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00:06For tens of thousands of years, human beings have created all kinds of technologies to help
00:13make the world better engineered, more precise, more beautiful. And along the way, human beings
00:20have also invented tools to help them. And as time has gone on, those tools have become more
00:25and more sophisticated. Until now, we rely on the computer to not just design buildings,
00:30it can engineer it, it can control the supply chain and all the manufacturing processes of
00:35components, but actually now to even construct as well. System error. System error. No, no, no,
00:42what do you mean? No, stop it. System error. System error. I mean, where did it all go wrong?
00:50I'm going to get a cup of tea.
00:55No, stop it.
00:57No, stop it.
01:16SEB IS 32.
01:18He lives in London, and he's an architect. Nearly all my experience has been up to planning,
01:24having the ideas and doing the sketches and coming up with a concept.
01:28It's definitely nerve-wracking, and it occupies a hell of a lot of headspace.
01:32As a millennial architect, Seb embraces new technologies
01:36and trusts the precision of machines.
01:41I guess if you try to get things to be accurate and efficient,
01:46if you can minimise human error, then that's definitely a benefit.
01:50And if you can do it quicker and more efficiently as well.
01:54Seb's working life may mean a lot of screen time,
01:58but now among the leafy streets of north-west London,
02:01and with the support of his family...
02:03This is when you graduated, your last day.
02:05Then we came to collect you. That's why you're looking so sad.
02:09He has the opportunity to design and build his own home.
02:14Let's go have a look at this house and see what you're building, Seb.
02:17In his grandparents' backyard.
02:19It doesn't seem like it's going to fit, does it? It seems a little bit tight.
02:23I feel very lucky. I think I've got the best grandparents in the world.
02:27Yeah, they're amazing.
02:28You want to believe what my age is?
02:3198.
02:33I told him, I go to heaven, I'll say to the world,
02:36my grandson has built a house in my...
02:41For this adventure, Seb will draw on the experience of his father, Selwyn,
02:45who has worked with concrete for over 35 years.
02:49What do you think, then, in terms of buildability?
02:51It's quite a complicated design from what I've seen.
02:54It's funny shapes and all, isn't it?
02:56And all sorts of fancy materials.
02:58Yeah.
02:59It's his project. It's his baby.
03:00I want him to take ownership.
03:02But if he's stuck, he knows I'll be there to help him.
03:05I want to test a few ideas.
03:07Do things a little bit unconventionally.
03:09It's an opportunity to try something that hasn't been done so much.
03:13The biggest risk is my lack of experience, I think.
03:15Yeah, I'm very nervous.
03:17But might as well just go all in and try and give it your best shot
03:21and, yeah, see if you can make it through and out the other end.
03:25Seb may be inexperienced,
03:27but he also wants to push convention.
03:30One way or another,
03:31this unassuming garden will decide his future.
03:40Hey, Seb.
03:41Hi, Kevin.
03:42Good to meet you.
03:43I know I've come to the right place because I just spotted that.
03:46Skip.
03:46I don't think I've ever seen a skip as tightly packed as that.
03:49It's like filing system.
03:51Absolutely, I'm glad you like it.
03:52That's where you're going to build?
03:53That's where I'm building.
03:54Shall I have a look?
03:54Yeah.
03:56Oh, this is nice.
03:57It's a little haven.
03:59It's triangular and pointy,
04:00but it gives you this street frontage.
04:03Yeah, as the street curves round,
04:04you've got the two buildings either side
04:06and there's the potential to pop something in between.
04:09How did you persuade your grandparents to let you do that?
04:11It was actually their idea.
04:13That's amazing.
04:13It's a real privilege, yeah.
04:14So, have you built before?
04:17No.
04:17All the things I've done before have been working within existing buildings.
04:20It's an opportunity to test ideas that our clients
04:23are not going to give me the responsibility to do.
04:25Seb will build his house using a technology
04:28found in only a tiny fraction of UK homes.
04:32A high-precision structure
04:33made from machine-cut panels of cross-laminated timber, CLT.
04:39So, with cross-laminated timber,
04:41you get, like, big panels delivered to site.
04:43Yeah, this busy road here,
04:44there's going to be a lorry park
04:45with basically a house on the back of it, right?
04:47It'll be a lot of disruption, but for a short amount of time.
04:50And also the associated noise that comes with chopping
04:53and impact drivers and all the drilling and...
04:56Good point, actually, about an urban environment is noise, yeah.
04:59So, all you'll really hear is the screwing of these materials together.
05:02And that is the structure, that's how it's held together.
05:05And will be the majority of the wall finish,
05:07rather than having plaster and paint, exposed timber, natural material.
05:11It'd be like being in the middle of a Norwegian wood.
05:13Exactly.
05:16To minimize disruption, time, and waste,
05:20SEB will harness the power of speed and precision.
05:23Concrete trench and raft foundations will form a raised platform
05:27with a tolerance of just 10 millimeters,
05:30so that the solid timber sheets made in Austria will fit to perfection.
05:36Once on site, these CLT panels will be craned into position.
05:41They'll have super-accurate pre-cut apertures for the doors, windows, and roof lights,
05:47most of which have been pre-ordered.
