The inside track on Grand Designs: The Streets

Grand Designs: The Streets returns to Channel 4 on Wednesday 13 April 2022 at 9pm with the first of five new episodes. The second series sees Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud return to Graven Hill in Oxfordshire, as well as visiting a new custom and self-build site in Glasgow.

The usual Grand Designs challenges feature – balancing ambitious visions with limited budgets, disagreements with architects and builders, relationships put to the test and, of course, delays and disruptions caused by Covid.

During the series, Kevin heads to Scotland with co-presenter Natasha Huq to witnesses the birth of a new street under a similar scheme to that of Graven Hill. Glasgow City Council has offered up a small plot near the city centre, where six families are taking the opportunity to construct their dream house.

One of the most spectacular projects is an American ranch-style home. The project, by animator Joanna and carpenter Ben, will be crafted using a structural Douglas Fir frame, larch cladding and feature a rustic tin roof. But can they do it with a budget of only £170,000?

In the first episode of Grand Designs: The Streets, airing on 13 April at 9pm, Kevin returns to Graven Hill to follow Maite and Carlos’ project. The couple is taking on the challenge of designing and building a Spanish-inspired home themselves.

Creative whirlwind Maite has long harboured a bold vision for her dream home – an extraordinary glass ship of a home with balconies, gallery spaces with painted sliding doors and a dizzying void at the centre of the house. The couple, who have no no self-build experience, have taken the sensible step of hiring an architect, but their views on the project differ. Could creative differences and a tight budget scupper the couple’s self-build plans?

In a subsequent episode Grand Designs: The Streets Series 2, two couples from the same friendship group tackle Graven Hill self builds. Vineet and Simmi, and Prabhjot and Shalini are part of a community of friends who met while living in Slough and, in an unusual plot twist, the group is moving to the Oxfordshire custom and self-build site one by one.

The couples are taking different approaches to their projects. Vineet and Simmi are engaging a friend from the community to build their home, but the relationship is put to the test when Vineet changes his mind about the top-floor layout mid-project.

Prabhjot and Shalini have chosen to take the kit house route instead, aiming to complete the straight-forward build in a matter of weeks. The project has been meticulously planned, but with such a close community, the opinion of their friends matters too, which causes complications.

Viewers of Grand Designs: The Streets Series 2 will also meet John, an architect, and Julia, an office administrator. The couple have been trying to self-build a home that John designed for 30 years, but they have been plagued by bad luck.

The 1991 recession resulted in John losing his job days before exchanging on a plot of land. Later, an unknown bidder swept a plot out from under them. Finally, six-years ago, they secured a plot at Graven Hill, but could the advent of the global pandemic scupper their plans once more?

For behind-the-scenes updates on Grand Designs: The Streets Series 2, follow @granddesigns on Twitter, @granddesignstv on Instagram and @GrandDesigns Facebook.

There’s now over 100 households at Graven Hill in Oxfordshire – all with their own unique style 🏠

But it’s the rich diversity of architecture that Kevin’s not so sure about. #GrandDesignsStreets pic.twitter.com/qEqzA9ele1

— granddesigns (@granddesigns) April 13, 2022

Watch Grand Designs: The Streets on Wednesdays at 9pm from 13 April on Channel 4

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MORE ON GRAND DESIGNS: THE STREETS

• Grand Designs: The Street – Series 1, Episode 1
• 5 memorable homes from Grand Designs: The Streets
• A modernist triumph on Graven Hill