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00:06For tens of thousands of years, human beings have created all kinds of technologies to help
00:13make the world better engineered, more precise, more beautiful. And along the way, human beings
00:20have also invented tools to help them. And as time has gone on, those tools have become more
00:25and more sophisticated. Until now, we rely on the computer to not just design buildings,
00:30it can engineer it, it can control the supply chain and all the manufacturing processes of
00:35components, but actually now to even construct as well. System error. System error. No, no, no,
00:42what do you mean? No, stop it. System error. System error. I mean, where did it all go wrong?
00:50I'm going to get a cup of tea.
01:07SREEN
01:07AN forbidden
01:08TERE
01:08interjecting
01:16Seb is 32. He lives in London and he's an architect. Nearly all my experience has been up
01:24to planning, having the ideas and doing the sketches and coming up with a concept, it's
01:28definitely nerve-wracking and it occupies a hell of a lot of head space.
01:32As a millennial architect, Seb embraces new technologies and trusts the precision of machines.
01:41I guess if you try to get things to be accurate and efficient, if you can minimize human error,
01:48then that's definitely a benefit. And if you can do it quicker and more efficiently as
01:53well.
01:54Seb's working life may mean a lot of screen time, but now among the leafy streets of
02:00North West London, and with the support of his family...
02:03This is when you graduated, your last day. Then we came to collect you. That's why you're
02:07looking so sad.
02:09He has the opportunity to design and build his own home.
02:14Let's go have a look at this house and see what you're building, Seb.
02:17In his grandparents' backyard.
02:19It doesn't seem like it's going to fit, does it? It seems a little bit tight.
02:23I feel very lucky. I think I've got the best grandparents in the world. Yeah, they're amazing.
02:28You want to believe what my age is? 98. I told him, I go to heaven, I'll say to the
02:35world,
02:36my grandson has built a house in my...
02:41For this adventure, Seb will draw on the experience of his father, Selwyn, who has worked with
02:46concrete for over 35 years.
02:49What do you think, then, in terms of buildability? It's quite a complicated design from what I've
02:53seen. It's funny shapes and all, isn't it? And all sorts of fancy materials.
02:57Yeah.
02:58It's his project. It's his baby. I want him to take ownership. But if he's stuck,
03:03he knows I'll be there to help him.
03:05I want to test a few ideas. Do things a little bit unconventionally. It's an opportunity to
03:10try something that hasn't been done so much. The biggest risk is my lack of experience,
03:14I think. Yeah, I'm very nervous. But might as well just go all in and try and give it your
03:20best shot and, yeah, see if you can make it through and out the other end.
03:25Seb may be inexperienced, but he also wants to push convention. One way or another, this
03:31unassuming garden will decide his future.
03:40Hey, Seb. Hi, Kevin. Good to meet you. I know I've come to the right place.
03:44Because I just spotted that. Skip. I don't think I've ever seen a skip as tightly packed
03:49as that. It's like filing systems. Absolutely. I'm glad you like it.
03:52That's where you're going to build. That's what I'm building.
03:54Shall we have a look? Yeah.
03:56Oh, this is nice. It's a little haven. It's triangular and pointy, but it gives you this
04:02street frontage. Yeah. As the street curves round, you've got the two buildings
04:05either side and there's the potential to pop something in between. How did you persuade
04:10your grandparents to let you do that? It was actually their idea. That's amazing.
04:13It's a real privilege, yeah. So, have you built before? No. All the things I've done
04:18before have been working within existing buildings. It's an opportunity to test ideas
04:22that a client's not going to give me the responsibility to do.
04:25Seb will build his house using a technology found in only a tiny fraction of UK homes.
04:31A high-precision structure made from machine-cut panels of cross-laminated timber, CLT.
04:39So, with cross-laminated timber, you get, like, big panels delivered to site, yeah? This busy road here, there's going
04:44to be a lorry part with basically a house on the back of it, right?
04:47It'll be a lot of disruption, but for a short amount of time. OK. And also the associated noise that
04:52comes with chopping and impact drivers and all the drilling and...
04:56Good point, actually, about an urban environment is noise, yeah. So, all you'll really hear is the screwing of these
05:01materials together.
05:01And that is the structure, that's how it's held together. And will be the majority of the wall finish, rather
05:08than having plaster and paint, exposed timber, natural material.
05:11It'd be like being in the middle of a Norwegian wood. Exactly.
05:16To minimise disruption, time and waste, Seb will harness the power of speed and precision.
05:23Concrete trench and raft foundations will form a raised platform with a tolerance of just 10 millimetres,
05:30so that the solid timber sheets made in Austria will fit to perfection.
05:36Once on site, these CLT panels will be craned into position.
05:41They'll have super-accurate pre-cut apertures for the doors, windows and roof lights, most of which have been pre
05:49-ordered.
