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Grand.Designs.S27E02.Southwater.2025
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00:00In Wales, for hundreds of years, right into the 19th century, there was a piece of folklore
00:13called tianos, meaning a house in one night. Essentially, if you could build a house between
00:21dusk and dawn on common land, then it would be yours. It's brilliant, isn't it?
00:31And this is one of the last examples. It's completely lovely. Of course, the modern
00:36construction industry is trying to do this kind of thing, to build houses off-site, put them on a
00:41lorry, bring them overnight and construct them quickly. It doesn't come without its risks, of
00:46course. I mean, you'd be handing all your money to one company. You wouldn't see the house evolve on
00:51sight. You might not know what it would turn out like. And then you've got to get the thing, like,
00:57down lanes like these. Goodness me. You'd be,
01:00me. I'll beg all drain on tenterhooks.
01:30Buying a factory-built home proved irresistible to Pete, who works in manufacturing in London.
01:37How risky do you want to go? Sign up to 20 million?
01:41As a Vice President of Supply Chain Strategy, he values production runs with predictable outcomes.
01:47It's too risky to go with this approach.
01:50A good supplier to me is one that involves the least surprises.
01:54So they agree on a timeline and they deliver on it.
01:57They tell you what it's going to cost and it does.
02:00And the quality of product you get is exactly what you asked for.
02:05Naturally, he wants his new house to be similarly supplied.
02:13It's set to replace this jaded bungalow in West Sussex, bought for the purpose,
02:18where Pete lives with A, his wife, and their children, Alice and Joseph.
02:24A uses the garage for her ceramics business, her passion.
02:28I just love experimenting with different colours, putting colours together.
02:32So for the new house, I will make a collection.
02:35For A, the aesthetics and experience of her new home matter.
02:39For me, the most important thing is that the house is going to look beautiful.
02:43I don't want to fill the house with lots of things.
02:46It's going to be plain and simple and in a quite design-led.
02:49The emphasis on design extends to the landscaping of their new home,
02:53for which they're inspired by a local rewilded garden.
02:57I love it. I really love it.
03:03We live in a beautiful part of the world, so it's really important,
03:06as well as the house being, you know, sustainable.
03:10It supports the wildlife around.
03:12So this would be like our house in the middle here.
03:15I've never met anyone that's built a house by this method,
03:19and actually there's not very many manufacturers that do it.
03:22In my head, it's going to be easy.
03:24Hopefully, we don't need to stand there and go, ah!
03:29Their expectations are pretty demanding,
03:32and yet their house is going to have to be delivered to their rural plot
03:35as if by a miracle.
03:41When they build, people are always surprised by the number of delivery vehicles
03:46needed to put a house together, because once the house arrives
03:48in component form.
03:50Tens of thousands of components.
03:53Of course, if you elect to have your house prefabricated
03:57and delivered as one single volume,
03:59well, that's one really nasty intervention,
04:03because the load is so huge.
04:05I mean, look at this tiny lane here.
04:08We've had any branches.
04:10We've had cables.
04:11Oh, and there's an irate neighbour. Hello.
04:14That's what you're going to have to deal with.
04:16There we go.
04:22Hello.
04:23Hi.
04:24Hi, Peter. Hi.
04:25How are you?
04:26Good, thank you.
04:27Magnificent house.
04:28More like an electricity substation than a house.
04:30So what's the plan, then?
04:31So the plan is that we demolish all of this,
04:34and then put a new house on the top.
04:37There'll be five modules built in a factory in Wales
04:40and then delivered as almost finished units.
04:43This is going to be a wooden frame, eco home,
04:46all black cladding, very sleek.
04:49Everything will be fitted.
04:50Kitchen, bathroom, tiles.
04:52Tiled?
04:53Yeah.
04:54Wow, okay.
04:55How are you going to get the thing here?
04:56It's crisscross with overhead cables.
04:58It's one of the things you wake up and go,
05:00what would happen if it couldn't get down that row?
05:03Stressful.
05:04Yeah.
05:05Doing this all off-site,
05:06it's like sort of ordering a specially made suit,
05:09but never trying it on until it arrives in the post finished.
05:12Do you know what it's going to feel like, look like?
05:14You're much better than me at being able to visualise.
05:17There's some spaces that are really clear
05:19and others kind of beyond how my mind works.
05:22Pete's inability to visualise his prefab home in full
05:26demonstrates some jaw-dropping faith,
05:28especially when they've already spent 650 grand on the plot
05:32and two years working with their architects, Koto,
05:35who'll run this super eco project.
05:37It'll start at a Welch factory,
05:40where 68 timber panels would be built from locally sourced
05:43Douglas fir in the first of two workshops.
05:46There'll be no robots, only skilled carpenters and joiners
05:49to precisely construct each bespoke panel
05:52so that they seamlessly slot together
05:54in the main assembly hall next door.
05:57Floor and roof panels will be framed out first
06:00and skinned with a breathable board for the outside
06:03and a green vapour control board inside
06:05for the airtight skin of this lower energy home
06:08with managed ventilation.
