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Grand Designs Season 27 Episode 1
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00:00In the story of the three little pigs, one pig chose to build his house out of bricks,
00:11one out of sticks, and the third one, well, he chose a super sustainable, low-impact,
00:16low-input, carbon-sequestering miracle product.
00:19Yeah, he chose straw, and not just any old straw, hemp straw,
00:24which in Latin is cannabis sativa.
00:27Oh, God, I love architecture. Gives me such a high.
00:57The second is number 19, the red heifer in the middle here.
01:06Amid this bustling cattle auction in the heart of the Durham Dales,
01:16a striking red-overauled figure stands among the native throng, Sarah, an artist who grew up here in the North East.
01:28We work really, really quickly and capture the relationship, really, between the farmers and the cattle
01:41and document a really important part of local culture, which carried on in the same way as it has been for hundreds of years.
01:51After 40 years living largely in the south-east of England, where she raised a family,
01:5818 months ago, Sarah decided to return to her roots after a divorce, her children having grown up.
02:03It's a really difficult time for all mothers after their children have gone away,
02:10because a whole part of your life is kind of not finished, but it's a complete change.
02:16I didn't want to be left. I didn't have to come back north, but I just had the idea.
02:23My mum thought I was completely mad, you know, 40 years in the south or whatever.
02:29It's with her mum, Joyce, that Sarah's currently living, but not for long,
02:34because having been part of a thriving artistic community in Rye in East Sussex, where she previously lived,
02:40Sarah's now on a mission to establish a creative hub and a home up here.
02:44I heard somebody say once that you can move to a hub of something, or you just create your own.
02:53When I heard that, I just thought, oh yeah, I can just create my own.
02:57To build a space, not just for my own work, but also to facilitate others to make art a hub of the creative rural north.
03:06The location is this exposed upland field she's bought at auction, for £200,000.
03:15I saw this three-acre field with planning permission, five miles from where my parents lived,
03:21and I just thought, I'm definitely going to go for this.
03:23My goodness.
03:31It's very exposed here.
03:36Hello.
03:36Hello, Kevin.
03:37Hi, Sarah, how are you?
03:38Lovely to meet you.
03:39Yeah.
03:40Yes.
03:40Yeah, you're well camouflaged, isn't it, still?
03:42Yes.
03:43In your wounds.
03:44Mind you, it's cold today.
03:45It is very cold, yes.
03:47And a strong wind is blowing.
03:49Yeah, is it always like this?
03:50It is, a lot of the time.
03:52Yes, that's what our gloves back on.
03:53Wow.
03:54Wow, so you're building a house which is going to respect that, respond to that.
03:58Yes, yes.
03:58Right, and was that a house?
04:01What was here?
04:01There was something.
04:02There was.
04:03There was an old stone farmhouse, which is just over there,
04:06and that remained empty for about 30 years,
04:09and then they had to knock it down because it was then unsafe.
04:13And does it sit then, close to the road?
04:15Where are you putting the building?
04:16It's sitting here.
04:18Rather than putting it back where it was, which is on the higher ground,
04:21we're moving it to the lower area so that it's not so exposed to the wind.
04:26Really?
04:26Yeah.
04:26Why would you do that?
04:28Well, I can't imagine.
04:31And what's the house going to be?
04:34I'm building a single-story home studio eco-house made out of hentcrete.
04:39Wow.
04:40The exterior, I am cladding in the stone.
04:44What, from here?
04:45Yes, yes.
04:46So hempcrete, this is hemp stems from hemp grown in fields.
04:51Yes.
04:52It's not the psychoactive version, but almost.
04:54No, no, yeah.
04:55And it's mixed with lime.
04:56That's right.
04:57Lime binder.
04:58And water.
04:59And you make a, basically, it's like a sort of concrete,
05:02but made with natural products.
05:03Exactly.
05:04So, why hempcrete?
05:06Well, particularly, I love it because it's natural and it's a healthy thing to live with,
05:14unlike modern building materials, which contain so many plastics.
05:19Cast in situ hempcrete is economical.
05:22It's the only natural material that I've been able to find that I can actually afford to use.
05:28And it's affordable because I'll also be doing a lot of the casting myself.
05:32But the driving force for the whole natural space was to facilitate, like, a healthy and creative environment to make art in.
05:43Elliot Architects have evolved Sarah's vision for a sustainable home-come art hub into a design that's as bold as you might imagine.
05:53The first step will be to level the site, dig foundations, and, as hempcrete can't be used below ground level,
06:01fill them with conventional steel-reinforced concrete.
06:05Next, a lightweight timber frame will go up to form three barn-like structures,
06:10with a few steel I-beams for reinforcement.
06:12A simple entrance hallway will link the barn shapes into one.
06:19Unusually, the roof, a striking rusty red steel number, will get fitted before the walls are fully built,
06:25to keep the rain off the hempcrete process.
