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GrandDesigns 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,
01:00all big, all trying on tenterhooks.
01:15Buying a factory-built home proved irresistible to Pete, who works in manufacturing in London.
01:38How 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.
01:51A good supplier to me is one that involves the least surprises.
01:55So they agree on a timeline and they deliver on it.
01:58They tell you what it's going to cost and it does.
02:01And the quality of product you get is exactly what you asked for.
02:06Naturally, he wants his new house to be similarly supplied.
02:11It's set to replace this jaded bungalow in West Sussex, bought for the purpose, where Pete lives with A, his wife, and their children, Alice and Joseph.
02:25A uses the garage for her ceramics business, her passion.
02:28I just love experimenting with different colours, putting colours together.
02:33So for the new house, I will make a collection.
02:35For A, the aesthetics and experience of her new home matter.
02:40For me, the most important thing is that the house is going to look beautiful.
02:44I 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, for which they're inspired by a local rewilded garden.
02:58I love it. I really love it.
03:01We live in a beautiful part of the world, so it's really important, as well as the house being, you know, sustainable.
03:11It supports the wildlife around.
03:13So this would be like our house in the middle here.
03:17I've never met anyone that's built a house by this method.
03:20Actually, there's not very many manufacturers that do it.
03:23In my head, it's going to be easy.
03:25Hopefully, we don't need to stand there and go, ah!
03:30Their expectations are pretty demanding.
03:33And yet, their house is going to have to be delivered to their rural plot as if by a miracle.
03:41When they build, people are always surprised by the number of delivery vehicles needed to put a house together,
03:48because once the house arrives in component form, tens of thousands of components.
03:53Of course, if you elect to have your house prefabricated and delivered as one single volume,
04:00well, that's one really nasty intervention, because the load is so huge.
04:06I mean, look at this tiny lane here.
04:09We've had branches.
04:11We've had cables.
04:13Oh, and there's an irate neighbour.
04:14Hello.
04:15That's what you're going to have to deal with.
04:21There we are.
04:22Hello.
04:24Hi.
04:24Hi, Peter.
04:25Hi.
04:25How are you?
04:26Good, thank you.
04:27Magnificent house.
04:28More like an electricity substation than a house.
04:31So what's the plan, though?
04:32So the plan is that we demolish all of this.
04:35Yeah.
04:35And then put a new house on the top.
04:38There'll be five modules built in a factory in Wales and then delivered as almost finished units.
04:44There's going to be a wooden frame, eco home, all black, cladding, very sleek.
04:49Everything's will be fitted.
04:51Kitchen, bathroom, tiles.
04:53Tiled?
04:53Yeah.
04:54Wow.
04:54OK.
04:55How are you going to get the thing here?
04:56It's crisscrossed with overhead cables.
04:58It's one of the things you wake up and go, what would happen if it couldn't get down that row?
05:03Stressful.
05:04Yes.
05:04Yeah.
05:05Doing this all off-site, it's like sort of ordering a specially made suit, but never trying it on until it arrives in the post finished.
05:12Do you know what it's going to feel like, look like?
05:15You're much better than me at being able to visualise.
05:18There's some spaces that are really clear and others kind of beyond how my mind works.
05:23Pete's inability to visualise his prefab home in full demonstrates some jaw-dropping faith,
05:28especially when they've already spent 650 grand on the plot and two years working with their architects, Koto, who'll run this super-eco project.
05:38It'll start at a Welch factory, where 68 timber panels would be built from locally sourced Douglas fir in the first of two workshops.
05:47There'll be no robots, only skilled carpenters and joiners to precisely construct each bespoke panel,
05:53so that they seamlessly slot together in the main assembly hall next door.
05:57Floor and roof panels will be framed out first, and skinned with a breathable board for the outside
06:04and a green vapour control board inside for the airtight skin of this lower-energy home with managed ventilation.
06:11A super-strong timber box beam designed by Welch engineers will add phenomenal rigidity to the structures.
06:18The walls go up, the roofs are craned on, and recycled newspaper cellulose insulation will be pumped into the voids.
06:26Every joint gets taped for airtightness.
06:29Next, the trades can come into plumb, wire, and plaster.
06:34Windows are inserted, and the ventilation fitted.
06:37The modules get a mist coat, bathrooms are tiled, and 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.