06:10A super-strong timber box beam designed by Welsh engineers
06:14will add phenomenal rigidity to the structures.
06:18The walls go up, the roofs are craned on
06:21and recycled newspaper cellulose insulation
06:24will be pumped into the voids.
06:26Every joint gets taped for air tightness.
06:29Next, the trades can come into plumb, wire and plaster.
06:33Windows are inserted and the ventilation fitted.
06:36The modules get a mist coat, bathrooms are tiled
06:40and a kitchen made in-house is fitted.
06:43The five modules are then wrapped, ready for the lorry.
06:46Back on site, the bungalow has to be dismantled.
06:5055 screw piles, suitably green footings,
06:53will provide the new foundations.
06:55These threaded steel posts drilled into the earth
06:58will support the zigzag-shaped house when it lands.
07:01Services are linked, final decking and cladding applied
07:05and A&P can bed the building into their rewilded garden.
07:09Only then can they truly appreciate their design decisions.
07:13Their budget of 750 grand paid with a mortgage and assets
07:17is largely fixed, as is the delivery date.
07:20Massive positives.
07:22Meantime, there's a whole load of work to get done on site.
07:25Demolition, foundations, permissions
07:27and the house arrives in three and a half months.
07:31What could delay that?
07:33It's a bit bat dependent
07:35because two years ago the bat survey said
07:38there was a bat living under the tiles.
07:40We have to wait till it's warm enough for bats to be moving around
07:43before we can apply for a licence
07:45and the units arrive quite briskly afterwards.
07:49So actually getting all the pieces to fit is as tricky as on any project?
07:53Yeah.
07:55The story of Pete and A's home
07:57starts in the coniferous plantations of Wales
08:01in managed woodland
08:03where the timber of their wooden house is harvested.
08:08The house's manufacturer, Kenton,
08:10likes to handpick the Douglas firs he uses.
08:14What are you looking for in that tree?
08:16So we want the first section out of the ground.
08:18OK.
08:19Yeah.
08:20What sort of like six metres?
08:21It depends what section we're cutting and what length it is.
08:23OK.
08:24So you're actually thinking about the measurement
08:25of a component of a building when you look at the tree.
08:27Do you think actually we can get that out of there?
08:28That's when they're picking it, yeah.
08:29And then what happens to the rest of the tree?
08:30What's that useful?
08:31We'll just go into lower grade product.
08:33So he's just about to do it, yeah?
08:34Yeah, yeah, he's ready to go.
08:38Rather him than me, that's what I say.
08:40Oh, look, that's quick.
08:45Textbook.
08:49That's a good start.
08:50And then something else grows here.
08:52It's regenerative.
08:53Mm-hm.
08:54The felling supports more managed planting of mixed species.
08:57The felled timber locks in carbon.
08:59The lumber travels only 32 miles via sawmill to Kenton's factory.
09:03It's all sustainable, local and low carbon.
09:06One of the joiners in the factory, Danny, is a fan.
09:09Douglas Foe is brilliant to work with.
09:12It cuts well.
09:13It's very strong.
09:15It's a piece of art, really.
09:17It really is nice.
09:18Nice timber.
09:20It's this gentle way of making a prefabricated house
09:23that attracted Pete and A's modular designers, Koto,
09:27to form an exclusive relationship with Kenton.
09:30Unusually, they're both architects and project managers.
09:34You're holding your hand through the entire process here, aren't you?
09:36I mean, you're here to the bittersweet end.
09:38Yeah.
09:39Yeah.
09:40Looking forward,
09:41what are the things that are going to keep you up at night?
09:43Just making sure that the site's completely ready
09:45for the building to land.
09:47Because we've got the two contractors,
09:48we've got Kenton manufacturer and the groundworks contractor,
09:51just making sure that they're joined up.
09:54Anything else?
09:55What?
09:56Yeah.
09:57I mean, if you time this badly,
09:58it can be nine months to a year, can't it,
10:00before you can get in again.
10:01Yeah.
10:02There again, of course,
10:03you want to build a sustainable building,
10:04so that means being ecological, doesn't it?
10:06Absolutely.
10:07Exactly.
10:08Gotta love the bats.
10:09Gotta love the bats.
10:10Ecology and the mating habits of creatures
10:13determine what gets built when these days.
10:16What can help is off-site fabrication.
10:19Six weeks in,
10:2068 panels have already been made to slot together
10:23to make five floor and roof sections.
10:25It takes just two weeks to do this.
10:27And yet, in West Sussex,
10:30they're not even out of the starting blocks.
10:32Still waiting on the bat licence.
10:34There seems to be some back and forth
10:37between Natural England and the council
10:40agreeing who is the one that approves it.
10:42And I don't have any control over the process.
10:45Obviously, until we've knocked the house down,
10:47we can't do the foundations,
10:49and the factory's still carrying on building the house.
10:52Sorry, it makes me a little bit nervous.
10:57Goes to show, doesn't it?
10:58I mean, you can try and de-risk every aspect of a project,
11:01and then something crops up.
