Episode

Grand Designs: The Underground House, Cumbria

Name: Grand Designs: The Underground House, Cumbria
Released: 2003-09-24
Duration: 45 min
Cast: Kevin McCloud, Sean Simons

Grand DesignsSeason 32003-09-24

Overview

The old quarry stood on a slope of the Eden valley and commanded beautiful views. Local architect John Bodger designed a two-storey house that burrowed backwards into the rock and made maximum use of natural resources for light, warmth and power.

Details

Series: Grand Designs
Season: Season 3
Episode: Episode 7
Air date: 2003-09-24
Runtime: 45 min

Episode context

The Underground House, Cumbria is Episode 7 in Season 3 of Grand Designs. It aired on 2003-09-24. The runtime is 45 min.

Previous / Next

Episode 6: The Terrace Conversion, Hackney, London 2003-09-17 | 45 min After 10 years of living in a small house in east London, John and Eleni hankered after modern, open-plan living. They didn't want to move, so they decided to give their Victorian terrace home a radical redesign. The house was in a conservation area, so the outside had to remain unchanged. Inside, however, they decided to rip out everything including walls, ceilings, floors and start again.

Episode 8: The Traditional Cottage, Herefordshire 2003-10-01 | 45 min Merry's family have been Herefordshire builders for generations, so she knew that the county was rich in traditional building crafts. She and Ben decided to combine these with technology for a new house with a genuinely rural feel. Her father drew up a design that followed the traditional cottage layout while incorporating modern comforts.

More episodes from this season

Episode 5: Inverted Roof-House, Buckinghamshire 2003-03-12 | 45 min Tom and Judy wanted more than just a home for themselves and their two children. On a site of outstanding natural beauty in Buckinghamshire, they set out to build an ambitious house - a symphony of angles, glass walls and exposed steel, with a dramatic inverted roof. Tom made himself site manager and main contractor. He had no experience but he liked a challenge - and, after all, how difficult could it be?

Episode 9: Revisited: The Isolated Cottage, Brecon Beacons, Wales 2002-09-10 | 45 min Revisited Season 2 (2002) episode 1 Kevin McCloud revisits Adrian and Corrina, who decided their first home was to be a 300-year-old ruin. The former cottage is set in the inhospitable climate of the Brecon Beacons National Park.

Episode 4: The Victorian Threshing Barn, Surrey 2003-03-05 | 45 min For Philip and Angela, the build was part of a life change that had begun two years earlier. Just after their second daughter was born, Philip fell seriously ill, prompting the family to leave London and move back to his parents' village. Acquiring the site was easy, as Philip's parents owned it. Getting planning permission took longer, and a crucial factor in their success was that they would be restoring the outside of the barn and keeping the innovation hidden.

Episode 10: Revisited: The Dilapidated Georgian House, London 2002-09-17 | 45 min Revisited Season 2 (2002) episode 2 Kevin revisits Tony and Sharon, who fell in love with a completely dilapidated Georgian home in London and undertook the challenging task of restoring it to its former glory

Episode 3: The Woodsman's Cottage, Sussex 2003-02-26 | 45 min For 10 years, Ben lived in tents and caravans in a wood in West Sussex. As a woodsman, he needed and wanted to live among the trees. But after a battle with planning he finally got permission to build himself a house with more creature comforts. He invited volunteers to help him build one by hand, from the materials growing around him.

Episode 11: Revisited: The Water Tower, Coleshill, Amersham 2002-09-24 | 45 min Revisited Season 2 (2002) episode 3 Kevin is in Amersham to update on a project taken on by Deborah and architect Andrew. Their venture involved designing an 'invisible' house that blended in with the surrounding reservoirs.

Episode 2: The Water-Works, Whaley, Derbyshire 2003-02-19 | 45 min The 1930s derelict water-works Chris and Leanne fell in love with was huge and its design had clearly been inspired by Gilbert Scott's Bankside power station, now better known as the Tate Modern. But nothing would deter the couple. 'We looked at it,' said Chris, 'and saw our home.'

Episode 12: Revisited: The Derelict Barns, Devon 2002-10-01 | 45 min Revisited Season 2 (2002) episode 4 Kevin travels to the beautiful setting of south Devon to revisit Sue and Martin, whose dream was to create a family home using old English building techniques

Episode 1: The Wooden Box, Peterborough 2003-02-12 | 45 min 'Is it a bold contemporary design or a garden shed?' John and Terri found themselves asking, halfway into their build. They had knocked down a derelict house in a beautiful rural setting and commissioned commercial architects to build them a new one. But was it too small for them, their young son and the baby on the way?

Episode 13: Revisited: The Cruciform House, Lambourn Valley, Berkshire 2003-10-08 | 45 min Revisited Season 3 (2003) episode 1 Kevin McCloud returns to the Lambourn Valley to meet a couple who took three years to finish building their home on the Berkshire Downs.