Grand Designs - S26E04 - Hackney Revisit 2025
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CreativityTranscript
00:00If you have ever self-built, you will know that it involves bringing together a vast
00:07array of human energies, pooling all of your worldly resources while at the same time juggling
00:15family demands and all kinds of external emotions. Goodness me. And then if you do that in somewhere
00:21like London, our capital city, where things cost so much, you'll also understand that
00:27all of those problems are multiplied tenfold. I mean, for a start, where do you build? See what I mean?
00:38Four years ago, I met a family who faced all of these challenges and when it came to digging deep
00:46in every sense of that phrase, they were in a league of their own. Back in 2021, Graham and Mel
00:54planned to build a family-sized house on a tiny scrap of land. So what have you bought? Two
00:59garages with a little courtesy of land around it. It's a hole in the ground where we will be living.
01:03But an unfolding basement drama. Everything that pushes the end date back costs us money.
01:09Meant that by 2023, the house was still unfinished. Goodness me. If we don't believe in it, this whole
01:15thing could collapse. Hardly the happy ending they so wanted. They say that if you're in a hole, stop
01:23digging. Except that wasn't an option for Graham and Mel. A year and a half ago, I left them in agony
01:29over their subterranean torment. And so I had to come back and see whether they were able to finish
01:36the house above and below ground. But first, here's their story.
01:49Near Hackney Downs in northeast London lives this seemingly archetypal family.
02:09Graham and Mel, along with their girls, Isla and Indy. Yet this family has suffered more than its fair
02:16share of tragedy. Both girls have lost a parent. So we are creating a brand new family from two
02:24families. It's an ongoing process that Graham and I are going through and the girls.
02:30It's the hardest thing I've ever done. And it is totally unique to witness and to be part of.
02:38There are two families in one house.
02:40Graham's daughter, Isla, who is 15, lost her mom within weeks of Mel's 13-year-old daughter,
02:48Indy, losing her dad. We try to address the past, of course. You can't just bury it and not address it.
02:57Like all the different traditions in each family, we're trying to keep them alive.
03:01Mel's a graphic designer from Germany who's lived in London since 1996. She met Graham, an architect,
03:10at a wedding a few years ago. I was standing there asking my friend who this woman was in the red dress.
03:19And I made the move. So I guess, you know, we wouldn't be here without that.
03:25Yeah, love at first sight. Now, exciting times beckon for this blended family.
03:31Not only are Graham and Mel tying the knot in July 2022, Graham's designed an entirely new home for
03:37them all. I mean, I guess the house is symbolic. It represents an opportunity for us to make a
03:43statement about who we are as a family, that we love each other, that we're not going anywhere. And
03:49I'm doing this to create a safe place to land as a family and to build a future.
03:57A new home is just perfect, neutral ground for everyone to buy into.
04:03For Isla and Indy, the draw of a new home is a tad more pragmatic.
04:08They currently share a small bedroom in the family's rental.
04:10Having our own rooms means that we now have privacy and it's great.
04:15I think at the moment we have a curtain about this wide and it's a little bit see-through,
04:21so we'll have a wall now, which is great.
04:24So where are the family pinning their hopes for the future?
04:29On this very tiny twin garage plot.
04:32Let's see what's inside.
04:36Oh my God.
04:37With an area of just six by seven meters, the garages are less than half the footprint of the
04:43average UK home.
04:46It's hugely exciting.
04:49Nerve-racking.
04:50It's something that, you know, we've put all our savings into.
04:55It is a total adventure. I can't envisage it totally in my head. I know Graham can,
04:59and I trust him that he can do it.
05:02Well, I can't wait to find out how Graham can magic space from almost nowhere and build a vibrant
05:08family home from this.
05:11Hello.
05:11Hello.
05:12How are you?
05:13Good.
05:14So what have you bought? Two garages?
05:16Yep, two garages. It doesn't look much.
05:18How big is the land altogether?
05:19The land is about 66 square meters.
05:21How much was two garages?
05:23It was 275,000.
05:25Four years, yeah.
05:26Yeah.
05:27A few years ago you could buy a house for that.
05:28Yeah, exactly.
05:29So tell me what you're going to build.
05:32It's going to be a sculptural form, really. We wanted it to look amazing from all sides,
05:37and we're going to build a red house, which is crazy.
05:41It's quite a statement, I guess.
05:43This is a very polite London street with greenery and even white bunting,
05:48and you're building a red house.
05:50Yeah.
05:50Yeah.
05:51In terms of accommodation, what are you going to get?
05:54An easy description is it's an upside-down house.
05:56For example, you have living space on the top floor where all the light is and the connection
06:01to view, and so the bedrooms are in the basement.
