I mean, that is oh superb, and it’s got furniture in it. I mean, somebody’s living here. That’s it. Oh my lord, it’s a complete complex of buildings. Wow. The entire new wing to this building is now in place, and it is huge. A 3D grid of steel, glass, and white render that together sing of the romance of Art Deco, as does the 60 ft long infinity pool. Oh, the pool is full and lapping where once there was slumped a barnacle of botched ambition, there now stands a defiant monument to perseverance. It’s the kind of thing that a billionaire oligarch would put out off the coast of Greece, you know. Skos to my left, Bristol Channel to my right. Only from the sea can you fully appreciate the vastness of this place, but as you weave to the back of the building, there’s a more secluded, less formal character to be found, albeit still on a grand scale. Wow. Everything here is epic: epic architecture, epic rock face, epic motorway flyover.
How Edward has managed to finish his Bond villain’s lair is mystifying. So you are going to sell it.
So the investor in this, which is a property development lender, yeah. So they have said it should be sold, and it will be sold together. The two houses, they have to go together.
The I and this. The debt and the servicing of that loan, there is no..
If someone came along and cleared the debts, buying this and didn’t, and said you can have that, I’m not going to say no, Kevin. Yeah, you can have a little dream, but it’s unrealistic.
Remarkably, Edward has managed to finance this building to completion, but he will never live in his beloved lighthouse. I’m not sure I’ll ever get to see a project like this again, but on this outcrop of North Devon, no one will ever forget whose lighthouse this really is.
- What do you think of the house?
- Do you prefer modern or more traditional homes?
- Would you like to live by the sea?
- Would you be worried about the erosion of the cliff?
- Do you prefer minimalistic houses?
