Grand Designs

When Kevin met Anne and Richard in 2000, they were about to embark on the ambitious task of converting a disused electricity substation in Sunderland into a family home. (from Grand Designs Indoors)

Kevin McCloud revisits Janne and Howard and their ongoing conversion of a derelict 1,000-year-old castle in Tuscany. (from Grand Designs Abroad)

Puglia, in Italy?s deep south, where the country's heel rounds to the foot?s arch, is a land of shimmering heat, olive groves and artists? dreams. It is also the place where artists, like David Westby and Leone (Leo) Witton, became hard-working artisans to turn a derelict olive farm into a Roman country estate ? despite the worst obstructions of Italian bureaucracy and with very little money. (from Grand Designs Abroad)

A couple in Newhaven face a race against time as they build their dream home on windswept cliff-top site in time for the birth of their baby.

Kevin travels to Oxfordshire to meet the Randolphs, who built their first house 10 years ago and now, in their 70s, have decided to do it all again!

This project was a co-operative venture - 10 young families each put in 30 hours of construction work per week. Kevin travels to Brighton to meet a co-operative of ten young families, including ex-travellers and single parents, who are building both their own and each others homes. A housing association bought the land from the council for £58,000. Paul then worked with the association to put the co-operative together. All the members were people on the council's housing list.

Helen and Mark had always dreamed of owning a Georgian house but knew they couldn't afford the genuine article. So they decided to build their own. They bought a large plot of land in Surrey, surrounded by trees, and commissioned an architect who specialised in conservation architecture to design it.

With a plot of land in Sussex overlooking the South Downs, newly-weds Jane and Willem wanted a house that would be atmospheric and open to the countryside. Inspired by memories of America, Jane planned a New England-style gabled house with large windows to make the most of the views.

A derelict woollen mill in a Yorkshire village may not say 'modernist' to everyone. But Chris and Gill - who, fortunately, run their own specialist joinery business - saw it as the perfect opportunity to create a visionary home. They liked the traditional brick of the building and opted to keep the exterior virtually untouched. Inside, they would strip everything out and make a home of fluid spaces, based around an open-plan ground floor, an atrium and a galleried upper floor.

'Is it a bold contemporary design or a garden shed?' John and Terri found themselves asking, halfway into their build. They had knocked down a derelict house in a beautiful rural setting and commissioned commercial architects to build them a new one. But was it too small for them, their young son and the baby on the way?

The 1930s derelict water-works Chris and Leanne fell in love with was huge and its design had clearly been inspired by Gilbert Scott's Bankside power station, now better known as the Tate Modern. But nothing would deter the couple. 'We looked at it,' said Chris, 'and saw our home.'

For 10 years, Ben lived in tents and caravans in a wood in West Sussex. As a woodsman, he needed and wanted to live among the trees. But after a battle with planning he finally got permission to build himself a house with more creature comforts. He invited volunteers to help him build one by hand, from the materials growing around him.

Louise and Milko wanted to build the home of a lifetime. Milko's job as a well-paid City banker meant they could think big, so Louise set up her own architectural practice and they bought a disused violin factory in the heart of London's Waterloo. The crumbling building was hemmed in on all sides and had no views, but Louise had a vision of a spectacular loft-style home that would combine stunning design with utter luxury

David and Greta loved their home, a modernist structure in Surrey that they had built themselves almost 40 years ago. It was filled with things they'd chosen over the years—design classics, mementoes, David's paintings. But that house was falling apart and had to come down. Meanwhile, they had lost their hearts to a German post-and-beam house, designed by architect Peter Huf and available as a customised kit.

In November 2001, Tom and Judy demolished a bungalow and started building an infinitely more ambitious house. Designed on different levels, with glass walls and exposed steelwork, it was to be a miraculous piece of engineering, giving the couple and their two young children a beautiful, technologically advanced home. Tom appointed himself project manager—a job that proved to be more challenging than he had expected. Grand Designs 3 followed the first 16 months of the build. As Grand Designs 4 goes on air, how close is it to completion?