05:50There are 111 of these bespoke timber pieces, and the last to be fitted will have the tiniest of tolerances.
05:57All being well, this timber shell should be complete in just two weeks.
06:05Once insulated, the ground floor will be clad in brick, while above, over 300 fibre cement board panels will float
06:14magically.
06:18Inside, the timber shell will remain exposed, framing one kitchen and living room on the ground floor.
06:26The open staircase will lead you up to two bedrooms, a bathroom and a small study.
06:31The acute angles of the top floor will form a bright studio space under the roof.
06:38Views of London framed in Austrian timber, the ideal workspace for a young creative architect.
06:48This house will be a meaty chunk of 21st century architecture, but one landing on a quiet suburban street.
06:57It may well ruffle a few feathers.
07:03What's really lovely about this is you get a sense of outlook.
07:07These windows here, they're picking up the setting sun in the west, that's nice.
07:12Quite a complicated 3D jigsaw, isn't it?
07:14But that's why CLT is great, because you're able to do that in a controlled environment.
07:17How much is it going to cost to build the thing?
07:19The numbers are coming in at 420,000. That's to get the shell and cord done.
07:24So that's all on a mortgage.
07:26So when are you going to finish?
07:27To bring it in on budget, I'm going to have to take on some of the work myself, which may
07:31take longer.
07:32We should get the building watertight in about six months.
07:36Is there a point in the project where you think, oh, when I get there, it'll be OK?
07:40Oh, yeah, when it's finished.
07:44Six months to watertight is fast.
07:49And just a few days later, the race is on to get the groundworks ready for the Austrian timber.
07:57So, for the past few days, we've been excavating the trenches for the strip foundations.
08:03And today is the pool.
08:05Is there what it's meant to be?
08:06400 by 600.
08:07And does it know about this?
08:09What?
08:10It's quite high there, no?
08:11As this project's concrete expert, Selwyn, Seb's dad, understands that concrete pours are all about timing.
08:20The concrete's just arrived ahead of time.
08:24They're a bit early.
08:25Doesn't always be good to plan.
08:27It's always slightly chaotic when the concrete comes.
08:31This chaotic, muddy mess is miles away from the clean precision of Seb's cross-laminated timber.
08:39In fact, exactly 933 miles away.
08:45Seb's timber panels will be manufactured in just over two hours by one of the largest cross-laminated timber companies
08:52in the world.
08:54Trees cut into planks and glued together to create structural walls with robotic precision.
09:01Out of the 1,500 CLT homes this factory will create each year, only a few are destined for the
09:08UK.
09:09And none are like Seb's.
09:18Four weeks since work began...
09:21It doesn't actually look that big, does it?
09:23Seb has his slab.
09:25I've had to place the order for the timber frame before this was finished.
09:30So there's within 10mm precision.
09:33So that bit of concrete can't be more than 10mm this way, or that way, or up or down.
09:38The concrete slab and timber frame have cost a hefty £130,000.
09:45A lot of money to gamble on a 10mm tolerance.
09:49It's very stressful, constantly on my mind, throughout the day, at night, in my dreams, when I wake up.
09:57It's a constant thing, and there's always the next thing you need to sort out.
10:01So at one point I feel like, OK, I've resolved this thing, but then another one comes out and it's
10:06constantly dealing with these things.
10:08It does occupy a hell of a lot of head space.
10:12Everything will have to run by clockwork.
10:15As the architect, project manager and client, Seb has nowhere to hide, and no one to blame, if things go
10:23wrong.
10:35Seb's new cross-laminated timber home is a testbed for his architectural talent, and it's about to arrive in his
10:42grandparents' garden in north-west London.
10:44We've got the scaffolding up now around the slab. This all has to be freestanding and self-supporting, so it's
10:51all there, ready, waiting for the building to get dropped into it.
10:55In under two months, Seb's already spent nearly a third of his £420,000 budget.
11:01Yeah, it's quite scary. It's a scary, significant amount of money.
11:08The most critical day for this project was always going to be the arrival of the Austrian timber panels.
11:15What looks right on a drawing doesn't always work on the reality of the site.
11:19So we've got a really tight space to set up in, so there's been a lot of planning involved, so
11:23hopefully it'll work.
11:25Things don't start well. The crane is missing.
11:34Yeah, just waiting on it. It's a bit late.
11:37It's 22 minutes late, so I kind of need this quake to come.
11:43I'll give it another five to eight minutes and I'll give him a call.
11:46It's a tense wait.
11:52But eventually the crane arrives.
11:58But now it needs to park.
12:00Ah, man. Did he need to go all the way out there?
12:04In his grandparents' tiny garden.
12:11Very close to that tree.
12:16Yeah, in.
12:21Moments later, 23 tonnes of Austrian timber arrives.