06:28Next, a skin of sterling board will wrap around the outside of the timber frame,
06:32and inside, but only up to a height of 60 centimetres.
06:36Into this shuttering section, buckets of wet hempcrete hemp, mixed with line binder and water,
06:40will be tipped and tamped down.
06:43Once this first section, or lift, has set, the process repeats in stages up the walls.
06:48Once dry, a breather membrane then goes on, and the building gets clad in stone from the former home on this site.
06:55Large aluminium and timber windows will add architectural refinement.
06:59A bright, ply-clad hallway-cum gallery for displaying and selling art will lead to a world of raw hempcrete,
07:08an open-plan kitchen, diner and living space, off which are a bathroom and Sarah's digs.
07:14On the other side of the gallery will sit Sarah's art studio, where she'll also run courses,
07:21and another two bedrooms for her grown-up sons, Noah and Hector.
07:25Sarah's going to install the hempcrete herself with some help,
07:28having recently got the bug on a course she took.
07:31And rather boldly, despite the innovative and tricky nature of hempcrete,
07:36and despite her complete lack of experience,
07:38she wants to project manage the whole thing, rather her than me.
07:43This is not a kit build. It's not even a system build.
07:47You're not even using blocks.
07:49You're using stuff mixed in a bucket, piled into a hole,
07:54with wobbly stone on the outside and mortar.
07:56So there's a lot of risks.
07:58Yeah, I think as risks go, I think this is low risk.
08:01Tell me, how much is all this going to cost?
08:04The total budget is £330,000.
08:07Does that all come from previous homes that you've owned?
08:12Yes. So I used to live on the southeast coast.
08:16I had a little house that the boys and I used to live in.
08:19So that's where the money's come from, to buy the field and pay for the build.
08:24And there's no mortgage attached? There's no borrowing going into the project?
08:28No, I don't owe anybody any money, and I'm not going to.
08:30You're not going to?
08:31No, I'm not going to borrow any money, no.
08:33I won't go down that route.
08:35OK. Any asset?
08:36Yes, a holiday cottage.
08:38OK.
08:39Yeah.
08:40But if I sell the holiday cottage, I'm getting rid of my income,
08:44because I don't have any kind of pension plan.
08:46Yeah, yeah.
08:47So when do you finish?
08:48When do you move in?
08:50As soon as the windows can go in, after the hempcrete's cast.
08:53So that is October, November.
08:57OK.
08:58Eight months.
08:59God, I'd be in earlier than that then.
09:04Sarah's cheerful disposition suggests that the complexity,
09:08the risk of what she's about to undertake may not have sunk in yet.
09:12The thing is, this project is also so fraught with difficulty, with risk, if you like,
09:20design risk, experimental materials, a lack of money,
09:26that you think, how on earth will it actually happen?
09:30But then you see, buildings don't just occur because somebody's got money.
09:35They also require organisation and administration and craftsmanship and care and love
09:42and vast amounts of human energy.
09:46And that matters almost more than any other component, that human input.
09:54And goodness me, the one thing that Sarah has in spades is energy.
10:00She has an abundance of it.
10:02Within weeks, the foundations of Sarah's new home are being dug
10:13by an experienced local builder, David, and his team.
10:18My role is doing the foundations, the drains and the stone cladding at the end.
10:26Out of this wild upland earth, the full footprint of Sarah's new home is emerging,
10:31along with its fair share of unexpected costs.
10:36We've had to take out 25 to 30 tractor loads of earth.
10:43So that was unexpected cost.
10:45At the moment, I've spent £1,860 getting rid of soil.
10:51A new field drain is another surprise, costing around £5,000.
10:56The idea of it is that it will take all of the water away from the house and let it naturally
11:03run away into the rest of the field.
11:05So it has to be done.
11:06You have to pay it.
11:08And when there isn't any money left, then there's no money left.
11:11Even I can understand that arithmetic.
11:16Nevertheless, just a month in, the foundations are ready to be filled with concrete.
11:21Swingers over there.
11:22And with David on hand to oversee progress, our project manager Sarah even has time for
11:27a spot of drawing.
11:30Drop us a bit far back up there.
11:32David's been in the building game in these parts since 1981.
11:36Like standard building, you sort of know what you're going to do.
11:39So there's no unforeseen problems with it, really.
11:43That's it, isn't it?
11:44But as for the hemp, I think she's a little bit far out with that.
11:49You know, that's something just new.
11:51And it'll be the first in this area and it'll probably last.
11:55So I don't think anybody else will do it.
11:57Building homes with hemp isn't conventional at the moment.
12:01So I'm curious to know what Sarah's mum, Joyce, thinks about it.
12:06What's your view about the building?
12:07I'm utterly amazed.
