Grand Designs

[teuchter]

One of the main downsides to the tyre/rammed earth wall construction is of course the amount of labour required. But it strikes me that it could be mechanised. I wonder how it would compare to other types of construction in terms of cost, embodied energy, etc, if it were built with two people and some machinery instead of 15 people with sledgehammers.

 

[London_Calling]

At one point he did make me wonder how they built the Acropolis without used tyres.

 

[teuchter]

I'm guessing they may have used a few "volunteers" for the Acropolis too.

 

[stavros]

Missed the start, where did the kids go to school

I think they were just his from a previous relationship and had their permanent residence with their mum. I think.

 

[stavros]

I know it was a revisit last night, but I hadn't seen the original before. I thought throughout that it'd be overambitious and too big, but it was really rather stunning in the end.

 

[teuchter]

Is that the double timber & glass houses one, amidst back gardens in Dulwich?

 

[trashpony]

Nope, it was in Northern Ireland. stavros - did you see what happened to the neighbour's house? I got interrupted a few times but they said at the start they were going to do things to it and then I never heard it mentioned again

 

[silverfish]

Is it only a matter of time before some one creates a design based on hesco bastion?

 

[stavros]

Nope, it was in Northern Ireland. stavros - did you see what happened to the neighbour's house? I got interrupted a few times but they said at the start they were going to do things to it and then I never heard it mentioned again

I thought they said they were going to sell it in order to fund/pay off the credit from the new build. Can't remember for sure, but it'll by on 4OD if you want to check.

ETA: Oh and Teuchter, they said it was in Belfast, although it must've been very much on the edges.

 

[rover07]

Anyone watching this?

£800,000 'eco' house the size of a warehouse

 

[rover07]

Oh good he's run out of money halfway through.

 

[rover07]

oh they've found the money £400,000. So thats nice.

Ah, its now a B+B which of course they didnt have permission for when they started.

Thats a bit of luck.

 

[teuchter]

Grand Designs keeps cheating, by saying they are "revisiting" an old project, then just playing the old programme that we've already seen with an extra 5 minutes on the end.

 

[stavros]

I'm not sure, but maybe people are less willing to take the financial risks of a self-build in the last three years or so.

 

[Cid]

Anyone watch the mine pump tower ep (http://www.channel4.com/programmes/grand-designs/episode-guide/series-7/episode-18)? One for a revisited unfortunately, but the guy doing it is a stonemason who's clearly helped out a lot of people along the way, one of those builds where they really deserve to do well.

 

[Casual Observer]

As has probably been noted before, the most enjoyable shows are when one of the subjects is a builder who not only has a hand in the design (with or without an architect) but gets stuck in and plays a key part in the actual building as well. When this isn't the case, the program is a middle class equivalent of Big Brother, a chance for tasteless attention seekers to get on telly and say ‘look at me, aren’t I successful, look how much money I’m spending’.

 

[SpookyFrank]

They should do a squatter version of this program. Enterprising young go-getters transform a dilapidated hell hole into a beautiful home/music venue/bail hostel with a budget of five bent nails and a crate of special brew. The show would be hosted by Mark E Smith.

 

[stavros]

They should do a squatter version of this program. Enterprising young go-getters transform a dilapidated hell hole into a beautiful home/music venue/bail hostel with a budget of five bent nails and a crate of special brew. The show would be hosted by Mark E Smith.

Scheduled just before Knowing M.E. Knowing You and Monkey Tennis.

The arch on last night's revisit was very impressive structurally, but I'm not really sure I'd want to live in it.

 

[teuchter]

I thought the arch one (which was just another "revisited") was very nice indeed; one of the best they've had.

Why wouldn't you want to live in it?

 

[rover07]

I thought the arch one (which was just another "revisited") was very nice indeed; one of the best they've had.

Why wouldn't you want to live in it?

A £500,000 'eco' house. It was an oversized wooden box.

 

[teuchter]

It was much nicer than 99.9% of other oversized £500k boxes though.

 

[teuchter]

Also, while I recognise that building something that big could be argued to be contrary to "eco" principles, it was built to passivhaus standards and it looked like it was going to be genuinely self-sufficient energy-wise. So bloated as it may be, it will be using less energy than the most modest of hovels and at least a lot of their money went into investing in new and potentially useful technologies that others couldn't afford to gamble with.

 

[stavros]

I thought the arch one (which was just another "revisited") was very nice indeed; one of the best they've had.

Why wouldn't you want to live in it?

Not sure. Perhaps partly because I'm not sure I like the internal brick work in a residential building. It can work nicely in an office or commercial space, but personally I wouldn't want to live around it.

 

[stavros]

I'd seen the original of last night's before, but I still wasn't that keen on the revisit. It was the converted water tower, and it all seemed quite cramp, especially the master bedroom on the top floor.

 

[teuchter]

Has anyone else been watching "Grand Designs Australia"?

I'll not say anything about stereotypes of Australians being unsophisticated or anything

 

[bi0boy]

I'm not watching any more of that man since he did that Indian slum poverty tourism program.

 

[stavros]

Aussie GD isn't with Kev. It's some guy who isn't quite so pessimistic.

 

[Reno]

It's some guy who isn't quite so pessimistic.

That sucks.

 

[Gromit]

That sucks.

Does it?

Kevin: ooh I have my doubts.
Kevin: ooh its all going to go wrong.
Kevin: This could be a disaster in taste.
Kevin: OOh its lovely, its a triumph, even that bit i was unsure about*, but how much over budget are you?

Repeat.

Any thing different to Kevin could be an improvement imo.

* Were you really Kevin or just trying to create drama?

 

[Reno]

humour failure