Kevin returns to see whether the couple's solo attempts to transform a wreck of an old stone building in Leith, with no previous building experience, has been successful.

When Monty Ravenscroft and Clare Loewe began looking for a house to buy in London they soon realised that the only affordable option was to build one themselves. They snapped up a dirt cheap slither of land in Peckham at an auction only to be told it was too small to put a house on. Undeterred, three years ago, engineering whiz Monty began building an extraordinary experimental bungalow that filled the site to bursting point.

Kevin McCloud follows Jeremy and Louise Brown as they try to bring their Grade II Listed 16th-century Gloucestershire farmhouse into the 21st century.

Jim Fairfull considers himself a very lucky guy. He was out fishing with a friend when he came across a beautiful, secluded loch. It’s a magical place with stunning views over the nearby hills. He got chatting to the farmer who owned it and discovered the site was for sale. Within a week, he’d done a deal and bought the land. The loch also gave them a fantastic opportunity to build a very unique house. They can control the water level of the loch which means they could actually build over the loch without worrying about flooding. So with the help of their architect, they designed an extravagant split level five bedroom house that actually hovers over the loch.

Hillcott Barn looked more like a Tuscan monastery than an English barn. When the farmer put it up for sale, most people who viewed it walked away. It was dark and isolated and could only be reached by a half mile farm track with a steep 1:8 gradient. But furniture designer Robert Ellis (58) had had his eye on it for some time. For years he’d been jogging past the barn and always thought one day he’d like to live there. Against all advice, Rob and his wife Jane, (58) a textile designer, went ahead and bought the barn for £210,000 and proposed to convert at £250,000.

Theo and Elaine Leijser hoped to bring a bit of Dutch style to Scotland in the building of their first family home – a colourful, contemporary three storey house, with a striking cedar clad exterior. The couple stumbled across the perfect plot overlooking the beautiful Campsie Fells near Glasgow, bought it and began to plan their dream build.

Every Englishman’s home is his castle but for Francis Shaw this is quite literally true. He and his wife, Karen, and their two young daughters, bought the ruins of a 14th Century castle in Yorkshire and took on the remarkable challenge of turning a pile of stones into a beautiful home. Surrounded by rolling green fields, the location is idyllic; however, the castle itself was little more than four crumbling walls.

Eight years ago Alex and Cheryl Reay left London for a new life in the New Forest. They bought a run down medieval thatched cottage and lovingly brought it back to life. Then just before Christmas, with Cheryl pregnant, disaster struck. A fault in the chimney caused a massive fire which destroyed the entire building. Overnight Alex and Cheryl had lost almost £400,000. Whilst most people would have walked away from this, Alex and Cheryl couldn’t let go of their dream. Nine months after the fire, they decided to start all over again and rebuild the cottage, bigger and better than before.

Chris Miller and his wife Sze Liu Lai lived in a tiny flat in East London with their two children Alexion and Tayszea. It was very tight for space and as the kids grew they really felt in need of more room. Chris and Sze are both social workers on low incomes and they have very little in the way of savings.

A couple who live in a Regency house in Cheltenham that is expensive to run decide to sell up and build a modern low maintenance house in their back garden. However, height restrictions mean they have to build 60 per cent of their new home underground and neighbours make 90 complaints about their planning application. Undeterred, the pair continue as planned, but the project encounters further problems including the departure of the builders.

Henry Chopping finds his plans to build a new home in Oxford hampered by a listed wall and planning restrictions. With a budget of over three quarters of a million Henry is determined to make his dream home a reality.

An architect plans to build a new house for his family using only white materials. He ends up using stuff more commonly used in commercial buildings.

Ian and Sophie Cooper met at university and have since spent their time together enjoying life in London. Ian works as a marketing consultant in telecoms and Sophie is a sales manager for a fashion firm. Both are passionate about design. They’ve done the usual thing of renovating flats and moving on... but three years ago they realised they wanted a different kind of life in a different kind of building.