05:50There are 111 of these bespoke timber pieces,
05:54and the last to be fitted will have the tiniest of tolerances.
05:58All being well, this timber shell should be complete in just two weeks.
06:05Once insulated, the ground floor will be clad in brick,
06:10while above, over 300 fiber cement board panels will float magically.
06:18Inside, the timber shell will remain exposed,
06:22framing one kitchen and living room on the ground floor.
06:25The open staircase will lead you up to two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a small study.
06:32The acute angles of the top floor will form a bright studio space under the roof.
06:38Views of London framed in Austrian timber,
06:41the ideal workspace for a young creative architect.
06:48This house will be a meaty chunk of 21st-century architecture,
06:52but one landing on a quiet suburban street.
06:57It may well ruffle a few feathers.
07:02What's really lovely about this is you get a sense of outlook.
07:07These windows here, they're picking up the setting sun in the west.
07:12That's nice. Quite a complicated 3D jigsaw, isn't it?
07:14But that's why CLT's great,
07:15because you're able to do that in a controlled environment.
07:17How much is it going to cost to build the thing?
07:19The numbers are coming in at $420,000.
07:22That's to get the shell and cord done.
07:24So that's all on a mortgage.
07:26So when are you going to finish?
07:27To bring it in on budget,
07:28I'm going to have to take on some of the work myself,
07:31which may take longer.
07:32We should get the building watertight in about six months.
07:36Is there a point in the project where you think,
07:37oh, when I get there, it'll be okay?
07:40Oh, yeah, when it's finished.
07:41LAUGHTER
07:43Six months to watertight is fast.
07:48And just a few days later,
07:50the race is on to get the groundworks ready for the Austrian timber.
07:57So, for the past few days,
07:59we've been excavating the trenches for the strip foundations,
08:03and today is the pool.
08:05Is there what it's meant to be?
08:06400 by 600.
08:07Does it know about this?
08:09What?
08:10It's quite high there, no?
08:12As this project's concrete expert, Selwyn, Seb's dad,
08:15understands that concrete pours are all about timing.
08:20The concrete's just arrived ahead of time.
08:24They're a bit early.
08:25It doesn't always be good to plan.
08:27It's always slightly chaotic when the concrete comes.
08:31This chaotic, muddy mess is miles away
08:34from the clean precision of Seb's cross-laminated timber.
08:39In fact, exactly 933 miles away.
08:45Seb's timber panels will be manufactured in just over two hours
08:49by one of the largest cross-laminated timber companies in the world.
08:54Trees cut into planks and glued together
08:57to create structural walls with robotic precision.
09:01Out of the 1,500 CLT homes this factory will create each year,
09:06only a few are destined for the UK.
09:09And none are like Seb's.
09:18Four weeks since work began.
09:21It doesn't actually look that big, does it?
09:24Seb has his slab.
09:25I've had to place the order for the timber frame
09:29before this was finished,
09:30so there's within 10mm precision.
09:33So that bit of concrete can't be more than 10mm this way
09:36or that way or up or down.
09:38The concrete slab and timber frame
09:41have cost a hefty £130,000.
09:45A lot of money to gamble on a 10mm tolerance.
09:49It's very stressful.
09:51Constantly on my mind.
09:53Throughout the day, at night, in my dreams,
09:56when I wake up, it's a constant thing
09:58and there's always the next thing you need to sort out.
10:01So at one point I feel like,
10:02OK, I've resolved this thing,
10:04but then another one comes out
10:05and it's constantly dealing with these things.
10:08It does occupy a hell of a lot of headspace.
10:12Everything will have to run like clockwork.
10:15As the architect, project manager and client,
10:19Seb has nowhere to hide and no-one to blame
10:22if things go wrong.
10:35Seb's new cross-laminated timber home
10:37is a testbed for his architectural talent
10:40and it's about to arrive in his grandparents' garden
10:43in north-west London.
10:44I've got the scaffolding up now around the slab.
10:47This all has to be freestanding and self-supporting,
10:49so it's all there, ready,
10:52waiting for the building to get dropped into it.
10:55In under two months,
10:56Seb's already spent nearly a third of his £420,000 budget.
11:01Yeah, it's quite scary.
11:02It's a scary, significant amount of money.
11:08The most critical day for this project
11:10was always going to be
11:12the arrival of the Austrian timber panels.
11:15What looks right on a drawing
11:16doesn't always work on the reality of the site,
11:19so we've got a really tight space to set up in,
11:22so there's been a lot of planning involved,
11:23so hopefully it'll work.
11:25Things don't start well.
11:27The crane is missing.
11:33Yeah, just waiting on it. It's a bit late.
11:37It's 22 minutes late,
11:39so we kind of need this crane to come.
11:43I'll give it another five to eight minutes
11:44and I'll give him a call.
11:45It's a tense wait.
11:51But eventually the crane arrives.
11:58But now it needs to park.
12:01Oh, man.
12:02Did he need to go all the way out there?
12:04In his grandparents' tiny garden.
12:11Very close to that tree.
12:18Yeah, in.
12:21Moments later,
12:2223 tonnes of Austrian timber arrives.