12:26All systems going.
12:28The crane's going to pick up stuff, drop it onto the site, then the lorry will go away and then
12:32they'll start installing it.
12:34They're amazing. I never saw something like this before.
12:38When it is coming here, I'm thinking it will knock off the drill for now.
12:42Not many people will take on a project like this, non-standard.
12:47So there are a lot of unknowns.
12:49It's down to Seb and a collection of friends and family to manage the traffic.
12:54They actually come quite fast, don't they?
12:56To the relief of local motorists, it takes just two hours for the panels to unload onto site.
13:02It's a snug fit, but they managed to get it in.
13:06They're in sort of a bit of a dodgy order, but if it's designed properly and the measurements work, it'll
13:11work.
13:12This is kind of like the first big hurdle.
13:16Whoa!
13:19By the following morning, Seb's Austrian timber shapes appear to have landed on the London clay.
13:26Hey, Seb, this is fantastic.
13:28It's nice. It's really nice to see it.
13:30So they had to get it within a 10mm accuracy, but thankfully the ground workers did a good job.
13:35What happens today?
13:36They put the floor plate on. They put the lid on.
13:38That'll be happening today, yeah.
13:40It's quite a big job.
13:40Big job, because these are big pieces.
13:42You can see where they step out there to receive it.
13:45I can. Yeah, wow.
13:47I won't be standing here when that happens.
13:57These floor panels represent some of the largest in the building.
14:0130 square metres of engineered timber.
14:04It looks quite elegantly slim.
14:07I think because the panels are so long.
14:09They're so big. Yeah.
14:10That's why.
14:11I can't believe we've been up here for 40 minutes, the whole of that first floor deck is down.
14:16And it's a structural floor.
14:18I mean, you could have spent three to four weeks making that floor.
14:21Bingo.
14:23The simplicity and speed of this modular construction is seductive,
14:28but it cannot hide the risks here for Seb, both for his career and the trust of his family.
14:35As parents, you want your kids to succeed, you want to encourage them,
14:39but there's also a salt and pepper thing, you have to discourage them in a sense as well
14:43and throw some scepticism in there and balance.
14:46Well, that's what I've been doing, actually.
14:48I've been looking at all the negative sides of everything that he does.
14:54Yes, certainly.
15:05And now it's nice to see it come to fruition.
15:09Yes.
15:09It's wonderful, I think, personally.
15:12I mean, considering how, like you said, how tight this site is,
15:15that we managed to get a crane in and to get a building up.
15:18I don't want it to fail, which is why we look at the things that might go off.
15:21Yeah.
15:22Yeah, of course.
15:24It would seem the timber frame fit perfectly to its concrete base,
15:28but by the following week...
15:31Hold it there.
15:32Hold it there, please.
15:33...progress has slowed.
15:37As the tiny tolerances of Seb's intricate design...
15:41All this is going to have to be moved this way.
15:44Yeah, I'm good at the bridge there.
15:45...become even finer.
15:47It's been fighting us for a while, all the complex cuts.
15:50Once one gap is sealed, another appears.
15:55There's so much that could be wrong with it.
15:56There's so many angles to contend with.
15:58All it's going to take is for the building to be a couple of mil smaller
16:01or a couple of mil bigger, and they would have either not fitted
16:04or fallen straight through.
16:13After a stress-filled ten days,
16:16Seb's perfect drawings have delivered a near-perfect timber frame.
16:22Now, the focus is to get this structure externally insulated and watertight.
16:28Nine times out of ten, we're fitting this to a flat roof system.
16:30Doing something like this is a lot harder to do.
16:33Everywhere's angles.
16:34There's nothing that's standard on this roof.
16:36But I don't think we've done a pitch like this before.
16:40Insulating the exterior means Seb can leave nearly all of the internal timber walls exposed.
16:46Keeping things dark in here to limit the amount of UV coming in
16:50so that the wood doesn't yellow too much.
16:53No, I think this is probably one of the best spaces in the house.
16:59But by the following month, it's not the UVs Seb should be worrying about.
17:04It's the rain.
17:06The building's made out of wood, and so it's not something you really want to...
17:09You want to try and keep it dry as much as possible, basically.
17:12A critical asset to keep the interior dry are the roof lights.
17:17Pre-ordered weeks ago, they were a snug fit on the drawings,
17:21but drawings are often more forgiving than reality.
17:24We need to basically pull it off completely then, right?
17:27Yeah, it's a bit annoying. The roof lights are tight.
17:30So we just need to go away from this rain to stop and take a little look at it again
17:33and see if we can just adjust it a little bit.
17:36When the sun comes out...
17:39The skylight miraculously cooperates and slots into place.
17:44Yeah.
17:45Oh, yeah. We wouldn't be interested if it was easy.
