Grand Designs Live - a new live version of Channel 4's popular architecture series - wants to hear your questions about architecture, interior design, property development, buying a property abroad or gardening.
If you leave us questions on this forum thread we'll choose a selection to pose to our daily expert who will answer them live on Channel 4. Just include your questions, name and the area you live.
[STRIKE]Hello this is my first post on your forum! I joined after watching several seasons of Grand Designs and I've been collecting lots of tips and tidbits for helping me plot a path through this great adventure of building a modern home.
Most of the homes on Grand Designs are huge projects, for families etc...Do you ever do any programs on sites that are smaller? I've bought my place here in Paris. 60sq meters, a small garden. I'll be transforming it totally. The architect is finishing up the second set of plans...(the first plans were 40,000 euros over my budget!)
McCloud did a program a few seasons back on a "straw" house designed by two architects as their "case" home. What got my attention was McClouds smaller, seemingly managable build (his "office"?)! This is the kind of thing I am interested in!
Also recently I found a site for a"summerhouse" in Hackney : [that I fell in love with. The simplicity of the design. The materials used. I wondered also whether you might have featured this building in one of your programs that I hadn't seen yet...wasn't sure as it isn't technicaly "a home"
I'll keep watching! And I'm excited to have found this forum!
Sorry about that! I'm not yet really proficient in forum participation! The summerhouse that I was hoping you might have covered on Grande Designs is the ullamayerslyvester summerhouse.
Also any programs where you cover smaller projects? 1 Bedroom, under 100sq mts...?
I'm sorry to say that I find this show a real disappointment and a wasted opportunity.
Last night we saw about five minutes of the 'construction project' the rest of the show was lots of old clips and the old favourite 'phone-in' vote. The only reason this is live is for the phone in vote, the featured project is barely seen.
This evening things went from bad to worse. We had Janet Street-Porter faffing around with asparagus (in a design programme!) and some poor people who had their sofa ruined by two designers who clearly did not understand the needs of their clients.
With current focus on sustainability, ecofriendliness, efficiency etc, it would have been good to see a little more emphasis on how this can be achieved in new build and refurbishment projects instead of the veneer-covered chat show that has been produced so far.
I agree, what a lost opportunity. Grand Designs Live should make its mind up what it is trying to achieve – the building of an eco house in six days or the design competition for the best house, not both!
Very little is given to the construction of the new house – a far cry from the critical comment made during the usual programmes. From the two episodes so far it appears to be being treated as a farce (e.g. the stupidity surrounding the insertion of the straw bales on Monday’s episode). A shame given that the house and the materials used appear to be innovative and worthy of more time being spent on the subject. I feel sorry for the architect who designed the house and the contractors doing the actual building work - Grand Designs Live appears to selling them far short.
Kevin McCloud does himself no favours either – shouting at all times, so as to give the impression of enthusiasm.
Self-building is a serious subject, which the usual programme handles perfectly well. Why then does this one off weekly run wish to roll out the gimmicks?
If tonight’s programme does not improve – then I’m out.
Why is this program live? Does it add anything to the experience? I watched hoping to know more about soundproofing but was treated to a primary school experiment involving sheds and trumpets. pathetic
The soundproofing one really upset me - I'm an acoustic consultant so the utter pointlessness and invalidity of the 'tests' on the different sheds was really infuriating. What I really wanted to know was what specific "cutting edge technology" treatment(s) did they use on the 'uber-shed'; 3 inches thick was the only detail given.
Kevin I'm really disappointed - I have to agree with the rest of the comments above - not enough detail on the construction of the house and far too much time spent on facile interviews (Sarah Beeny's great, but what was the point of her brief appearance last night?). One final moan: who exactly shortlisted the houses? I've seen much better examples of Grand Designs on the show itself!
Grand Designs Live? Degrading Snivels more like! (or even Sad Nerds Liven Gig??)
