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GrandDesigns S26E04 Hackney Revisit 2025
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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?
34:22It's been a good time.
34:24Back in 2021, Graham and Mel began their bold attempt to transform a knackered old double garage in East London
34:46into a four-story family home.
34:48But on my last visit, their plans had been stopped in their tracks by their recalcitrant basement.
34:55I'm back to see if at last they have a finished home.
35:00Oh! You see, it doesn't disappoint.
35:08That house is as pretty as ever. Pretty in pink.
35:16Those perfectly spaced cement particle boards look as heartwarmingly gorgeous as when they were first installed.
35:23And they're clearly withstanding the British weather.
35:26Now every last detail seems complete.
35:29There's a pleasing sense of unity to the whole edifice.
35:33Oh! This place looks so good now that it's finished.
35:38Fencing and cladding down the side.
35:40And it kind of asserts the boundary nicely.
35:43It's just so crisp. The house is at the same time as being beautiful and clever.
35:50It's also modest. So modest, it's blushing.
35:55However, its occupants, Graham and Mel, have no need for modesty.
36:00This house is an exquisite triumph.
36:03Hey! How are you?
36:05Good. How are you?
36:07Lovely to see you both.
36:08Nice to see you.
36:09And you, Mel.
36:10Graham, how are you?
36:11How's it going?
36:12Yeah, yeah. You're a smiling man.
36:13Yes.
36:14And you're still here. I'm so pleased.
36:16Yeah, we are.
36:17Do you still have a hole in the ground that's uninhabitable?
36:20We have an occupied hole in the ground where our kids are currently...
36:25Residing.
36:26Residing.
36:27Oh! Miracle upon miracle.
36:29All this suggests that you've been able to move on.
36:32It was the hub of activity.
36:34Yeah.
36:35And now it's the hub of tranquility.
36:36Oh!
36:37Oh, listen to it.
36:38It was...
36:39That's where we're hanging out.
36:40And how are you feeling?
36:42Have you been able to put behind you the trauma?
36:46Getting there. Yeah, definitely.
36:48We feel relieved and elated, really.
36:52But also rejoicing every day in finding out that the house works.
36:57It's all fresh and correct.
36:59I'd love to see it.
37:00Come on in.
37:01Yeah.
37:02Transformation outside is complete, but I know inside.
37:04If it's done, it's going to be amazing.
37:06Yeah.
37:07It is.
37:11Oh, yes!
37:14No longer a building site, a proper home.
37:16It's beautiful.
37:20This is astonishing.
37:22It grabs your eye the moment you arrived, isn't it?
37:24Yeah.
37:25It's beautifully 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 its colours and its shapes and its energy.
37:42So your bedroom's just here.
37:43Yeah, yeah.
37:44Go ahead.
37:45Wiz.
37:46Oh, that's an en-suite bathroom.
37:47Yeah.
37:48The building's deeper, of course, at that point, isn't it?
37:50Because of...
37:51The curve.
37:52The curve.
37:53Yes, exactly.
37:54Oh, that's so generous.
37:55That's a great cheat.
37:57Looking the other way is the connection to a perfect cocoon of a courtyard.
38:03That cherry tree through there, oh, 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, dabbled light from mature trees in the surrounding gardens.
38:17It's really extended the house.
38:19We wake up to birdsong, it's absolutely lovely.
38:22Absolutely lovely.
38:23The other extraordinary change here is now that the cover to that basement is gone, you know,
38:29you put the staircase in.
38:31The striking thing about it is the size and scale of it.
38:35It's doing a couple of things.
38:36It's bringing much-needed daylighting down into the basement for the girls' room.
38:41But, 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.
38:49The basement at the bottom of those stairs was finally fixed by adding an extra wall
38:54200 millimetres thick all round the inside, losing them a bit of floor space,
38:59but in turn providing an attractive planting ledge.
39:05It's beautiful, it's like a fairground ride, isn't it, eh?
39:07Round and round.
39:08Yeah, round and round.
39:09And down into a very, very well-lit basement.
39:14That's very pretty.
39:16Darkness and gloom have been banished and Indy and Isla now have their own bedrooms,
39:22each connecting 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? I mean, how did you get out of the hole?
39:34The basement company we went into the legal process with.
39:37The adjudication decided that the basement company would need to repair the walls in the basement.
39:43So you did not have to pay for this?
39:46No, we didn't pay for the repair of the basement.
39:48Oh, my word. That's a real, real positive, clear win.
39:52We came over 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.
40:07Such a pleasure to use these. They're very gentle, aren't they?
40:11The staircase now carries you not just to, but through multiple spaces,
40:16rising past the fully built galley kitchen.
40:19Well, this is beautiful.
40:20Generous enough for four, up to a sun-dappled hidden terrace, a jewel-like outdoor space.
40:27Then 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. It's a studio space.
40:36And through here, it's a joy.
40:40It's a beautiful space.
40:42Like a nave, you know?
40:43It 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.
40:54Not in stained glass, but with a balcony beyond.
40:56I think that's just brilliant.
40:58With that high balustrade.
41:00But yeah, we had so many sunsets, settings there.
41:04So good.