12:08I mean, I just think what she's tackling is phenomenal.
12:12I couldn't have done it.
12:14I'm full of admiration for her.
12:16Should she be doing it, do you see?
12:18Knowing Sarah, yes.
12:20Because this is what she needs to do.
12:22She wants somewhere of her own that she's designed and she's done and in a field, yes.
12:28It's Sarah.
12:29Yeah, so it suits her.
12:30It suits her, yeah.
12:31Would you live there?
12:32No, I like being in a village.
12:34I think the money side of it is the worry to me because prices have just escalated for materials and everything.
12:42So I do hope she can achieve it.
12:44And it's using materials which are not commonly found.
12:48I mean, and very ecological, of course.
12:50But so expensive.
12:51Yeah.
12:52That's the problem.
12:53Is there a bit of you that thinks actually, you know, what she's doing is overreaching?
12:56Is it mad?
12:57Yes.
12:59I would think it was mad.
13:01I wouldn't do it.
13:03Do you think she's bonkers?
13:06Sarah is tenacious and she wants to be moved into her home in November, now a mere six months away.
13:13So, this is the schedule to see whether you think we're on target for me moving in.
13:21We're at the moment in the frame, which we haven't got sorted yet, like the steel that's supposed to come today, hasn't landed yet.
13:29No.
13:29That's going to have a knock-on effect.
13:31There's three months in doing the stone, building it.
13:34But I can...
13:35Can't build stone in lime any time after November.
13:39But I could still be living in the house because the house has got its membrane in and it's watertight.
13:44How's you going to get your windows in?
13:46Windows can't go in without the stonework because the windows sit on the stonework.
13:51No, the windows can sit on the metal, propped metal sills, can't they?
13:57Not really, no.
13:57Oh, my God, I hadn't realised that.
14:00Your window is at the back of the timber frame.
14:04So, no, you won't have your windows and doors in.
14:09It's just extraordinary that I hadn't thought of this and nobody had made me aware of it.
14:18Bags of innocent enthusiasm and hope can drive a project, but they can't get your windows to fit.
14:24But the prospect of Sarah moving in come November now seems beyond possible.
14:30Sarah is three and a half months into an eight-month project here in the Durham Dales.
14:49And the timber frame should be going up.
14:52My neighbour, Mark, is moving his sheep, so we don't want them coming in the, uh, in the site.
15:01Oh, great.
15:02OK, thanks.
15:05It is fun, isn't it?
15:07Rural life.
15:09It's a very, very busy Monday morning.
15:11Sheep movement and frame erecting.
15:14After a brief hiatus, the road's clear.
15:21Well, they're hoping to get most of the frame all up today.
15:25Pretty incredible, I think.
15:26I mean, I hadn't realised that it was only going to take a day.
15:29No, I'm really, really, you know, absolutely on schedule.
15:32Do you want to come?
15:34Come on.
15:34In between project management, there's still time for sketching.
15:41In order to keep the drawing going, I just draw whatever's happening on site.
15:46They're interesting.
15:47I mean, the scaffolders the other day were all like monkeys, really.
15:51They're, like, hanging on to all of the poles as they're moving around them.
15:54And these guys have enormous tool belts.
16:00By the end of the day, the basic timber structure of Sarah's new home has already taken shape,
16:06ready for the steel beams and timber rafters to go in.
16:10This is the studio.
16:12It's a brilliant space, isn't it?
16:13I like this high, this high window here, because that was...
16:19Actually, that is actually scrubbed out.
16:24That is very high that they've put that in.
16:27But anyway, it's too late now.
16:29Sarah might have forgotten that the finished insulated floor will sit a fair bit higher than the current slab.
16:35For now, the project remains impressively on schedule.
16:40Three weeks later, the timber frame is complete and the installation of the roof starts.
16:46It'll be vital to keep the rain off the hemp walls yet to come.
16:50Hey.
16:51Hello, Kevin.
16:51This is amazing.
16:53It is amazing.
16:54Steel work in there.
16:55Yes.
16:56You've got all your perimeter block work done and slab support and drainage in.
17:01Yes, thank goodness.
17:02Can't believe it.
17:02So this is the living room and kitchen.
17:04I think it's absolutely amazing.
17:06And I love the fact that I can see the steel ridge beam.
17:09It's really lovely.
17:09Yeah, it's going to be exposed.
17:10But a lot of hempcrete cast.
17:12Yeah.
17:13But what about the elephant in the caravan on this project?
17:17The money.
17:18Are you on budget?
17:20No.
17:22OK.
17:22So?
17:23So I had a price in for the stone cladding.
17:26Yeah.
17:27£59,000.
17:28Oh.
17:29The thing is, is what do I know about stone masonry and stone cladding?
17:33I didn't have a clue how much it was going to cost.
17:36So I kind of think I put in 20.
