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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!

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British television series which features unusual and often elaborate architectural homebuilding projects.

Airs on
Channel 4
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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Worst Episode
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    Grand Designs Season 3 Episode 5 - Inverted Roof-House, Buckinghamshire
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #1 - Inverted Roof-House, 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?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. Grand Designs Season 3 Episode 11 - Revisited: The Water Tower, Coleshill, Amersham
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #2 - Revisited: The Water Tower, Coleshill, Amersham

    S3:E11

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. Grand Designs Season 3 Episode 13 - Revisited: The Cruciform House, Lambourn Valley, Berkshire
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #3 - Revisited: The Cruciform House, Lambourn Valley, Berkshire

    S3:E13

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. Grand Designs Season 3 Episode 14 - Revisited: The House of Straw: 2nd Revisiting, Islington, North London
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #4 - Revisited: The House of Straw: 2nd Revisiting, Islington, North London

    S3:E14

    Revisited Season 3 (2003) episode 2 Kevin McCloud revisits the improbable Islington home of two architects who built their avant-garde north-east London house out of straw bales, springs, nappy cladding and silver tin

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. Grand Designs Season 3 Episode 15 - Revisited: The Former Electricity Sub-Station, Sunderland
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #5 - Revisited: The Former Electricity Sub-Station, Sunderland

    S3:E15

    Revisited Season 3 (2003) episode 3 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

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. Grand Designs Season 3 Episode 16 - Revisited: The English Barn, Berkshire
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #6 - Revisited: The English Barn, Berkshire

    S3:E16

    Revisited Season 3 (2003) episode 4 Kevin McCloud revisits retired couple Denys and Marjorie Randolph from Berkshire, who had decided to embark on their final building project, a brand new, green oak, barn-style house

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  7. Grand Designs Season 17 Episode 9 - Revisited – Somerset: Cowshed
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #7 - Revisited – Somerset: Cowshed

    S17:E9

    Kevin returns to Somerset to see Ed and Vicky and their off-grid cowshed conversion, which they turned into a home and a business space.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. Grand Designs Season 23 Episode 11 - Devon Revisit
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #8 - 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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. Grand Designs Season 28 Episode 1 - St Minver, Cornwall 2026
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #9 - St Minver, Cornwall 2026

    S28:E1

    Kevin McCloud follows more ambitious self-building projects, beginning with Bryony and Matt, who have spent five years planning the perfect Cornish family beach house, complete with its own surfboard room. But with the project up and running, they have only given themselves a year to finish, despite aiming for passive house standards and with construction of the irregular frame to be done almost entirely on site and by hand - not to mention their busy home and work lives.

    Director:Marc Beers
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. Grand Designs Season 28 Episode 2 - Kentish Town 2026
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #10 - Kentish Town 2026

    S28:E2

    Kevin McCloud follows architect Peter and his TV producer wife Emily as they take on the challenge of building twin conjoined houses in London - the plan being to sell one of them to fund the one they will eventually live in. They already have business partners - and potential new neighbours - who have bought into the scheme. Now all they need to do is build the houses. But from the start they are dogged by financial issues - not to mention problems with the experimental nature of the design. Can the two couples retain their friendship?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. Grand Designs Season 2 Episode 12 - Revisited: The Self-Build, Birmingham
    5.8/10(12 votes)

    #11 - Revisited: The Self-Build, Birmingham

    S2:E12

    Revisited Season 1 (2001) episode 4 Kevin McCloud revisits an innovative housing scheme in Birmingham. Just over two years ago a group of 11 men and women agreed to build, not just their own, but each other's homes.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. Grand Designs Season 1 Episode 7 - The House of Straw, Islington, North London
    6.0/10(23 votes)

    #12 - The House of Straw, Islington, North London

    S1:E7

    Kevin McCloud is in lslington where Jeremy Till and Sarah Wigglesworth have come up with a highly experimental design for a home/office.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. Grand Designs Season 3 Episode 6 - The Terrace Conversion, Hackney, London
    6.0/10(14 votes)

    #13 - The Terrace Conversion, Hackney, London

    S3:E6

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. Grand Designs Season 11 Episode 2 - London: The Contemporary Mansion
    6.0/10(22 votes)

    #14 - London: The Contemporary Mansion

    S11:E2

    Paul and Penny are tearing down their million pound home in south London to build a contemporary mansion. But the challenge of building a complex home soon starts to bite.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. Grand Designs Season 2 Episode 10 - Revisited: The Eco-House, Suffolk
    6.1/10(12 votes)

