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Grand Designs Season 27 Episode 2
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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?
00:30And this is one of the last examples. It's completely lovely. Of course, the modern construction
00:37industry is trying to do this kind of thing, to build houses off-site, put them on a lorry,
00:41bring them overnight and construct them quickly. It doesn't come without its risks, of course.
00:47I mean, you'd be handing all your money to one company. You wouldn't see the house evolve
00:51on-site. You might not know what it would turn out like. And then you've got to get the thing
00:56like downlands, like these. Goodness me, you'd be...
01:01I'll be galled train on tenterhooks.
01:06BUYING A FACTORY BUILT HOME PROVED IRRESISTIBLE TO PETE, WHO WORKS IN
01:11MANUFACTURING IN LONDON.
01:16BUYING A FACTORY BUILT HOME PROVED IRRESISTIBLE TO PETE, WHO WORKS IN MANUFACTURING IN LONDON.
01:23BUYING 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?
01:40As a Vice President of Supply Chain Strategy, he values production runs with predictable outcomes.
01:46It's too risky to go with this approach. A good supplier to me is one that involves the least surprises.
01:54So they agree on a timeline and they deliver on it. They 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.
02:09It'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.
02:44I 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,
02:54for 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,
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.
03:16I've never met anyone that's built a house by this method.
03:19Actually, 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!
03:28Their 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
03:45needed to put a house together because of course the house arrives in 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 because the load is so huge.
04:05I mean, look at this tiny lane here.
04:07We've had any branches. We've had cables.
04:11Oh, and there's an irate neighbour. Hello.
04:14Hello.
04:15That's what you're going to have to deal with.
04:20There they are.
04:22Hello.
04:23Hi.
04:24Hi, Peter. Hi. How 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.
04:48Everything 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 crisscrossed 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?
05:02Stressful.
05:03Yes.
05:04Yeah.
05:05Doing this all offsite, it'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 are some spaces that are really clear
05:19and others kind of beyond how my mind works.
05:22Peek'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.
05:38It'll start at a Welch factory
05:40where 68 timber panels would be built from locally sourced Douglas fir
05:45in the first of two workshops.
05:47There'll be no robots, only skilled carpenters and joiners
05:50to 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
06:00and skinned with a breathable board for the outside
06:03and a green vapour control board inside
06:06for the airtight skin of this lower energy home with managed ventilation.
06:10A super strong timber box beam designed by Welch engineers
06:14will add phenomenal rigidity to the structures.
06:17The walls go up, the roofs are craned on
06:20and recycled newspaper cellulose insulation will be pumped into the voids.
06:26Every joint gets taped for airtightness.
06:29Next, the trades can come into plum, 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.
06:50Fifty-five 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.
07:30What could delay that?
07:32It's a bit bat-dependent because 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 and 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 starts in the coniferous plantations of Wales,
08:01in managed woodland, where the timber of their wooden house is harvested.
08:08The house's manufacturer, Kenton, likes to hand-pick 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.
08:19What, sort of like six metres...?
08:21It depends what section we're cutting and what length it is.
08:23OK, so you're actually thinking about the measurement of a component of a building
08:26when you look at the tree, 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? What's that useful?
08:31It'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 sign.
08:50And then something else grows here. It'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.
09:04It's all sustainable, local and low carbon.
09:07One of the joiners in the factory, Danny, is a fan.
09:10Douglas Foe is brilliant to work with.
09:12It cuts well, it's very strong.
09:15It's a piece of art, really.
09:17It really is nice, nice timber.
09:21It's this gentle way of making a prefabricated house
09:24that 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.
09:41Looking forward, what are the things
09:42that are going to keep you up at night?
09:44Just 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?
09:55Bats.
09:56Yeah.
09:57I mean, if you time this badly,
09:58it can be nine months to a year, can't it,
09:59before you can get in again?
10:01Yeah.
