House of the Year 2017: special Grand Designs series sees Kevin McCloud uncover the UK's best new home
What does a treehouse in the woods, a castle-like home hunkered in a hillside and a quirky cork-clad holiday house have in common?
They are all in the running to win the coveted House of the Year award.
Hot on the heels of this week’s Grand Designs season finale is a special four-part architectural feast which sees Kevin McCloud uncover some of Britain’s most innovative new homes.
The prestigious prize, formerly the Manser medal, is awarded by the Royal Institute of Architects (RIBA) to the best new house designed by an architect in the UK.
From Scotland to England and Wales, McCloud and team visit the ambitious self-builders and architects of some fascinating projects, revealing how they were built and why they are considered some of the best new architecture in the country.
“We make this series not just to uncover these gems, nor to simply celebrate the finest homes in the land; we make it so we can learn from them. What we see in the most exemplary houses today is going to influence the design of more affordable new homes next year and in five and ten years’ time," says McCloud.
"The series is a joy to film because it allows us to glimpse the future. Don’t we all want to know what the future holds?” he asks.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE LONGLIST INCLUDE:
REDSHANK, ST OSYTH, ESSEX
Hovering ever-so-slightly above Essex marshland on steel poles, painted red like the legs of the wading bird that is its namesake, is Redshank
The unique one-bedroom construction, built from cross-laminated-timber (CLT) and clad in cork, was commissioned by a married couple, two artists, who had bought a timber-framed run-down beach house.
The idea was to replace it with a box that sits more than two metres off the ground - to protect the building from flooding as well as to reinstate the marshland below.
The result is a beautifully clever 48 square-metre artists-studio/guesthouse within walking distance of the family home.
THE WOODMAN'S TREEHOUSE, DORSET
This luxury glamping-style getaway nestled in a Dorset woodland is for grown-ups, and comes complete with a private sauna, hot tub, open-air tree shower, plus a double-ended copper bath in front of a floor-to-ceiling window.
It was constructed on a tight budget in less than six months by a self-build team of highly skilled green wood furniture makers, woodworkers and traditional craftsmen.
To reach the treehouse, it is necessary to cross a ribbon bridge, which brings you to a scorched oak door, with heavy marine porthole and submarine locking mechanism.
Two-night stays start from £780; visit Mallinson.co.uk for more information. The Woodland Treehouse is completely sold out this year, except for 1–4 December 2017. It has been reserved by the owner as an exclusive reward as part of a crowdfunding campaign to be booked on a first-come, first-serve basis.To find out more, visit crowdfunder.co.uk/bicbim.
WOOD LANE, HIGHGATE, LONDON
Squeezed into a small London plot, this quirky home with dramatic double-height rooms has been carefully crafted by its owners as a self-build project over more than seven years.
It's curving form hovers above the street, while boat-like staircases uncurl into connected living spaces overlooking the winter garden.
The architect’s ambition was to create a home for urban living, which contrasts tightly planned functional spaces with generous living spaces to maximize daylight and views.
NESS POINT, DOVER
This brilliant white castle-like structure hunkers into a hillside overlooking the White Cliffs of Dover near Ness Point, the most easterly part of the British Isles, from which the project takes its name.
Sitting on an exposed clifftop site 65 metres above the sea, this contemporary home with curving walls frames the constantly changing views of the dramatic landscape with floor-to-ceiling windows.
Each bedroom has a balcony no wider than half a metre, which gives a miniature, personalised garden to each bedroom.
"Ness Point has been designed as if it had grown out of the land in which it is embedded," said Tonkin Liu, a London-based architectural practice. "Hunkered into the land with undulating thick walls along its length, it is constructed as a journey with views that pull the surrounding landscape into the house."
EDINBURGH ROAD, EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND
Look closely and you will see the stone-built base of this former farmstead by the sea supporting the entirely new timber-clad extension perched on top.
The unusual site is sandwiched between a busy road and a public beach, so the architects set out to create a home that is "simultaneously public and private, polite to its neighbours and deceptively large."
The extension houses double-height living, kitchen and dining spaces, while the windows on the beach frontage offer long views to the Fife and East Lothian coastlines and open onto the view.
Grand Designs: House of the Year starts on Tuesday at 9pm on Channel 4. The final episode on Tuesday 28 November will exclusively reveal the winner of the RIBA House of the Year.