06:03So it's kind of upside down.
06:06But we're a modern family, if you like, you know, and it's a very modern house,
06:10a shamelessly modern house.
06:12It works really hard to give us the kind of spaces that we will need as a family of four.
06:16So why do this now?
06:18It will be a building for the future and shows our commitment to invest into this family,
06:25that new patchwork family.
06:30Graham's devised an ingenious design to maximise every inch of this garage plot,
06:35hemmed in on all four sides by a neighbouring garage, neighbour's gardens,
06:40a private road, and the pavement. The first step will be to demolish the garages.
06:46Then the entire plot right up to the four boundaries will be excavated down four metres in stages,
06:53strengthened as they go with steel-reinforced concrete walls half a metre thick,
06:58to magic 63 square metres of underground space.
07:02Above, they'll add a two-storey, stick-built, timber and steel frame, with two roofs.
07:10The ground floor will wear a defensive skin of red bricks.
07:14All the other walls and roof will be clad in red composite panels,
07:18making an arresting statement on this old-fashioned Victorian street.
07:24Large, carefully-sighted windows will bring light right in.
07:27And light wells will ensure the basement below is bright.
07:34Inside, you'll find a generous hallway, off which will be Graham and Mel's bedroom and bathroom.
07:40She's designing some geometric floor tiles to be handmade specially for this entire floor.
07:49A one-off steel staircase will lead down to the basement,
07:52where the all-important bedrooms for both girls will be, alongside a utility room.
07:57Up on the first floor, under a spacious double-vaulted ceiling,
08:04Graham's laid out a sitting room that'll lead to a larger kitchen and dining room.
08:09The big windows carefully organise green views in three different directions.
08:14There's no room for a garden, but Graham has cleverly integrated a private outdoor terrace to the rear instead.
08:22His design squeezes the absolute max from a tiny footprint.
08:25Proper grown-up architecture on a pint-sized plot, which will likely add to the complexity and budget.
08:33How much is it going to cost to build?
08:39The project cost should be around about $450,000.
08:43We're hopeful that it's not going to be that much over $700,000 for the overall build plus land.
08:49Your savings have bought the site, basically, and you've got a mortgage for this?
08:54Yeah, the mortgage is for $450,000.
08:58OK, so that'll cover the project. Any contingency?
09:02There is contingency in that, yeah. It's about $30,000 of contingency.
09:06OK, so it sounds to me like you've got to be really, really, really focused and really tight on the spend, haven't you?
09:12We have to, because we don't have, you know, wealthy family and friends or backgrounds, and we have to bring this in on target.
09:21Providing that there aren't any delays, and when the delays happen, that's when the costs rise.
09:25Yeah.
09:26You're not building it yourselves, as it were?
09:28No, we have a main contractor to carry the heavy loads of building the basement.
09:32So that's the most expensive part of the build, going into the ground, and there managing that part of the job.
09:38How long is it going to take?
09:39We hope 12 months.
09:40And then moving into the summer next year?
09:41That's the plan, yeah.
09:44I do totally trust him. I have to. We all do. He'll manage.
09:50Well, the pressure's well and truly on.
09:54$450,000 is not a lot for a project this ambitious in London, with a stonking great basement dig.
10:02The one word that springs to mind about this project is excitement.
10:06And I say that because this tiny house is going to represent so many big ideas condensed into one small space.
10:14So many poignant histories of this family who've come together in the middle of London on this miniature plot.
10:23I mean, in order to create this perfectly formed, beautiful house,
10:27I mean, in the middle of London on this project,
10:29they're going to have to set up a sort of tiny controlled explosion.
10:38Come the autumn, the main contractor set about demolishing the garages by hand.
10:43We want to see the site flat and everything gone so we can finally see where we're building our future home.
10:57Seeing it gone is going to give us a really a much better understanding of what kind of size of house we're actually going to get.
11:05Within a matter of hours, the garages are down.
11:13And within weeks, there's yet more good news.
11:16Well, it's big.
11:20Yeah, it gives it so much more space, doesn't it?
11:24We have a garden.
11:27Thanks to having bought a neighbouring garage for 15,000 pounds,
11:32Graham and Mel have a little bit more space to play with.
11:35How much more do we have now?
11:36It's about 30 square metres more for the garden.
11:40That is such a huge impact.
11:43Just even light coming into the side of the house.
11:45Yeah, we were going to literally got to look against the wall.
11:49So lucky.
11:51Yeah, I know.
11:53All in all, the land plus associated design changes will cost 35 grand more.
11:59Graham and Mel's entire contingency, and some, so nothing can go wrong now.
12:05I'm worried about it.
12:09Yeah.