10:02There again, of course, you want to build a sustainable building,
10:03so that means being ecological, doesn't it?
10:05Absolutely.
10:06Yeah, exactly.
10:07Gotta 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, 68 panels have already been made
10:22to slot together to make five floor and roof sections.
10:25It takes just two weeks to do this.
10:27And yet, in West Sussex, they're not even out of the starting blocks.
10:32Still waiting on the bat licence.
10:34There seems to be some back and forth between Natural England
10:38and the council agreeing 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.
10:52So 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 to derail the schedule of this project.
11:13But 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.
11:36But for them, it remains a remote process of online meetings with their architects,
11:41because site work can't start until they get their batty permission.
11:46The bat licence as well.
11:47Yeah.
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, air tightness 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,
12:08Pete and A travel up 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 than I thought I was going to see.
12:23Wow.
12:24It's so big.
12:25Wow.
12:26Hello.
12:27Hello.
12:28Hello.
12:29Hey, guys.
12:30Hello.
12:31All right?
12:32This is up?
12:33Oh.
12:34Yeah, yeah.
12:35Look, they're putting on the airtight tape.
12:36Yeah.
12:41Amazing.
12:42You all right?
12:45Oh.
12:46Wow.
12:47And there's your big glass wall facing south.
12:49Sunset.
12:50Like, just like that.
12:51They've even got the sun in the right position for you.
12:54Yeah.
12:55Sorry.
12:56It's fine.
12:57You're all right?
12:58Yeah.
12:59It's fine.
13:00It's fine.
13:01You're all right?
13:02Yeah.
13:03Pretty.
13:04Yeah.
13:05It is astonishing progress.
13:07This is the kitchen diner.
13:12Next up is Pete and A's bedroom.
13:15Assembling these perfect panels seems so easy in a factory.
13:23Wow.
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.
13:43It's beautiful.
13:46Swiftly, 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, Taran.
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.
14:19Me and Declas Barky, we were saying before, they're snapping at our heels a bit.
14:23The controlled environment has indeed changed.
14:26Is there going to be enough depth to get that in and I'm turning it?
14:30Notably, there's a lot of head scratching.
14:32There's loads of this timber in the way and I don't really want to take too much out of the strength.
14:37Ah, tricky.
14:40We don't arrive and then there's a set of drawings.
14:43It's a nightmare.
14:45We have to make up the pipe runs and we do have to make a lot of decisions ourselves, you know.
14:50Trying to get this timber out of here.
14:57Not the easiest.
15:02Just because everything's glued and screwed and...
15:07Next door isn't on track either.
15:09Declan, 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.
15:18Every time you sit down at the dinner table, it's going to keep going on and off.
15:21Taron 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.
15:29This is really important to keep this on target.
15:31Because as soon as this job gets to a certain stage, we'll have to start production on the next project.
15:35Basically, we can't afford to have downtime because obviously any downtime is cost.
15:39I thought I'd be out of here today.
15:41Hold-ups are not welcome here.
15:43Getting one house out while another comes in is the essential blood flow of the building.
15:47Any pause in this conveyor belt can spell financial doom.
15:53Three years ago, I visited the modular factory of Top Hacked.
15:57It's since ceased trading.
15:59And other big players like LNG Modular Homes and Modulus Limited all suffered from inconsistent workflow.
16:06And yet the sky could be the limit.
16:09This 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.
16:26It has 14,000 beautiful porcelain tiles around it.
16:32It has a terracotta facade which gleams in the sunshine.
16:36But 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.
16:53That's far quicker than the conventional equivalent, with a lot less waste.
16:58Tide 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.
17:15Yeah.
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.
17:22Yeah.
17:23Continuous 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 round and said,
17:33Do you know what?
17:34We 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.
17:56What 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.
18:11I mean, it's in Wales.
18:12So 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.
18:27So they're working hard to deliver on the nail.
18:32But all they've done in Southwater is move to a nearby rental.
