Grand Designs: The Street — Kevin McCloud reveals what's next for Graven Hill in Bicester, the UK's largest self-built town
The much-loved hit TV show Grand Designs has been following challenging, and often logic-defying, self-build projects across the country for the past 22 years.
Yet the latest series has accomplished something so phenomenal that the show's presenter Kevin McCloud heralds the initiative as a potential new housing model for the future — but it has been far from easy.
The six-part experimental series is 10 years in the making and has taken five years to film. It follows the progress of the first group of ambitious self-builders to take on the challenge of designing and building their own homes on neighbouring plots.
We've followed the progress of a minimalist upside-down house, a stressful flat-pack home built on a tight budget and a factory-built two-bedroom home finished within nine weeks, against all odds.
Yet the dream of creating their own homes has also been heartwrenching, stressful and financially crippling for many of The Street's pioneering homebuilders.
"Self-build is not straightforward, it doesn’t matter what walk of life you are from, it involves tremendous commitment," says McCloud.
"Sometimes the money is impossible to find and there is lots of hardship on the way through, and stress, regardless of how easy things are made for you."
Latest series The Street — and more Grand Designs projects
How The Street was made in Bicester, Oxfordshire
Graven Hill is a former military site purchased by Cherwell District Council, a small local authority in Bicester, 14 miles from Oxford. The council was inspired by a large self-built town in the Netherlands called Almere and started negotiating to buy the Graven Hill site from the Ministry of Defence 10 years ago.
The plan was to invite the general public to build their own homes, to create Britain's first self-built and custom-built town of 1,900 homes.
Each set of participants bought a plot of land for £100,000 on which they were tasked with building a home to fit their individual needs and ambitions. The council provided the slabs and pledged to invest in local infrastructure, services and to provide valuable assistance in steamlining the planning process.
Kevin McCloud stepped in with the idea of filming it, after visiting Almere, and so the six-part series was made.
"The whole point of making the series was to show that it’s possible to get much better value, greater architectural diversity, better place-making and greater community through this process. That has to be, it must be, a lesson to other local authorities," says McCloud.
However, it took Cherwell council five years to negotiate the purchase of the site before any homes were even thought of.
What's next for Graven Hill?
Graven Hill is a 20-year programme of building and development, so progress across this new town has only just begun. Eventually there will be 1,900 new homes on this former military site.
The 10 self-builders featured on The Street have all moved in to their homes. Up to 40 homes are currently in construction and social housing is underway.
The village will have a primary school, a pre-school nursery and a community centre as well as shops, cafes and a local pub.
McCloud says: "It's a really interesting time right now. It’s an entire laboratory of ideas. The trick is to ensure the vitality and the excitement and the adventurism of the early days carries through the whole thing."
Would you take on the self-build challenge?
There are still plots available at Graven Hill for self-builders. Find out more visit GravenHill.co.uk or Grand Designs Live at London ExCel this weekend to hear first-hand accounts of the challenges faced by The Street's pioneers.