06:51Fifty-five screw piles, suitably green footings, will provide the new foundations.
06:56These threaded steel posts drilled into the earth will support the zigzag-shaped house when it lands.
07:02Services are linked, vinyl decking and cladding applied, and A&P can bed the building into their rewilded garden.
07:10Only then can they truly appreciate their design decisions.
07:14Their budget of 750 grand, paid with a mortgage and assets, is largely fixed, as is the delivery date.
07:21Massive positives.
07:22Meantime, there's a whole load of work to get done on site.
07:26Demolition, foundations, permissions, and the house arrives in three and a half months.
07:32What could delay that?
07:34It's a bit bat-dependent, because two years ago, the bat survey said there was a bat living under the tiles.
07:41We have to wait till it's warm enough for bats to be moving around before we can apply for a license,
07:46and the units arrive quite briskly afterwards.
07:49So actually getting all the pieces to fit is as tricky as on any project?
07:54Yeah.
07:56The story of Pete and A's home starts in the coniferous plantations of Wales,
08:01in managed woodland, where the timber of their wooden house is harvested.
08:09The house's manufacturer, Kenton, likes to hand-pick the Douglas firs he uses.
08:15What are you looking for in that tree?
08:17So we want the fir section out of the ground.
08:18OK, what sort of, like, six metres?
08:22It depends what section we're cutting and what length it is.
08:24OK, so you're actually thinking about the measurement of a component of a building when you look at the tree.
08:28Do you think, actually, we can get that out of there?
08:29That's when they're picking it, yeah.
08:29And then what happens to the rest of the tree? What's that useful?
08:31It'll just go into lower-grade product.
08:34So he's just about to do it, yeah?
08:35Yeah, yeah, he's ready to go.
08:38Rather him than me, that's what I say.
08:43Oh, look, that's quick.
08:46Textbook.
08:46That's a good start.
08:51And then something else grows here.
08:53It's regenerative.
08:54The felling supports more managed planting of mixed species.
08:58The felled timber locks in carbon.
09:00The lumber travels only 32 miles via sawmill to Kenton's factory.
09:05It's all sustainable, local and low carbon.
09:08One of the joiners in the factory, Danny, is a fan.
09:10Douglas' fur is brilliant to work with.
09:13It cuts well.
09:14It's very strong.
09:16It's a piece of art, really.
09:18It really is nice timber.
09:19It's this gentle way of making a prefabricated house that attracted Pete and A's modular designers, Koto, to form an exclusive relationship with Kenton.
09:31Unusually, they're both architects and project managers.
09:33You're holding your hands through the entire process here, aren't you?
09:37I mean, you're here to the bittersweet end.
09:39Yeah.
09:40Yeah.
09:41Looking forward, what are the things that are going to keep you up at night?
09:44Just making sure that the site's completely ready for the building to land.
09:47Because we've got the two contractors.
09:49We've got Kenton manufacturer and the groundworks contractor.
09:52Just making sure that they're joined up.
09:55Anything else?
09:56Bats.
09:57Yeah.
09:57I mean, if you time this badly, it can be nine months to a year, can't it, before you can get in again?
10:02Yeah.
10:02There again, of course, you want to build a sustainable building, so that means being ecological, doesn't it?
10:06Absolutely.
10:07Exactly.
10:08Gotta love the bats.
10:09Gotta love the bats.
10:11Ecology and the mating habits of creatures determine what gets built when these days.
10:17What can help is off-site fabrication.
10:19Six weeks in, 68 panels have already been made to slot together to make five floor and roof sections.
10:26It takes just two weeks to do this.
10:28And yet, in West Sussex, they're not even out of the starting blocks.
10:33Still waiting on the bat licence.
10:35There seems to be some back and forth between Natural England and the council agreeing who is the one that approves it.
10:43And I don't have any control over the process.
10:45Obviously, until we've knocked the house down, we can't do the foundations, and the factory's still carrying on building the house.
10:52So it makes me a little bit nervous.
10:57It goes to show, doesn't it?
10:59I mean, you can try and de-risk every aspect of a project, and then something crops up.
11:04As in this case, our flappy little batty friends.
11:07And they do now, it seems, threaten to derail the schedule of this project.
11:14But you see, I will always advocate for the bats.
