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The Worst Episodes of Grand Designs

Every episode of Grand Designs ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst Episodes of Grand Designs!

The Worst Episodes of Grand Designs

British television series which features unusual and often elaborate architectural homebuilding projects.
  1. Background image for Inverted V Roof, Buckinghamshire
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    #1 - Inverted V Roof, Buckinghamshire

    S3:E5

    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?

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  2. Background image for The Former Electricity Sub-Station: Revisited
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    #2 - The Former Electricity Sub-Station: Revisited

    S3:E11

    Kevin McCloud catches up with a couple he met some years when they set about the task of converting a disused electricity substation in Sunderland into a four-bed family home

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  3. Background image for Waterloo: The Violin Factory
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    #3 - Waterloo: The Violin Factory

    S4:E1

    Louise and Milko wanted to build the home of a lifetime. Milko's job as a well-paid City banker meant they could think big, so Louise set up her own architectural practice and they bought a disused violin factory in the heart of London's Waterloo. The crumbling building was hemmed in on all sides and had no views, but Louise had a vision of a spectacular loft-style home that would combine stunning design with utter luxury

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  4. Background image for Surrey: Customised German Kit House
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    #4 - Surrey: Customised German Kit House

    S4:E2

    David and Greta loved their home, a modernist structure in Surrey that they had built themselves almost 40 years ago. It was filled with things they'd chosen over the years—design classics, mementoes, David's paintings. But that house was falling apart and had to come down. Meanwhile, they had lost their hearts to a German post-and-beam house, designed by architect Peter Huf and available as a customised kit.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  5. Background image for Revisited - Buckinghamshire: The Inverted-Roof House
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    #5 - Revisited - Buckinghamshire: The Inverted-Roof House

    S4:E3

    In November 2001, Tom and Judy demolished a bungalow and started building an infinitely more ambitious house. Designed on different levels, with glass walls and exposed steelwork, it was to be a miraculous piece of engineering, giving the couple and their two young children a beautiful, technologically advanced home. Tom appointed himself project manager—a job that proved to be more challenging than he had expected. Grand Designs 3 followed the first 16 months of the build. As Grand Designs 4 goes on air, how close is it to completion?

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  6. Background image for Edinburgh: 19th Century Sandstone House
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    #6 - Edinburgh: 19th Century Sandstone House

    S4:E4

    When Reuben and April came across a ruined 19th-century house amid the tower blocks of Leith, Edinburgh, they saw it as their future home. They had no clear idea of how to restore it, and precious little building experience. Still, they were young and fit (they had met on Reuben's climbing wall) and they liked a challenge. So they bought the crumbling shell and set about transforming it with their own hands.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
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  8. Background image for Clapham: The Curved House
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    #7 - Clapham: The Curved House

    S4:E5

    David and Anjana's tiny coach house was proving too small for them and their two children. So they decided to build a new house in their own garden, which was big by London standards. But this particular grassy plot came with problems. It was overlooked by huge blocks of flats, and in the middle of it stood a chestnut tree they weren't allowed to cut down. They came up with an inspired solution: they would build a curving house along the borders of their plot. What's more, they would do a lot of the work themselves.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  9. Background image for Sussex: The Modernist Sugar Cube
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    #8 - Sussex: The Modernist Sugar Cube

    S4:E6

    Tom and Darron wanted to build a house that would be home to them, their art collection and their two large dogs. Darron's passion for surfing meant it would also have to be near a beach. They already shared a timber beach house in a hamlet on the Sussex coast, and when a neighbour's bungalow came up for sale, they decided to buy it, demolish it and build a dazzling white modernist house in its place.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  10. Background image for Argyll: The Oak-Framed House
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    #9 - Argyll: The Oak-Framed House

    S4:E7

    Tony and Jo, musicians with Scottish Opera, had long dreamed of a home in the countryside. They found a perfect site on the Clyde estuary in Argyll and Bute. Located in a small village on a hillside, it had glorious views as far as the isle of Arran and was less than an hour's drive from Glasgow. Inspired by local oak-framed barns, they gave architect Andy McAvoy an open brief. In return, he gave them a design that fused medieval and modern and promised a beautifully simple interior. However, the construction was anything but simple...

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  11. Background image for Dorset: An Idiosyncratic Home
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    #10 - Dorset: An Idiosyncratic Home

    S4:E8

    Amid 55 acres of organic farmland in the New Forest, Lizzie and Mike set out to build an idiosyncratic home. They wanted a house that would reflect their love of travel and eastern cultures, yet blend into the very English countryside around them. Their first proposal, for a wooden Japanese house, was refused planning permission, but after three years of adapting their ideas with architect David Underhill, they were finally ready to build. Their ingenious design was in three sections: a living wing, a bedroom wing and a romantic tower.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  12. Background image for The Tree House: Revisited
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    #11 - The Tree House: Revisited

    S12:E9

    Architectural designer Lincoln Miles and his wife found an uninspiring 70s bungalow on the Isle of Wight on a prime piece of land surrounded by unspoilt ancient woodland. Did their unconvential techniques and alternative materials pay off?