17:48With the membrane and glazing fitted,
17:51this adventurous house now has a functioning roof.
17:54Lovely.
18:01Just three and a half months since breaking ground
18:04and Seb's already installing his windows.
18:07These were ordered pretty soon after the CLT.
18:10It's a bit of a risk because you've got to try and make sure everything lines up on site.
18:12Oh, I've got the weight.
18:14He wants things right, I'd say.
18:16I'm in. I'm in.
18:17It's all very specific and I have to be quite involved.
18:21It's my own doing.
18:23I don't know why design is such a complicated building.
18:27Seb's brave design is challenging convention.
18:31But he's not the first London architect to use his own new build as an experiment.
18:41This is Willow Road in Hampstead, numbers one to three, designed and built by Erno Goldfinger in 1939.
18:51One was for sale, one was for rent and the big one in the middle was for him to live
18:55in.
18:57Now I know this building has got a little facade of bricks and that makes it very polite.
19:02But in fact what that hides is a structure of reinforced concrete, a big open box then subdivided into houses.
19:11Goldfinger's experiments with concrete went on to dramatically change the London skyline with buildings like Trellick and Balfron Towers.
19:20Designs hinted at here as the dark box rooms of the 1930s give way to something bright.
19:31New.
19:33Exciting.
19:42What an expensive set of rooms.
19:45In fact it's just one big space the full width of the home divided by great big hinged doors.
19:53Ribbon of glass across the front.
19:57I mean none of these ideas have really been seen together before.
20:01Not in a house.
20:03And for that matter nobody had seen furniture like this either.
20:08Erno made this table out of a top which he fixed onto an industrial plinth.
20:16Oh there's another one over here.
20:17Oh look.
20:19He's just sawn up.
20:22A length of I-been.
20:25It's a structural piece of steel.
20:27Not meant to be seen but isn't it beautiful.
20:29Seb too wants to create furniture from the off cuts of his timber panels.
20:35But like Goldfinger he's also challenging the old and tired conventions that surround construction.
20:41Inside and out.
20:45Goldfinger's reputation as a modernist and then as a brutalist is of course indisputable.
20:49Indisputable.
20:51But like Seb he started out by building his own home.
20:56This building.
20:57And like Seb he dressed it in such a way that it was relatively quiet.
21:04And like Seb he then focused his attention on the inside.
21:09He made it radical.
21:11He experimented.
21:12Of course not all Goldfinger's neighbours were taken with this slice of hamstered modernism.
21:20One of them, Ian Fleming, who created James Bond, gave Goldfinger's name to a super villain.
21:27Perhaps in protest.
21:30For me though, Goldfinger will always be an architectural hero.
21:40In Seb's grandparents' garden however.
21:43At the moment it's pretty full on.
21:46I don't think I've ever worked inside before.
21:47It's exhausting.
21:49All architectural heroics are still very much in the balance.
21:54So yeah, it's been a lot of pressure dealing with lots of people at the same time working on top
21:58of each other.
21:59And then constant requests and questions about how things are done and what needs to be done.
22:04And then on top of that, making sure that it's been designed properly and then ordering stuff.
22:09Things tend to go wrong in construction.
22:11It's inevitable.
22:12And things are going to go wrong. I know it.
22:20I know it.
22:23I know it.
22:25I know it.
22:26Seb's architectural ambition is challenging convention.
22:29With a precision cut timber house built in his grandparents' garden in London.
22:34Just like the computer model, everything just came together pretty perfectly.
22:39With a budget of £420,000, Seb is responsible for every detail.
22:45But even he hasn't thought of everything.
22:48The rivets for the cladding panels, I didn't consider those.
22:52So that's an additional cost that I can't avoid.
22:56They're all 50 pence per rivet.
22:59And there's a thousand of them, so yeah.
23:03It must be hard for Seb to keep up.
23:06Because everything on this project is happening at breakneck speed.
23:09We did the insulation on Thursday.
23:12We did the underflow heating on Friday.
23:15And we're doing the screen on Monday.
23:16Like clockwork, yeah?
23:20Four months since Seb started.
23:22Two months since the CLT all arrived.
23:25I mean, look, it's nearly finished.
23:32Posh windows.
23:34Looks like Seb has oiled the walls.
23:37It's like got a mist coat on it.
23:39The timber's beautiful.
23:41Wiring. Bath is here.
23:45Oh, this is lovely.
23:47Look at these shapes.
23:50I mean, other than where the walls crease and change direction,
23:58there's not a joint in the place.
24:00But it's made out of not high-tech steel or aircraft aluminium.
24:05It's made out of one of the most primitive materials you can think of,
24:08which is tree.
24:11The crisp finish is one Seb wants to echo on the exterior
24:15with fibre cement board cladding.
24:18Hey, Seb.
