GDL08: The House That Kevin Built - In all its glory

In the closing hours of Grand Designs Live, I finally got a chance to get up close and personal to The House That Kevin Built. It was a lot of fun to get in there and have a look round, especially as I was one of the last allowed in, so I got the place to myself for a while, hence the huge number of photos.

Here you can see right up and under the cladding.

And the rain screen from the lower, unrendered parts of the ModCell storey.

Above, a part-finished thatch wall, knocked up with some spare straw left over from the vertical thatch cladding. And below, wall of old plastic bottles filled with water that partitioned off the shower area. Innovative way to store water, although perhaps not very practical.

The Bed That Kevin Slept In! Apparently, he stayed in his house on the Thursday night. I wonder how much sleep he got with the planes flying overhead into City Airport.

The house was upside down, with the bedroom and bathroom downstairs and an open-plan kitchen, living area and dining area upstairs, taking advantage of the extra height of the roof space.

I had missed the creation of the rammed-earth wall, but here is the top of it. Seemed pretty solid to me, and another interesting building technique to look into.

So there it is in all it’s glory - Kevin McCloud’s very own Grand Design. I’ve got a lot more photos which I will put up on Flickr when I’m back off holiday.