12:26Go systems, guys.
12:28The crane's going to pick up stuff,
12:30drop it onto the site,
12:31then the lorry will go away
12:32and then they'll start installing it.
12:34They're amazing.
12:35I never saw something like this before.
12:38When it is coming here,
12:40I'm thinking it will knock off the drill for now.
12:43Not many people will take on a project like this,
12:46non-standard.
12:47So there are a lot of unknowns.
12:49It's down to Seb
12:50and a collection of friends and family
12:52to manage the traffic.
12:54They actually come quite fast, don't they?
12:56To the relief of local motorists,
12:58it takes just two hours
13:00for the panels to unload onto site.
13:02It's a snug fit,
13:04but they managed to get it in.
13:06They're in a sort of a bit of a dodgy order,
13:07but if it's designed properly
13:09and the measurements work,
13:10it'll work.
13:12This is kind of like
13:13the first big hurdle.
13:15Whoa!
13:20By the following morning,
13:21Seb's Austrian timber shapes
13:23appear to have landed on the London clay.
13:26Hey, Seb, this is fantastic.
13:28It's nice.
13:29It's really nice to see it.
13:30So they had to get it within a 10 mil accuracy,
13:33but thankfully,
13:34the ground workers did a good job.
13:35What happens today?
13:36They put the floor plate on.
13:37They put the lid on.
13:38That'll be happening today.
13:39Big job, because it's not...
13:41Big job, because these are big pieces.
13:42Yeah.
13:42You can see where they step out there
13:44to receive it.
13:45I can.
13:46Yeah.
13:46Wow.
13:47I won't be standing here when that happens.
13:57These floor panels represent
13:58some of the largest in the building,
14:0130 square metres of engineered timber.
14:04It looks quite elegantly slim.
14:07I think because the panels are so long.
14:09They're so big.
14:09Yeah.
14:10That's why.
14:11I can't believe we've been up here for 40 minutes.
14:14The whole of that first floor deck is done,
14:16and it's a structural floor.
14:18I mean, you could have spent three to four weeks
14:20making that floor.
14:21Bingo.
14:23The simplicity and speed of this modular construction
14:27is seductive,
14:28but it cannot hide the risks here for Seb,
14:31both for his career and the trust of his family.
14:35As parents, you want your kids to succeed.
14:38You want to encourage them,
14:39but there's also a salt and pepper thing.
14:41You have to discourage them in a sense as well,
14:43and throw some scepticism in there and balance.
14:46Well, that's what I've been doing, actually.
14:48I've been looking at all the negative sides
14:50of everything that he does.
14:51First start for this project,
14:52I think probably over 10 years ago,
14:55with a simple sketch,
14:55and he said to me,
14:56look, I think I can get a house in there.
14:58And being the negative person,
14:59I said, there's no way you made a house in there.
15:02And he tried all sorts of designs,
15:04and he finally came up with a seal of the solution.
15:06And it's nice to see it come to fruition.
15:09Yes.
15:09It's wonderful, I think, personally.
15:11I mean, considering, like you said,
15:13how tight this site is,
15:15that we managed to get a crane in
15:16and to get a building up.
15:18I don't want it to fail,
15:19which is why we look at the things that might go off.
15:21Yeah, yeah, of course.
15:24It would seem the timber frame
15:26fit perfectly to its concrete base,
15:29but by the following week...
15:31Hold it there.
15:32Hold it there, please, John.
15:33...progress has slowed.
15:37As the tiny tolerances of Seb's intricate design...
15:42All this is going to have to be moved this way.
15:44Yeah, I'm good at the bridge there.
15:45...become even finer.
15:47It's been fighting us for a while,
15:49all the complex cuts.
15:50Once one gap is sealed,
15:53another appears.
15:55There's so much that could be wrong with it.
15:56There's so many angles to contend with.
15:58All it's going to take is for the building
16:00to be a couple of mil smaller
16:01or a couple of mil bigger,
16:02and they would have either not fitted
16:04or fallen straight through.
16:08Oh!
16:13After a stress-filled ten days,
16:17Seb's perfect drawings
16:18have delivered a near-perfect timber frame.
16:22Now, the focus is to get this structure
16:24externally insulated and watertight.
16:27Nine times out of ten,
16:29we're fitting this to a flat roof system.
16:30Doing something like this is a lot harder to do.
16:33Everywhere's angles.
16:34There's nothing that's standard on this roof.
16:36I don't think we've done a pitch like this before.
16:38Get it.
16:40Insulating the exterior means
16:42Seb can leave nearly all
16:43of the internal timber walls exposed.
16:46Keeping things dark in here
16:48to limit the amount of UV coming in
16:50so that the wood doesn't yellow too much.
16:53No, I think this is probably
16:54one of the best spaces in the house.
16:59But by the following month,
17:01it's not the UVs
17:02Seb should be worrying about.
17:04It's the rain.
17:05The building's made out of wood,
17:07and so it's not something you really want to...
17:09You want to try and keep it dry
17:10as much as possible, basically.
17:12A critical asset
17:14to keep the interior dry
17:15are the roof lights.