24:19Hey, Kevin.
24:19Thought you'd find you here. How are you?
24:21Good.
24:22This I don't understand.
24:24Some kind of weird, rubberised tube with...
24:27What's inside?
24:28What is that?
24:29It's a bit of aluminium.
24:30So what's the deal here?
24:31This is heat welded on,
24:32and the cladding will be fixed into that.
24:34So that's what's going to hold the cladding on the roof.
24:37I'm going to be honest, I've never seen this before in a building.
24:39Yeah, it's pretty unusual.
24:40Have you invented this?
24:41No, this is actually used for solar panels.
24:43Typically it's done at a much shallower angle,
24:45but had the engineering and calcs done.
24:47And, apparently, it will hold.
24:49I mean, obviously, solar panels weigh a little bit,
24:52but I think the cement board probably weighs more.
24:54Mm-hm.
24:55This seems to me to be particularly adventurous
24:57and a bit bloody-minded.
24:59Maybe it's a bit of a risk.
25:01Well, good luck.
25:05Seb's gravity-defying roof system is not for the faint-hearted.
25:09He surely has to be aware just how heavy his cement cladding boards are.
25:15Over here is all of Seb's material that we're using for the project.
25:20So this material is 100 kilos per board.
25:23So it's very heavy, and to move it you need two or three people.
25:27Seb's cladding boards will be cut nearby in West London
25:31to precise measurements.
25:33Precise measurements applied by, well, Seb.
25:36Not very experienced.
25:38I've never done anything like this before.
25:39There's been a lot of amendments on your 15, I think.
25:42Yeah.
25:42No, there haven't.
25:44I've given you two, two, two magic cuts.
25:46Two, two schedules.
25:48Yeah, but it's been like a little twitch.
25:50Along the way.
25:51I don't think so.
25:53I can show you emails with you.
25:55Seven, eight o'clock.
25:56What time did you tell me about the epilogue?
25:5811 o'clock.
25:59You were a few walls.
26:00Yeah, yeah, yeah.
26:01I work with those.
26:02I mean, the concern is that you get it all cut,
26:04and then you put it up and it doesn't fit.
26:05And that's a real risk and a real worry.
26:08These panels are more commonly seen on huge tower blocks,
26:12not small intricate houses.
26:13And putting them on the roof is unusual.
26:18We generally don't touch roofs as a company.
26:21But this is a new concept, a new concept to us,
26:24but one we were willing to take on, yeah.
26:27Seb's floating aluminium brackets should hold these heavy roofing panels,
26:31but not everyone is completely convinced.
26:35It looks like very solid, but everything is solid, you know,
26:41on the beginning, you know, but in the time, what happened then?
26:44As the installers follow the intricate cladding design,
26:49inside, Seb and his dad have begun oiling the exposed timber walls,
26:53and installing a system to circulate air through this high-performance building.
26:58I don't know how to do that.
27:01So lift the bottom up from here.
27:02No, lift it up and the legs will close.
27:04And it's fair to say the pace has slowed.
27:08Right, how are we doing this?
27:10Where's the little one that was in here?
27:12Oh, here.
27:13Oh, here.
27:13Wait.
27:14Let's think about this here.
27:16There's the other bit that goes in between there.
27:17Did I put it in this room?
27:18The thing with architects is that they focus on design,
27:21and they're not too bothered how you're going to build it.
27:23The NVHR air circulation system was not part of the original design,
27:29and in order for it to fit, Seb's discovered an unusual ducting system.
27:34Because of these ducts are rectangular, like this,
27:40that is 60 millimetres, and the floor build-up is about 70,
27:45so I can fit that under the floor.
27:46Fitting this system himself has saved almost £8,000.
27:51Are you screwing it, Seb?
27:52And with two-thirds of the £420,000 budget now spent,
27:56Seb will need to keep a close eye on costs.
28:00Cool, all good.
28:03Eight months into this project, and the scaffold is down.
28:07Seb and his dad are the only workers on site.
28:11Why don't we carry it, two of us?
28:12It's too heavy.
28:13That's right, Seb, lift.
28:15It's not too heavy, come.
28:16I'll roll it, I'll roll it.
28:17No, no.
28:18We've got all the stuff.
28:19We work quite well together.
28:21We argue a bit now and again.
28:22It's only natural.
28:24I've got to step up one.
28:25Go on.
28:26That's it, guys.
28:28I do work differently with Seb because he's very meticulous.
28:31Ow!
28:34If you ask me, Seb is a professionalist.
28:36I'm not as thorough as he is.
28:39So there's two millimetres difference from the top to the bottom here.
28:43I'm going to take a whisker off the end of this.
28:47I'm going to take a look.
28:50As Seb struggles with his internal doors, his front door is being fabricated just a few miles away.
29:00Working with Seb has been challenging.