11:03As in this case, our flappy little batty friends.
11:07And they do now, it seems, threaten
11:09to derail the schedule of this project.
11:13But you see, I will always advocate for the bats.
11:20Pete and A's 750 grand modular eco home
11:33is due to arrive in just three months.
11:36But for them, it remains a remote process
11:39of online meetings with their architects,
11:41because site work can't start
11:43until they get their batty permission.
11:45There's a bat licence as well.
11:47Yeah.
11:48We just want to get this soon.
11:51But in Wales, their house is careering ahead.
11:53The panels are now being skinned on both sides
11:55for protection, air-tightness and rigidity.
11:58The modules can now rise up into three dimensions.
12:03At last, a week later,
12:05after two years of imagining their home,
12:07Pete and A travel out for their first glimpse.
12:11Let me see.
12:12Oh, wow.
12:13Sorry.
12:15Oh, my goodness.
12:16Oh, my God.
12:17That's a bit more of a house
12:18than I thought I was going to see.
12:22Oh!
12:23Wow!
12:24It's so big.
12:25Wow.
12:28Hello.
12:29Hello.
12:30Oh, hey, guys.
12:31Hello.
12:32All right?
12:33Yes, he's up.
12:34Yeah, yeah.
12:35Look, they're putting on the airtight tape.
12:36Yeah.
12:41Amazing.
12:44You all right?
12:45Oh.
12:46Wow.
12:47And there's your big glass wall facing south.
12:49Sunset.
12:51Like, just like that.
12:52They've even got the sun in the right position for you.
12:54Yeah.
12:55Sorry.
12:57Are you OK?
12:58Yeah.
13:01It's fine.
13:02You're all right?
13:03Yeah.
13:04It's pretty, yeah.
13:05It is astonishing progress.
13:07This is the kitchen diner.
13:12Next up is Pete and A's bedroom.
13:14Assembling these perfect panels seems so easy in a factory.
13:22Wow.
13:24Huge piece of Douglas fir flying through the air.
13:26It's close encounters of the fur kind.
13:31This took under an hour.
13:37It's like watching a space shuttle door close.
13:41Built out of tree.
13:43It's beautiful.
13:44It's beautiful.
13:45Swiftly over the next four weeks all five modules come into existence.
13:51And a new phase gets underway with the arrival of subcontractors like Declan on electrics and Brin for the plumbing.
13:58They'll all be overseen by the production manager, Taron.
14:01We've just gone into the stages that are going to be very challenging.
14:04So the first big stage and the coordination between the trades is the hardest part.
14:08With all the services and the detail of everything.
14:11The idea is that the workforce rotates through the units.
14:14So once the electrics and pipes are in, the factory's team, plasterboards behind them.
14:20Me and Declan Sparky, we were saying before, they're snapping at our heels a bit.
14:24The controlled environment has indeed changed.
14:27Is there going to be enough depth to get that in and unturn it?
14:31Notably, there's a lot of head scratching.
14:34There's loads of this timber in the way and I don't really want to take too much out the strength.
14:40Tricky.
14:41We don't arrive and then there's a set of drawings.
14:44It's a nightmare.
14:46We have to make up the pipe runs and we do have to make a lot of decisions ourselves, you know.
14:55Trying to get this timber out of here.
14:58Not the easiest.
15:02Just because everything's glued and screwed.
15:07Next door isn't on track either.
15:09Declan Spark doesn't think the design position of the motion light sensor works.
15:15If that goes there, it's going to pick every bit of free traffic coming up from there.
15:19Every time you sit down at the dinner table, it's going to keep going on and off.
15:22Taron calls the architects for the redesign.
15:25But this company can't afford delays.
15:27I feel quite a lot of pressure at this stage.
15:30This is, like, really important to keep this on target because as soon as this job gets to a certain stage, we'll have to start production on the next project.
15:36Basically, we can't afford to have downtime because, obviously, any downtime is cost.
15:40I thought I'd be out of here today.
15:41Hold-ups are not welcome here.
15:44Getting one house out while another comes in is the essential blood flow of their work.
15:49Any pause in this conveyor belt can spell financial doom.
15:53Three years ago, I visited the modular factory of Top Hacked.
15:58It's since ceased trading.
16:00And other big players like LNG Modular Homes and Modulus Limited all suffered from inconsistent workflow.
16:07And yet the sky could be the limit.
16:10This is one of the tallest modular buildings in the world.
16:13This 50-storey residential building in Croydon, designed by HTA Architects, is really proper, grown-up, poised architecture.
16:27It has 14,000 beautiful porcelain tiles around it.
16:32It has a terracotta facade which gleams in the sunshine.
16:35But the entire building is pre-made in chunks.
16:40In a factory.
16:42In Bedford.
16:49Over 900 homes were built here in just 28 months.
16:54That's far quicker than the conventional equivalent, with a lot less waste.
17:00Tide and Vision built it.
17:02Their chairman, John Fleming, believes that their dual identity as developers and manufacturers has so far saved their bacon.