12:11But it soon emerges there's a problem.
12:14The main contractor has pulled the plug on building the basement for the 150 grand
12:19Graham and Mel budgeted because of rising material costs globally.
12:25The delay is nerve-wracking for sure.
12:28It's just worrying because we are already paying the mortgage.
12:32The nervousness in the house is increasing the tension.
12:40Come spring, they have their new contractor for the basement.
12:44Shall we get the breaker on these bits of concrete first?
12:48Only now it's costing 170,000, 20 grand more than budgeted,
12:53which will have to be funded by borrowing even more from the bank.
12:56And to avoid costs spiralling further, Graham and Mel are going to have to project manage the build
13:03instead of using a main contractor.
13:06Now we're on site and we've got a team that we're really pleased with.
13:11They've got a 12-week programme and it's going to fly by, which is really super exciting.
13:17The important thing is we don't find anything grizzly under there.
13:20Yes.
13:20Like pipe work, but it seems like cracking through it.
13:30Graham really shouldn't have said that.
13:34Hmm.
13:37Well, that's not in the drawings.
13:38Drains, which isn't supposed to be there.
13:41It's coming from that property.
13:42If this is a live sewage pipe, it could take months of red tape and delays to move it.
13:50Oh, shit.
14:04In Hackney, the basement excavation has stopped, thanks to an unearthed pipe that wasn't on the plans.
14:10What do we do?
14:13We cut just a little bit here.
14:17The mighty angle grinder will determine whether it's still in use.
14:24Oh, it's really concrete.
14:27Mercifully, it's not, so it's back to work.
14:30Two weeks into the 12-week basement dig, right on schedule, sheets of plywood forework are installed
14:41in anticipation of the first concrete pour.
14:46Hi there.
14:46How are you?
14:46Hey, Kevin, how are you?
14:47Very good, how are you?
14:48Yeah, yeah, very well, thank you, yeah.
14:49So it's a big square hole with a big square lump in it.
14:52Yeah, it is.
14:54With the intention presumably to excavate this eventually.
14:57Yeah.
14:58Nine months ago when we met, you were expecting to spend how much?
15:01Between 400 and 450.
15:03Again, in your darkest moments now?
15:05If we can get it in under 500, I think we'll probably be succeeding.
15:12It's a bit of a jump.
15:12Yeah, and if it went north of that?
15:15We'd have to rethink about how to complete the project.
15:19Yeah, so it doesn't leave as much variability in the second phase of the project, if any.
15:24Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
15:26First is the mine.
15:33But come the first week in July, by which time all the basement should have been formed,
15:39only about half has been excavated.
15:42My expectations were that we would be further along than what we are.
15:46I'm somewhat disappointed.
15:48Supply chain issues, most of all conditions of the site.
15:52We've used up every piece of space we have out there.
15:56We don't have a facility for a skip.
15:57We have muck away from this excavation.
16:01This is a major challenge for us because we just can't get, we can't get rid of it quick enough.
16:06Yeah, so there's just no space whatsoever.
16:10Yeah, I do sympathise with the guys because it's not a nice environment to work in.
16:14And they're going to cost us.
16:18They're eight months into this 12-month project and the basement should be done by now.
16:23Instead, Graeme and Mel face the stresses of delay while they also gear up for a huge and usually joyful life event.
16:31My flowers I'll get from the local people.
16:35Keep it simple.
16:36Their wedding in France in a few weeks' time.
16:39We've got the celebrant sorted.
16:42She's finished.
16:44We have to write our vows.
16:46Our vows and everything.
16:47We're going to be doing ground floor slab right when we're away.
16:50The basement box will be done.
16:53And on reflection, that's not great planning.
16:57But we put our wedding off for two years because of Covid.
17:00And we just thought, let's just do it.
17:03And that creates its own heightened stress environment in the house.
17:08It's just a bit mad and we're kind of regretting it a little bit.
17:13The worry is of course that the fun time will be infringed by the build worries
17:18and the stresses that we just simply can't stop.
17:25But within days, the strains and stresses of home feel far away.
17:31The unification of this patchwork family celebrated through Graeme and Mel's union.
17:48When they get back, they discover the basement is still nowhere near complete.
17:54It's now five months since excavation began.
17:58The repercussions for us are huge.
18:00We're paying rent and our property.
18:02We're also paying the mortgage on the amount we've drawn down to pay for the build.
18:08The interest rates on that are going up.
18:10It's not a fixed rate and that's causing us a lot of worry.
18:18We are just really quite stunned about the lack of progress, totally.
18:25It's just so grinding us down.
18:28I'm worried about Graeme.
18:30I'm worried about his well-being.
18:32He's working way too hard.