17:17Pre-ordered weeks ago,
17:19they were a snug fit on the drawings,
17:21but drawings are often
17:22more forgiving than reality.
17:24We need to basically pull it off completely then, right?
17:27Yeah.
17:28Yeah, it's a bit annoying.
17:29The roof lights are tight,
17:30so we just need to be away from this rain to stop
17:32and take a little look at it again
17:33and see if we can just adjust it a little bit.
17:36When the sun comes out,
17:39the skylight miraculously cooperates
17:41and slots into place.
17:45Oh, yeah.
17:46Wouldn't be interesting if it was easy.
17:48With the membrane and glazing fitted,
17:51this adventurous house
17:52now has a functioning roof.
17:54Lovely.
17:59Go round.
18:01Just three and a half months
18:02since breaking ground
18:04and Seb's already installing his windows.
18:07These were ordered pretty soon after the CLT.
18:09There's a bit of a risk
18:10because you've got to try
18:11and make sure everything lines up on site.
18:12I've got the weight.
18:14He wants things right, I'd say.
18:16I'm in.
18:17I'm in.
18:17It's all very specific
18:18and I have to be quite involved.
18:21It's my own doing.
18:23I don't know why design
18:23is such a complicated building.
18:27Seb's brave design
18:28is challenging convention.
18:31But he's not the first London architect
18:33to use his own new build
18:35as an experiment.
18:41This is Willow Road in Hampstead,
18:44numbers one to three,
18:45designed and built
18:46by Erno Goldfinger in 1939.
18:51One was for sale,
18:52one was for rent,
18:53and the big one in the middle
18:54was for him to live in.
18:58Now, I know this building
18:59has got a little facade of bricks
19:00and that makes it very polite,
19:02but in fact what that hides
19:04is a structure of reinforced concrete,
19:06a big open box
19:08then subdivided into houses.
19:11Goldfinger's experiments with concrete
19:13went on to dramatically change
19:15the London skyline
19:16with buildings like Trellick
19:18and Balfron Towers.
19:20Designs hinted at here
19:22as the dark box rooms of the 1930s
19:25give way to something bright.
19:31New.
19:33Exciting.
19:42What an expensive set of rooms.
19:45In fact, it's just one big space
19:47that's the full width of the home
19:49divided by a great big hinged doors,
19:54a ribbon of glass across the front.
19:56I mean, none of these ideas
19:58had really been seen together before.
20:01Not in a house.
20:03And for that matter,
20:04nobody had seen furniture like this either.
20:08Erno made this table out of a top
20:11which he fixed onto an industrial plinth.
20:16Oh, there's another one over here.
20:17Oh, look.
20:19He's just sawn up.
20:22A length of I-beam.
20:25It's a structural piece of steel.
20:27Not meant to be seen,
20:28but isn't it beautiful?
20:30Seb, too, wants to create furniture
20:32from the offcuts of his timber panels.
20:35But like Goldfinger,
20:37he's also challenging
20:38the old and tired conventions
20:40that surround construction.
20:41Inside and out.
20:45Goldfinger's reputation as a modernist
20:47and then as a brutalist
20:48is, of course, indisputable.
20:51But like Seb,
20:53he started out by building his own home,
20:56this building.
20:57And like Seb,
20:59he dressed it in such a way
21:02that it was relatively quiet.
21:04And like Seb,
21:06he then focused his attention on the inside.
21:08He made it radical.
21:11He experimented.
21:13Of course,
21:14not all Goldfinger's neighbours
21:16were taken with this slice
21:18of hamster modernism.
21:20One of them,
21:21Ian Fleming,
21:22who created James Bond,
21:24gave Goldfinger's name
21:25to a supervillain,
21:27perhaps in protest.
21:30For me, though,
21:32Goldfinger will always be
21:34an architectural hero.
21:40In Seb's
21:41grandparents' garden, however...
21:43At the moment,
21:44it's pretty full-on.
21:45I don't think I've ever
21:46worked inside before.
21:47It's exhausting.
21:49All architectural heroics
21:51are still very much
21:52in the balance.
21:54So, yeah,
21:55it's been a lot of pressure
21:56dealing with lots of people
21:56at the same time
21:57working on top of each other
21:59and then constant requests
22:01and questions
22:01about how things are done
22:03and what needs to be done.
22:04And then on top of that,
22:05making sure that it's been
22:06designed properly
22:07and then ordering stuff.
22:09Things tend to go wrong
22:10in construction.
22:11It's inevitable.
22:12And things are going to go wrong.
22:13I know it.
22:26Seb's architectural ambition
22:28is challenging convention
22:29with a precision-cut timber house
22:32built in his grandparents' garden
22:33in London.
22:34Just like the computer model,
22:36everything just came together
22:38pretty perfectly.
22:39With a budget of £420,000,
22:43Seb is responsible
22:44for every detail.
22:45But even he
22:46hasn't thought of everything.
22:49The rivets for the cladding panels,
22:50I didn't consider those.
22:52So that's an additional cost
22:54that I can't avoid.
22:56They're all 50 pence per rivet.
22:58So...
22:59And there's 1,000 of them.
23:01So, yeah.
23:03It must be hard for Seb to keep up
23:06because everything on this project
23:08is happening at great-necked speed.