17:11So you've got these guys in Bedford, working at the factory.
17:15Yes. How many have you got there?
17:17About 280.
17:19That's a lot of families. Yes.
17:21So you've got to keep the workflow through the factory.
17:23Yeah. Continuous pipeline is critical to keep factories going.
17:27It's very important that governments support that going forward.
17:30Would it make a difference if central government turned around and said,
17:33Do you know what? We want X number of social housing and we're going to commit to contracts over the next ten years.
17:38If they gave some commitment in that area, that would be very important to our industry.
17:43I hope they can get that reassurance.
17:46Given our housing crisis, modular construction could be part of the solution.
17:50So this building is one of the few success stories in volumetric construction.
17:56What it tells me is that what Pete and Abe are doing is quite risky.
18:00I mean, they are giving all of their money to one company in advance for a home which is not even on their land.
18:10I mean, it's in Wales. So if there is any kind of financial complication, well then, I don't know, the factory might as well be in Timbuktu.
18:20In Wales though, reassuringly they have the next job incoming, so they are working hard to deliver on the nail.
18:30But all they have done in Southwater is move to a nearby rental.
18:35I'm just going to set up the time-lap of me packing up the studio. I can post this on my social.
18:45The factory home is half done. The underfloor heating's going in.
18:50Emma, the project manager and architect, is now worrying about delays to the groundworks.
18:56Pretty nervous, because if we don't get the back licence come through, we've had projects in the past that have been delayed by up to nine months.
19:02We can completely throw out our timelines. The whole project hinges on getting this tick box from Natural England.
19:11It's the end of March. The house is due in just six weeks.
19:17At last though, the bungalow is being dismantled.
19:23Because the crucial bat licence that the ecologist Joseph applied for is in hand.
19:28I'm obviously really pleased. I didn't want to be turning up today with no licence.
19:33I feel good, yeah. We've been waiting a long time to do this.
19:38Oh, wow. It's happening.
19:41They're taking the roof tiles off by hand and looking through the holes and seeing any roosting underneath the roof.
19:47Joseph will gently re-home any residents to a bat box, working ahead of the builders to find any.
19:55There's a small gap here. So we use an endoscope to inspect it.
20:00It doesn't look like there's any bats in here at the moment.
20:04He doesn't miss a thing.
20:08Do you mind if I just have a look at the back of that really quick?
20:11There's some bat droppings on the back of this here.
20:14But as midday approaches, one thing is apparent. The little critters jumped ship long ago.
20:21That's good. Good news.
20:22It's a bittersweet outcome for Pete. It's taken almost two years, two surveys and £6,000 to get to this point.
20:34We plan to have ten weeks for the groundwork and we've been left with six, but in the end there wasn't a bat here.
20:41So it's mildly irritating.
20:43Yeah.
20:45There is a multitude of differences between a normal timber house and this modular one.
20:51As starters, this one has to fly on a crane.
20:54These are onion houses because you've got so many layers and layers.
20:58Imagine how many sheets go onto it.
21:00Red onion. Don't like wire. It's got to be a red one.
21:04A typical bathroom floor might be made up of two or three layers.
21:08Here, there are seven. The plywood looks like a bed of nails.
21:11There are 288 screws.
21:14This is overkill for a domestic bathroom.
21:17You'd only ever do this if a module's been lifted by a limited number of points.
21:22Two layers of this go into A and Pete's en suite, so it doesn't twist during transit.
21:29Which is now looming in a month.
21:33The site manager, Afrin, has spent a fortnight clawing back time.
21:37We've just done the concrete slab for our building.
21:42We have done some drainage.
21:44The engineer is here to do some setting out.
21:46The engineer, Marius, has already set out the house's footprint using drawings from the architects.
21:54But they've asked to check its distance from next door's fence.
21:58Looks like half of the kitchen is going to be on neighbour's side.
22:01What do you mean?
22:04Because we've done the setting out.
22:07It's over there somewhere.
22:09Yes, and it looks like the kitchen is going to be on behind the fence.
22:13But jokes aside, the measurement is off.
22:17It's too close to the fence to pass building rigs.
22:19I don't think we have the right drawing.
22:23Oh, Jesus.
22:25It looks like there are two different drawings.
22:28A drainage one and a structural engineering drawing.
22:31So I was able to overlay the two drawings.
22:34They're different.
22:36By a metre.
22:38125.
22:40Accuracy is important because everything ties in.
22:43The drainage is going to be in the right room.
22:45Work stops on site as Afrin calls the architects.
22:49Yeah.
22:51I'm going to email the structural engineer and go ahead and update his drawing.
22:55Please, because we're just waiting to receive the drawing, please.
22:59Yeah, yeah.
23:01Getting new engineering drawings can, however, take weeks.
23:03We don't have time sitting here and waiting
23:06because wasting the time is not good, even for us.
23:09Or maybe we don't complete the work.
23:14Three and a half hours pass.
23:17Until new drawings drop.
23:20Yes, good.
23:22Yes.
23:24What I want to do now, I want to set up everything again.