I agree with the last few people. What the hell is cooking got to do with house building? If I wanted to watch rubbish cooking I would tune into a cooking program. The silly makeover of furniture etc. Just get on with showing building and properties, Stick to the program it was advertised as and cut the rubbish inc. pointless interviews. What was the format of this program? Did you all forget? Come on Kevin your programs are great why have you let them make a dogs dinner of this? So dull and only about 15 minutes of what I wanted to see. Can't sit and watch this one minute more. Better things to do.
I have to agree that this is such a wasted opportunity. The tea time slot clearly has no idea what it really wants to be, and ends up achieving very little.
Besides the content, Tuesday's edition was so full of technical and presentational gaffes that it should be used as a training video.
What exactly is the makeover of a cherished piece of furniture actually trying to demonstrate? I wonder how the idea was put over to the participants. It seems that their desires are comletely ignored, with the designers presumably chosen to deliver something of a style already known to the production team. If the only way to "win" is to accept the trashed item simply so as to be able to sell it for what the "expert" says it is worth, it doesn't really serve as a way forward for the rest of us.
The evening session is almost as bad, a mish-mash of items barely strung together, none of them really working. The house has hardly been explained in any useful detail. The emphasis seems to be on ensuring that there is enough dramatic tension in the "Will it be done in time?"
The technical demonstrations seem to be about as objective as the Gadget Show. Is this really what you aspire to?
It is obvious that form has won over function in the devising of this programme, which is a real shame. Credit your audience with sufficient attention span to cope with real factual information, without diluting it with distracting and pointless froth.
There's been a fair amount of comment on this forum about the limited time devoted to "the house that Kevin built" on the GDL shows. I thought viewers might like to know there are a couple of websites linked to the GDL site which are showing a day-by-day story of the build. There are some great interviews with the architects and product designers that should inspire potential self-builders and developers to follow Kevin's example and build their own sustainable homes!
Thanks for that 'How did they do that?', useful to know, but I thought that Grand Designs Live was a TV programme, that was live and to do with Grand Designs? It misses the mark as much as the furniture makeovers... The target audience thinks it's rubbish but no doubt 'experts' will tell us otherwise. It's interesting to note that the five o'clock show gets one star out of five as a viewer rating on the Radio Times website and the evening show has been dropping a star a day. I think that the programme sponsors will not be happy...
Agree with everything said so far. Kevin McCloud deserved a medal for raising standards and awareness. He should be ashamed - this is total rubbish and pandering to the lowest common denominator. It is insulting - who is this programme aimed at? Why not just get Ant and Dec and drape some girls in bikinis across the scaffolding. Where are the experts? and above all, since we are all complaining about noise pollution - can we be told the name of the insulating material? Or will there be a phone-in quiz at the end of the week?
To be fair Kevin probably doesn't have much control over how much time is devoted to the self build. I'm sure if he had his way the whole show would be about the self buid. I thought Sarah Beeny showed an obvious lack of interest in Kevin's idea that this is the way we should build in the future. Phil and Kirsty didn't seem overly inpressed either when talking about the cost of the build and the price of land. I actually feel quite sorry for Kevin, he genuinely believes in what he's doing.
OK general query regarding last nights Live program, I missed the guys name in USA (Robert ____) that has built the strange steel house, also does he have a showcase website etc. to have a more detailed look?
The Grand Designs Today show is a total mess, a mish mash of dull lifestyle chat and cooking. What annoys me though is that is is filmed at the huge Grand Designs Live exhibition in ExCeL but doesn't feature any of it. I went there yesterday and there's so much going on and a genuine sense of creativity and innovation, but it is all ignored. Come on Channel 4, why are you not showing us the really good stuff at ExCeL???
So how was the hippy house built on two storeys without a frame?? What was the laminate kitchen surface that wouldn't break? Who is Duncan who is working on the 6 day house?? Is he the architect or what? Are we likely to be told?? I don't think so - if the previous programmes are anything to go by. This is the most rubbishy programme ever..