23:10We did the installation on Thursday,
23:12we did the underflow heating on Friday,
23:14and we're doing the screen on Monday.
23:16Like clockwork, yeah?
23:20Four months since Seb started.
23:22Two months since the CLT all arrived.
23:25I mean, look, it's nearly finished.
23:32Posh windows.
23:34Looks like Seb has oiled the walls.
23:37It's, like, got a mist coat on it.
23:39The timber's beautiful.
23:41Wiring.
23:42Bath is here.
23:45Oh, this is lovely.
23:47Look at these shapes.
23:50I mean, other than where the walls crease
23:55and change direction,
23:58there's not a joint in the place.
24:00But it's made out of not high-tech steel
24:03or aircraft aluminium.
24:05It's made out of one of the most primitive materials
24:07you can think of, which is...
24:09tree.
24:11The crisp finish is one Seb wants to echo on the exterior
24:15with fibre cement board cladding.
24:18Hey, Seb.
24:19Hey, Kevin.
24:19Thought you'd find you here.
24:20How are you?
24:21Good.
24:22This I don't understand.
24:24Some kind of weird rubberised tube with...
24:27What's inside?
24:28What is that?
24:29It's a bit of aluminium.
24:30So what's the deal here?
24:31This is heat welded on,
24:32and the cladding will be fixed into that.
24:34So that is what's going to hold the cladding on the roof.
24:36I'm going to be honest,
24:37I've never seen this before in a building.
24:39Oh, yeah, it's pretty unusual.
24:40Have you invented this?
24:41No, this is actually used for solar panels.
24:43Typically it's done at a much shallower angle,
24:45but add the engineering and calcs done,
24:47and apparently it will hold.
24:49I mean, obviously solar panels weigh a little bit,
24:52but I think the cement board probably weighs more.
24:54Mm-hm.
24:55This seems to me to be particularly adventurous
24:57and a bit bloody-minded.
24:59Maybe it's a bit of a risk.
25:01Well, good luck.
25:05Seb's gravity-defying roof system
25:08is not for the faint-hearted.
25:10He surely has to be aware
25:12just how heavy his cement cladding boards are.
25:15Over here is all of Seb's material
25:18that we're using for the project.
25:19So this material is 100 kilos per board,
25:23so it's very heavy,
25:25and to move it you need two or three people.
25:27Seb's cladding boards will be cut nearby
25:30in West London to precise measurements.
25:33Precise measurements supplied by, well, Seb.
25:36Not very experienced.
25:38I've never done anything like this before.
25:39There's been a lot of amendments on your 15, I think.
25:42No, there haven't.
25:43I've given you two magic cuts.
25:46Two schedules.
25:47Yeah, but it's been my little twitch
25:50along the way.
25:51I don't think so.
25:52I know.
25:53I can show you emails with you.
25:557, 8 o'clock.
25:57What time did you email me about the other lawn?
25:5811 o'clock, you were a few rules.
26:00Yeah, yeah, yeah.
26:01I work weird hours.
26:02I mean, the concern is that you get it all cut
26:04and then you put it up and it doesn't fit,
26:05and that's a real risk and a real worry.
26:08These panels are more commonly seen on huge tower blocks,
26:11not small, intricate houses,
26:13and putting them on the roof is unusual.
26:18We generally don't touch roofs as a company,
26:21but this is a new concept,
26:23a new concept to us,
26:24but one we were willing to take on.
26:27Seb's floating aluminium brackets
26:29should hold these heavy roofing panels,
26:31but not everyone is completely convinced.
26:35It looks like very solid,
26:39but everything is solid, you know,
26:41on the beginning, you know,
26:42but in the time, what happened then?
26:44As the installers follow the intricate cladding design,
26:49inside, Seb and his dad have begun
26:51oiling the exposed timber walls
26:53and installing a system to circulate air
26:56through this high-performance building.
26:58I don't know how to do that.
27:01Lift the bottle up from here.
27:02No, lift it up, and the legs will close.
27:04And it's fair to say the pace has slowed.
27:07All right, how are we doing this?
27:10Where's the little one that was in here?
27:12Oh, here, wait.
27:14Let's think about this, yeah.
27:16There's the other bit that goes in between there.
27:17Did I put it in this room?
27:18The thing with architects is that they focus on design
27:21and they're not too bothered how you're going to build it.
27:25The NVHR air circulation system
27:27was not part of the original design,
27:29and in order for it to fit,
27:31Seb's discovered an unusual ducting system.
27:34Because of these ducts are rectangular, like this,
27:40that is 60 millimetres,
27:42and the floor build-up is about 70,
27:45so I can fit that under the floor.
27:47Fitting this system himself has saved almost £8,000.
27:51Are you screwing yourself?
27:51And with two-thirds of the £420,000 budget now spent,
27:57Seb will need to keep a close eye on costs.
28:00Cool, all good.
28:03Eight months into this project,
28:05and the scaffold is down.
28:07Seb and his dad are the only workers on site.
28:11What have we carried, two of us?
28:12It's too heavy.
28:13That's right, sir, lift.
28:15It's not too heavy, come.