23:26Okay.
23:28This could have been unpleasant.
23:30They have a toilet pipe in the middle of the living room.
23:33This is just the crazy normal of everyday site work
23:37versus the pristine factory accuracy of off-site fabrication.
23:40After a first white mist coat, the kitchen is being assembled.
23:46And where the soil pipe should be in a bathroom, tiling has started.
23:50It looks so close to being habitable.
23:53There are three weeks left.
23:55And so, thank goodness, the steel screw piles are at last going in.
23:59Each should marry to a position under the modules.
24:02Let's pray they're all on the same page now.
24:04Marius, when I drill, it will be based on your setting out, yeah?
24:08Yeah, yeah.
24:09Okay.
24:10So, you have to just double-check it.
24:12So, the 55 screw piles are drilled into position
24:15and the countdown to delivery begins.
24:19It's the penultimate day before the house is due at Pete and Ace,
24:23and five waterproof wrapped modules are ready for haulage.
24:26Tom will lead the hazardous journey.
24:29We've never actually done anything this big before.
24:31I got a copy on you.
24:33I mean, they're almost 16 foot high.
24:35It'll be a new challenge for us.
24:37The plan is to travel 233 miles to an overnight spot near site.
24:41Just worried about things going wrong.
24:43The worst thing to happen would be damaging the load or knocking the truck.
24:46I'm sure Kenton would not be very impressed if we did.
24:54This is a monster convoy.
24:57Tom's load is over four metres wide and 12 metres long.
25:02Worth £100,000, this is Pete and Ace's living room.
25:06The exit is narrow and has an awkward dogleg.
25:10If you could just watch my back end on the wall there as I turn, please.
25:13But it's not the rear that's in danger.
25:26And Tom's not even left the car park.
25:29In Wales, the convoy of five trucks and three escort vehicles delivering Pete and Ace's house is yet to set off.
25:47We all right?
25:48The first juggernaut stopped short after a loud bang.
25:51It seems a sidestrap got caught on the right flank.
25:56Thankfully, their precious load looks OK.
26:02But there's still a gut-wrenching 233 miles to go across two countries, through tiny lanes and along motorways.
26:14The first leg is, unfortunately, eye-wateringly tight.
26:22Coming past the curve now, Tom.
26:24Steady.
26:26We cut you off some corner, Tom.
26:30They're forced to crawl along.
26:32I'm worried about the trees here in my pocket.
26:35You're all good there? You're all good there?
26:37Then there's the wrangling of traffic.
26:40One car here.
26:41Not getting out of the way.
26:43It takes an hour and a quarter to travel just 15 miles.
26:48How will these giants get onto Pete and Ace's site?
26:51Afrim is absolutely preoccupied with how they'll land.
26:56The important thing is the house coming down and sits on the top of the screw pile.
27:00It's only, you know, like 10-20mm tolerance.
27:05You know, the tolerance is very small.
27:07So I'm coming tomorrow.
27:08If everything's OK, then I'm going to stay here.
27:10If not, I'm going to run away.
27:14Afrim and his running shoes will have to be ready super early.
27:17The plan is for a 4am start to avoid any traffic from this overnight spot five miles away.
27:26It's taken seven long hours to get here, and yet the worst is to come tomorrow.
27:40Our house is coming tomorrow.
27:41I just want to watch it go kind of like a Lego.
27:47You know when it's like just seeing it going up, put in place.
27:59It's 4.20am.
28:05The first module is inching its way down Pete and Ace Lane.
28:09Wow, it's coming through.
28:14Oh my God.
28:16Oh my God.
28:20It's only a truck.
28:21I know.
28:26The lifting plan is to get one unit in every 30 minutes to beat the school run up the lane.
28:32Cranking each lorry as close to the drive as possible away from the overhead wires.
28:36It's just this, the telephone, that's what we're trying to avoid.
28:39Yeah.
28:40Okay.
28:41Just straight back, mate.
28:42Yeah.
28:43It's some task, given their size and this space.
28:46Whoa.
28:47Stop him there.
28:48He's on the barriers.
28:49Hold it there.
28:50It's giving us a meter, isn't it?
28:51You happy with this PT now?
28:52Yeah, yeah, yeah.
28:53All right.
28:54It's not just the module that has to be precisely positioned.
28:57Try and get the beam underneath them trees.
28:59To get this unit safely airborne, the crane's cradle must be negotiated to exact pick-up points.
29:07All good to connect?
29:08And then, Kenton has to carefully calibrate it all.
29:11Do you want to take a bit of tension there, Glenn, and we'll adjust this side, maybe?
29:14Those are the long chains, because obviously this is the real heavy end, isn't it?
29:18Because the unit's had different elements in, it's heavier at one end.
29:23We have chain blocks on the fourth corner, so we can adjust it individually.
29:26But it could lift at an angle or to the side.
29:29It's just all the stuff we're trying to prevent.
29:31This is a trial and error.
29:3445 minutes in.
29:36Yeah, going out.
29:37A and Pete's living room is ready to take off.