11:19Pete and A's 750 grand modular eco home is due to arrive in just three months.
11:37But for them, it remains a remote process of online meetings with their architects,
11:42because site work can't start until they get their batty permission.
11:46There's a bat licence as well.
11:48Yeah.
11:48We just want to get this soon.
11:51But in Wales, their house is careering ahead.
11:54The panels are now being skinned on both sides for protection, airtightness and rigidity.
11:59The modules can now rise up into three dimensions.
12:04At last, a week later, after two years of imagining their home,
12:09Pete and A travel out for their first glimpse.
12:12Oh, my goodness.
12:17Oh, my God.
12:18That's a bit more of a house than I thought I was going to see.
12:23Oh, wow.
12:25It's so big.
12:26Wow.
12:28Hello.
12:29Hello.
12:31Hey, guys.
12:32Hello.
12:33All right?
12:34Yeah, yeah.
12:35Look, they're putting on the airtight tape.
12:37Yeah.
12:37Amazing.
12:45You all right?
12:46Oh.
12:46Wow.
12:47And there's your big glass wall facing south.
12:50Sunset.
12:51Like, just like that.
12:52They've even got the sun in the right position for you.
12:55Sorry.
12:55It's all right.
12:57It's okay.
12:58Yeah.
13:01It's fine.
13:02It's fine.
13:02You're all right?
13:02Yeah.
13:04It's great.
13:04Yeah, I know.
13:05It is astonishing progress.
13:08This is the kitchen diner.
13:12Next up is Pete and A's bedroom.
13:15Assembling these perfect panels seems so easy in a factory.
13:19Wow.
13:24Huge piece of Douglas fir flying through the air.
13:27It's close encounters of the fir kind.
13:31This took under an hour.
13:37It's like watching a space shuttle door close.
13:42Built out of tree.
13:44It's beautiful.
13:45Swiftly, over the next four weeks, all five modules come into existence.
13:52And a new phase gets underway with the arrival of subcontractors like Declan on electrics and Brin for the plumbing.
13:59They'll all be overseen by the production manager, Taron.
14:02We've just gone into the stages that are going to be very challenging.
14:05So the first big stage and the coordination between the trades is the hardest part.
14:09All the services and the detail of everything.
14:11The idea is that the workforce rotates through the units, so 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 turn it?
14:31Notably, there's a lot of head scratching.
14:33There's loads of this timber in the way and I don't really want to take too much out the strength.
14:38Ah.
14:39Tricky.
14:41We don't arrive and then there's a set of drawings.
14:45It'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.
14:50Ah.
14:55Trying to get this timber out of here.
14:58Not the easiest.
14:59Just because everything's glued and screwed and...
15:05Next door isn't on track either.
15:10Declan, the 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.
15:19Hmm.
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, but this company can't afford delays.
15:28I 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.
15:39I thought I'd be out of here today.
15:42Hold-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.
15:54Three years ago, I visited the modular factory of Top Hacks.
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.
16:16This 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.
16:37But the entire building is pre-made in chunks, in a factory, in 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.
17:01Tide and Vision built it.
17:03Their chairman, John Fleming, believes that their dual identity as developers and manufacturers has so far saved their bacon.
17:12So you've got these guys in Bedford working in the factory.
17:15Yes.
17:16How many have you got there?
17:17About 280.
17:18That's a lot of families.
17:19Yes.
17:20So 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.
17:31Would 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 10 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.
17:51So this building is one of the few success stories in volumetric construction.
17:57What 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.
18:12I mean, it's in Wales.
18:13So if there is any kind of financial complication, well then, I don't know, the factory might as well be in Timbuktu.
18:21In Wales though, reassuringly, they have the next job incoming.
18:28So they're working hard to deliver on the nail.
18:32But all they've done in Southwater is move to a nearby rental.
18:38I'm just going to set up the time-lapse of me packing up the studio.
18:43I can post this on my social.
18:46The factory home is half done. The underfloor heating's going in.
18:51Emma, the project manager and architect, is now worrying about delays to the groundworks.
18:57Pretty nervous because if we don't get the bat licence come through,
19:00we've had projects in the past that have been delayed by up to nine months.
19:03We can completely throw out our timelines.
19:06The whole project hinges on getting this tick box from Natural England.
19:12It's the end of March. The house is due in just six weeks.
