Following its return on Wednesday night, Grand Designs has courted controversy. As Channel 4 aired a brand new episode, fans were introduced to Howard and Sarah – a couple determined to create their very own floating home near Worthing, West Sussex. A powerhouse pair in the realm of design, Howard, an architect, and Sarah, an interior designer, impressed Kevin McCloud with their ambitious plans.
Explaining that they intended to build a new boat alongside a tidal river bank, Howard said it would be a "highly-engineered steel structure" with views over the estuary, while Sarah emphasised that it would be a "floating family home" as opposed to an ordinary boat. After extracting an 80-year-old landing craft from the mud and assembling a completely new structure, Howard and Sarah ended up extending their 18-month building schedule, with the programme revealing that it had taken them three years and £465,000 to reach the finish line. As he headed to the houseboat community for a glimpse of their home, Kevin declared that the structure was a "triumph of architecture, engineering and imagination", but after the credits rolled, fans delivered their less-than-glowing reviews on social media.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), one wrote: "It's absolutely hideous! I bet it's like a greenhouse in the summer and freezing in the winter." Grand Designs star Kevin McCloud's 'tensions and frustrations' with children with ex-wife Grand Designs fans 'cry their eyes out' over Kevin McCloud's emot.