28:16I'll roll it, I'll roll it.
28:18We've got all the stuff.
28:19We work quite well together.
28:21We argue a bit now and again.
28:22It's only natural.
28:24I've got to step up one.
28:25Go on.
28:26That's it.
28:27Nice.
28:28I do work differently with Seb,
28:30because he's very meticulous.
28:31Ow!
28:34If you ask me, Seb is a professionalist.
28:36I'm not as thorough as he is.
28:39So there's two millimetres difference
28:41from the top to the bottom here.
28:43I'm going to take a whisker off the end of this.
28:50As Seb struggles with his internal doors,
28:54his front door is being fabricated just a few miles away.
29:00Working with Seb has been challenging.
29:03I'd say there's probably been like 300 emails,
29:06so that's been fun.
29:10There are thousands of decisions to make on a project,
29:14but one of the trickiest for Seb
29:16is what colour his front door should be.
29:20We started with this one,
29:23and I thought he'd go for that.
29:25I thought that would be the one he'd go for,
29:27but he didn't.
29:27He said, no, it's too pink.
29:31I can't see pink, but Seb saw pink.
29:34Two months doing samples.
29:36Very fussy customer.
29:40When the samples arrive,
29:42it's clear that Seb is beginning to suffer
29:44from decision fatigue.
29:47Wow.
29:48They all look the same.
29:50I thought I was quite decisive,
29:51and then I realised that I'm not.
29:53I'm horrible at making decisions.
29:54It's, yeah, it's a problem.
29:57It's becoming a problem.
30:00Ah!
30:01This one.
30:06The pace on site may be slowing,
30:09but ten months in,
30:10it looks like Seb is on the verge
30:12of pulling off something quite spectacular.
30:15Hey.
30:16Are you there?
30:17Hey.
30:18Oh, hey.
30:19How are you?
30:20Good.
30:21This is looking like a dangerously nearly finished house.
30:25The fence is looking particularly shit in comparison.
30:29Come on, let's go and have a look.
30:32Oh, well, the kitchen's in.
30:34Yeah, love it.
30:35You're doing everything yourself now, right?
30:36Yeah, now it's up to me to get this finished, really.
30:39That includes the staircase.
30:40Are you building that?
30:41I don't think I'm going to build the staircase.
30:44You're doing the kitchen?
30:45Kitchen, the flooring,
30:47a lot of the furniture as well.
30:49This is like, I don't know,
30:50Goldfinger and his plywood furniture,
30:52you know, you're just kind of experimenting, pushing.
30:54Yeah.
30:55Yeah, I quite like the idea of you build a house with me
30:57and then you build the bits in the house from the house.
30:59It's fun.
31:00And it's cheap.
31:00And it's cheap, yeah.
31:02For one man,
31:03there is still a huge amount to do
31:05and Seb still has no solution
31:07for his decision-making problem.
31:10One of the things that I say to myself
31:12when I'm fretting about decision-making
31:13is am I going to be bothered by this in six months' time?
31:17So what you want me to do then
31:18is to look at all your samples here and say,
31:20that's great.
31:21That'll go so well together.
31:23So if I said to you,
31:24that's a little bit 1970s,
31:25not sure,
31:26that's too disco mirrorball,
31:27that idea is like,
31:30it's fashionable right now,
31:31but in 10 minutes' time,
31:32it'll be old hat.
31:33You don't want me to hear me say any of that, do you?
31:36No.
31:37You don't?
31:37No.
31:38No, keep that to say.
31:38OK, so, yeah, right.
31:41The interior should be quite forgiving
31:44of any bold decisions Seb may make
31:46because it will always be dominated by timber.
31:50Seb is still laboriously protecting every inch of wood
31:54with a mix of paint and linseed oil.
31:59This is just...
32:01It's just lovely stuff.
32:02A job that brings a meditative oneness with the building,
32:07but the installation of the stairs
32:11is a return to precise fastidiousness.
32:15I can build a set of stairs with my eyes shut.
32:17This particular set of stairs,
32:18not so much.
32:19We don't have any tolerances.
32:22Everything is on show.
32:24I definitely wouldn't want to do this every day of the week.
32:26No, there has been a lot of tweaking, yeah, 100%.
32:29Still now, to this day, they're still tweaking,
32:31so, yeah, there's a lot of tweaking.
32:33This timber staircase will be a great complement to this building,
32:37but it's not the one Seb originally wanted.
32:41The staircase I wanted was £48,000,
32:46and there's no...
32:48Even if I had the money, there's no way I would spend £48,000.
32:51I think anyone should ever spend £48,000 on a staircase.
32:54This one was way more affordable.
32:59Seb has pushed so hard bringing this building to life,
33:03an opportunity few people receive.
33:07A scrap of garden has become an expression of face
33:11from one generation to the next.
33:13People are surprised with the...
33:16..long time it took...
33:18Yeah, quick.
33:20Quick.
33:21They can't put their extension so quick.
33:26Very nice, very nice, very, very good.
33:29You don't find buildings here, like, with this type of finishing.
33:34It's lovely.
33:37The biggest obstacle to success here
33:39may now no longer be the intricacies of building,
33:43but rather Seb.