29:41Looks like they're about to lift it.
29:46Slowly, gently, the valuable 20-tonne cargo is winched up.
29:52We just want it to start floating, and then we might have to alter.
29:55Keep going.
29:56We've got a bit of movement.
29:57Hold it.
29:58Hold it.
29:59It looks ever so slightly off-kilter.
30:03All right, and them cables?
30:05Pinching up by.
30:06And then suddenly...
30:09Oh!
30:12That's an interesting noise.
30:14The front right corner has hit the lorry bed.
30:18Might be.
30:19Might have been a shackle.
30:22Pinching up.
30:24Hold it there.
30:26We all good?
30:27It's testament to the build quality of these structures that it's not damaged.
30:32Drive!
30:34One day they'll design nice square boxes that just pick up perfectly in the middle.
30:39OK, it's lift-off.
30:40It's going.
30:43Shrug's gone.
30:45Oh!
30:46They're not out of the woods yet, though.
30:48Colossus must be twisted in.
30:51Right, pull it round.
30:53Right on that branch, Nigel.
30:54Keep going.
30:55Keep going.
30:56Keep going.
30:57Jacked heads.
30:58Hold it there.
30:59Hold it there.
31:00Can Nigel keep hold of that one?
31:01Can you pull it that way, away from the crane, please?
31:04Right, we're above the scaffold now.
31:05Hold it there.
31:06Hold it there.
31:07Oh, wow.
31:09Keep coming.
31:10It's doing right.
31:12Right, hold your slew there.
31:13Hold your slew there.
31:14Just jib down, mate.
31:17All the way down, we'll get hands on.
31:19It's taken an hour, but the flying house is landing beautifully.
31:24To your left a little bit.
31:26Hold it there.
31:28Yeah, we're pretty good.
31:29That's going on there, isn't it?
31:30Happy?
31:32I win!
31:33Yay!
31:38A frame would fit.
31:40A frame need not leg it.
31:42Crucially, everything is intact, despite the knock.
31:47Check it out.
31:49Oh, wow.
31:50Right, first one was a bit of a struggle.
31:52Getting the angles right to start with is tricky,
31:54because we don't know the centre of mass until we pick it up with that crane.
31:57Our factory crane picks it up, but with a different rigging scenario,
31:59so we don't know how it's going to behave here.
32:01So the first one's always a bit of a challenge,
32:03but now that's done, it'll go a bit smoother.
32:06But Kenton's now really behind.
32:08As dawn breaks, instead of lifting the fourth as planned,
32:11they're only on the second, with the third lined up.
32:15The local school run is looming large.
32:18Right, we're ready.
32:19So I'm running the gauntlet with truck four,
32:22leading the way for the biggest brute of them all,
32:2420-tonne truck five.
32:27Jake must clearly be experienced.
32:29It's my first time doing a wide load.
32:32I've been driving two and a half years.
32:34No.
32:35Oh, Lord.
32:36Taxi, please.
32:38But we're off.
32:39Just as at Pete and Ennis, the second module is being lowered
32:42within a cat's whisker of the first.
32:45Oh, wow.
32:46Look at that.
32:47It's actually hanging in.
32:49We've got a bit of a tight right-hander now.
32:52OK.
32:53I'm also beginning to feel the squeeze.
32:56God, I don't know how you're going to do this.
32:58The road is funnelling ever narrower.
33:01Well done, Jake.
33:02You can just see the other lorry behind me now.
33:08This isn't too bad for me.
33:11It's going to be more difficult for him.
33:16That was closed.
33:18Clear with it, mate.
33:19We're now on a single lane, single carriageway.
33:23Yeah, so any vehicles coming towards us now,
33:25I've got to pull right over.
33:27I've got some of these trees up on the right-hand side, mate,
33:29especially after that big deck.
33:31Take it nice and steady.
33:33So now we're creeping.
33:34We're doing, what, eight miles an hour or something?
33:36Yes.
33:37I think 10 miles an hour.
33:38We've got to hit the trees, but I want to hit them as slowly as possible.
33:40So as to bend the branches?
33:42Yes, rather than smack them.
33:43No, smack them.
33:44Oh, yeah.
33:46I'm just trying to stay in the middle as I was at hand.
33:49Oh!
33:50Not a movement.
33:51Not a movement there.
33:53Oh, God.
33:54I find it all a bit nerve-wracking.
33:57Just coming out of the corner, it's a massive crane.
34:00Yeah, it is a massive crane.
34:08We're here.
34:09Yeah, well done.
34:12Taking my mind off the stress.
34:14That was rather epic.
34:17After all that, I feel quite giddy.
34:20And I wasn't even travelling with this giant cargo.
34:26Good Lord.
34:28Hey.
34:29Hey.
34:30Hello.
34:31It's your last truck, isn't it?
34:32It's the last one.
34:33Yeah, yeah.
34:34Yes.
34:35How's it been?
34:36Hearts in your mouth or has it been cool?
34:37There was one very loud noise at about ten past four.
34:40I'm not entirely sure what happened, but nobody seemed to panic.
