In the upcoming episode of Channel 4’s Grand Designs, viewers will be taken to North London as host Kevin McCloud meets 82-year-old Kathryn.
However, it’s bad news for the homeowner as she’ll be dealt a massive blow while building her new accessible and ultra-sustainable home.
For 60 years, Kathryn and her husband Jon lived happily in their Edwardian four-bedroom home in North London. Sadly, Kathryn is recently widowed and is facing a dilemma.
She can either leave the street she’s loved for so many decades or struggle in the home she currently lives in. Although Kathryn came up with a solution to avoid having to do either.
Coming up with an audacious plan, Kathryn enlists the help of architect James Mak, to build a new, accessible and ultra- sustainable home right next door to where she lives now.
Currently, a garage and extension sit where in the plot James will have to work on, as Kathryn wants the project to be a mirror of her current home, with a modern twist.
However, it looks as though the daring feat isn’t going to be easy as they’re faced with difficulties right from the get go.
As the project gets underway, they discover foundations far deeper than anticipated need to be removed in order to make way for the new home.
Sadly, this isn’t the only issue faced while the new home is being built. In a clip ahead of the episode, host Kevin McCloud details a ‘sucker punch’ during the project.
Channel 4 viewers will discover that the cost of connecting the new home to the electricity grid is an eye-watering amount.
Kathryn tells Kevin: “I’ve just found out that to connect the house to the national grid, it involves going across the road to number 11, which is where the big cable ends.”
As he asked if there was another cable, which powers the houses further down, Kathryn confirmed there was, although it wasn’t strong enough to connect her new home.
When asked who pays for it all, Kathryn said: “Well, they’re charging me for it. I think it’s £19,000.” Kevin was visibly shocked by the staggering amount as he replied: “What?! What, to just bring it over the road?”
Shaking her head in disbelief, she replied: “Yeah, it’s absolutely unbelievable.” Kevin added: “I’m staggered by that.”
Only time will tell whether this late-in- life gamble will pay off…
Grand Designs, Wednesday 9th April, 9pm on Channel 4
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