18:34We are definitely running out of steam.
18:36This whole thing could just collapse, really.
18:42Mel's nervousness is understandable.
18:45Cautionary tales of domestic digging are common.
18:49Yet few are more dramatic than the story of this hackney home,
18:53a stone's throw from Graeme and Mel's.
18:55Over a 40-year span, its then owner, William Little, an engineer,
19:02inexplicably dug a warren of enormous tunnels underneath it.
19:06He became known simply as the Mole Man.
19:10By the early 2000s, it was at risk of collapse,
19:13so Hackney Council pumped industrial quantities of aerated concrete into the tunnels
19:18to try and keep the house standing.
19:20These days, however, it is blessed with a remarkable new life,
19:25thanks to the architects Adjaye Associates and its current owner, Sue Webster,
19:30the renowned artist.
19:32Here's the house. Here's the living room.
19:34It's very beautiful.
19:35It was in a state of probate when I found it.
19:38Right.
19:39Nobody knew how to take it on.
19:41My builders said it was cheaper to demolish it and build it again.
19:44And I was like, no, you're missing the point.
19:45Sue's inspired approach was to preserve and celebrate the Mole Man's extraordinary story.
19:54But by far, the most ambitious challenge was turning the warren of the Mole Man's tunnels
19:59into a basement to house Sue's studio.
20:02We had to remove 2,000 tons of aerated concrete,
20:08which took between 250 and 300 skit loads.
20:11Constructing the basement alone took around a year.
20:15But by golly, was it worth it?
20:18Oh, oh, yeah, wow.
20:25Going down with a building offers such exciting opportunities, doesn't it?
20:31You know, the potential to kind of rewrite the language,
20:34to mix architecture and archaeology, to create a brand new private space.
20:40It's exactly what Mel and Graham want to do.
20:43You just need deep pockets to dig a deep hole.
20:48You need cojones.
20:49You need to be born without fear.
20:57I'm not sure Graham and Mel feel fearless right now.
21:00The concrete shell of the basement may finally be complete.
21:03Let's have a look.
21:05But what are Isla and Indy going to make of their basement bedrooms?
21:13Do you feel like it's really deep?
21:14Yeah.
21:14Yeah.
21:15It looks like a hole in the ground.
21:18Yeah.
21:19It's a hole in the ground where we will be living, and that's about it.
21:23He wants to go first.
21:24Down into the hole.
21:26It's taking a while, about four or five months, to dig a hole in the ground.
21:30We will never see daylight again.
21:34Come on guys.
21:35So it looks bigger or smaller when you're down here?
21:38It looks smaller when you're down here.
21:41And making daylight work really well down here is going to be the biggest challenge.
21:45You're thinking of having windows above to get the daylight in to your rooms.
21:50You can look down from above.
21:52What's so like windows out on the street?
21:55No, no, no, no.
21:57We've waited so long for this.
21:58I mean, we always joked about how, like, once we move in, I'll be moving out.
22:03But, like, I don't think it's a joke anymore.
22:05It's been pushed back so many times that we have, like, literally no idea when it'll be finished.
22:10But, um, yeah.
22:12I think we're finished.
22:17Three weeks later, the pouring of the ground floor slab marks the end to the groundworks phase.
22:24Today's pretty momentous.
22:26Uh, we started work on the basement on the 21st of March this year.
22:31And now the 24th of November.
22:36That's a huge amount of time we're messing around in the ground.
22:39But, yeah, I'm so, so, so happy that the stage has reached.
22:43And now we know it's gonna all happen really fast.
22:47As indeed it does.
22:49At the start of December, the team who'll assemble the timber frame arrive on site.
22:54The timber, along with a steel structure that'll help brace the house's open plan layout, will cost 30,000 pounds.
23:01And after just two days, the entire ground floor timber structure's installed, followed shortly after by the six steels supporting the first floor.
23:12What I really hope to be, by Christmas, is full timber frame and a membrane on the outside, so it's a watertight shell.
23:23But come the new year, work grinds to a stop.
23:27A problem with the welding on the installed steelwork means some of it will have to be removed and replaced by a team who weren't responsible for the problem.
23:36This project should have been finished two months ago.
23:40This really is the last thing Graham and Mel want.
23:44You can get so stressed about delay, and you can get so stressed about the impact.
23:48You know, we've got a scaffold we're paying by the week, we've got a site facility we're paying by the week, we've got a rental property we're paying by the month.
23:56Everything that pushes the end date back costs us money.
24:00And that's, if you think about that every day, you just, you never do this kind of thing.
24:05I do not envy Graham and Mel right now.
