Did anyone watch Grand Designs last night?

saw the second of the Castleford regeneration programs last night (missed the first). was depressing. people not listening to people, vandalism, bribery, ugly monoliths...

http://www.channel4.com/4homes/on-tv/kevin-s-big-town-plan/?intcmp=docpage_box3

this motherfucker tonight made my blood boil, i fervently hope he's penniless, miserable alone and itchy tonight wherever the fuck he is

just awful. kevin mcloud is a better man than me.

awful awful awful, right down to the martyred siege mentality so prevalent amongst the most shining examples of celtic tiger idiocy. I couldn't even enjoy the inevitable, seething as i was in a mental red mist of 'I'M PAYING FOR THIS YOU PRICK I'M PAYING FOR THIS YOU PRICK' i may write to the producers demanding a less sympathetic summation from a finnish economist

the irish guy was a bit ridic - basically eschewing plans and drawings in favour of blarney.

i did like the plywood box house, specifically the way they had a laser cutter on site and could tweak things as required (fortunately given that they'd overlooked stuff. lol, fine art students...)

his sunday night show is a bit of fluff though, the kind of thing dick strawbridge would present...

otm the plywood was neat

sunday night show is increasingly icky. dogshit and deer brains tonight.

horrible woman

dreadful! And the place looked like an orgy of mobile homes.

a must-see huh?

I kind of applaud them for sticking to their contemporary guns int eh face of all the old white privilege "though shalt not enter the 20th century" bullshit, but at the same time I wish they'd just built something a litte more subtle: so many of the contemporary / modernist boxes they build on GD are so bloody large that they don't ever seem clever or imbued with personality. I'm always far more impressed by the ones they build on tiny, awkward plots - and whilst this was a relatively awkward plot, they still stuck a 3-storey mobile-home-orgy (great description!) on it.

what got me is how the neighbours hated the idea of anything new but seemed to be ok with the rotting carcass that was there before. and the new one seemed to overhang the river less - better for the neighbours.

am guessing the feelings around that neck of the woods are running a bit higher after the program has aired...

also, lol at ex-husband demolishing the old house and then moving away

How have I never posted on this thread before? I love GD. We had a fridge magnet of Kevin for about 4 years ffs. I own one of his books.

i agree, SM, it's not that the riverfront didn't need relief from the stuffy archetype, i just didn't think the couple did it with any grace nor flair. The build wouldn't have fitted in anywhere, really.

Think that kevin has been cheerleading increasingly indefensible projects this series, which might make for better 'tv' but hasn't improved the show imo

It was an interesting build, but only for the difficulty of the plot and the little elements of teutonic perfection in the execution of eg fired clay exterior (not enough of this vs 'let's interview another dreadful entitled rich person')

this programme is turning me into a marxist

steady on

i mean i'm having visions of a higher rate of tax of i dunno 90%

it was good enough for my parents

spent 380k on tower, quotes on build brings it over a million

a friend let them half a mil

what do the ppl on grand designs do? we need to be told. roscommon cunt still has me clenching in rage

> what do the ppl on grand designs do?

"property portfolio"

hmm yeah

i mean gluck to him but really let's have a proper 'ten years on' follow up on these ppl where they live in the bahamas having given up the house to the bank with 2m arrears owed, kvetching about how the suits just 'didn't understand their vision, the brutes'

last two have both been loads of money with disappointing (imo) results. yes, the view was nice in that first one, but the rooms were all smaller than average - throw a party for more than 30 people and it'll have to spread over at least 2 floors.

what's more interesting, to me, is George Clarke's Amazing Spaces on tuesdays where people are doing small things on 4 or 5 figure budgets, not 7. (that said, programme itself is a bit of a mongrel - following one project, highlighting others and doing one himself - so you end up with not much detail on anything)

i think that the new turn gd has taken is somewhat samey, offputting and boring- unlimited cash budgets funding 'i'm so individual' brats.

Last night's turned out better than expected, but tbh it was like clocking a game on cheat mode with all the money involved. And kevin was just trolling in overemphasising the lighting aspects throughout, coming over all amazed at the end when they solved it by putting in.....lights. Seriously, didn't see that coming?