17:39So when I saw £59,000, I just thought, oh my God.
17:46Yeah.
17:46Any other overruns, overspends?
17:48Finishing landscaping.
17:50Yeah.
17:51There's nothing in for that.
17:53And the roof.
17:54How much is that?
17:56£18,000.
17:57You were going to spend how much, you thought?
17:59£330,000.
18:00£330,000.
18:01Yeah.
18:01And now you think it's going to be?
18:03More like £430,000.
18:04Just like that?
18:05Yes.
18:06Wow.
18:06And so quickly.
18:08Yeah.
18:08And I just can't believe how fast these amounts ramp up.
18:15Yeah.
18:16Yeah.
18:16Yeah.
18:19As to how Sarah funds this £100,000 overspend,
18:23she's going to have to surrender the only financial security she has,
18:28her small one-bedroom holiday cottage nearby.
18:32At the time that I bought it,
18:34the intention was that this would provide a steady stream of income.
18:38It's potentially worrying where my income's going to come from in the future.
18:43It's not an ideal scenario,
18:45but by taking away the income that this cottage gives me,
18:50it'll sort of force me into really making the future plans for the gallery really work.
18:57So the new house will have to work for its keep.
19:04Sarah's prepared to sacrifice every asset and security she has to build this project,
19:08one she wanted to move into in November in just four months.
19:12But there's an entire roof yet to build before the hempcrete walls start in two weeks.
19:18Sarah's feeling the pressure.
19:19There's not another membrane going on top of the ply.
19:23There is.
19:24What?
19:25We don't want that getting wet.
19:27The membrane goes down on top of the insulation.
19:30There's no other membrane to go on.
19:32Right, but that drawing's completely wrong, Sarah.
19:34That's an old drawing that's not right.
19:36I mean, this ply's been getting soaking wet.
19:41Yep.
19:42I'm always working with different people running projects.
19:44And people do take on running their own jobs.
19:47And I don't think they realise what a tough job it is, you know.
19:51It's a difficult job and it's a skilled job.
19:53And people who are not used to doing it do struggle running their own projects.
19:57I'm beginning to feel sorry for Sarah.
19:59And yet, two weeks on, the striking red steel roof installation is advanced enough for hempcreteing to start.
20:08Bang on schedule.
20:09Today is the day that I've been really looking forward to.
20:14Yeah, here we go.
20:15We're ready now.
20:17Sarah's assembled a crack team.
20:20Pro-hempcreteers Jasper and Ronan from Wales and Martin from Brighton.
20:25A local friend, Piers, and her sons, Noah and Hector.
20:29The hempcrete decision was an interesting, interesting one.
20:32I was like, I've never heard of that one.
20:35I think she wouldn't be offended by being called a little eccentric.
20:38From what I understand about it and its incidating properties and the breathability, that all sounds good to me.
20:43This should all work out.
20:45Hopefully.
20:48First, a vertical axis mixer combines the hemp stalk or shiv with a lime-based binder and water.
20:54The hempcrete is then tipped from buckets into the shuttering and then tamped down.
21:00I just sort of think about patting a dog's head.
21:03It's like a firm pat, but you're not trying to knock its teeth on it, is the way I think of it.
21:09Once this first layer has partially set, the timber formwork is removed to reveal that section of finished wall.
21:15Almost perfect.
21:16The process then repeats up the wall until the hempcrete reaches the ceiling.
21:24Two weeks has been allowed to complete the hempcreteing.
21:29So the team from Wales, that's the amount of time that I've booked them for, and it's their mixer.
21:35I'm confident we'll get it done in the two weeks, even though it does look as though it is a big space to fill.
21:42Where does all this hemp come from, you may wonder?
21:47Well, 600 miles away, in the Champagne region of France, where the cultivation of this miracle crop stretches back hundreds of years.
21:57It's drought-tolerant, requires zero pesticides, sequesters carbon, and is ready to harvest in just three months.
22:05This futuristic hemp-processing facility nearby extracts dust from the chopped stalks, and that's vital for good quality hempcrete.
22:16Why would I buy it without dust? What's the advantage?
22:18For the construction, it's really important for the good setup of the product, because the binder and the dust are not so friends.
22:27The regularity of the product will be not so good.
22:30OK, so it becomes weaker, yeah, yeah, more brittle, perhaps, yeah.
22:34By removing the dust, you get a better product, a better guarantee of performance.
22:43Sarah was recommended to use French hemp because of the scale, the history, and the advanced factories in this region.
22:50If somebody had given you an electric car ten years ago, you would have said,
22:54Oh, my goodness, this is from the future, and it was then, and it sort of still is now.
22:59And the thing about this factory, right, is that I couldn't have dreamt of this ten or twenty years ago, and yet here it is.
23:08The only difficulty with this high-tech processing plant, at the very end of that process, we still rely on enthusiasts.