18:37I'm just going to set up the time-lap of me packing up the studio.
18:41I can post this on my social.
18:45The factory home is half done.
18:48The underfloor heating's going in.
18:50Emma, the project manager and architect, is now worrying about delays to the groundworks.
18:56I'm pretty nervous because if we don't get the back licence come through,
18:59we've had projects in the past that have been delayed by up to nine months.
19:02We can completely throw out our timelines.
19:05The whole project hinges on getting this tick box from Natural England.
19:10It's the end of March.
19:13The 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.
19:29I'm obviously really pleased.
19:30I don't want to be turning up today with no licence.
19:33I feel good.
19:34Yeah, we've been waiting a long time to do this.
19:38Oh, wow.
19:39It's happening.
19:42They're taking the roof tiles off by hand and looking through the holes and seeing any roosting underneath the roof.
19:48Joseph will gently re-home any residents to a bat box, working ahead of the builders to find any.
19:55There's a small gap here.
19:58So we use an endoscope to inspect it.
20:02It doesn't look like there's any bats in here at the moment.
20:05He doesn't is 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.
20:13Professor.
20:14But as midday approaches, one thing is apparent.
20:18The little critters jumped ship long ago.
20:21That's good.
20:22Good news.
20:23No bat!
20:24It's a bittersweet outcome for Pete.
20:28It's taken almost two years, two surveys and £6,000 to get to this point.
20:33We plan to have ten 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.
20:43Yeah.
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.
20:53These are onion houses because you've got so many layers and layers.
20:57Imagine how many sheets go onto it.
21:00Red onion.
21:01Don'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.
21:07Here, 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.
21:17You'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.
21:26So it doesn't twist during transit.
21:29Which is now looming in a month.
21:33The site manager, Afrim, has spent a fortnight clawing back time.
21:38We've just done the concrete slab for the outbuilding.
21:42We have done some drainage.
21:44Then the engineer is here to do some setting out.
21:48The engineer, Marius, has already set out the house's footprint
21:52using 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.
22:03What do you mean?
22:05Because we've done the setting out.
22:08It's over there somewhere.
22:09Yes.
22:10And it looks like the kitchen is going to be behind the fence.
22:12But jokes aside, the measurement is off.
22:17It's too close to the fence to pass building rigs.
22:21I don't think we have the right drawing.
22:24Oh, Jesus.
22:25It looks like there are two different drawings.
22:27A drainage one and a structural engineering drawing.
22:30So I was able to overlay the two drawings.
22:34They are different.
22:35By a metre.
22:37125.
22:39Accuracy is important because everything ties in.
22:42The trainee is going to be in the right room.
22:45Work stops on site as Afrim calls the architects.
22:48Yep.
22:49I'm going to email the structural engineer and go ahead and update his drawing.
22:55Please, because we're just waiting for, you know, to receive the drawing, please.
22:58Yeah, yeah.
22:59Getting new engineering drawings can, however, take weeks.
23:03We don't have time sitting here and waiting because wasting the time is not good.
23:08Even for us or maybe we don't complete the work.
23:12Three and a half hours pass until new drawings drop.
23:21Yes, good.
23:22Yes.
23:23What I want to do now, I want to set out everything again.
23:26Okay.
23:27This could have been unpleasant.
23:29They have a toilet pipe in the middle of the living room.
23:33This is just the crazy normal of everyday site work versus the pristine factory accuracy of off-site fabrication.
23:41After 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.
23:54And so, thank goodness, the steel screw piles are at last going in.
23:58Each 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, will it be based on your setting out?
24:07Yeah?
24:08Yeah.
24:09Okay.
24:10So you have to just double-check it.
24:11So the 55 screw piles are drilled into position and the countdown to delivery begins.
24:17It's the penultimate day before the house is due at Pete and A's and five waterproof wrapped modules are ready for haulage.
24:30Tom 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.
24:40The plan is to travel 233 miles to an overnight spot near site.