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  13. Background image for The Disco Home: Revisited
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    #12 - The Disco Home: Revisited

    S12:E10

    In 2010 Claire Farrow and Ian Hogarth embarked on a wild journey to build the ultimate fun family home, right in the heart of London, including a dance floor, DJ booth and sauna.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  14. Background image for The Large Timber-Framed Barn: Revisited
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    #13 - The Large Timber-Framed Barn: Revisited

    S12:E11

    Freddie Robins and Ben Coode-Adams left their cramped two bedroom London flat and took on the conversion of a huge Grade II listed timber framed barn in the Essex countryside. Seven times the size of an average three bedroom house, turning this 500-year-old building into a home was a big project. A year after they finished the house, Kevin returns to discover how Ben and Freddy are adjusting to rural life.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  15. Background image for The Co-Op: 2nd Revisiting
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    #14 - The Co-Op: 2nd Revisiting

    S12:E12

    On the first series of `Grand Designs', a younger Kevin McCloud witnessed as a co-operative of ten families built their own homes on the edge of Brighton. Unpaid, they slogged away for over two years on this pioneering venture, based on designs from architect Walter Segal. A decade later, Kevin returns to see if the houses, and the families that built them, have stood the test of time, and finds himself genuinely inspired.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  16. Background image for Norfolk: Periscope House
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    #15 - Norfolk: Periscope House

    S14:E6

    Natasha Cargill wants to build a home shaped like two enormous periscopes in rural Norfolk. But a limited budget and tight planning restrictions start to take their toll. To get planning permission for her build, Natasha Cargill has to ensure not only that the materials used are sustainable, but also agree to measure the amount of diesel used to deliver them. The planning controls are so rigid in fact that even details like the type of portaloos the builders use and the size of her bath have to be monitored. Natasha has just pounds 330k to spend on construction and just six months to complete.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  17. Background image for Revisited – Monmouthshire: Japanese House
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    #16 - Revisited – Monmouthshire: Japanese House

    S14:E9

    Kevin McCloud returns to a unique Japanese-Welsh fusion home in the Wye Valley to see how the improvised building weathered one of the wettest winters on record. Tamayo Hussey has missed Japan ever since she moved to the UK 15 years ago with her husband Nigel. To stave off the homesickness they decided to transform their home into a one-of-a-kind Japanese house - complete with Japanese roof bath, tatami room and paper sliding walls. Kevin finds out if it has brought the calm and tranquillity Tamayo remembers from her childhood in Japan.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  18. Background image for Revisited – Somerset: Cow Shed
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    #17 - Revisited – Somerset: Cow Shed

    S17:E9

    No description available

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  19. Background image for Bolton Revisit
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    #18 - Bolton Revisit

    S23:E10

    In 2015, Paul and Carol's plans to build a fortress-like home on the edge of the wild West Pennine Moors were thwarted when they ran out of money and time. Have they finally finished it?

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  20. Background image for Devon Revisit
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    #19 - Devon Revisit

    S23:E11

    In the longest revisit in Grand Designs history, Kevin McCloud returns to Devon to see if Sue and Martin's renovation of two ancient barns has finally come to fruition, two decades on.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  21. Background image for Hackney Downs 2023
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    #20 - Hackney Downs 2023

    S24:E4

    Graeme and Melanie want their new home in Hackney to celebrate their blended family. But squeezing the bright red-clad house onto their tiny garage plot proves a huge challenge.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  22. Background image for South Herefordshire 2023
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    #21 - South Herefordshire 2023

    S24:E5

    Furniture maker Lucinda wants to construct a beautifully crafted, two-storey, highly insulated timber home in the woodland of South Herefordshire on a very modest budget, and without using heavy machinery.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  23. Background image for North Cotswolds 2023
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    #22 - North Cotswolds 2023

    S24:E6

    Duncan and Liz build a revolutionary Passivhaus Premium powerhouse of a home in the Cotswolds. But with a spiralling schedule and lonesome living, will it really all be worth it in the end?

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  24. Background image for Liskeard, Cornwall Revisit 2023
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    #23 - Liskeard, Cornwall Revisit 2023

    S24:E7

    In 2017, Leigh and Richard bought a derelict Cornish flour mill to restore and turn into their home. By 2021, the rooms and landscaping were still unfinished. Has the grind finally paid off?

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  25. Background image for Billingshurst, Sussex Revisit 2023
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    #24 - Billingshurst, Sussex Revisit 2023

    S24:E8

    In 2019, Olaf and Fritha set out to build on a tricky slice of land in West Sussex, boxed in by an A-road and trainline. Kevin McCloud returns to see how their triangular triumph is faring.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  26. Background image for London: Revisited
    5.8/10(12 votes)

    #25 - London: Revisited

    S2:E12

    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

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

Worst Episodes Summary

"Inverted V Roof, Buckinghamshire" is the worst rated episode of "Grand Designs". It scored /10 based on 0 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 3/12/2003. This episode scored 0.0 points lower than the second lowest rated, "The Former Electricity Sub-Station: Revisited".