REVIEW: It’s always great to see people triumph over adversity – and we do see a lot of this on Grand Designs UK. Last week it was Helen, who suffered a stroke, and this week we meet Corinne who had to cope alone with breast cancer, right through lockdown.
She says the only thing that kept her going was a project. Corrine, a chef and entrepreneur, kept her spirits up by planning a new build, right next door to her end terrace house in Sydenham Hill, South London.
We’ve been doing infill housing in Aotearoa for decades, so it’s not surprising to us to see a scrappy piece of land put to a different use. What is surprising though, is that Corinne is allowed to build on it. Did the other owners not get a say in the matter, because I can’t imagine they would have agreed?
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From the side, this new build in South London is all sharp edges, created by the need to make the house fit a tight wedge-shaped section. Owner Corrine refused to compromise on the design elements.
She jumps through hoops with the local authorities which is eager to protect the heritage character of the conservation area, and she gets her way (all credit to her architect).
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Corrine, who is still on medication for her cancer, loves to entertain, and wants a house designed around her love of cooking, with an outdoor kitchen on a roof terrace. “I want it to be a place of pure joy and happiness, and good energy,” she says.
‘Michelin-star build on a café budget’
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Corinne’s new house is an infill build at the end of a 1960s terrace block – she was already living in the townhouse on the right.
The wedge-shaped plot (it narrows to a point) is a bit of a woodland, so it does afford lovely views. But the owner has “champagne ideas on a lager budget”. (Don’t we all?) Or, as presenter Kevin McCloud describes it, she’s aiming for a “Michelin-star build on a café budget”.
The plan shows a contemporary three-storey brick and glass house. Corinne wants this house to be “the good” that comes out of her cancer diagnosis, and her enthusiasm is contagious. It’s a wonderful outlook on life. Again this is something we see time and again on Grand Designs.
With protected tree roots right through the site, piling will be difficult and expensive – the roots must be avoided. And it’s going to be a tight fit for the house (also wedge-shaped), which cannot touch any tree or the end terrace. The bricks must match exactly the ones on the classic, Modernist ‘60s block.
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Grand Designs UK presenter Kevin McCloud, pictured with Corinne, was completed awed by the completed project when he turned up three days after she had moved in.
Best 3-D graphics of the plans
The 3D graphics of the plans in this series are amazing, and fun to watch. The furniture appears to pop up out of the floor. I could watch this all day. The fully glazed wall in the open-plan living area will look right into the trees.
The budget for this build is £600,000 (NZ$1.195m), funded by savings and the equity from Corinne’s existing house, which she would like to keep as a rental. The architect Simon and his building partner Julian will handle the design, build and project management. They think this one will be challenging.
The build begins, and despite a soil survey, there are problems with the piling holes collapsing, so they come up with a new concrete pour solution that will cost more. But it works. And the Romanian builders say they will work over Christmas to make up the time. Corrine is humbled, and she takes on a second, full-time job to pay for it (leaving in the dark and coming home in the dark.)
McCloud shows us another very narrow infill house at the end of a terrace. Again, it’s the clever architecture that lets in light from unexpected places that makes it work, leading you through to a beautiful garden at the back. So much innovation.
Back on site, the ground-floor blockwork goes up quickly, thanks to the lightweight insulated, hollow clay bricks laid with adhesive, which saves labour. The first floor goes up in two days. The top floor, however, will feature the old-style bricks.
Post-covid supply chain cost increases
As anyone who has built a house anywhere in the world in the past couple of years will know, this has been the worst time to build due to supply chain difficulties and increasing prices. This team find price increases of 20% happening in the course of a single day when they come to order materials. It is mind-blowing.
What will Corinne sacrifice? Not the slimline-profile windows, she says. But she may have to sacrifice her idea of keeping her current home as a rental.
Vandals wreak havoc
Then this happens: The site is vandalised. Thieves use a crowbar to break in, damaging three of the newly installed windows from Romania, They will have to be replaced (£10,000). Julian has had four thefts of his work sites in the past year, and he’s had enough.
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The main rooms are positioned at the pointy end of the house, with Corrine’s bedroom on the ground floor. It looks out to the trees and an ancient grotto discovered during the build.
Meanwhile, Corinne is back to see her specialist about further cancer treatment, as if she doesn’t have enough to worry about (there was also a divorce that added to her stress). She has had another health scare and realises she is trying to do too much, so she has to give up work.
“I have realised, I can’t do, physically and mentally, everything that is required of me.”
The budget is already blown by £50,000, despite the builder absorbing some of the costs.
Grand reveal
Eight months after the build began, McCloud is back strolling up the lane to the house. “A new upstart has appeared to stake its claim,” he says. “It doesn’t so much as bookend the terrace, as buttress it.”
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The kitchen cabinetry (left) appears to float; Corinne has decorated every room in her favourite shades.
The house has a solid presence, but it’s not overpowering. A single-storey entry volume steps up to three storeys at the back, all designed to blend in with both the natural environment and the ‘60s block. As McCloud says, it’s almost a house carved from chocolate. Corinne has moved in, but it has only been three nights.
And yes, she has sold the townhouse next door – it sold within a week, which isn’t surprising, because it was rather cool. She says her stress level is good, but her exhaustion level is high.
Inside, the house is magnificent, and thank goodness she didn’t compromise. There’s a long, narrow skylight, and a passage that leads the eye directly to a view of the “jungle”.
The main rooms are at the pointy end of the house with stunning leafy views – the bedroom is on the ground level and the living area above. The living room, especially, is incredibly dramatic. She could be living in the woods, not London.
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Indoor dining for winter – outdoor kitchen on the rooftop for summer.
McCloud is, dare I say it, speechless. “My ‘wow’ floor,” Corrine says. And her kitchen, which appears to float off the floor, is equally magnificent, and all about entertaining. She feeds McCloud lunch. He’s in his element. Who wouldn’t be?
On the top floor, there’s another sitting room and the rooftop deck with an outdoor kitchen, which is not something we often see on Grand Designs UK.
What about that budget? The flash kitchen has pushed it up, along with all the other problems along the way. She has spent £675,000 (NZ$1.345m). The builder says the whole process was “brutal and complicated”, but they got there
Corinne is thrilled, and says she did the build because she felt there was no time to waste. “It was a really big wake-up call, being ill.”
A remarkable story. And a wake-up call for all of us with a dream to follow.
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