23:15And that's where the weak spot lies.
23:17We don't have, within construction, the skill sets at scale to really exploit what this factory can produce.
23:27And who bears the risk of that?
23:31Sarah.
23:31And sure enough, back in the Durham Dales, Sarah faces a sucker punch.
23:39There isn't enough hemp and lime binder on site to finish the job,
23:43even though she paid a sustainable building consultancy in the UK several hundred pounds
23:47to advise on the quantity of materials she'd need.
23:51We think some of the volume calculations that have been done might have been wildly off,
23:56and we might need roughly doubled materials we've got,
23:58and the lead time can be quite long, three to four weeks,
24:02and we've got to leave before then.
24:05Sarah faces shelling out thousands more on hemp and lime binder.
24:10If the installation exceeds the two allotted weeks,
24:13she'll pay still more on labour to install it.
24:20Why did somebody not pick up before that it was more?
24:24And out by so much.
24:25Yes, I have to say, this is getting too much, OK?
24:29OK.
24:30Hi, in the Durham Dales.
24:52After days of frantic phone calls,
24:54the shortfall in hemp and lime binder is still arriving from suppliers all over the UK.
25:00Three days before the hemp treaters are due to leave.
25:03It's multiple deliveries, which has been very stressful,
25:06and every time that happens, work stops,
25:08which is something I really don't want to happen.
25:10So all the more work, all the more work, all the more stress,
25:12all the more materials, all the more cost.
25:14How much extra?
25:15Over £9,000 more.
25:16Just like that?
25:17Yes.
25:17And that's not something that you can think, um, well, I can't afford it.
25:21You just have to spend it, get the materials in, and then work out how...
25:28Where you're going to find £9,000.
25:29Yeah.
25:30Yeah.
25:30Yeah.
25:31Yeah, yeah, yeah.
25:32This is like a juggernaut now.
25:33It's on the move.
25:34Yes.
25:35Oh, it is.
25:35There's no stopping it.
25:37The question now is whether the team can install all this extra hemp treat with time running out.
25:44Today's Wednesday afternoons, right?
25:47So you've got Thursday, Friday left this week.
25:49Monday afternoon, you're on another site.
25:51Cornwall.
25:52Cornwall.
25:52Yeah.
25:55Generally, we would say, no, it's not sustainable,
25:57but I don't want to leave Sarah in this position where there's lots of hemp treat still to do,
26:02because, yeah, the mixer will be gone.
26:05We wouldn't be saying it's ten working days for this size of project.
26:11They're desperate for all hands on deck.
26:13Even mine.
26:15Fairly loose, isn't it, when it goes in?
26:17And then the idea is that you spread it out evenly.
26:20Yeah, to an even level.
26:21About 100 mil.
26:22And then at the edge, tamp down your fingers.
26:24You know, the association with hemp is that any hemp product is conducive to a slow, relaxing lifestyle.
26:31You know, this is the opposite.
26:34Remarkably, despite my contribution, all of the hemp treat walls get finished on schedule.
26:40And this is the finished result.
26:45And boy, is this monumental.
26:48I mean, look, you see these great lines, these horizontal bands, courses, where the hemp was put in, and it was slowly built up.
26:56The thing is like a sort of extraordinary giant slab of dark green-gray stone.
27:03And I think it's really, really beautiful.
27:07You might disagree, of course.
27:08You might hate it.
27:09You might think, this is absurd.
27:11When are they going to plaster?
27:12In a few weeks, the hemp treat has dried sufficiently to be wrapped on the outside in breather membrane, and then clad in stone.
27:23Sarah ought now to be gearing up to move into her new home.
27:27Instead, her finances are so dire that progress has slowed in an alarming way.
27:32Unfortunately, due to funds being very low now, and having not sold the holiday cottage, I've had to take the decision to only membrane the north part, and only stone-clad the north part,
27:49and probably only put half a window order in, and try to make that habitable and all functioning, so that I can carry on working as an artist, and also start making some money by having the gallery open, you know, having the studio open.
28:13It's not a fun situation to find myself in.
28:18Bugger.
28:19Oh, I wouldn't be able to do this again, I don't think.
28:25Just, I don't think my body could do it.
28:32A few weeks later, the stone masonry on the north section has begun.
28:41I'm really happy with it.
28:43It's just perfect.
28:44What I really, really wanted originally is an old stone field barn.
28:48And what's lovely is that all of this stone here was on the original house.
28:54However, it's not wrong before Sarah faces another sucker punch.
28:59She hasn't got enough stone.
29:01So, Sarah's intention of using the stone was to use all the stone on the site.
29:07But there's not enough, because the house that was on the site probably only had 150 square metres in, where this property here has 286 square metres.