29:03I'd say there's probably been like 300 emails.
29:06So that's been fun.
29:10There are thousands of decisions to make on a project, but one of the trickiest for Seb is what colour
29:17his front door should be.
29:20We started with this one, and I thought he'd go for that.
29:25I thought that would be the one he'd go for, but he didn't.
29:27He said, no, it's too pink.
29:31I can't see pink, but Seb saw pink.
29:33Two months doing samples.
29:36Very fussy customer.
29:40When the samples arrive, it's clear that Seb is beginning to suffer from decision fatigue.
29:47Wow.
29:48They all look the same.
29:50I thought I was quite decisive, and then I realised that I'm not.
29:53I'm horrible at making decisions.
29:54It's, yeah, it's a problem. It's becoming a problem.
30:01This one.
30:05The pace on site may be slowing, but ten months in, it looks like Seb is on the verge of
30:12pulling off something quite spectacular.
30:15Hey.
30:16Are you there?
30:17Hey.
30:18Oh, hey.
30:19How are you?
30:20Good.
30:21This is looking like a dangerously nearly finished house.
30:25The fence is looking particularly shit in comparison.
30:29Come on, let's go and have a look.
30:32Oh, well, the kitchen's in.
30:34Yeah, love it.
30:35You're doing everything yourself now, right?
30:36Yeah, now it's up to me to get this finished, really.
30:39That includes the staircase?
30:40Are you building that?
30:41I don't think I'm going to build the staircase.
30:44You're doing the kitchen?
30:45Kitchen, the flooring, a lot of the furniture as well.
30:48This is like, I don't know, Goldfinger and his plywood furniture.
30:52You know, you're just kind of experimenting, pushing.
30:54Yeah.
30:54Yeah, I quite like the idea of you build a house with me and then you build the bits in
30:58the house from the house.
30:59It's fun.
31:00And it's cheap.
31:00And it's cheap, yeah.
31:02For one man, there is still a huge amount to do.
31:05And Seb still has no solution for his decision-making problem.
31:09One of the things that I say to myself when I'm fretting about decision-making is, am I going to
31:14be bothered by this in six months' time?
31:17So what you want me to do then is to look at all your samples here and say, that's great.
31:21That'll go so well together.
31:23So if I said to you, that's a little bit 1970s, not sure, that's too disco mirror-ball, that idea
31:29is like, it's fashionable right now, but in ten minutes' time it'll be old hat.
31:33You don't want to hear me say any of that, do you?
31:36Uh, no, no, keep that to say.
31:38OK, so, yeah, right.
31:41The interior should be quite forgiving of any bold decision Seb may make, because it will always be dominated by
31:49timber.
31:50Seb is still laboriously protecting every inch of wood with a mix of paint and linseed oil.
31:59This is just, it's just lovely stuff.
32:03A job that brings a meditative oneness with the building.
32:07But the installation of the stairs is a return to precise fastidiousness.
32:14I can build a set of stairs with my usher.
32:16This particular set of stairs, not so much.
32:20We don't have any tolerances, everything is on show.
32:24I definitely wouldn't want to do this every day of the week, no.
32:27There has been a lot of tweaking, yeah, 100%.
32:29Still now, to this day, they're still tweaking, so yeah, there's a lot of tweaking.
32:33This timber staircase will be a great complement to this building, but it's not the one Seb originally wanted.
32:42The staircase I wanted was £48,000, and there's no, even if I had the money, there's no way I
32:50would spend £48,000.
32:51I think anyone should ever spend £48,000 on a staircase.
32:54This one was way more affordable.
32:59Seb has pushed so hard bringing this building to life, an opportunity few people receive.
33:07A scrap of garden has become an expression of face from one generation to the next.
33:13People are surprised with the long time it took.
33:18Yeah, quick.
33:20Quick.
33:21They can't put their extension so quick.
33:26Very nice, very nice, very good.
33:29You don't find buildings here with this type of finishing.
33:34It's lovely.
33:37The biggest obstacle to success here may now no longer be the intricacies of building, but rather Seb.
33:45No one will judge this house more harshly than its architect.
34:03Over 100 years ago, to the north-west of London, these leafy London suburbs sprang up.
34:09A prototype for a new way of living.
34:13Modern-day technology howards the creation of this shiny new suburban paradise.
34:20The Metropolitan Line drove a railway through open countryside in the north-west of what is now Greater London.
34:27And hand in glove with developers, they built this.
34:32Tens, hundreds of thousands of homes in the 1920s and 30s.
34:37All of which, sort of nowadays, have remained more or less the same.
34:43Until now.
34:4721st century technology has landed in Seb's grandparents' backyard.
34:52It looks like a super-narrow little townhouse, doesn't it?
34:58And then, and then you realise...