19:17At last though, the bungalow is being dismantled.
19:24Because the crucial bat licence that the ecologist Joseph applied for is in hand.
19:29I'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.
19:39Oh, wow. It's happening.
19:42They're taking the roof tiles off by hand and looking through the holes and just seeing
19:46any roosting underneath the roof.
19:48Joseph will gently re-home any residents to a bat box, working ahead of the builders to find any.
19:56There's a small gap here, so we use an endoscope to inspect it.
20:02It doesn't look like there's any bats in here at the moment.
20:06He doesn't miss a thing.
20:07Do 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.
20:15But as midday approaches, one thing is apparent.
20:18The little critters jumped ship long ago.
20:22That's good. Good news.
20:26It's a bittersweet outcome for Pete.
20:28It's taken almost two years, two surveys and £6,000 to get to this point.
20:34We planned to have 10 weeks for the groundwork and we've been left with six.
20:38And in the end, there wasn't a bat here.
20:41So it's mildly irritating.
20:44Yeah.
20:46There is a multitude of differences between a normal timber house and this modular one.
20:51For 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.
21:01Red onion. Don't like wire.
21:02It'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.
21:09The plywood looks like a bed of nails.
21:12There are 288 screws.
21:15This is overkill for a domestic bathroom.
21:18You'd only ever do this if a module's been lifted by a limited number of points.
21:23Two layers of this go into A and Pete's en suite, so it doesn't twist during transit.
21:30Which 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 the outbuilding.
21:42We have done some drainage.
21:43The engineer is here to do some setting out.
21:49The 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.
21:58It looks like half of the kitchen is going to be on neighbour's side.
22:04What do you mean?
22:05Because we've done the setting out.
22:08It's over there somewhere.
22:10Yes, and it looks like the kitchen is going to be behind the fence.
22:13But jokes aside, the measurement is off.
22:18It's too close to the fence to pass building rigs.
22:21I don't think we have the right drawing.
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.
22:35They're different.
22:36By a metre, 125.
22:40Accuracy is important because everything ties in.
22:43The drainage is going to be in the right room.
22:46Work stops on site as Afrin calls the architects.
22:50I'm going to email the structural engineer and go ahead and update his drawing.
22:56Because we're just waiting to receive the drawing, please.
22:59Yeah, yeah.
22:59Getting 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.
23:18Until new drawings drop.
23:21Yes, good.
23:22Yes.
23:23What I want to do now, I want to set out everything again.
23:26OK.
23:27This 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.
23:42After 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.
24:05Marius, when I drill, it will be based on your setting out, yeah?
24:08Yeah.
24:09Yeah.
24:09OK.
24:09So, you have to just double-check it.
24:11So, the 55 screw piles are drilled into position and the countdown to delivery begins.
24:20It's the penultimate day before the house is due at Pete and A's and five waterproof wrapped
24:26modules are ready for haulage.
24:27Tom will lead the hazardous journey.
24:33We've never actually done anything this big before.
24:35I got a copy on you.
24:36I mean, they're almost 16 foot high.
24:38It'll be a new challenge for us.
24:39The plan is to travel 233 miles to an overnight spot near site.
24:45Just worried about things going wrong.
24:48The worst thing to happen would be damaging the load or knocking the truck.
24:51I'm sure Kenton would not be very impressed if we did.
24:54This is a monster convoy.
24:58Tom's load is over four metres wide and 12 metres long.
25:02Worth £100,000, this is Pete and A's living room.
25:06The exit is narrow and has an awkward dog leg.
25:09I think you can just watch my back end on the wall there as I turn, please.
25:16But it's not the rear that's in danger.
25:24And Tom's not even left the car park.
25:39In Wales, the convoy of five trucks and three escort vehicles delivering Pete and A's house
25:45is yet to set off.
25:47Are we all right?
25:48The first juggernaut stopped short after a loud bang.
25:53It seems a sidestrap got caught on the right flank.
26:00Thankfully, their precious load looks OK.
26:05But there's still a gut-wrenching 233 miles to go across two countries,
26:12through tiny lanes and along motorways.
26:18The first leg is, unfortunately, eye-wateringly tight.
26:22Come in, Tom.
26:23It's got a curve now, Tom.
26:24Steady.
26:26We'll cut you off some corner, Tom.
