Grand Designs

- Season 11

(2011)

Kevin visits Stefan and Annia as they convert a mill cottage into a very large house by joining two cottages with a building that uses a lot of metal and glass. The cottages are made of original stone. The couple take 5 years and counting to build this house and the budget is overrun 3 times over. While this building is going on the family grows by two more.

Penny and Paul Denby are knocking down their million pound house to build a contemporary large home in London, the tripe glazed windows alone cost £200,000 and they had a new-on-the-market special coating to help heat retention in winter and dispersal of heat in summer.

Kevin follows the progress being made as Tim and Philomena O'Donovan, convert a lifeboat station in Tenby, Pembrokeshire, into a contemporary home.

A couple with one child restore a 500 year old barn on their parent's farm, to live in and have their Art studios integrated into this 7000 sq ft space.

A couple wish to build a home for the family from recycled materials, with no budget in mind or real deadline. The owner does most himself, but does get occasional help from friends who may be expert in their field. The show ends with only the frame and main roof in place, so there is much left still to do He is even making his own windows and staircase etc so everything takes a long time. 4 years go by, and still unfinished. The site has beautiful views. The couple think that another year will see the end of this project.

A young Stone Mason and his partner buy and restore an old 19 th century Silver Mine Engine House in Cornwall to live in. They paid £200,000 for the property and only have £100,000 borrowed from the bank to restore it.

A couple with two children build a 3 storey house with a large basement in London. It is situated at the end of a Mews housing row and there is a railway line at the back of the house. The house has many colours in it and the woman dreamt of a disco floor in the basement.

Kevin revisits a couple who are building near Lake Windermere in the Lake District. He runs out of money, but is lucky and a woman helps them out. After completion they realize that they better open up a luxury B &B to earn money to repay their debts.

Richard, an architect, and wife Sophie want to build a house that is eco friendly and has a giant brick arch that is the backbone of the building. While the build progresses they will live on site in a caravan (mobile home). This is a fairly rural site in Kent SE England. The build takes a year longer than planned and £200,000 more expensive, but the final product is magnificent. Two children are born in the time between when Kevin first meets them and when he makes the revisit.

Kevin revisits Denise and Bruno Del Tufo who six years ago set about transforming a concrete water tower in their back garden into an avant-garde contemporary home.

Kevin McCloud revisits Alan and Judith Dawson in west Cumbria, where they began constructing a prefabricated home in 2009.

A couple wish to build a modern minimalist house in Kent. The wife becomes the Project Manager whilst also looking after two children. Although they order components that are built offsite and some from Continental Europe, they have many companies supplying each part. Like many new builds they end up taking extra time.