29:17So, we're chopping it, trying to double it up, but she hasn't got enough, so really I've said to her now to go and source some more, which we have, which is the right colour, so we can mix it now, so at the end of the job, it doesn't stand out.
29:33So, Sarah has to find more stone as soon as possible.
29:37Having to find stone at the last minute, I mean, it's like, that's another one of David's, we need more stone, Sarah, we need to start mixing it in.
29:50It's like, what, now?
29:51I think I've found some local reclaimed stone only a couple of miles away.
29:59It'll be £7,200.
30:02It's money I haven't got, but I can't leave part of the house unclad with stone, so I have to buy it.
30:16It's perfect.
30:17I mean, you can't tell the difference.
30:19Even though it is another £7,200, I think this stone is a really good match.
30:26I have to get a heavy stone two miles up the road.
30:30Stuck between a rock and a hard place.
30:33Yeah, how the fuck are you going to get it back to site?
30:36Money set aside for glazing the north section ends up having to be used to pay for the extra stone instead.
30:42Over the winter, progress slows to a halt, and Sarah spends another winter living with her mum.
30:50And yet, five painful months on, with spring, mercifully arrives some good news, even great news.
30:58I sold the holiday cottage, so that means, hopefully now, that there's enough money to certainly finish the essential things for me to live in the house.
31:12I am incredibly keen to get the house finished and to move back into my own home after two and a half years of not being in my own home.
31:24David and his team are already back on site to finish all the stone lace of me on the house.
31:29Just a few weeks later, all the windows are ready to go in, starting with the 250-kilo picture window for the gallery, which, thanks to some careful manoeuvring...
31:42Watch that bottom sill, please.
31:44...is ready to secure in just half an hour.
31:47Hooray!
31:47Watch your sides.
31:48Yep, you're on it.
31:49Sif go up.
31:50Only Sarah's not happy.
31:52It's a bizarre thing, but it looks as though the left is down compared to the right.
31:57I'm all concerned about the level at the bottom.
31:59Yes, I understand, but at the moment, it looks as though it's dropping down on the left-hand side.
32:05Can it, like, go up?
32:06That would throw the bottom out?
32:08Maybe it might have to, because it doesn't look level at the top.
32:12After a battle of wills, a compromise decision is negotiated.
32:17That side needs to come up two mil.
32:19Yeah, can we do that?
32:21Yes, we're going to do that.
32:21Oh, amazing.
32:23Inevitably, by the time the second picture window goes in, it's the afternoon.
32:30That one is a much tighter fit.
32:32It makes you wonder, kind of, why they all weren't more like that.
32:36Yeah, the wind's definitely picked up.
32:38Oh, yeah, that's moving around a lot, isn't it?
32:41Oh, that's not much.
32:43I'm kind of glad I don't understand Polish.
32:45Three of the largest panes are installed by the end of the day.
32:49That's perfect.
32:50All 19 panes get rid of come the following week.
32:54Good.
32:57Now the place is watertight, they can screed over the insulation and underfloor heating pipes.
33:02Though unusually, Sarah also wants the cement screed exposed like the hemp.
33:07She wants the raw look of what it is.
33:10I mean, it soaps the walls, doesn't it, when you look at that and the look of the walls.
33:13Well, it is unusual, but it's like the old natural look, isn't it?
33:17Well, I think it's really beautiful.
33:20I love the relationship with the hemp crate.
33:21Exactly the same tonal range, much more perfect than I thought it was going to be.
33:27A few weeks later, when the screed has cured...
33:35Is this your finished floor?
33:37It is.
33:38I really like it.
33:39Sarah's all set for the interior fit-out, assuming she's got any money for that.
33:44Yeah, how much have you got left?
33:46£23,000.
33:49But that £23,000, what does that cover?
33:51That has to cover the air source heat pump, the electrics, the second fixed electrics, and lighting.
33:59The rest of the insulation I've laboured to put it in.
34:02The plywood, I'm going to have to buy another pallet of plywood.
34:05OK, you've got through £23,000 already.
34:07Yeah.
34:07Yeah.
34:08I've more than passed that, and that's the thing.
34:10That £23,000 certainly doesn't cover the kitchen.
34:12There's never been any budget for the kitchen. I've never had any budget for a kitchen.
34:16It transpires that Sarah's going to kit out her home in the traditional artist's way,
34:23by blagging as much free and cheapo stuff she can get.
34:27Oh, look, it's the Aladdin's cave.
34:29Yes.
34:30Of leftovers.
34:31Yes, it is. There's the fridge.
34:33Do you know what? This is good.
34:35This is the bath, which I got from the builder's merchants.
34:37Yes.
34:38It's £50.
34:39What's down there?
34:40Yep. This is the sink. That was in a farmer's cattle yard.
34:44What's this, Sarah, under here?
34:46This is a wash hand basin. This was dug up, yeah, and it's saltstone. It's got a hole.