33:45No one will judge this house more harshly than its architect.
34:03Over 100 years ago, to the north-west of London,
34:06these leafy London suburbs sprang up.
34:10A prototype for a new way of living.
34:13Modern-day technology howards the creation
34:17of this shiny new suburban paradise.
34:20The Metropolitan Line drove a railway
34:23through open countryside in the north-west
34:26of what is now Greater London.
34:28And hand-in-glove with developers,
34:30they built this.
34:32Tens, hundreds of thousands of homes
34:35in the 1920s and 30s.
34:37All of which, sort of nowadays,
34:40have remained more or less the same.
34:43Until now.
34:4721st-century technology
34:49has landed in Seb's grandparents' backyard.
34:53It looks like a super-narrow little townhouse, doesn't it?
34:58And then, and then you realise
35:02it opens, it spreads, it gets more complicated.
35:05Look at the details up there.
35:08It's fabulous.
35:15Futuristic, sheer cladding
35:17in familiar slanted shapes.
35:19This is suburban sci-fi architecture
35:23rooted in the power of precision.
35:28Hey!
35:29Kevin!
35:30Seb, how are you?
35:31Good.
35:31Good to see you.
35:33Very good to see you.
35:34And very good to see this building.
35:36This is like a sort of, like,
35:38a spaceship in suburbia.
35:39I like that every time I look at the house
35:41it looks a little bit different
35:42and as you come round the curve
35:44it opens up like a concertina.
35:46Yeah, yes.
35:47It just looks like a very slim, narrow townhouse.
35:50And then you come round
35:52and it's far more complex.
35:53You say to me right at the beginning,
35:55will there be a point where you think,
35:56great, I'm over all the problems?
35:58And you said, yes, when it's finished.
36:01Is it?
36:01Yeah, you know, it's all been a complete blur.
36:04I definitely feel very relieved
36:06to be at this point now.
36:07Having to do thousands and thousands of decisions
36:10and trying to get them right, basically.
36:12Would you like to come in?
36:14Of course I'd like to come in.
36:18Lovely threshold.
36:20Beautiful door.
36:20This is beautiful, Seb.
36:24Inside, the dark exterior breaks to light.
36:28Everything in this place looks really considered.
36:32The exposed timber walls seem to relish their own strength and beauty.
36:37Such is their character.
36:40What is this?
36:43A crazy paving.
36:45Yeah, a bit of a nod to the crazy paving in the area.
36:47You've done it outside?
36:48It's great.
36:49I didn't know I was going to do it this way.
36:51It's part of the freedom of when you're designing and building your own place.
36:54It is genius.
36:56I'm so pleased to see it furnished.
36:58I'm so pleased to see it detailed.
37:01And this is done, the kitchen.
37:03This is a CLT.
37:04I got it cut down.
37:05The best thing about this process is being able to not just design it, but then actually
37:09work on it with my hands.
37:11It is a thing of beauty, Seb.
37:13I'm chuffed with it, actually.
37:16The cherry veneer of the kitchen is repeated on the skirting boards and around the window
37:21box reveals, running a ribbon of red timber round the building towards the small garden.
37:28But the star of this ground floor is Seb's staircase.
37:33The company that produced these mainly produced loft staircases.
37:36They're often carpeted and overclad and are purely functional.
37:41And you sent them 300 emails and designed it to within the inch of its life and then they
37:47made it.
37:47This is beautiful.
37:48I love the little gap.
37:50I love that the handrail and the spindles are all made from the same timber.
37:58On the first floor, there's a guest bedroom and a generous bathroom.
38:03The detailing and choice of materials suggest Seb is not only an architect, but a very talented
38:10craftsman.
38:12Up here, too.
38:15Your bedroom.
38:17It's very good.
38:19It's very beautifully done.
38:20Dark floors and I like the way you've cranked the bed to respect the street, but also then
38:26gives you that diagonal view.
38:29The en suite offers yet another glorious surprise.
38:34Oh, this is huge.
38:36So much taller than it is wide.
38:39Providing this amazing experience, that's what architects are for, Seb.
38:43That's why you're here.
38:46Seb's double height shower, of course, steals space from the roof on the top floor.
38:51Up we go.
38:55Where strong timber geometric planes, oh my lord, collide with a painstakingly delicate
39:02floor.
39:05This is, this is very beautiful.
39:08Is this homemade?
39:09Is this, or did you buy this?
39:10This is a flooring product I bought.
39:13This is beautiful, Seb.
39:15It's actually large.
39:17It comes in little tiles.
39:18They're beautiful.
39:18How much work was there in this?
39:20Ages.
39:20It took ages.
39:22A detailed workspace for a detailed architect.
39:26And it also boasts the best view in the house.
39:33Oh, you're showing off.
39:35Twin open.
39:36Lovely view across the gardens of North London.
39:39It's not bad, is it?
39:43And there, to admire, and it's beautiful, is your roof cladding system.
39:51Are you pleased with that?
39:52Yeah, I think it's good.
39:54I think on this project, it's an opportunity to test things out and a bit of freedom to
39:58do it.
39:58So, why not?
39:59It's your own home.
