Grand Designs Barnet: Edwardian build costs leave Kevin McCloud 'staggered'
Having been at the helm of Grand Designs for 25 years and witnessed firsthand some of the most ambitious self-build projects, you'd think nothing would faze Kevin McCloud. But when widowed 82-year-old homeowner Kathryn revealed that she would have to fork out £19,000 just to connect her house to the electricity grid, Kevin was 'staggered'.
Here's what happened...
The build
Envisioning a new home
Kathryn has lived on the same street in Barnet, north London, for 60 years. Her current home was no longer adequate for her needs, as she admitted she struggled to get up the stairs. 'I think I've come to the end of my time here,' said Kathryn, whose architect husband Jon passed away a year prior. 'I can no longer look after this house. I know I've got to move but you suddenly realise, if you've spent so much time in one place, if I were to leave this street, I would feel... desolate.'
The plan? To build a mirror image of her Edwardian home, right next door, but with a 21st-century twist.
A garage had been attached to the existing house with a music room built on the side. It was built by John who had a keen interest in music. This plot would soon become Kathryn's new modern, accessible, future-proofed home, and she planned to sell the old house once the build was complete.
The architecture
A low-energy, light-filled, accessible home
Drawn up by architect James Mak, the bright, semi-open-plan house with step-free accessibility has been designed to be well-insulated, and with energy conservation front and centre, features triple glazing, an air-source heat pump and 10 solar panels with battery storage.
The budget
And all the unexpected costs
Kathryn had estimated a pretty solid budget of £607,000. Her son Gordon sold his own house and gave his mother £100,000 to help fund the new build. The rest of the money came from Kathryn's own savings.
Like any project of this scale, there were challenges and setbacks, including old structures and foundation slabs which caused delays, while pouring rain threatened to delay the new foundations. Plus, additional scaffolding needed to make the site 'watertight' cost £21,000, but £18,000 was already in the cost plan, so it came in at an extra £3,000.
The cost of connecting Kathryn's new house to the National Grid was an even bigger, eye-watering figure – she revealed to Kevin that she was being charged £19,000, explaining that the process involved going across the road to where the big cable is.
'It's absolutely unbelievable,' she said, upon telling Kevin the sum. 'I am staggered by that,' he replied.
As time went on, costs continued to rise and finances became dire for Kathryn. Her options were limited because, as she's retired, she was unable to get a mortgage. But did the project didn't grind to a halt? Luckily, no. Her builder Toni generously agreed to extend some credit until Kathryn's current house sold.
So how much did it actually cost?
The reality of any self-build project
By the end of the episode, Kathryn revealed that she went over budget by some mile, especially as connecting the water, sewage and electrics ending up costing about £50,000 altogether.
The overall cost of the build? 'Between £800,000 and £900,000,' admitted Gordon. 'Good Lord,' exclaimed Kevin.
Luckily, the sale of Kathryn's old house was a breeze, which has now given her enough money to live on. 'It sold within about three or four hours,' revealed Kathryn, who said a family who lived on a nearby road are now its new owners.
Kathryn is able to make a saving too thanks to her triple-glazed windows. She's now paying £66 a month on her energy bills in her new home — she was paying £343 a month in her old house.
The final reveal
Never judge a book by its cover
'The exterior might pay homage to the Edwardians, but the interior is all of its time,' said Kevin as he took a look inside.
An oak batten screen runs the whole height of the staircase, lit by surrounding windows. The single open-plan living and kitchen area has a bay window with bench seating and storage on one side, and a dining table at the other end. In the kitchen, units, shelves and handles were reused from the elm floorboards and roof tiles that once lay in the music room. There's also a clever office tucked behind the oak screen under the stairs. Kathryn's bedroom is on the ground floor with an adjacent adaptable shower room, and upstairs is reserved for family with one bathroom and two further bedrooms.
Kevin McCloud's favourite feature
Kevin called it 'a dash of yet more architectural sorcery'
A feature that particularly impressed Kevin was the curved roof. 'To build anything is really hard, but to build a curve is super difficult, especially when that curve is both a wall and a roof, and is also a hidden gutter,' he enthused. 'And all this on the back of a semi-detached house, which is usually the dog end of the building. This, for Kathryn, is a moment of pure, unadulterated joy.'
Kevin’s McCloud’s closing monologue
Our favourite part, obviously, in Kevin's own words
'There's no getting around the sheer cost of ambitious architecture like this, but Kathryn now has a low-energy, light-filled, accessible home and enough money to live on after the sale of her old house, and she's still on the street where she's lived for over half a century, surrounded by loving friends. What price do you put on all that?
'As we get older, we run the risk of following a very predictable path – of staying in the same house we've always lived, of being, if we're really lucky, moved out and into a wingback chair in a care home. The genius thing that Kathryn did is she took her wingback chairs and she moved them into this beautifully remastered, reimagined building, and in so doing, she sort of remastered and reimagined her life. I mean she curated her stories, she edited down the objects that really mean something to her, that carry her life story with them, and she put them into this vessel of a building, which from now on, is going to be this extraordinary, exquisitely crafted version of a home and, consequently, of her.
'And the one thing that I have learnt from her in this amazing process of watching her do this, is that it is never to late to do that.'
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