35:02It opens, it spreads, it gets more complicated.
35:05Look at the details up there. It...
35:09It's...
35:09Fabulous.
35:15Futuristic, sheer cladding.
35:17In familiar slanted shapes, this is suburban sci-fi architecture, rooted in the power of precision.
35:28Hey!
35:29Kevin!
35:30Seb, how are you?
35:31Good.
35:31Good to see you.
35:33Very good to see you.
35:34And very good to see this building.
35:36This is like a sort of like a spaceship in suburbia.
35:39I like that every time I look at the house, it looks a little bit different.
35:42And as you come round the curve, it opens up like a concertina.
35:46Yeah, yes.
35:47It just looks like a very slim, narrow townhouse.
35:50And then you come round and it's far more complex.
35:53You say to me right at the beginning,
35:55will there be a point where you think, great, I'm over all the problems?
35:58And you said, yes, when it's finished.
36:01Is it?
36:01Yeah, you know, it's all been a complete blur.
36:04I definitely feel very relieved to be at this point now.
36:07Having to do thousands and thousands of decisions and trying to get them right, basically.
36:12Would you like to come in?
36:14Of course I'd like to come in.
36:18Lovely threshold, beautiful door.
36:21This is beautiful, Seb.
36:24Inside, the dark exterior breaks to light.
36:28Everything in this place looks really considered.
36:32The exposed timber walls seem to relish their own strength and beauty.
36:37Such is their character.
36:41What is this?
36:43A crazy paving.
36:45Yeah, a bit of a nod to the crazy paving in the area.
36:47Done it outside.
36:48It's great.
36:49I didn't know I was going to do it this way.
36:51It's part of the freedom of when you're designing and building your own place.
36:54It is genius.
36:56I'm so pleased to see it furnished.
36:58I'm so pleased to see it detailed.
37:01And this is done, the kitchen.
37:03This is a CLT.
37:04I've got it cut down.
37:06The best thing about this process is being able to not just design it, but then actually work on it
37:10with my hands.
37:11It is a thing of beauty, Seb.
37:13I'm chuffed with it, actually.
37:16The cherry veneer of the kitchen is repeated on the skirting boards and around the window box reveals, running a
37:23ribbon of red timber round the building towards the small garden.
37:28But the star of this ground floor is Seb's staircase.
37:33The company that produced these mainly produced loft staircases that are often carpeted and overclad and are purely functional.
37:41And you sent them 300 emails and designed it to within the inch of its life and then they made
37:47it.
37:47This is beautiful.
37:48I love the little gap.
37:50I love that the handrail and the spindles are all made from the same timber.
37:58On the first floor, there's a guest bedroom and a generous bathroom.
38:03The detailing and choice of materials suggest Seb is not only an architect, but a very talented craftsman.
38:13Up here, too.
38:15Your bedroom.
38:17It's very good.
38:19It's very beautifully done.
38:20Dark floors and I like the way you've cranked the bed to respect the street.
38:25But also then gives you that diagonal view.
38:29The ensuite offers yet another glorious surprise.
38:34Oh, this is huge.
38:36So much taller than it is wide.
38:39Providing this amazing experience, that's what architects are for Seb.
38:43That's why you're here.
38:46Seb's double height shower, of course, steals space from the roof on the top floor.
38:51Up we go.
38:54Where strong timber geometric planes.
38:58Oh my lord.
39:00Collide with a painstakingly delicate floor.
39:05This is, this is very beautiful.
39:08Is this homemade? Is this, or did you buy this?
39:11This is a flooring product I bought.
39:13This is beautiful, Seb.
39:15It's actually large. It comes in little tiles.
39:18They're beautiful. How much work was there in this?
39:20Ages. It took ages.
39:21A detailed workspace for a detailed architect.
39:26And it also boasts the best view in the house.
39:33Oh, you're showing off.
39:35Twin open.
39:36Lovely view across the gardens of North London.
39:39It's not bad, is it?
39:43And there, to admire, and it's beautiful, is your roof cladding system.
39:51You're pleased with that?
39:52Yeah, I think it's good.
39:53I think on this project, it's an opportunity to test things out and a bit of freedom to do it.
39:58So, why not?
39:59Yeah, but it's your own home.
40:01You can't experiment on your clients.
40:02Exactly.
40:03Seb has crafted a timber jewellery box from engineered tree, yet full of precious, delicate details locked behind a warm,
40:14robust external armour.
40:17Of course, this house was an opportunity only afforded by the generosity of Seb's neighbours, his grandparents.
40:25You were hoping you'd have it for your 99th birthday.
40:29That's happened.
40:29Next year, it will be 100.
40:30100.
40:31So, well in time for your 100s.
40:33Well in time, yes.
40:34It's a good birthday present.
40:35Yeah.
