Grand Designs — Season 24

Kevin McCloud looks back at some of the most incredible projects Grand Designs has followed in celebration of the show's 25th anniversary. He takes a look at the most experimental projects, the largest and the smallest, the longest and the shortest, the most agonising and the most emotional projects, as well as the greenest and those that have been genuinely life-changing. He celebrates the triumphs, commiserates the disasters and enjoys some of the funniest scenes, as well as giving an exclusive behind-the-scenes insight into the filming of some of the most iconic moments in Grand Designs history.

Kevin McCloud meets Rosa and her partner Craig who are turning a century-old, family-owned, decommissioned steam railway reservoir into a home. Their radical plan to reinvent the reservoir into a unique living space involves punching huge holes through the walls to allow light to flood in, a mezzanine with views across the valley and a concrete extension with four bedrooms. Along the way they encounter a pandemic, numerous money crises, pregnancy and a schedule that grows from 12 months to over three years, is it worth it for Rosa to have the reservoir home she has dreamt of since childhood?

Kevin McCloud meets college deputy principal Danny who plans on building a four-bedroom house in his garden in North Lincolnshire. He plans to build a stylish, sustainable but affordable home among the trees with dramatic bedroom pods raised on steel stilts on the edge of a fishing pond to help his three children connect to nature. With plenty of ambition but no experience as a self-builder, his £300,000 budget doesn't seem to match the scale of his project.

Kevin McCloud returns to Gloucestershire to visit Jon and Noreen who, in 2013, planned to build a three-bed treehouse on a half-acre patch of woodland. Their stacked three box design was to be almost gravity-defying to avoid harming any tree roots and a mirror glass ground floor to reflect the surrounding trees but their £250,000 budget didn't seem to match the project's high ambition. Despite having worked hands-on for long hours with help from friends and family, by 2016 the house was barely ready enough for them to move in and the money had run out with the project not finished. Seven years later, Kevin returns to see their progress.

Kevin McCloud meet Graeme and Melanie who have huge ambitions for a home in Hackney. They plan to build on a tiny twin garage plot with no surrounding land that cost them £275,000 on a traditional Victorian terraced road. Architect Graeme has come up with an unapologetically modernist, bright red-clad design laid out to maximise space over three floors and has set out just 12 months to build it.

Furniture-maker Lucinda sets out to build a two-storey, highly insulated home entirely out of wood in the woodland near her old family home. She enlists the help of her children Dan and Rosie, who grew up learning her craft, to help her £150,000 budget stretch as far as possible.

An ambitious couple set out to build a revolutionary eco home in the Cotswolds, which will not only use very little energy, it will also produce four times the energy it needs. Environmental consultant Duncan is planning to manage the project himself, moving out of the London home he shares with solicitor Liz to live near the site. But although he is totally committed, he has never faced anything like this before, and almost inevitably the technically complex 18-month build, while living apart takes its toll on the couple.

In 2017, Leigh and Richard bought a derelict Cornish flour mill to restore and turn into their home. By 2021, rooms and landscaping were still unfinished. Kevin McCloud returns to see if this quirky old industrial building has finally become a home.

Kevin McCloud returns to West Sussex to meet with Olaf and Fritha who, in 2019, set out to build their own oasis on a piece of land that is boxed in by a railway line and an A-road. Due to an underground mains sewer, they were unable to build on half their plot and were left with a small triangle on which to build a three-bedroom house. They began with only £190,000 and were immediately surprised at the price of the sturdy retaining walls and foundations they needed to combat traffic vibrations and the sharp, pointed angles of the hand-built timber frame stretched Olaf to his limits. Kevin returns to see how life has gone for the pair and their new young daughter Lagertha in their triangular house.