26:30They're forced to crawl along.
26:32Don't worry about the trees here, if I'm popping.
26:34You're all good there, you're all good there.
26:37Then there's the wrangling of traffic.
26:40One car is not getting out of the way.
26:44It takes an hour and a quarter to travel just 15 miles.
26:49How will these giants get onto Pete and A's site?
26:53Afrim is absolutely preoccupied with how they'll land.
26:57The important thing is the house coming down and sits on the top of the screw pile.
27:00It's only, you know, like 10, 20 millimeter tolerance.
27:04You know, the tolerance is very small.
27:07So I'm coming tomorrow.
27:09If everything's okay, then I'm going to stay here.
27:11If not, I'm going to run away.
27:13Afrim and his running shoes will have to be ready super early.
27:18The plan is for a 4 a.m. start to avoid any traffic
27:23from this overnight spot five miles away.
27:26It's taken seven long hours to get here.
27:29And yet the worst is to come tomorrow.
27:40So our house is coming tomorrow.
27:41I just want to watch it go kind of like a Lego.
27:48You know when it's like just seeing it going up, put in place.
27:59It's 4.20 a.m.
28:01The first module is inching its way down Pete and A's lane.
28:10Wow, it's coming through.
28:12Oh, my God.
28:15Oh, my God.
28:21It's only a truck, love.
28:22I know.
28:22The lifting plan is to get one unit in every 30 minutes
28:30to beat the school run up the lane,
28:32cranking each lorry as close to the drive as possible
28:35away from the overhead wires.
28:37It's just the telephone.
28:39That's what we're trying to avoid.
28:40Yeah, OK.
28:41Just straight back, mate, yeah.
28:43It's some task given their size and this space.
28:47Whoa, a stop in there.
28:48He's on the barriers.
28:49Hold it there.
28:50It's giving us a metre, isn't it?
28:51Are you happy with this PT now with that?
28:53Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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,
29:01the 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, Glen,
29:13and we'll adjust this side, maybe?
29:15Those are the long chains,
29:16because 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 four corners, so we can adjust it individually.
29:27But it could lift at an angle or to the side.
29:30It's just all stuff we're trying to prevent.
29:32This is a trial and error.
29:3345 minutes in.
29:36Yeah, going out.
29:38A and Pete's living room is ready to take off.
29:40Looks like they're about to lift it.
29:43Whoo!
29:47Slowly, gently, the valuable 20-tonne cargo is winched up.
29:51We just want it to start floating and then we might have to alter.
29:55Keep going, we've got a bit of movement.
29:58Hold it, hold it, hold it there.
30:00It looks ever so slightly off-kilter.
30:04All right, and them cables?
30:06Pinching up, right?
30:07And then suddenly...
30:12It's an interesting noise.
30:14The front right corner has hit the lorry bed.
30:18Might be, might have been a shackle.
30:23Pinching up.
30:23Hold it there.
30:26We're all good.
30:28It's testament to the build quality of these structures
30:30that it's not damaged.
30:32Drive!
30:34One day I'll design nice square boxes
30:36that just pick up perfectly in the middle.
30:40OK, it's lift-off. It's going.
30:43Trug's gone.
30:46They're not out of the woods yet, though.
30:48Colossus must be twisted in.
30:51Right, pull it round.
30:53All right on that branch, Nigel.
30:57Jack's heads.
30:58Hold it there.
30:58Hold it there.
30:59Nigel, keep hold of that one.
31:00Can you pull it that way, away from the crane, please?
31:04Right, we're above the scaffold now.
31:06Hold it there.
31:06Hold it there.
31:07Oh, wow.
31:09Keep coming.
31:11It's doing right.
31:13Right, hold your slew there.
31:14Hold your slew there.
31:17Just jib down, mate.
31:18All the way down, we'll get hands on.
31:19It's taken an hour, but the flying house is landing beautifully.
31:25To your left a little bit.
31:26Hold it there.
31:28Where's that?
31:28Yeah, we're pretty good.
31:29Let's bang on there, isn't it?
31:30Happy?
31:32I win!
31:33All right.
31:33Yay!
31:34I feel like it's fixed.
31:41Bathroom need not leg it.
31:43Crucially, everything is intact, despite the knock.
31:47Check it out.