40:36It gives us pleasure and happiness to have him near to us.
40:41He worked very hard.
40:42Very proud.
40:43I can say, during my lifetime, I will have seen a building put up by my grandson.
40:51I've got the key.
40:52Yeah.
40:53Certainly, you can come over and enjoy the place.
40:55I can go any time I want.
40:57I can open the door, yeah.
40:59Good.
41:02So much of this opportunity relied on family.
41:06Seb's parents also played a pivotal role.
41:10Well, architects very rarely get to build their own homes and those that are lucky enough to do so are
41:16changed by it.
41:17To see him develop from starting and being nervous and not knowing what was happening and he's got confidence now.
41:24Yeah.
41:25And he even said to me that if he was to do it again, he's learnt a lot from it
41:28and he'd do it a lot different and a lot better.
41:30But it's all part of the learning experience.
41:32Yeah.
41:32How proud are you of him?
41:34I'm very proud.
41:35I'm immensely proud.
41:36I mean, who wouldn't be?
41:37To think that 14 months ago, this was just the back of a garden that was hardly ever used.
41:43And now, Seb has crafted a house and a very unique one as that.
41:48Yeah.
41:48And you can't help but admire that.
41:50I don't think many people could do that.
41:51I certainly couldn't and I've got more experience in building.
41:55Yes, totally proud.
41:56Have you told him?
41:57Not in so many words, but actions speak louder than words.
42:02OK.
42:05For Seb, his family's support could easily have become an added pressure.
42:09Another anxiety to manage and wrangle.
42:14But Seb has survived the headwinds.
42:17He's remained fast and true and delivered a building that even he can be proud of.
42:25So this project, right, is for you, in terms of your career, a, what do you call it, a watershed
42:31turning point or what?
42:34I'm not entirely sure.
42:35I'm very proud of it.
42:36It's been, yeah, it's been really hard, really challenging, entirely consuming at times.
42:43To the point where I thought, I want out of this.
42:46But I'm so glad that I took the leap and actually did it.
42:51I want to know if there's a moment, an experience you've had here which surprised you?
42:56The day the CLT arrived, that piece of work I was so dedicated to arrive on the back of the
43:02lorry,
43:02that at that point I thought, well, what's going on here?
43:07Have I bitten off more than I can chew?
43:10But you can't stop once you start the whole experience, actually.
43:14Yeah.
43:15It's been really positive.
43:17Like, your parents were, like, 100% behind this, right?
43:19Mm.
43:19Hugely supportive.
43:20Dad turned out to be, like, you know, labourer on site.
43:24Yeah.
43:24Has that changed your relationship?
43:29It's challenging working with other people, especially someone as close to you as your own father.
43:34And it's challenging for him as well, of course.
43:37But, you know what, it's made our relationship stronger.
43:39At times I've felt quite alone on this project and knowing that I've got another set of eyes and ears
43:44to fall back on.
43:45I'm entirely grateful to him for his dedication.
43:49Buildings take too long to get out the ground, they get too long to put up, right?
43:52And here was a project that went up in 13 months.
43:57I was struggling to try and keep up with it at times.
43:59I thought about nothing else, really.
44:02You said £420,000 is what it would cost you to build.
44:05Is that what it cost you to build?
44:06It cost me £425,000.
44:08£5,000 over.
44:09Mm.
44:10It's a huge amount of money, but I think what I've got for it
44:15is a really high-quality home.
44:19It's something that you can be proud of.
44:21Yeah, it's the thing that I did.
44:23It's a thing that you did.
44:25I've done a house.
44:27Yeah, that's cool.
44:31I'm not sure how long Seb will call these wooden walls home.
44:36In a strange way for him, they've already served their greatest purpose.
44:40They've taught him to trust his instincts, to push his ideas and believe in himself.
44:48I hope Seb comes to love this building as much as he loved the process of building it.
44:55Because this is a house that has earned the right, that deserves to be loved.
45:02You know, the best buildings in the world are not those which are template, patent book copies of each other,
45:08but buildings which are their own prototypes, which are a bit experimental, which push and try.
45:15And if, like Seb, that's something you want to do,
45:20then if you can bring along those around you, your supply chain,
45:24your friends, your family, your builders,
45:28and earn their trust and faith in the process,
45:32then what you can build isn't just a building which is going to fly,
45:35but one which can soar.
45:49It's a building full of dread.
45:52This is terrific.
45:53And you are living here?
45:54Yes.
45:54You're not sad about saying goodbye to it.
45:57Well, we're done!
45:58This is our caravan where we're going to live while we're building the house.
46:01Things have taken longer than we thought.
46:04I've been coming here for eight years,
46:07and finally there's a semblance of a building here.
46:10You were a young man at the start.
46:11Would I want to do it again?
46:13Never.
46:13What do I want to do now,