24:23In Hackney, they've replaced the ground floor steel beams and the timber installers can crack on and get the two-story structure and the roof of Graham and Mel's home built.
24:35Positivity at last, even if they are three months over schedule.
24:42And time for a topping out ceremony, or as the Germans call it, a Richtfest.
24:48Thank you and a happy Richtfest!
24:50To the carpenters.
24:55Thank you very much.
24:56Not a bad drop.
24:59Lovely.
25:00There is an actual structure to enter now.
25:09Coming through the window.
25:10Yeah.
25:11Which has led Graham and Mel to completely rethink the layout of their living space.
25:16Of course it has.
25:16So the original plan was to have the living room here as you come up from the stairs and you have this beautiful view out.
25:24Yeah.
25:25And we realised this can't be the living room, this has to be the kitchen.
25:29So the swapping, yeah?
25:31Yeah.
25:31Just like that?
25:32Just like that.
25:33Any other changes?
25:34Well, yes.
25:36The kids have been lobbying for a mezzanine space.
25:39The fact that they're in the basement has raised a few eyebrows from their perspective.
25:45I think the trade-off is that they're going to have a little deck that they can hang in and maybe a roof light on top.
25:52Nice.
25:52We have them always in our minds when we make those changes.
25:56The design would be totally different if we weren't a blended family.
26:00Yeah.
26:00Yeah.
26:03Every detail of this house is being scrutinised by Graham and Mel to ensure it delivers for the whole family.
26:10But they're going to have to ease up on the changes if they want to avoid what's looming over the horizon.
26:17Because their overall schedule has snowballed from 12 to 18 months,
26:21their neighbours have given Graham and Mel a four-week deadline to remove their scaffolding
26:25from the surrounding gardens. They have a month to fit all their cladding.
26:31We're being put under a bit of pressure through the use of license agreements.
26:35And we're feeling the need and the urgency to get our project accelerating.
26:40If they miss the deadline, it'll cost them £1,000 a week.
26:43So they reluctantly abandon the planned brick facade on the ground floor in favour of a faster coloured render.
26:50Which will help with our budget, which we're also having to watch.
26:53But it's a difficult decision. And it is pressure because money is involved.
26:59But the rest of the walls and the roof have to be clad in red-tinted exterior-grade cement particle boards.
27:06Sustainable but painstaking to machine and fit.
27:14First, Graham and Mel have to sand and then seal every panel to enrich the colour.
27:22Then, the installation team have to trim each piece down to size.
27:27Drill holes for the mounting.
27:28Paint each aluminium mounting rail so it won't be seen.
27:34Space each panel exactly 10 millimetres from the adjacent ones.
27:38Yep.
27:39And secure.
27:41They need over 500 individually prepared panels to clad this building.
27:48Inevitably, with only three days until the scaffolding needs to come down,
27:52there are still large areas left to clad. On the roof. And the all-important street-facing elevation.
28:01You have to be precise. You have to look at the gaps. You have to look at the lines and the levels.
28:06You have to check all the alignments and everything. Make sure everything lines up and it looks pretty.
28:11Yeah.
28:13The pressure is getting to Mel.
28:15They need to be done too. There's three there.
28:17It's back-breaking work, actually. I always have a bad back now.
28:22We really had never considered being this hands-on.
28:27Every weekend we've been here now for three weeks and every day after work. It just feels like
28:34still, like, you open a box and 10 more boxes are there. So that doesn't stop.
28:40Yet, miraculously, come the deadline at the end of May, they're finished.
28:45The scaffolding is gone and the result is quite a statement.
28:53By mid-summer, the interior fit-out is properly underway.
28:58Mineral wool, insulation and plasterboard are going in.
29:02Electrical cables are being routed. And at a metal workshop four miles away,
29:08steel stairs designed by Graham are being fabricated.
29:13But Graham and Mel are 2,000 miles away in Marrakesh.
29:22We got engaged here in January 2020. So that's what binds us forever to Marrakesh.
29:32And the feeling comes back. We're feeling really happy here.
29:37Their engagement in Morocco inspired Mel to design a series of tiles for the ground floor,
29:42which are now being fabricated here.
29:46Hello. Nice to see you.
29:47Nice to see you.
29:48Nice to see you.
29:49Ahmed's family have been producing cement tiles here for 35 years.
29:53Mel's geometric designs have been replicated in these metal tile molds,
30:00which are filled with mixtures of ground marble, cement and colored pigment.
30:07Covered and then pressed.
30:09This is it. I mean, the colour is just absolutely gorgeous.
30:19The lengths Graham and Mel will go to to create a special autobiographical home are astonishing.
30:33But in London, tests on the basement have revealed issues about the quantity of cement in the concrete
30:44that could affect its longevity.