24:45Just worried about things going wrong.
24:47The worst thing to happen would be damaging the load or knocking the truck.
24:50I'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.
25:01Worth £100,000, this is Pete and A's living room.
25:05The exit is narrow and has an awkward dog leg.
25:09If you could just watch my back end on the wall there as I turn, please.
25:15But 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 A's house is yet to set off.
25:46We all right?
25:47The first juggernaut stopped short after a loud bang.
25:53It seems a sidestrap got caught on the right flank.
25:59Thankfully, 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.
26:18The first leg is unfortunately eye-wateringly tight.
26:22They're forced to crawl along.
26:32I'm worried about the trees here in my pocket.
26:34You're all good there, you're all good there.
26:37Then there's the wrangling of traffic.
26:40One car here.
26:41A lot of 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 A's site?
26:52Afrim 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, 20 millimeter 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.
27:13Afrim and his running shoes will have to be ready super early.
27:17The plan is for a 4 a.m. start to avoid any traffic from this overnight spot five miles away.
27:26It's taken several long hours to get here.
27:28And yet the worst is to come tomorrow.
27:31So our 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 it in place.
27:51It's 4.20 a.m.
28:05The first module is inching its way down Pete and A's lane.
28:09Wow.
28:10It's coming through.
28:11Oh my God.
28:12Oh my God.
28:13Oh my God.
28:14It's only a truck.
28:15I know.
28:16The lifting plan is to get one unit in every 30 minutes to beat the school run up the lane.
28:31Cranking each lorry as close to the drive as possible away from the overhead wires.
28:36It's just the telephone.
28:38That's what we're trying to avoid.
28:39Yeah.
28:40OK.
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.
28:53Sorry.
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, Glen, 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 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.
29:43Whoo!
29:44Slowly, gently, the valuable 20-tonne cargo is winched up.
29:51We just want it to start floating, and then we might have to alter.
29:54Keep going.
29:55Oh, we've got a bit of movement.
29:57Hold it, hold it.
29:58Hold it there.
29:59It looks ever so slightly off-kilter.
30:03All right, and them cables?
30:05Pinching up, right?
30:06And then, suddenly...
30:09Oh!
30:12It's an interesting noise.
30:13The 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 I'll design nice square boxes that just pick up perfectly in the middle.
30:39OK, it's lift-off. It's going.
30:42The trunk's gone.
30:45Oh!
30:46They're not out of the woods yet, though.
30:48Colossus must be twisted in.
30:50Right, pull it round.
30:53Right on that branch, Nigel.
30:56Keep going.
30:58Hold it there, hold it there.
30:59Can Nigel keep hold of that right?
31:00Can you pull it that way, away from the crane, please?
31:03Right, we're above the scaffold now.
31:05Hold it there, hold it there.
31:07Oh, wow!
31:08Keep coming.
31:10It's doing right.
31:12Right, hold your slew there.
31:14Hold your slew there.
31:16Just 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.
31:24To your left a little bit.
31:26Hold it there.
31:27Where's that?
31:28Yeah, we're pretty good.
31:29Let's bang on there, aren't we?
31:30Happy?
31:32I win!
31:33Yay!
31:38Half room is fit.
31:40Half room 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.
32:02So 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.
32:26Jake must clearly be experienced.
32:30It'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 Ellie's,
32:40the second module is being lowered within a cat's whisker of the first.
32:45Oh, wow.
32:46Look at that.
32:47It's actually ironing.
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'll 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.
33:27Watch some of these trees up on the right-hand side, mate,
33:29especially after that big deck.
33:31Take it nice and steady.
33:34So now we're creeping.
33:35We're doing, what, eight miles an hour or something,
33:36ten miles an hour?
33:37Yes.
33:38We've got to hit the trees,
33:39but 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 well as I can.
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 round the corner, it's a massive crane.
34:00Yeah, it is a massive crane.
34:08We're here.