These people are spending huge money on vanity projects, which, fair enough, has almost always been the MO of the programme. But they are all booooring, identikit superprivileged who want to get on grand designs.

and SO MANY lights. i'd hate their lecky bills.

obligatory 'sooo cheap to heat' ref at the end oh fuck you, you just spent three million on a marble staircase don't fuckin come over all worried about either household bills or the general wellbeing of the planet now you chancer.

Anyone who needs that much vanilla marble has emotional problems that will not be solved by any amount of vanilla marble.

Haven't seen the George 'Arthur C' Clarke programme yet but it does seem more appealing, even if he doesn't.

My favourite GDs are almost always were interesting people do creative things with small budgets. City cocks with marble staircases can fuck off.

omfg at the underground toilet conversion on the George Clarke programme.

tube trains on the roof. downside: you have to wear your coats in the winter...

The dancefloor is cool, but 25 grand. Ouch.

fuckin cuuuuunts

Kind of skirted over the "how are you getting on with your neighbours now" issue.

Skirted around. Scooted over?

new series tonight, 21:00 on 4

(have been watching old favourite This Old House on quest for the last couple of weeks. how GD used to be)

how is this any different from grand designs?

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/building-the-dream/episode-guide

"Architectural designer Charlie Luxton helps people build dream homes that are both amazing and affordable"

maybe it's Grand Designs for people who don't have a cool two mil two spend, i.e. they only have a cool 500k.

the converted cinema in GD this week was <450k

but, yeah, is more4 so suggests it's a budget version

Fuckwits

^ post every week at this time tbf

am watching this now and am curious when in the programme the above was posted. was it at first use of the phrase 'eco taxi'?

or "14 neighbours' fences"? or "lap pool"?

it's all a bit of a blur

specifically, alex james i spose, had i to pick

ha.

next week's looks promising - "the kitchen is the mothership of the home", "rhythmic spaces"...

i think the cheapo more4 version may actually turn out better.

Yeah it seemed much more promising.

GD has become a programme about schadenfreude, o'erweening pride and planning struggles. Last night was ten mins of house forty mins of difficulties ten mins of whinging about difficulties (usually, obv, self inflicted)

Just tell us about the plan, show us the build, pick out the details, show us the house! Dont dwell on the fact that ignoring yr architect or running yr own project or triumphantly taking on neighbours, planners or the bank is idiocy- we know!

Just, yknow. The house. Show it.

Building The Dream (just watched) is a second class Grand Designs. i wonder how the people feel when ch4 turn them down for GD and then suggest they do BtD. and it's not like they do a lot of GD - half a dozen a year or so, some of which are 'revise repeats'. i guess it's kevin's availability. that said, he's fannying around building sheds...

has a lot of the same problems though. 400k and not 1M, yes, but there's still something about it. marketing manager, tax advisor, parent's garden, village they grew up in, 'party house', the aga, the wire basket full of corks etc. presenter keeps asking 'will they listen to my advice?' not quite to sarah beaney levels but still. also, the false jeopardy - will they make it in for the random deadline that they picked out the air?

(and the massive, sad, irony being that given both his parents died in the last two years the house he grew up in, next door, is now empty)

i want to know why they are building it that way, and how, the details, the insulation, the moisture barriers etc. This Old House does this well. GD used to.

Would watch four hour program (or even whole channel) entitled 'aimlessly poking about other folks houses' tbh

there was 'britain's best home' or something, on ch4 in, er, 2003 which was pretty much this. every other one had a le corbusier lounger.

I think I might have seen this on ILM originally but this posh, architect oriented estate agent's website is a nice Sunday rabbit hole.

http://www.themodernhouse.net/

^ should have kept my parents' Ercol furniture . . .

and then there's this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03bjq4d

The House That £100k Built

"With house prices out of the reach of many people and banks refusing to lend, buying a home in the UK is becoming an impossible dream. So a few brave but ordinary souls are trailblazing what could be the solution for all of us - trying to build their own house from scratch."

"Will he be able to finish the house and pay his parents back?" DUN-DUN-DUH