30:48I am hugely disappointed.
30:51I am worried and also quite annoyed that this is happening to us.
30:59The prospect of Graham, Mel and the girls ever moving into their new home seems to be slipping away,
31:06beyond reach.
31:07Just over two years after Graham and Mel had begun building, I paid them my last visit,
31:19uncertain whether they'd managed to dig themselves out of that deep hole.
31:24Well, just great. Such energy.
31:29The exterior was beautifully finished, the craftsmanship self-evident.
31:34Well, they said right at the beginning they wanted to make a statement in this street,
31:36and they'd made one, a big pink one.
31:39It's good pink there, isn't it?
31:42Hey! Hey! How are you?
31:44Outside, the house looked complete, but inside so much had been put on pause.
31:50Goodness me! The interior is not as advanced as the outside.
31:54And the incomplete staircase that stopped short of the basement betrayed a lack of progress down below.
32:01The plywood floor covering the void below.
32:05The void!
32:05Do we talk about the void?
32:06We can live in this building and work on that. We have a bedroom down here.
32:10We've created a mezzanine platform on the first floor that allows one of our daughters to sleep there.
32:18The kitchen and living room spaces were usable, but camping in a building site was hardly the outcome
32:24Graham and Mel and the kids had spent the last couple of years striving for.
32:28I think I'm going to be sleeping in the living room. I actually don't know. Like, we'll see what happens.
32:34Tell me, has it put you off? I mean, would you ever do such a thing? Would you ever? No, you wouldn't.
32:39It's just so draining, even just watching it happen.
32:46Nothing could progress until the basement issue was sorted out.
32:50The budget was spent, so any solution would depend on negotiations with the basement contractor going well.
32:59What happens if you have to sell?
33:00At the moment, we can afford to finish our project, but not to pay for the remedial costs of the basement.
33:07It's a question mark as to how we fund that right now. We don't honestly have the answer to that.
33:11And what is the worst case? I mean, the worst case for us is going to be not being able to afford to fund the remediation.
33:21And the net effect of that will be we'll have to sell it.
33:24What happens if you have to sell? Will you be heartbroken?
33:30Yes. Absolutely. Yeah.
33:33This was a desperate quagmire of a mess they'd found themselves in.
33:41I had to return to find out if somehow they'd managed to free themselves from it.
33:4918 months have passed since I saw Graham and Mel.
33:54They so wanted this house to be an expression of the blended family, a place of healing and hope.
34:01But those aspirations seemed to have been thrown into this gaping hole,
34:07overshadowed by the monster in the basement.
34:10And I wondered whether or not, in the end, they might have to sell.
34:15So, a year and a half later, I mean, their lives must have improved, surely?
34:22So, a year and a half later, they might have to sell.
34:24Back in 2021, Graham and Mel began their bold attempt to transform a knackered old double
34:45garage in East London into a four-story family home.
34:48But on my last visit, their plans have been stopped in their tracks by their recalcitrant
34:54basement.
34:55I'm back to see if at last they have a finished home.
35:00Oh!
35:01You see, it doesn't disappoint.
35:09That house is as pretty as ever.
35:14Pretty in pink.
35:17Those perfectly spaced cement particle boards look as heartwarmingly gorgeous as when they
35:22were first installed.
35:24And they're clearly withstanding the British weather.
35:27Now every last detail seems complete.
35:29There's a pleasing sense of unity to the whole edifice.
35:34Oh!
35:36This place looks so good now that it's finished.
35:39Fencing and cladding down the side.
35:41And it kind of asserts the boundary nicely.
35:43It's just so crisp.
35:45The house is at the same time as being beautiful and clever.
35:50It's also modest.
35:52So modest, it's blushing.
35:56However, its occupants, Graham and Mel, have no need for modesty.
36:02This house is an exquisite triumph.
36:04Hey!
36:05How are you?
36:06Good.
36:07How are you?
36:08Lovely to see you both.
36:09Nice to see you.
36:10And you, Mel.
36:11Graham, how are you?
36:12Yeah, yeah.
36:13You're a smiling man.
36:14Yes.
36:15And you're still here.
36:16I'm so pleased.
36:17Yeah, we are.
36:18Do you still have a hole in the ground that's uninhabitable?
36:21We have an occupied hole in the ground where our kids are currently...
36:27Residing.
36:28Residing.
36:29Oh.
36:30Miracle upon miracle.
36:31All this suggests that you've been able to move on.
36:33It was the hub of activity and now it's the hub of tranquility.
36:37Oh.
36:38Oh, listen to it.
36:39It was...
36:40That's where we're hanging out.
36:41And...
36:42How are you feeling?