34:09Yeah, well done.
34:11Taking my mind off the stress.
34:13That 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.
34:34How's it been?
34:35Hearts 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.
34:46Nothing seemed to be broken.
34:47No.
34:48Oakwood's useless.
34:50Has the excitement worn off?
34:51No, not yet.
34:52Do you see?
34:53No.
34:54Even the grown-ups?
34:55No.
34:56And this is the bedroom wing?
34:58Your bedroom wing?
34:59The bedroom wing.
35:00The best one for last.
35:01Yeah, 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.
35:13Okay.
35:15Keep going.
35:17Incredibly, in less than five hours, Pete and A's Z-shaped home has docked.
35:25It'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.
35:37This 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.
35:46I didn't either.
35:47No.
35:49Miraculously, everything's survived.
35:53Look at that.
35:54All the tiles are still intact.
35:58It's here, it's here.
36:02Oh.
36:04So good.
36:06They've been promised the keys in just four weeks, but what a day.
36:10What a journey.
36:11Flying through the air here, every 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?
36:34This 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.
36:43It's high summer in West Sussex.
36:44Just two months ago, I watched open-mouthed as A and Pete's modular home gracefully docked.
37:01And 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.
37:14There's been no blood spilt on this project, no tears other than those of joy, and no sweat, really.
37:20Although I did lose at least a litre in that truck.
37:25Oh, my goodness.
37:27The only question I suppose is, I suppose it feels alien.
37:31I don't want this thing to feel and look like a sort of caravan, you know?
37:35This house has got to absolutely be proper architecture.
37:40It's got to be part of where it is.
37:42So, has it managed to put roots down?
37:54Oh, oh, oh!
37:58Wow.
38:02My word.
38:04That is sharp.
38:07It is darkly handsome.
38:09A home with attitude.
38:12It's dynamic and skewed to fit the site, as if it were a massive black machine that's turning.
38:21I 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 pre-assembled at all.
38:44Beautiful.
38:47It is very good indeed.
38:57Hey!
38:58Hello!
38:59Hello, eh?
39:00Hello, Pete.
39:01Well, this is fresh.
39:02Hi.
39:03Good to see you.
39:04Very good to see you.
39:05You're looking really well, the pair of you.
39:06You look ten years younger, the pair of you.
39:09How have you been for a start?
39:10Pretty well.
39:11Yeah.
39:12We've been here, what, six weeks?
39:13It's like a holiday home at the moment.
39:16Yeah.
39:17How 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.
39:29We had some really good people.
39:30The one question in my head was, does it look like cabin 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.
39:43Yeah.
39:44Just 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.
39:59Shall we go in?
40:00Yeah, no, love to.
40:01It really would.
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.
40:14It's light.
40:15What a welcome reception this is.
40:19It's really elegantly done and thought about.
40:22Where's the join?
40:23I can't see the join between the buildings.
40:25No, you can't see the join.
40:27The point is, it's now just one integrated home.
40:30Oh, yeah.
40:32Pulling you to its core.
40:34That is terrific.
40:38This space is sort of magnetic, isn't it?
40:40Yeah.
40:41It's so long.
40:45It makes it super elegant, but these views either end just pull you even further.
40:51Yeah.
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.
40:59Kitchen's great.
41:00Lovely.
41:01Absolute command center where you just look and forget to cook.
41:05Yeah.
41:06How much was it, all this?
41:08Something like 42, I think.
41:09Oh, yeah.
41:1042,000 pounds for a kitchen?
41:11Yeah.
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 Boak and it's sort of proper.
41:19It's pretty nice.
41:20Are these yours?
41:21Yes.
41:22I made those.
41:23Do they glow a little at night?
41:24A little bit, yeah.
41:25Just slightly.
41:26Just brings them alive.
41:27That's so beautiful.
41:29It's all simple, harmonious and spacious.
41:34Straightforward, 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.