34:51Yeah, yeah. I can't believe this was in the ground.
34:54And Sarah's resourcefulness extends to second-hand purchases, from trips to her local tip shop.
35:01I like that.
35:04Is it a cat scratcher?
35:05Oh.
35:06Two of them.
35:07That's a posh one.
35:08That is incredible.
35:09But how much is this?
35:1019 altogether, which is great.
35:12Thank you so much.
35:13We've got to try and fit it in.
35:15Can I get everything in?
35:15Yes, you can.
35:17Got it.
35:19Here's room for more crap.
35:21There is more crap.
35:21On top.
35:22Yeah.
35:22That's good.
35:26Well done.
35:28I get that Sarah's a creative, that she has imagination and vision, but can she really take all that flotsam and jetsam and recycled rubbish and make sense and beauty from it here?
35:40I mean, I don't know whether the floor's going to work out, just polished and sealed as screed.
35:47I don't know whether the Hemp Creek walls are going to be beautiful once art is hung on them.
35:52I don't know if the kitchen's going to look like a dog's dinner or an expression of something else, a feast of the imagination.
36:03What do you think?
36:10It is three years since Sarah returned to her roots in the high country of the North East, with ambitions to build a sustainable hybrid home-come-creative hub in the Durham Dales.
36:32So, after 18 months of self-inflicted stress, has she met her own towering goals?
36:40Oh, will you look at that?
36:42Even from here, across the fields, those barns of Sarah's, they really sink.
36:50You know, this is a landscape of long, low, ground-hugging barns.
36:57Hers, on the other hand, the roofs are a bit more pointed, they're a bit taller, they're a bit more assertive, and they are very, very rusty red.
37:06I think everybody here knows they've arrived.
37:08The language of this building seems to be very much of this place.
37:13Close up.
37:14Oh, that is so good!
37:20Beautifully, beautifully built.
37:22The stonework is perfectly coarse.
37:26It's medieval standards of stonework.
37:28It's really, really great.
37:29However, the windows, they are big, and they do shout that they've arrived, like the roofs, you know?
37:36The whole arrangement says, I look like barns from a distance, but very clearly I'm not.
37:43I'm a proper piece of architecture.
37:46Hello, Kevin.
37:47Hello.
37:49What a beautiful building you have.
37:51Oh, great to see you.
37:53Oh, look at you.
37:54My goodness me.
37:56You look amazing.
37:57It's the first time I've seen you without overalls.
37:59How long have you been in?
38:00About two weeks.
38:01So that must be a kind of fresh lease.
38:03Brings me deep joy to have my own home back again.
38:06It's powerful, it's good.
38:07I think it's got a very good energy about it.
38:11One thing it also says to me, as I get closer to it, is it says, there's the front door.
38:18This is a welcoming place to invite people in, to come and buy art.
38:23Yes.
38:24It's not just a home.
38:25It actually does speak the language of a gallery or of a more public building.
38:30That's good, because that is what it's supposed to be.
38:33And that's what it will be.
38:34And in fact, there is a first exhibition up there.
38:37In the space?
38:38In the space.
38:38You've even got that far.
38:40Yes.
38:40Yeah, exhibition of my build drawings that I've been doing.
38:43Oh, well, what did you do all the way through the process?
38:45Yes.
38:45Oh, how exciting.
38:46I'd love to see those.
38:47Well, come on in.
38:48Yeah.
38:49I'd love a bit of shelter from this wind as well.
38:58It's beautiful.
39:01I wasn't expecting the plywood interior.
39:03It's a big wooden box.
39:05Yeah.
39:06Beautiful pale and pink.
39:07I've always loved plywood as an interior finish.
39:10Very, very precise.
39:11It's like cabinet room.
39:12It's like living inside a piece of furniture.
39:15Do you know what's such a pleasure?
39:16It's visiting you in your home and your studio and seeing your art on the wall.
39:21They're great.
39:22That's the guys pouring the concrete.
39:24It is, yes.
39:25With their amazing tube that the concrete comes through.
39:29And roofers, of course, are very acrobatic and very dexterous.
39:34The glass wall of the gallery places you right into the grasslands outside.
39:38That is a painting waiting to happen, isn't it?
39:40While a door to the left leads you right into another grassy environment.
39:44Sarah's hempcrete living space.
39:46Oh, Sarah.
39:49Beautiful.
39:51And here, the plywood mixes with the hemp.
39:54Glorious.
39:55Yeah.
39:56They work really well together.
39:57Don't they just?
39:58Very rich and beautiful, Sarah.
40:00It's very warm.
40:02It's very, it's full of you, it's full of stuff, it's full of personality.
40:06There's a texture and a life in the material, which you need do nothing more to, to enjoy.
40:12So there's a rawness, which is sort of a bit like looking at the stone on the outside.