Inspired by an illustration on a yoghurt pot, Chris Ostwald decides to build a New England-style water mill in the Chilterns, on a hill and nowhere near any water.

Sarah and Dean Berry grew up on a council estate in Newport. Having moved away to London and made good, they have now returned home 17 years later and bought an 18th century folly - a castle perched on a hilltop. They not only plan to restore the folly to its former glory, but wrap a large modern extension around the original structure, with lots of glass to capitalise on the amazing views.

Kevin McCloud follows the progress of architectural designer Lincoln Miles and his wife, artist Lisa Traxler, who want to create their own home on the Isle of Wight. They have bought a property on a prime piece of land and set out to transform it into a creative structure that complements the unspoilt woodland setting.

Helen and Chris Seymour Smith are architects who are planning to build a subterranean, eco-friendly house underneath a ruined 300-year-old barn in the Cotswolds. Kevin McCloud follows their progress as they set out to create a building that is airtight and needs no heating, but whose spartan interior raises questions of habitability

Kevin McCloud follows the efforts of Lucie Fairweather to build an eco-friendly house in Woodbridge, Suffolk. After the death of her partner 18 months earlier, and not having a large budget, Lucie is determined to create a beautiful and affordable family home with the help of Jerry Tate, an architect who was involved in the design of the Eden Project

Kevin McCloud looks at the transformation of a derelict mill cottage in Northumberland into a contemporary family home, the longest-running project ever featured on the programme. Stefan Lepkowski and Annia Shabowska began work in 2006, and their ambitious plans involved restoring the Georgian building, reconstructing a watermill and adding a steel-and-glass atrium, but their budget of £250,000 was completely inadequate.

Paul and Penny are tearing down their million pound home in south London to build a contemporary mansion. But the challenge of building a complex home soon starts to bite.

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

The new series kicks off with a Grand Design on an epic scale, with the story of one man's heroic attempt to fulfil his childhood dream and bring back from the ruins an incredible castle set in one of the most beautiful landscapes of southern Ireland. Actor Sean Simons fell in love with the ruins of Cloontykilla Castle when he played there as a boy. Years later he bought it, with the idea of turning it into a spectacular, theatrical mock 16th century home, complete with grand baronial hall, luxury bedrooms, sweeping staircases, water spouting gargoyles, Jacuzzis in the battlements and a huge recording studio in the basement. But would it prove to be a magnificent personal masterpiece, or a garish sub-Disneyesque disaster? After borrowing an eye-watering 1.2 million Euros, Sean launches into his project just as Ireland plunges into recession. He has a head full of fairy tales, but no help from an architect, or indeed any formal plans whatsoever. Making things up as you go along is fine if you're building a toy castle, but not when you've got a large team of builders on site, a schedule to hit and the bank looking over your shoulder. Over two years, rooms are built, then knocked down again. Contractors walk out in frustration. Planning permissions are ignored. But somehow Sean's vision starts to come alive... just as Ireland collapses into financial meltdown.

Kevin meets a pair of civil-partnered university professors, Celia Brackenridge and Diana Woodward.  They have enlisted the services of industrial designers who have developed a new computer-assisted method for cutting precision-engineered building blocks, however although the technique may be clever, its creators have never created a building before

In Brixton in south London design-mad couple Mary Martin and Carl Turner want to build a home that resembles a giant stack of glass cubes that's a Zen retreat from the noise and chaos of the capital. Mary and Carl want to build something never seen before amongst Brixton's traditional Victorian terraces. Minimalism-obsessed Mary and her architect partner Carl have spent years renovating their homes to be as simple to live in as possible. But this project is bigger and more ambitious than anything they've taken on before. In order to save money, Carl decides he has to take on as many of the specialist build jobs as he can. The results are hair raising as the cranes and steel frames hit the narrow plot. But Carl's biggest test lies ahead, when it comes to finishing the minimalist interior. The tiniest error in the detailing could ruin all the blood, sweat and tears he's put into building this urban sanctuary.