34:45Nothing seemed to be broken.
34:47No.
34:48Oakwood's speechless.
34:49Has the excitement worn off?
34:50No, not yet.
34:51Do you see?
34:52No.
34:53Even the grown-ups?
34:54No.
34:56And this is the bedroom wing?
34:58Your bedroom wing?
34:59The best one for last.
35:00Yeah, I think this is the biggest one.
35:02Okay.
35:04And in flight, it does look remarkable.
35:08There's something completely mesmerising about this process.
35:14Keep going.
35:15Incredibly, in less than five hours, Pete and A's Z-shaped home has docked.
35:24It's barely touched down, but Kenton's team are in, connecting it all.
35:30Thousands of screws will bond the units inside and out, and to the steelwork underneath.
35:36This building's not going anywhere.
35:38Amazing.
35:39Look at it.
35:40For Pete and A, it's a voyage of discovery.
35:44I didn't know we had white tabs.
35:46I didn't either.
35:48Miraculously, everything survived.
35:53Look at that.
35:54All the tiles are still intact.
35:58It's here, it's here.
36:01Oh.
36:04So good.
36:05They've been promised the keys in just four weeks.
36:08But what a day.
36:09What a journey.
36:11Flying through the air here.
36:13Every module has kissed almost every branch of the surrounding oaks without breaking them.
36:22It's been so delicate and so intimate.
36:25But now, the work sort of has to really begin, because the thing still looks like a blinking port-a-cabin, doesn't it?
36:33This building has to not just kiss the landscape, it has to embrace it.
36:38And the landscape and the setting here, of course, has to embrace it.
36:43It's high summer in West Sussex.
36:44Just two months ago, I watched open-mouthed as A and Pete's modular home gracefully docked.
36:52And here I am again, heading there for the last time.
37:05I can't believe that I've only known Pete and A for six months.
37:06There's been no blood spilt on this project.
37:07No tears, other than those of joy.
37:08And no sweat, really.
37:09Although I did lose at least a litre in that truck.
37:10Oh, my goodness.
37:11The only question I suppose is, most Yours feels alien.
37:13I don't want this thing to feel and look like a sort of caravan.
37:16You know, and this house has got to absolutely be proper architecture.
37:22The建
37:41It's got to be part of where it is.
37:44So, has it managed to put roots down?
37:54Oh, oh, oh, oh!
37:59Wow.
38:02My word.
38:05That is sharp.
38:08It is darkly handsome.
38:10They're home with attitude.
38:12It's dynamic and skewed to fit the site,
38:15as if it were a massive black machine that's turning.
38:22I mean, that is no ordinary bungalow.
38:25That is a low-brooding land scraper of a building.
38:32The skin and the angles, the three offset roofs,
38:35add movement and tension,
38:37although all that is resolved at ground level with planting.
38:40It doesn't look pre-assembled at all.
38:45Beautiful.
38:47And it's very good indeed.
38:49Hey! Hello! Hello, eh? Hello! Hello, Pete.
39:01Well, this is fresh.
39:01Hi. Hi.
39:03Good to see you. Very good to see you.
39:04Good to see you.
39:05You're looking really well, the pair of you.
39:06You look ten years younger, the pair of you.
39:08How have you been for a start?
39:10Pretty well.
39:11Yeah.
39:11We've been here, what, six weeks?
39:14It's like a holiday home at the moment, yeah.
39:16How soon after the delivery was that then?
39:19Uh, five weeks.
39:21It just sounds like sort of building heaven to me.
39:24It pretty much played out how we hoped it would.
39:26I think we were lucky and we had some really good people.
39:30The one question in my head was, does it look like cabins stuck together?
39:33It doesn't feel like that at all.
39:34No.
39:35And there are details I'm beginning to see now that are really so good.
39:40That fantastic end profile of the standing seam roof.
39:43Just these little tiny blades sticking up, fins.
39:47Looks sharp, huh?
39:49What's your take on it, though?
39:50When you take the dog for a walk and you come back and see it, what's your response?
39:53Instant smile and it's like, it's home, isn't it?
39:56It's just like, ah, it's beautiful.
40:00Shall we go in?
40:00Yeah, no, love to.
40:01It's really wood.
40:02Yeah, thank you.
40:03Outside, this Welsh eco house made from Welsh wood stands its ground.
40:09How homely do you suppose it is inside?
40:11Oh, it's not black.
40:12It's really not.
40:15It's light.
40:16What a welcome reception this is.
40:20It's really elegantly done and thought about.
40:23Where's the join?
40:24I can't see the join between the buildings.
40:26No, you can't see the join.
40:28The point is, it's now just one integrated home.
40:31Oh, yeah.
40:32Pulling you to its core.
40:35That is terrific.
40:39This space is sort of magnetic, isn't it?
40:41Yeah.
40:42It's so long.
40:46It makes it super elegant, but these views either end just pull you even further.
40:52Because it's surrounded by trees, it feels like you're in a clearing of a forest or something.
40:57Yeah.
40:58It's pretty mind-blowing.