40:18This is great.
40:20In the end, you what, you saved up and bought something decent, yeah?
40:24No, the total cost of this kitchen was £924.
40:29What?
40:30And most of that is labour costs.
40:32There's five different places that all the units came from.
40:36Kitchen carcasses that people were throwing out.
40:38Five different kitchens?
40:39Yes.
40:40And I think I was a bit worried, actually.
40:43The drawers are all different, the widths are all different.
40:45But it has come together just brilliantly.
40:49You've even made the worktop out of plywood.
40:51Yes.
40:51All the offcuts.
40:52It's fabulous.
40:53It's the best kitchen I've ever had.
40:56Back on the other side of the entrance come gallery is the creative heart of Sarah's home, her studio.
41:03Very, very lovely.
41:04Quite ecclesiastical, you know?
41:05Yes.
41:06Big, long, naive, altar at the end, that beauty of the landscape.
41:10It is a totally special space.
41:12It's energising, but it's calm.
41:14My hope and aim for this is to create a space for musical performance, drama performance.
41:23Art classes, anything, this space might be able to develop creativity.
41:28Sharing it with others is the obvious next step, isn't it?
41:32Absolutely is.
41:32Yeah.
41:33Also on this side of the house are bedrooms for Sarah's grown-up sons, one of which she's camping in while she finishes her own bedroom off the living space.
41:45Why do the guest bedrooms first before you do your own?
41:48So I can potentially let one, perhaps to somebody who's on a course, or maybe let both of them.
41:56Sarah may not have completely finished, but the important thing is she can live and work here now.
42:01That'll be a relief for her and her mum.
42:05I think being together for nearly three years, it's, yes.
42:11She's exhausting to live with.
42:13I think our relationship will be even closer now if we each have our own separate spaces.
42:20I suppose I'm quite fascinated by the hempcrete.
42:25The look of it is growing on me, and it looks nice with her artwork on.
42:31So just how much did Sarah end up spending on her hempcrete house in the end?
42:36I thought your original budget was crazily low, but it was what?
42:40$330,000.
42:41Which is a fair chunk of money, right?
42:44$330,000, but it's also a big building.
42:46Therefore, $330,000, that would have been phenomenal value.
42:50It would have been.
42:50How much did you spend in the end, you're writing?
42:52$520,000.
42:53And now what you've ended up spending seems to me to be about fair for a building this size,
42:58albeit you've still yet to finish.
43:00So there's a bit more to go, I guess.
43:03So you now officially have spent everything in the world.
43:07Yeah, I don't know why I'm laughing, but actually there was a time when I thought
43:15I would not be able to get as far as I have been able to.
43:19To get to this point and be able to get the studio up and running
43:23so I can see an income coming in, that has to happen pretty quickly.
43:27And the building is what you wanted?
43:30Oh, it's more than that.
43:32It's kind of taken a life of its own, really.
43:34That is definitely to do with the hempcrete being such a lovely material to live with.
43:43And the fact that I built my own walls, part of a team that built the walls.
43:48I think if I can infuse people to creativity and also unlock this thing where people think
43:57that they can't draw or they can't paint, and that's just because somebody's told them
44:04somewhere down the line that they're no good.
44:06And in fact, we can all make a mark, all of us.
44:10It's a really good point, isn't it?
44:11Because you made something of a mark with the building, you know, on the planet.
44:14Yes, this is a mark.
44:16It's a mark, yeah.
44:17And it's very, very lovely.
44:26This is life-affirming, coherent architecture,
44:30clad in stone and lime from the ground,
44:32built from natural, sustainable, carbon-sequestering stuff like hemp and timber.
44:37If you want to be innovative and exciting in your choice of building materials,
44:46then don't be surprised when the building turns out to be innovative and exciting.
44:51If you want to experiment with the building,
44:53then don't be surprised when the building turns around and says to you,
44:56hey, let's go on this next big part of the adventure together and let's experiment again.
45:01And Sarah's story, which is one of tenacity and belligerence and fraught with pain,
45:10that tells me, reminds me,
45:13that within all of us there's a desire to make a mark, to create,
45:18to leave a door on a piece of paper or on a canvas
45:21or to build a building in the landscape.
45:24And it reminds me of something else too,
45:26that it is to the artists
45:29that we should always be looking to show us the way forwards.
45:43There'll be five modules built in a factory in Wales.
45:46How are you going to get the thing here?
45:48It's crisscrossed with overhead cables.
45:51That's quick.
45:52Wow.
45:55It's a night there.
45:56We've never actually done anything this big before.
45:58What about the trees here?
46:00It'll be a new challenge for us.
46:02Our house is coming tomorrow.
46:03Real good.
46:04Okay, let's lift up.
46:06Oh!
46:06That's an interesting noise.
46:07It's an interesting noise.
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