31:48Oh, wow.
31:50All right, first one was a bit of a struggle.
31:53Getting the angles right to start with is tricky, because 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, so we don't know how it's going to behave here.
32:02So the first one's always a bit of a challenge, but 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, they'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, leading the way for the biggest brute of them all, 20 tonne truck five.
32:28Jake must clearly be experienced.
32:30It's my first time doing a wide load. I've been driving two and a half years.
32:34No.
32:34Oh, Lord. Taxi, please. But we're off. Just as at Pete and Ennis, the second module is being lowered within a cat's whisker of the first.
32:45Oh, wow.
32:46Look at that.
32:47That's satisfying, isn't it?
32:50We've got a bit of a tight right-hander now.
32:52OK. I'm also beginning to feel the squeeze.
32:57God, I don't know how you're going to do this.
32:58The road is funnelling ever narrower.
33:02Well done, Jake.
33:06You can just see the other lorry behind me now.
33:10This isn't too bad for me.
33:12Maybe it's more difficult for him.
33:17That was close.
33:20We're now on a single lane, single carriageway.
33:23Yeah, so any vehicles coming towards us now, I've got a poor ride over.
33:26I've got some of these trees up on the right-hand side, mate, especially after that big deck.
33:31Take it nice and steady.
33:34So now we're creeping. We're doing, what, eight miles an hour or something, ten miles an hour?
33:38We've got to hit the trees, but I want to hit them as slowly as possible.
33:41So as to bend the branches?
33:42Yes, rather than smack them.
33:44No, smack them.
33:44Oh, yeah. Ah, yeah.
33:46I'm just trying to stay in the middle as well as I can.
33:50Oh!
33:51Not a movement. Not a movement there.
33:53Oh, God.
33:55I find it all a bit nerve-wracking.
33:57They're just coming out of the corner. It's a massive crane.
34:00Yeah, it is a massive crane.
34:09We're here.
34:09Yeah, well done. Thank you.
34:12Taking my mind off the stress.
34:13That was rather epic.
34:18After all that, I feel quite giddy.
34:20And I wasn't even travelling with this giant cargo.
34:27Good Lord.
34:27Good Lord.
34:29Hey.
34:29Hey.
34:30Hello.
34:31It's your last truck, isn't it?
34:32It's the last one.
34:33Yeah, yeah.
34:34Yes.
34:34How's it been?
34:35Hearts in your mouth or has it been cool?
34:37There was one very loud noise about ten past four. I'm not entirely sure what happened, but
34:44nobody seemed to panic.
34:46Nothing seemed to be broken.
34:47No, I'm quite speechless.
34:49Has the excitement worn off?
34:51No, not yet.
34:52Do you see?
34:52No.
34:52Even the grown-ups?
34:53No.
34:56And this is the bedroom wing?
34:59Your bedroom wing?
35:00The best one for last.
35:01Yeah, I think this is the biggest one.
35:03Okay.
35:05And in flight, it does look remarkable.
35:08Something completely mesmerising about this process.
35:15Keep going.
35:17Incredibly, in less than five hours, Pete and A's Z-shaped home
35:21has docked.
35:25It's barely touched down, but Kenton's team are in, connecting it all.
35:31Thousands of screws will bond the units inside and out and to the steelwork underneath.
35:37This building's not going anywhere.
35:39Amazing.
35:41Look at it.
35:42For Pete and A, it's a voyage of discovery.
35:45I didn't know we had white tabs.
35:47I 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.
36:02Oh, so good.
36:05They've been promised the keys in just four weeks.
36:09But what a day, what a journey.
36:12Flying through the air here, every module has kissed almost every branch of the surrounding oaks
36:19without breaking them.
36:22It's been so delicate and so intimate.
36:26But now, the work sort of has to really begin, because the thing still looks like a blinking port-a-cabin, doesn't it?
36:34This 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.
36:44It's high summer in West Sussex.
37:00Just two months ago, I watched open-mouthed as A and Pete's modular home gracefully docked.
37:06And here I am again, heading there for the last time.
37:11I can't believe that I've only known Pete and A for six months.
37:15There's been no blood spilt on this project, no tears other than those of joy, and no sweat really.
37:21Although I did lose at least a litre in that truck.
37:25Oh, my goodness.