Kevin McCloud follows a project to renovate and extend a classic 1920s cinema in Thorne, South Yorkshire. With little knowledge of restoration, Gwyn and Kate boldly set about turning the dilapidated building into a family home using masses of concrete after taking advice from an architect friend. The couple are hoping to create a hydraulic glass wall that opens up one side of the house to form a UV-filtered canopy, and there are also plans for a white roof extension that resembles a diving board.

Jonathan Broom and his wife Deborah have put everything on hold while he pursues his dream of building a mini Hollywood Hills-style mansion right in the gritty heart of north London. For ten years Jonathan Broom has been obsessed with building his own home.They finally stumble across a scrap of land right in the gritty heart of North London, but it's fraught with problems, and the only way they can build their wildly ambitious £1million pound family home, complete with nanny flat and swimming pool, is by sinking half of it six metres below ground. It's a project that pushes the couple and their builder to the very limit. Desperate to make every penny of the budget stretch, Jonathan strikes every deal he can, and even sells his business to raise funds. Originally scheduled to take a year, this giant hole in the ground consumes their money and lives for much longer.

Kevin meets Martin and Kae Walker, who want to build the ultimate family home inspired by a giant farm shed.

Rob Hodgson and Kay Ralph plan to build an architectural monument high on a cliff top. They want to build a sleek glass-fronted house inspired by the cliff-top villas of California. Their plot overlooks a beautiful National Trust beach in North Wales, but to have their jaw-dropping panoramic views will mean taking the biggest gamble of their lives. Access will be incredibly difficult and expensive because of a low bridge over the narrow track to the site. Erosion specialists predict their stunning new home could one day fall into the sea. Prohibited by the local council from reinforcing the cliff face, they decide to build anyway, believing at least the house will outlive them.

Rebecca Sturrock has returned to her family home in Cornwall with her partner Gregory Kewish and a highly ambitious plan. Together they will transform a small, damp, single-storey bungalow into a cutting-edge home on a budget of just pounds 80,000. With rain and wind hammering the site, however, it soon becomes dangerously clear they may have bitten off more than they can chew.

Peter Berkin and his wife Chard have decided to build a new home at the bottom of their garden. Problem is, right from the start they can't agree on any part of the design - even the basic shape. Peter wants the new house to feature a workshop where he can build a plane. He wants the house to be round. Chard however wants it to be square and practical. Peter aims to spend pounds 400K, Chard wants to keep the budget around pounds 200K. With Peter building as much of the house as he can himself, helped by his mates, and Chard taking control of the money and schedule, it looks like a recipe for disaster.

Kevin McCloud presents the first of four special programmes inspired by 15 years of Grand Designs. He begins with a look at the challenges of self-building in the city, where space is at a premium and architects have to be at their most ingenious. Kevin uses footage from the best urban builds from the show over the years, meets pioneers at the forefront of the latest architectural thinking and looks at clever innovations that continue to transform people's lives to reveal which designs work best and why.

In the second of four special programmes, Kevin McCloud looks at the challenges of self-building in the UK's most remote places, where beautiful landscapes often meet savage weather. Drawing on footage from 15 years of the programme, as well as new visits to extraordinary and incredible homes, Kevin reveals which designs work best, and why. Along the way, he interviews pioneers at the forefront of architecture in the wilderness and sees the astonishing lengths people go to live on the edges of society.

Kevin McCloud reveals how self-builders in the suburbs are transforming this most maligned of residential environments. He draws on some of the best examples from the 15-year history of Grand Designs, talks to experts in the latest architectural thinking and reveals the designs that have reinvented the suburbs as a place where home-owners really can have it all.