36:43Have you been able to put behind you the trauma?
36:47Getting there?
36:48Yeah, definitely.
36:49We feel relieved and elated, really, but also rejoicing every day in finding out that
36:57the house works.
36:58It's all fresh and correct.
37:00Yeah.
37:01I'd love to see it.
37:02Come on in.
37:03Yeah.
37:04Transformation outside is complete.
37:05I know inside.
37:06If it's done, it's going to be amazing.
37:07Yeah.
37:08It is.
37:09Oh.
37:10Oh, yes.
37:13No longer a building site.
37:16A proper home.
37:17It's beautiful.
37:18This is astonishing.
37:22It grabs your eye the moment you arrive, doesn't it?
37:25Yeah.
37:26Beautifully done.
37:27Yeah, it's a random pattern, yeah.
37:29Yeah, like you're looking into a kaleidoscope, you know?
37:31Yeah.
37:32I look at this and think, oh gosh, not only is it absolutely pertaining to the house,
37:38it's of the house, it's of the house, it's of its colours and its shapes and its energy.
37:43So your bedroom's just here.
37:44Yeah, go ahead.
37:45Whiz.
37:46Oh, that's an ensuite bathroom.
37:47Yeah.
37:48The building's deeper, of course, at that point, isn't it?
37:51Because of...
37:52The curve.
37:53The curve, yes, exactly.
37:54Oh, that's so generous.
37:55That's a great cheat.
37:57Yeah.
37:59Looking the other way is the connection to a perfect cocoon of a courtyard.
38:04That cherry tree through there, look at that, that's so beautiful.
38:07It's kind of...
38:08I know, it's gorgeous.
38:09It looks fabulous.
38:10The space is bathed in the borrowed, dappled light from mature trees in the surrounding gardens.
38:17It's really extended the house.
38:20We wake up to birdsong, it's absolutely lovely.
38:23The other extraordinary change here is, now that the cover to that basement is gone,
38:29you put the staircase in, the striking thing about it is the size and scale of it.
38:35It's doing a couple of things.
38:37It's bringing much-needed daylighting down into the basement for the girls' room.
38:41Yeah.
38:42But, yeah, it's a sculptural thing and it takes us from basement all the way up to mezzanine
38:46and connects all the floor plates together.
38:48I'm really pleased with it.
38:51The basement at the bottom of those stairs was finally fixed by adding an extra wall 200 millimetres
38:56thick all round the inside, losing them a bit of floor space, but, in turn, providing
39:02an attractive planting ledge.
39:04It's beautiful.
39:07It's like a fairground ride, isn't it?
39:08Eh?
39:09Round and round.
39:10Yeah, round and round.
39:11And down into a very, very well-lit basement.
39:14That's very pretty.
39:17Darkness and gloom have been banished, and Indy and Isla now have their own bedrooms, each
39:23connecting to a light well at the front, a laundry room, and their shared teenager bathroom.
39:30So how did you resolve the basement issue then?
39:33I mean, how did you get out of the hole?
39:35The basement company we went into the legal process with, the adjudication decided that
39:40the basement company would need to repair the walls in the basement.
39:44So you did not have to pay for this?
39:46No, we didn't pay for the repair of the basement.
39:49Oh, my word.
39:50That's a real, real positive, clear win.
39:53We came out of it on top.
39:55It's such a happy ending.
39:56Yeah.
39:57You needed that.
39:58We did.
39:59It's a great outcome.
40:01Freed from the financial curse of the basement, the rest of the house could also then be finished.
40:08Such a pleasure to use these.
40:10They're very gentle, aren't they?
40:12The staircase now carries you not just two, but through multiple spaces, rising past the
40:18fully-built galley kitchen.
40:19Well, this is beautiful.
40:21Generous enough for four, up to a sun-dappled, hidden terrace, a jewel-like outdoor space.
40:28And upwards beyond it, to a clearly inserted mezzanine right up in the gods.
40:32This mezzanine, what's it used for now?
40:34It's an office space.
40:35It's a studio space.
40:36And through here, it's a joy.
40:40It's a beautiful space.
40:42Like a nave, you know?
40:44It does have slightly religious connotations.
40:46Like a little chapel.
40:47Yeah.
40:48This is the enormous rose window at the west end of a cathedral, facing the sunset, which
40:53you have, not in stained glass, but with a balcony beyond.
40:57I think that's just brilliant, with that high balustrade.
41:00Mm.
41:01Yeah.
41:02But yeah, we had so many sunsets, sittings there.
41:05So good.
41:06You just took advantage of every opportunity.
41:09Yeah.
41:10To use space.
41:11On the footprint of just two standard garages, Graham and Mel have conjured an abundant bountiful
41:18pink container in which life can flourish.