37:27The only question I suppose is, as if it feels alien,
37:31I don't want this thing to feel and look like a sort of caravan, you know?
37:36This house has got to absolutely be proper architecture.
37:41It's got to be part of where it is.
37:44So, has it managed to put roots down?
37:51Oh, my word.
38:05That is sharp.
38:08It is darkly handsome.
38:11A home with attitude.
38:12It's dynamic and skewed to fit the site, as 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.
38:31The skin and the angles, the three offset roofs, add movement and tension.
38:36Although all that is resolved at ground level with planting.
38:40It doesn't look preassembled at all.
38:45Beautiful.
38:47It is very good indeed.
38:51It is very good.
38:53It is very good.
38:57Hey.
38:58Hello.
38:59Hello.
38:59Hello, Pete.
39:00Well, this is fresh.
39:01Hi.
39:02Hi.
39:03Good to see you.
39:04Very good to see you.
39:05You're looking really well, the pair of you.
39:07You look ten years younger, the pair of you.
39:09How 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.
39:16How soon after the delivery was that then?
39:20Five weeks.
39:21It just sounds like sort of building heaven to me.
39:24It pretty much played out how we hoped it would.
39:26We got, I think we were lucky.
39:28Yeah.
39:28We 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, mm, 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?
39:54Instant 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, really wood.
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.
40:38This space is sort of magnetic, isn't it?
40:41Yeah.
40:41Yeah.
40:42It's so long.
40:46It makes it super elegant, but these views either end just pull you even further.
40:51Because it's surrounded by trees, it feels like you're in a clearing of a forest or something.
40:57Yeah.
40:57It's pretty mind-blowing.
41:00Kitchen's great.
41:00Lovely.
41:01Absolute command center 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.
41:14It's quite a lot of money, yeah.
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.
41:29It's all simple, harmonious and spacious, straightforward, elegant qualities.
41:37One 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 Zed.
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 civilized.
42:02So your little study is in the wing.
42:07If I need to shout at people in here, I can...
42:09Yeah, you can find privacy, which is lovely.
42:12It's all self-contained. There'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. So sweet. The sloping ceiling. It's rather good, isn't it?
42:33Yeah, it's quite cosy.
42:35Nothing bears witness to its factory origins, just its speedy arrival. So the kids haven't aged in this process.
42:45Joe, how's it been the past few months? Disruptive or smooth for you?
42:49Well, for me, it's been pretty smooth.
42:51But you've got your own wing.
42:52Yeah.
42:53It's kind of neat.
42:54I think it's really cool. We've got a lot more space than before.
42:58I think they did really well.
43:00Yeah. Yeah.
43:02Luna, what do you think?
43:04Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah.
43:08You've made your views really clear there. Yeah, you have. You love it here.
43:13So all the clients are content. There's been little personal cost,
43:18less environmental cost than a similar sized traditional building.
43:22I like this whole outdoor deck lifestyle thing.
43:26But perhaps it's hurt financially.
43:29So how much does all this cost?
43:31Just north of 800. We started with 750. Most of it is through things that we've chosen to do.
43:40Posh kitchen.
43:42A posh kitchen.
43:42Yeah.
43:43You know, the quality of the decking.
43:44There are a few glitches on the way through. Bats.
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.
43:59But we're quibbling. It's been super smooth.
44:02So they'd landed it on time.
44:04Mm-hmm.
44:04Yeah.
44:05It cost what it was going to cost, barring the extras.
44:09The extras.
44:10Yeah, yeah. And the quality is beautiful.
44:15I've never really seen a building where you could get all three.
44:19What does it mean to you, then?
44:23Oh, it's going to go, no, it's just, it's happy.
44:28It's just, you know, it's complete, isn't it? It's just family together.
44:33I feel like, I feel like I'm home.
44:36Yeah.
44:37That's good.
44:37Yeah.
44:40It's happy tears.
44:41Oh, 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
45:18that teaches us that you can't get anything of quality in this world
45:23without suffering on the way through.
45:27No pain, no gain.
45:29And yet there are more ancient philosophies, like that of Epicurus, the Greek, who said,
45:35no, you can go another way. There doesn't need to be suffering.
45:40You can be balanced. You 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. Goodness 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, we have to acknowledge that these people are
46:15the 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, going down the greener route.
46:23It's 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.
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