41:05You just took advantage of every opportunity.
41:08Yeah.
41:09To use space.
41:10On the footprint of just two standard garages, Graham and Mel have conjured an abundant,
41:16bountiful pink container in which life can flourish.
41:20Now, India and Isla have moved into their own spaces.
41:24I wonder if they're still as skeptical as ever about basement living.
41:28Do you feel that the building helps with family life?
41:34Oh, so much better.
41:35I can, like, work now.
41:36I can, like, because she used to, like, come back later than I did.
41:40And I'll be, like, trying to sleep and she'll 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?
41:48They say it's so cool.
41:49They're always like, who built this?
41:52Yes.
41:53I thought that built it.
41:54It's crazy.
41:55The time when, you know, before the spacecraft was converted was, of course, quite difficult.
41:59It was all on themselves.
42:00Have you noticed a lightning in the mood here?
42:03Yeah.
42:04Yeah, no, yeah.
42:05They're, like, so much happier now that there's, like, not this massive burden.
42:10Are you proud of what they've achieved here?
42:12Yeah.
42:13Does it resonate with you?
42:14Yeah, no, yeah.
42:15Incredibly.
42:16Like, I think about this, like, every day.
42:18I, like, walk out the house going to school and I'm, like...
42:22I look up at the house and...
42:24Because I still can't believe I live here.
42:26Like, I would never thought in a million years I would live in a house this, like, gorgeous...
42:32It's actually getting used to.
42:33But, yeah, no, we're really proud of them.
42:35And I know it's always been a dream of my dad's to build a house for his family to live in,
42:40so it's really sweet.
42:41It's nice.
42:43Graham and Mel have crafted a protective haven for this blended family out of the shared experience of loss.
42:51I hope the pains of its delivery haven't left any permanent scars.
42:55So, remind me how much you thought you were going to spend on this project.
43:00I mean, when we costed it out initially, we thought we'd be in the region of about 450...
43:05Circumstantial changes of Covid, Brexit and all of the price hike, and we immediately realised it's a 30% pick-up.
43:14I think about 550 is where we've landed, and I think that's been helped, or it's been mitigated by the fact that the basement company were able to make good on their adjudication decisions.
43:30You see, that's very, I should say, that's very honourable.
43:33Yeah.
43:34They could have folded, walked away, we would have got nothing from the process.
43:39I mean, compared to where you were 18 months together, it's a remarkable outcome.
43:42Yeah.
43:43And, like, heaven sent, you both come from previous relationships and you're also editing your whole lives together.
43:55Was that easy to do?
43:56I mean...
43:57Putting these two families together, we've been able to jettison some of the things we've carried with us, and distill down, and, you know, bring together the things that are relevant to us now,
44:08and maybe leave behind the things that are part of our past, and allow us to have a clear table to build from.
44:16We did, of course, keep remnants for the kids as well, and definitely in their room, they have little altars to their old lives as well,
44:26and to the part of the family that's no longer around.
44:29I think, for me, the house gives space to make sense of the past.
44:33And I really feel, especially in this room, I really feel I can look back and make sense of the steps that made me come here.
44:44And the new history that we make in this space.
44:46Yeah, absolutely, in this amazing vessel.
44:49Happy end.
44:50Yeah.
44:51Yeah.
44:52Graham and Mel, built from the ashes of loss, a wonderful phoenix of a building, that survived the trials of its construction in the end, unscathed, glorious, and vibrant.
45:08A happy end indeed.
45:11So here's a question.
45:13Can architecture mend a broken heart, or hearts?
45:19Can it foster love?
45:22Well, those are questions I don't think either Graham or Mel were prepared to ask.
45:28Certainly not on the way through, because the process of building this thing was so painful.
45:33But now, now that it's finished, I look at this building and I see two ventricles, each representing a household.
45:42I see a physical manifestation of a human heart in architecture.
45:47And it is beating strongly, joyfully, to the rhythms of life.
45:54In 2017, Eleanor and Bourne set out to build a healthy oasis.
46:08We're very much at a stage with their health that we just don't know what's going to happen.
46:12Our whole life seems to be around how you can manage the allergies.
46:15But creating a clean, hypoallergenic home wasn't easy.
46:19It's been very stressful.
46:21Even when the house was finished, there were no guarantees it would actually work.
46:26I guess it's time to find out.
46:28I guess it's time to find out.
46:35Do you wish forever?
46:36You were so lucky once you got into your age.
46:37You were ever born, you inverted.
46:39Don't think it's time to find out.
46:40Ha-ha!
46:41Do you know?
46:42Lozie to heaven.
46:43It's notüst?
46:44The ground hunger isoni-front?
46:45I, doesn't think it?
46:47Yeah.
46:48It's not the beach.
46:49I guess it's time to find out, but you've got about to do a love.
46:50Well, that was fun.
46:51Yes.
46:52ergonomic memories
46:54And almost the end for the end.
46:55Thanks to you guys.
46:56Essentially, you can't wait for any time.
46:57It was so happy after I'm all the big・s.
46:58By the end.
46:59Yawnessort Lo2019
47:00How do you win each of the world?
47:01I embrace you?