41:49By the pond is the kids' wing, Alice and Joe's bedrooms with their own en suite.
41:56At 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.
42:12It'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.
42:27Oh, this is nice.
42:29So sweet.
42:30The sloping ceiling.
42:32It's rather good, isn't it?
42:33Yeah.
42:34It's quite cosy.
42:35Nothing bears witness to its factory origins, just its speedy arrival.
42:41So, the kids haven't aged in this process.
42:44Joe, 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.
42:52Yeah.
42:53It's kind of neat.
42:54I think it's really cool.
42:55We've got a lot more space than before.
42:57I think they did really well.
42:59Yeah.
43:00Yeah.
43:01Luna, what do you think?
43:03Oh, I...
43:04OK, yeah.
43:05Yeah.
43:06That's...
43:07You've made your views really clear there.
43:09Yeah, you have.
43:10You love it here.
43:11So, all the clients are content.
43:15There's been little personal cost.
43:18Less environmental cost than a similar sized traditional building.
43:22I like this whole outdoor deck lifestyle thing.
43:25But perhaps it's hurt financially.
43:28So, how much does all this cost?
43:31Just north of 800.
43:33We started with 750.
43:37Most of it is through things that we've chosen to do.
43:40Posh kitchen?
43:41A posh kitchen.
43:42Yeah.
43:43You know, the quality of the decking.
43:44There were a few glitches on the way through.
43:46Bats.
43:47It took a while for the bat license to come through.
43:50Yeah.
43:51I mean, it just bunched everything up, which meant the groundwork had to work a bit harder.
43:58But we're quibbling.
44:00It's been super smooth.
44:02So, they'd landed it on time.
44:04Yeah.
44:05It cost what it was going to cost, barring the extras that were...
44:09Extra.
44:10Yeah, yeah.
44:11And the quality is...
44:12Beautiful.
44:15I've never really seen a building where you can get all three.
44:21What does it mean to you then?
44:23It's going to go...
44:25No, it's just...
44:26It's...
44:27Happy.
44:28Just, you know, it's complete, isn't it?
44:30Just family together.
44:32I feel like...
44:34I feel like I'm home.
44:36That's good.
44:37Yeah.
44:38It's happy it is.
44:48Oh, what a balanced and tranquil and calm building this is.
44:55And it had a pretty harmonious delivery, didn't it, as well?
44:59I'm sure you're thinking, where were the problems?
45:02Why did nothing go wrong?
45:04And that's...
45:05That'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?
45:14A thousand years of Western Christian thinking?
45:17That teaches us that you can't get anything of quality in this world without suffering on the way through.
45:25No pain, no gain.
45:28And yet there are more ancient philosophers, like that of Epicurus, the Greek, who said,
45:34No, you can go another way.
45:37There doesn't need to be suffering.
45:39You can be balanced.
45:40You can be harmonious.
45:41You can be careful and meditative about what you do, enjoy the process on the way through, and achieve wonderful results.
45:49Goodness me, this building speaks of that philosophy.
46:05And what an extraordinary sight to find yourselves in.
46:07The dream opportunity to build their own house.
46:09Provided they're prepared to live a low-carbon life, we have to acknowledge that these people are the most extraordinary pioneers.
46:16I totally, thoroughly believe in what we're doing and why we're doing it.
46:19Definitely, 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.
46:26A tiny, tiny budget.
46:27But can we just finish this house?
46:29I'll try.
46:46Let's take a moment.
46:47Keep huddling here
46:48Stop waiting.
46:49Now name this tree.
46:51You probably canåt.
46:52You, por favor.
46:53How are you?
46:56Do you?
46:57Guido!
46:58Something about you.
46:59No Carolyn accounts.
47:01We have one of the things that mutualality and hope that canè²¢ move they have.
47:05Now come to our commander if you have their own flock
47:06We've been solving with planning and hope.
47:08In wheat you know exactly.
47:10You're always Lydia.
47:12What are you doing?
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