    #15 - Revisited: The Eco-House, Suffolk

    S2:E10

    Revisited Season 1 (2001) episode 2 Kevin McCloud travels to Suffolk to revisit a couple who dreamed of building a 100% environmentally friendly house.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. Grand Designs Season 15 Episode 1 - Living in the City
    6.1/10(17 votes)

    #16 - Living in the City

    S15:E1

    Kevin McCloud presents the first of four special programmes inspired by 15 years of Grand Designs. He begins with a look at the challenges of self-building in the city, where space is at a premium and architects have to be at their most ingenious. Kevin uses footage from the best urban builds from the show over the years, meets pioneers at the forefront of the latest architectural thinking and looks at clever innovations that continue to transform people's lives to reveal which designs work best and why.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. Grand Designs Season 19 Episode 6 - Lewes
    6.1/10(33 votes)

    #17 - Lewes

    S19:E6

    Deep-sea diver Adrian Corrigall and wife Megan want to build a concrete family home that Adrian hopes will prove the ultimate 21st-century country house.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. Grand Designs Season 2 Episode 2 - The New England Gable House, Sussex
    6.2/10(17 votes)

    #18 - The New England Gable House, Sussex

    S2:E2

    With a plot of land in Sussex overlooking the South Downs, newly-weds Jane and Willem wanted a house that would be atmospheric and open to the countryside. Inspired by memories of America, Jane planned a New England-style gabled house with large windows to make the most of the views.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. Grand Designs Season 11 Episode 11 - The Adaptahaus: Revisited
    6.2/10(17 votes)

    #19 - The Adaptahaus: Revisited

    S11:E11

    Kevin McCloud revisits Alan and Judith Dawson in west Cumbria, where they began constructing a prefabricated home in 2009. They employed a method of building that should have allowed them to assemble the home in just 15 days on a budget of £300,000, and the presenter returns to find out whether they were successful.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. Grand Designs Season 15 Episode 3 - Living in Suburbia
    6.2/10(17 votes)

    #20 - Living in Suburbia

    S15:E3

    Kevin McCloud reveals how self-builders in the suburbs are transforming this most maligned of residential environments. He draws on some of the best examples from the 15-year history of Grand Designs, talks to experts in the latest architectural thinking and reveals the designs that have reinvented the suburbs as a place where home-owners really can have it all.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. Grand Designs Season 16 Episode 3 - Isle of Wight: The Seaside House
    6.2/10(36 votes)

    #21 - Isle of Wight: The Seaside House

    S16:E3

    After recovering from a life-threatening brain haemorrhage, Bram Vis, his wife Lisa and their two children want to build a house for sharing on a seaside plot on the Isle of Wight. Kevin McCloud follows the family's progress as they build an ambitious home complete with entertaining spaces and a swimming pool. However, the sheer scale of their project soon becomes clear when their original pounds 850k budget spirals out of control.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. Grand Designs Season 2 Episode 9 - Revisited: The Glass-House, Doncaster
    6.3/10(13 votes)

    #22 - Revisited: The Glass-House, Doncaster

    S2:E9

    Revisited Season 1 (2001) episode 1 Kevin travels back to Doncaster to catch up with self-builders Michael Hird and Lindsay Harwood and their futuristic glass and steel house in a suburb of Doncaster.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  23. Grand Designs Season 4 Episode 1 - Waterloo: The Violin Factory
    6.3/10(24 votes)

    #23 - 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

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  24. Grand Designs Season 4 Episode 5 - Clapham: The Curved House
    6.3/10(16 votes)

    #24 - 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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  25. Grand Designs Season 6 Episode 2 - The Contemporary Barn Conversion, Ross-on-Wye
    6.3/10(18 votes)

    #25 - The Contemporary Barn Conversion, Ross-on-Wye

    S6:E2

    Hillcott Barn looked more like a Tuscan monastery than an English barn. When the farmer put it up for sale, most people who viewed it walked away. It was dark and isolated and could only be reached by a half mile farm track with a steep 1:8 gradient. But furniture designer Robert Ellis (58) had had his eye on it for some time. For years he’d been jogging past the barn and always thought one day he’d like to live there. Against all advice, Rob and his wife Jane, (58) a textile designer, went ahead and bought the barn for £210,000 and proposed to convert at £250,000.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Worst Episodes Summary

"Inverted Roof-House, 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, "Revisited: The Water Tower, Coleshill, Amersham".