I thought tonight's programme was much better. We finally got to hear some of the technical details about Kevin's house from people who knew what they were talking about (though too much time spent on Heston B's own kitchen and his "Mrs"). I'm so glad the producers have realised that viewers ARE capable of absorbing information which hasn't been filtered through one of Kevin's "celebrity chums". Snatches of tonight's edition came close to the authoritative and well-informed tone of the GD series. Keep it up for tomorrow and you'll win back some loyal fans!
Originally posted by whizzy lizzy: Who is Duncan who is working on the 6 day house?? Is he the architect or what?
Yes, Duncan Baker-Brown is the architect on the project - Shame we didn't get to see an interview with him to talk about the design and the sustainable aspects. He has some very creative and innovative ideas. The rest was a bit of a missed opportunity - shame channel 4, you had an opportunity and you fudged it.
so dissapointed with grand designs live.. what were they trying to do .. it was more like 'this morning' it had cooking, gardening and if we were lucky a few points about 'grand design' building.. altho i think i am being kind saying that. i love watching the normal programme.. but this was a load of rubbish. i stopped watching after the first programme and judging by the comments on here it didnt get any better.
i hope to goodness they dont do this sort of thing again.
I agree with most of the previous posts. This whole week of live programmes was a huge disappointment. It has diminished Kevin McCloud's profile. He was made to appear as a jokey presenter instead of a well informed and interesting designer. Why on earth didn't the programme concentrate on one thing - the building of the eco house or finding the House of the Year. The former might have been a more worthwhile endevour.
I was also disgusted that the various architects were never credited properly. Several of the houses were built by architect/owners, but why no credit given to the rest - most of which were clearly very well designed and by architects. I would be seething with rage if I was one of the architects responsible for the uncredited houses.
Duncan Baker-Brown is a well known and respected architect who was sidelined completely. Why was his house not properly discussed? Kevin McCloud rushing round for the last 4 mins of the final programme was an insult.
Shame on you Channel 4 and I hope this ragbag of a series has not damaged the gold standard of Grand Designs and Kevin McCloud in its wake.
Whoever thought a property programme could be made into live entertainment definitely needs to get out more.
What an absurd concept.
I assume there was a bar there, as the audience were so utterly bored and inebriated, you barely hear what the presenters were saying over the cat calling. Kevin McCloud looked a bit unnerved!
I suspect the finale of BBC's marvellous "Restoration" may have given the germ of the idea. Totally different.
Possibly one of the most pointless TV programmes I've ever seen.
------------------------------ 35% constitutes neither a majority nor a mandate
I admire the stamina of those of you who kept watching. I gave up after two episodes. I had been looking forward to this series, but what I wanted to see was an informative programme about the building of the house, not Bill Bailey wrestling with haybales.
Why on earth was the 'best house' concept shoehorned into the show? It seemed out of place (are channel 4 that desperate for telephone vote revenue?), and for those so inclined there is already a 'best home' series currently running on channel 5.
Dont know if anyone can help me. I'm converting a barn. a very long thin barn. Its 10'6" wide by 43 ft. on two floors. I need to insulate the walls. i dont want to stud it and then skim with plaster or insulate using board as the walls are all over the place and I could loose valuable width ending up feeling like Im living in a hospital corridor. Can anyone help with sugestions that are building regs compliant and also non toxic. I want a healthy warm space to live in! ta x
Like the other postees on this thread I was utterley disappointed in this live show. Fortunately, having been away all week, I had recorded it and was able to fast forward through most of it. I hope they are going to make a serious programme, which is not dumbed down, about this house, its architect and its build. As I am about to start building a sustainable house myself, I was eager to learn about the cutting edge technology. As it is I learned nothing at all. I hope Kevin McLoud andthe producers are ashamed of themselves.
Originally posted by velvet: I admire the stamina of those of you who kept watching. I gave up after two episodes. I had been looking forward to this series, but what I wanted to see was an informative programme about the building of the house, not Bill Bailey wrestling
what were they trying to do 
.. it was more like 'this morning' it had cooking, gardening and if we were lucky a few points about 'grand design' building.. altho i think i am being kind saying that.