Kevin McCloud meets Clinton Dall from Sussex, a self-made businessman and father of four aiming to build one of the largest homes ever featured on the show. Dall wants the end project to be perfect - from the finish of his mirrored cruciform steel columns, to how the floor tiles line up with the dining room table, and is willing to spend whatever it takes to achieve his vision. However, the construction represents a huge risk, as down one road lies abject failure and financial ruin, while down the other, is the creation of something sublime and almost heroic.

Boat enthusiast James Strangeways invites Kevin McCloud to survey progress on the construction of his new home, which his architect nephew Ben Hebblethwaite has designed to be as 'un-houselike' as possible. James has spent the past 35 years travelling the canals and waterways of Britain, and despite never liking houses, has decided now is the time to put down roots on dry land. Ben hoped a home standing on stilts above a marsh, and incorporating ship-like qualities such as a keel-shaped roof, will be enough to satisfy his boat-mad uncle. However, Ben's contractor goes into liquidation a few months into the project, taking pounds 87,000 of the pounds 300,000 budget, and when James decides to make a few tweaks to the design, alarm-bells begin to ring for the young architect.

After recovering from a life-threatening brain haemorrhage, Bram Vis, his wife Lisa and their two children want to build a house for sharing on a seaside plot on the Isle of Wight. Kevin McCloud follows the family's progress as they build an ambitious home complete with entertaining spaces and a swimming pool. However, the sheer scale of their project soon becomes clear when their original pounds 850k budget spirals out of control.

Kevin McCloud follows plumber Jon Martin and ceramicist Noreen Jaafar as they transform a neglected half-acre site in Gloucestershire. However, they are unable to cut down the 27 protected trees on the plot, so their solution is to build a big, modern treehouse with stilts screwed into the earth and balconies that will have views for miles.

Kevin McCloud follows Matt and Sophie White from Sussex as they build a giant family house of fun for themselves and their children. Going against the norm of designing a serious and practical home, the couple's property features a revolving bookcase door, secret dens, hiding places, one-way mirrors, and a fireman's pole. Matt uses a steel frame system to allow them to change the layout of the property, and other changes include amending the window shapes and sizes, and adding a half floor to create a James Bond room.

Kevin McCloud meets Tom and Danielle Raffield, whose lifelong passion has been steam-bending wood. They've used the technique to create extraordinary furniture and lighting, but now plan to use it on a larger scale. In an attempt to escape the confines of their tiny gamekeeper's lodge, they have decided to build a wavy wooden house in South Cornwall, completed with curved cladding, twisted furniture and interior walls covered with weathered timber. With a £100,000 budget, the pair have decided to do a lot of the building themselves, and Kevin is on hand to discover whether they're up to the challenge.

After a four year stint living in New Zealand, ex-RAF pilot Jon and GP Gill Flewers want to build a Kiwi-style hill house on the slopes of the Malvern hills in Worcestershire. They plan to build an ambitious three-storey home clad in wood and stone, but the pair encounter problems as the site is so steep builders do not want to take on the job.

Kevin McCloud meets neurologists Penny Talelli and Mark Edwards, who plan to combine their love of old and contemporary architecture as they transform a derelict Victorian gatehouse in North London. However, the pair soon find themselves struggling to balance their busy working lives alongside project managing the build.

Kevin McCloud meets young architect and shed fanatic Micah Jones, who plans to transform an old agricultural building in County Down, Northern Ireland. Micah plans an upside down, four bedroom shed using new techniques and materials, but the £200,000 budget runs short, and Micah is forced to take on some of the building work himself.

Kevin meets a couple converting a listed mini-castle in Buckinghamshire into a family home. The Saxon burial ground the folly is built upon throws up some macabre surprises.

Harry and Briony are relocating and building an American modernist house inspired by 80s teen comedy Ferris Bueller's Day Off. The project is big and proves challenging.

In a leafy spot in south west London, Elinor and Born want to build Britain's first 'healthy' house, to alleviate their sons' life-threatening allergies in a race against time.