41:22Now India and Isla have moved into their own spaces.
41:24I wonder if they're still as skeptical as ever about basement living.
41:30Do you feel that the building helps with family life?
41:34Oh, so much better.
41:35I can, like, work now.
41:37I can, like, because she used to, like, come back later than I did, and I'd be, like, trying
41:42to sleep and she'd be, like, sneaking through the door, like, sorry.
41:45Yeah.
41:46Oops.
41:47What do your friends say about the building when they see it?
41:49They say it's so cool.
41:50They're always like, who built this?
41:52Um, is that they built this?
41:54It's crazy.
41:55At the time when, you know, before this basement was converted, it was, of course, quite difficult.
42:00It was all unresolved.
42:02Have you noticed a lightning in the mood here?
42:04Yeah.
42:05Yeah, no, yeah.
42:06They're, like, so much happier now that there's, like, not this massive burden.
42:10Are you proud of what they've achieved here?
42:13Does it resonate with you?
42:15Yeah, no, yeah.
42:16Incredibly.
42:17I think about this, like, every day I, like, walk out the house, going to school, and I'm,
42:22like...
42:23I look up at the house, and I'm like, well, because I still can't believe I live here.
42:27Like, I would never thought in a million years, um, I would live in a house this, like, gorgeous...
42:33It's actually getting used to, but, yeah, no, we're really proud of them, and, um, I know
42:37it's always been a dream of my dad to build a house for his family to live in, so it's really
42:41sweet.
42:42It's nice.
42:43Graham and Mel have crafted a protective haven for this blended family out of the shared
42:50experience of loss.
42:52I hope the pains of its delivery haven't left any permanent scars.
42:58So remind me how much you thought you were going to spend on this project?
43:01I mean, when we costed it out initially, we thought we'd be in the region of about 450...
43:07Circumstantial changes of Covid, Brexit, and all of the price hike, and we immediately
43:13realised it's a 30% pick-up.
43:15I think about 550 is where we've landed, and I think that's been helped, uh, or it's been
43:23mitigated by the fact that the basement company were able to, um, to make good on their adjudication,
43:30uh, decisions.
43:31You see, that's very, yeah, I should say that's very honourable.
43:33Yeah.
43:34They could have folded, walked away, um, we would have got nothing from the process.
43:40I mean, compared to where you were 18 months together, it's a remarkable outcome.
43:43Yeah.
43:44And, um, uh, like, heaven sent.
43:46You, you both come from previous relationships, and you're also editing your, your whole lives
43:54as your, as together.
43:56Was that, was that easy to do?
43:57I mean...
43:58Putting these two families together, we've been able to jettison some of the things we've
44:01carried with us, and distilled down, and, and, and, you know, bring together the, the
44:07things that are relevant to us now, and maybe leave behind the things that, that are part
44:11of our past, and allow us to have a clear table to, to build, to build from.
44:17We did, of course, keep remnants for the kids as well, and definitely in their room, they
44:23have little altars, uh, to their old lives as well, and to the part of the family that's
44:29no longer around.
44:30I think, for me, the house gives space to make sense of the past.
44:34And I really feel, especially in this room, I really feel I can look back and make sense
44:41of the steps that made me come here.
44:44And, and the new history that we make, and the steps.
44:47Yeah.
44:48Yeah, yeah, absolutely, in this amazing vessel.
44:50Happy end.
44:51Yeah.
44:52Yeah.
44:55Graham and Mel, built from the ashes of loss, a wonderful phoenix of a building, that survived
45:02the trials of its construction in the end, unscathed, glorious, and vibrant.
45:08A happy end, indeed.
45:11So, here's a question.
45:14Can architecture mend a broken heart, or hearts?
45:20Can it foster love?
45:22Well, those are questions I don't think either Graham or Mel were prepared to ask.
45:29Certainly not on the way through, because the process of building this thing was so painful.
45:34But now, now that it's finished, I look at this building and I see two ventricles, each
45:40representing a household.
45:43I see a physical manifestation of a human heart in architecture.
45:48And it is beating, strongly, joyfully, to the rhythms of life.
45:57In 2017, Eleanor and Bourne set out to build a healthy oasis.
46:09We're very much at a stage with their health that we just don't know what's going to happen.
46:13Our whole life seems to be around how you can manage the allergies.
46:16But creating a clean, hypoallergenic home wasn't easy.
46:20It's been very stressful.
46:22Even when the house was finished, there were no guarantees it would actually work.
46:27I guess it's time to find out.
46:41.
46:46.
46:48.
46:51.
46:59.
47:04.
47:07.
47:07.
47:09.