An upcoming episode of Grand Designs sees a couple face a major setback as their decade-long project to convert an old driving test centre into a family home finally takes shape. Presenter Kevin McCloud warns the building is "full of dread" before it is demolished.
Decade-Long Renovation in Edinburgh
On Wednesday, October 7, the programme will air an episode from Edinburgh. Channel 4 teased: "Jana and Rory's conversion of an old driving test centre into sleek upside-down living has stalled over the years. With drive and determination, can they finally take the project up a gear?"
The show also teased on social media that the renovation took a decade to happen, saying: "An old prefab. A scrap of land. A dream home. And ten years to make it happen."
Emotional Demolition and Setbacks
In a teaser for the upcoming episode, Kevin warns: "It's a building full of dread." The old driving test centre is seen before it is demolished, before Kevin meets the couple. He tells them, "This is terrific, and you are living here? Are you not sad about saying goodbye to it?"
At another point, Rory is seen crying out, "What have I done?" as he watches the building be demolished, while Jana explains that the family moved into a caravan during the renovation. However, the couple does suffer a setback, with Rory saying: "Things are taking longer than we thought." Kevin adds: "I've been coming here for eight years, and finally, there's a semblance of a building here." "You were a young man at the start," Rory then quips to Kevin.
Viewer Excitement and Kevin's Reflections
Viewers have already shared their excitement for the episode, with one writing: "Been enjoying seeing this one going up, looking forward to tonight's episode." Another said: "When timber cladding is present, I shall be watching! Love it." A third wrote: "Grand designs 4ever," as someone else said: "Can't wait!" Yet another added: "Good luck, Jana and Rory - you've got this!"
Ahead of the new series airing, presenter Kevin teased the projects set to air. Having hosted the show since it began in 1999, he explained his reasoning for its success, saying, "I think it is the unpredictability of it all. If we were restoring people's homes for them, then we might have slipped into a predictable format, but we haven't."
"Some of the projects in this series are fascinatingly unpredictable. For example, we see Seb in North-West London, building a house which was completed in 13 months, and I was so shocked because I am used to things taking forever. We also have a project in Edinburgh, which has been going for over 10 years, and when you look at the date stamps as we go through the programme, you sort of appreciate how some people dedicate a lot of their lives to a building."
He added, "I thought in series one we might run out of projects. We thought that we had done an eco-project, a modern white block, a glass house, and we did the eccentric thing. We thought, will people still tune in if we do another glass box? But the answer is yes, because from the beginning we set ourselves the challenge that in every episode there has to be something new - there has to be some story, some angles, something, a hook."
"Luckily, since architecture is so much about place and response to a place and so much about people and response to people and because places are so infinitely diverse, people are infinitely diverse, this is what makes every project and what keeps me on my toes every time. If you look at this coming series, every single project has something unique about it and I find that so fascinating, all of the individual narratives are so different. The houses are all so unique architecturally and in the way they are built."
Grand Designs airs Tuesdays from 9pm on Channel 4.