41:00Kitchen's great.
41:00Lovely.
41:01Absolute command centre where you just look and forget to cook.
41:05Yeah.
41:07How much was it, all this?
41:08Something like 42, I think.
41:1042,000 pounds for a kitchen.
41:12Yeah.
41:13That's quite a lot of money for a kitchen.
41:14Yeah.
41:15But then it is made by people from oak and it's sort of proper.
41:20It's pretty nice.
41:21Are these yours?
41:22Yes, I made those.
41:23Do they glow a little at night?
41:25A little bit, yeah, just slightly.
41:26Just springs them alive.
41:28That's so beautiful.
41:30It's all simple, harmonious and spacious.
41:34Straightforward, elegant qualities.
41:36One thing that you don't expect from a prefabricated home is that it's going to give you space, room to breathe.
41:45Yeah.
41:46Very nice.
41:47We're in the middle of the Z.
41:51By the pond is the kids' wing, Alice and Joe's bedrooms with their own en suite.
41:57At the other end are the adults' quarters, super civilised.
42:01So, your little study is in the wing.
42:07If I need to shout at people in here, I can...
42:09Yeah.
42:10You can find privacy, which is lovely.
42:13It's all self-contained.
42:15There's a private bathroom, followed by a walk-in wardrobe.
42:20Tiny luxury.
42:21I dream of that.
42:25Next door, A and Pete's bedroom.
42:28Oh, this is nice.
42:30So sweet.
42:31The sloping ceiling.
42:32It's rather good, isn't it?
42:33Yeah, it's quite cosy.
42:36Nothing bears witness to its factory origins, just its speedy arrival.
42:41So, the kids haven't aged in this process.
42:45Joe, how's it been the past few months?
42:47Disruptive or smooth for you?
42:49Well, for me, it's been pretty smooth.
42:51But you've got your own wing.
42:53Yeah.
42:54It's kind of neat.
42:55I think it's really cool.
42:56We've got a lot more space than before.
42:58I think they did really well.
43:00Yeah.
43:01Yeah.
43:02Luna, what do you think?
43:04Oh, okay, yeah.
43:06Yeah.
43:08You've made your views really clear there.
43:10Yeah, you have.
43:11You love it here.
43:11So, all the clients are content.
43:16There's been little personal cost, less environmental cost than a similar sized traditional building.
43:22I like this whole outdoor deck lifestyle thing.
43:26But perhaps it's hurt financially.
43:28So, how much does all this cost?
43:30Just north of 800.
43:33We started with 750.
43:37Most of it is through things that we've chosen to do.
43:40A posh kitchen.
43:41A posh kitchen.
43:42A posh kitchen.
43:42Yeah.
43:43You know, the quality of the decking.
43:44There were a few glitches on the way through.
43:46Bats.
43:48It took a while for the bat license to come through.
43:51Yeah, I mean, it just bunched everything up, which meant the groundwork had to work a bit harder.
43:58Yeah.
43:59But we're quibbling.
44:00It's been super smooth.
44:02So, they'd landed it on time.
44:04Mm-hmm.
44:04Yep.
44:05It cost what it was going to cost, barring the extras that were free.
44:09Extra.
44:10Yeah, yeah.
44:11And the quality is beautiful.
44:15I've never really seen a building where you could get all three.
44:22What does it mean to you then?
44:24It's gonna go, no, it's just, it's...
44:28Happy, just, you know, it's complete, isn't it?
44:30It's just family, together.
44:33Feel like...
44:35I feel like I'm home.
44:36That's good.
44:37Yeah.
44:41It's happy tears.
44:49Oh, what a balanced and tranquil and calm building this is.
44:55And it had a pretty harmonious delivery, didn't it, as well?
45:00I'm sure you're thinking, where were the problems?
45:03Why did nothing go wrong?
45:04And that's, that's the problem with our society, our way of thinking.
45:09We really do think things are going to come back and bite us on the bum.
45:13And that results from, what, a thousand years of Western Christian thinking that teaches us
45:19that you can't get anything of quality in this world without suffering on the way through.
45:25No pain, no gain.
45:29And yet there are more ancient philosophers, like that of Epicurus, the Greek, who said,
45:35No, you can go another way.
45:37There doesn't need to be suffering.
45:40You can be balanced.
45:41You can be harmonious.
45:42You can be careful and meditative about what you do, enjoy the process on the way through,
45:47and achieve wonderful results.
45:50Goodness me.
45:51And what an extraordinary sight to find yourselves in.
46:08The dream opportunity to build their own house.
46:10Provided they're prepared to live a low-carbon life,
46:13we have to acknowledge that these people are the most extraordinary pioneers.
46:17I totally, thoroughly believe in what we're doing and why we're doing it.
46:20Definitely, you could do it cheaper.
46:21Going down the greener route is going to cost more, but he's, you know, committed to that.
46:25Yeah, money's a worry. A tiny, tiny budget.
46:27But can we just finish this house?
46:29I'll try.
46:47Do you want to do it better?
46:48I'll try.
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