40:01It's your own home.
40:01You can't experiment on your clients.
40:02Exactly.
40:03Seb has crafted a timber jewellery box from engineered tree, yet full of precious, delicate details,
40:13locked behind a warm, robust external armour.
40:17Of course, this house was an opportunity only afforded by the generosity of Seb's neighbours, his
40:24grandparents.
40:25You were hoping you'd have it for your 99th birthday.
40:28That's happened.
40:29Next year, it will be 100.
40:31Next year, it will be 100.
40:31So, well in time for your 100s.
40:33Well in time, yes.
40:34It's a good birthday present.
40:35Yeah.
40:36It gives us pleasure and happiness to have him near to us.
40:41He worked very hard.
40:42Very proud.
40:43I can say during my lifetime, I will have seen a building put up by my grandson.
40:51I've got the key.
40:52Yeah.
40:53Certainly you can come over and enjoy the place.
40:55I can go anytime I want, I can open the door.
40:59Good.
41:02So much of this opportunity relied on family.
41:05Seb's parents also played a pivotal role.
41:10Well, architects very rarely get to build their own homes and those that are lucky enough
41:15to do so are changed by it.
41:17To see him develop from starting and being nervous and not knowing what was happening
41:22and he's got confidence now.
41:24Yeah.
41:25And he even said to me that if he was to do it again, he's learnt a lot from it
41:28and
41:28he'd do it a lot different and a lot better.
41:30But it's all part of the learning experience.
41:32Yeah.
41:32How proud are you of him?
41:34I'm very proud.
41:35I'm immensely proud.
41:36I mean, who wouldn't be?
41:37To think that 14 months ago this was just the back of a garden that was hardly ever used
41:43and now Seb has crafted a house and a very unique one is that.
41:48Yeah.
41:48And you can't help but admire that.
41:50I don't think many people could do that.
41:51I certainly couldn't and I've got more experience in building.
41:54Yes, totally proud.
41:56Have you told him?
41:57Not in so many words but actions speak louder than words.
42:02Okay.
42:04For Seb, his family's support could easily have become an added pressure, another anxiety
42:10to manage and wrangle.
42:14But Seb has survived the headwinds.
42:17He's remained fast and true and delivered a building that even he can be proud of.
42:25So this project, right, is for you in terms of your career a, what do you call it, a watershed
42:31turning point or what?
42:34I'm not entirely sure.
42:35I'm very proud of it.
42:36It's been, yeah, it's been really hard, really challenging, entirely consuming at times to the point where I've thought I
42:44want out of this.
42:46But I'm so glad that I took the leap and actually did it.
42:51I want to know if there's a moment, an experience you've had here which surprised you?
42:56The day the CLT arrived, that piece of work I was so dedicated to arrive on the back of the
43:02lorry, that at that point I thought, well, what's going on here?
43:07Have I bitten off more than I can chew?
43:10But you can't stop once you start the whole experience, actually.
43:14Yeah.
43:15Has been really positive.
43:17Like your parents were like 100% behind this, right?
43:19Hugely supportive. Dad turned out to be like, you know, labourer on site.
43:23Yeah.
43:24Has that changed your relationship?
43:29It's challenging working with other people, especially someone as close to you as your own father, and it's challenging for
43:35him as well, of course.
43:37But, you know what, it's made our relationship stronger.
43:39At times I've felt quite alone on this project and knowing that I've got another set of eyes and ears
43:44to fall back on, I'm entirely grateful to him for his dedication.
43:49Buildings take too long to get out of the ground, they get too long to put up, right?
43:53And here was a project that went up in 13 months.
43:56I was struggling to try and keep up with it at times. I thought about nothing else, really.
44:02You said £420,000 is what it would cost you to build. Is that what it cost you to build?
44:06It cost me £425,000.
44:08£5,000 over?
44:09Mm.
44:10It's a huge amount of money, but I think what I've got for it is a really high-quality home.
44:19It's something that you can be proud of?
44:21Yeah, it's a thing that I did.
44:23It's a thing that you did?
44:25Yeah. I've done a house.
44:26Yeah, that's cool.
44:31I'm not sure how long Seb will call these wooden walls home. In a strange way for him, they've already
44:39served their greatest purpose. They've taught him to trust his instincts, to push his ideas and believe in himself.
44:48I hope Seb comes to love this building as much as he loved the process of building it. Because this
44:56is a house that has earned the right, that deserves to be loved.
45:01You know, the best buildings in the world are not those which are template, patent book copies of each other,
45:08but buildings which are their own prototypes, which are a bit experimental, which push and try.
45:15And if, like Seb, that's something you want to do, then if you can bring along those around you, your
45:23supply chain, your friends, your family, your builders, and earn their trust and faith in the process, then what you
45:33can build isn't just a building which is going to fly, but one which can soar.
45:49It's a building full of dread. This is terrific. And you are living here. Yes. You're not sad about saying
45:55goodbye to it.
45:57Well, we've done. This is our caravan where we're going to live while we're building the house. Things have taken
46:02longer than we thought. I've been coming here for eight years and finally there's a semblance of a building here.
46:09You were a young man at the start. Would I want to do it again? Never.