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00:01Three boxes of self-tappers, four boxes of the self-drilling screws.
00:09Oh, very nice.
00:11The thing is, about all these modern advancements in construction,
00:16they're all very well.
00:17They are designed, of course, to make construction faster, easier, more efficient.
00:23But if you've been in the game as long as I have,
00:25then you will know that it doesn't matter how streamlined you try and make your project,
00:31it will always take longer than you think.
00:34Anyway, what was it, sir? Four candles?
01:06I don't know, I always loved the sea, just loved the space.
01:11I always liked that space, you know, the sensation of space.
01:16I grew up in the Czech Republic.
01:18You would, you know, pack your little skoda with all the stuff you had
01:22and we would just travel for two and a half days to the sea.
01:28Every time we got there, just, you know, seeing those horizons
01:32and feeling the space made me think.
01:35It was my childhood dream to live by the sea.
01:39You know, you take your dreams and you make them come true.
01:41That's the whole point of, I think, having them.
01:46Jana's dream of living by the sea came a step closer when she met Rory.
01:53I never, ever expected to live here when I got older.
01:58I grew up there, next to that block of flats.
02:03This is one of Edinburgh's coastal suburbs.
02:07Handsome houses with a thriving community.
02:11But for Jana, it has one irrefutable asset.
02:15A huge horizon, a view of the sea.
02:20I've been here for 14 years, so consider this place,
02:24this family we have as my home.
02:27Ooh!
02:29So we're gonna, we're gonna build our dream house.
02:33Rory and Jana are both artists and have two young children.
02:36You're gonna go swimming with Mummy.
02:38Otto is three and Nina just one.
02:42The family's main income is from Jana's art installations
02:45and Rory's carpentry and design business.
02:48I've always wanted to build a house since I was a kid.
02:51And we want to create a space where you're comfortable to be in
02:56and you can just sit and think and see the sea.
03:03The family own an old prefab on a scrap of land
03:07next to the mainline railway.
03:10It's a building with a special history.
03:15We live in a driving test centre
03:17and I did my test there twice.
03:2117 years later, we live there.
03:24This long hut, bought for £40,000,
03:28was once the launch pad for thousands of Scottish road users.
03:33Rory and Jana now want to replace it
03:35with something a little more comfortable.
03:38Sorry, thanks very much, madam.
03:40Checking all the time for pedestrians and traffic,
03:43observing the speed limit
03:45and bearing in mind all the guidelines of the highway code.
03:49Oh, speed bump.
03:50You didn't have those in 1977 when I passed my test.
03:54Oh, here it is.
03:55It's a building full of dread.
04:04Originally they bought it as a shared studio,
04:06but Rory and Jana have called this shack home for the past six years.
04:11Hello. Hi.
04:12How are you? Good, thanks.
04:14Yana, is that right?
04:15Yeah. Yeah.
04:16Rory, how are you? Good, how are you?
04:17Great, I'm really pleased I found my way here.
04:19This is terrific.
04:21And you are living here.
04:22Yes.
04:23It's not being easy always.
04:26Sometimes, like, especially during the winters, it's quite tough.
04:29Yana's made me promise for the past six winters that this is the last winter.
04:34You're not sad about saying goodbye to it.
04:36There is lots of beautiful memories attached to the building, so, in a way, I will be a little bit
04:42sad, but then I'll be in the same spot, just in a better building.
04:47It's sort of slightly infrastructure heavy, this particular location, isn't it? I mean, electricity substation there, railway there.
04:55How intense is it living with all of this stuff around you in this quite dense way?
05:00You just notice the nature, actually.
05:02Yeah, we are not aware of it. We got used to train line. We get so used to it that
05:07you don't notice it anymore.
05:09So enamoured by this place?
05:11This beauty.
05:12Am I allowed a tour?
05:13Yeah, let's go.
05:14Sure.
05:14Does it take long?
05:17Yeah, well, this is our bedroom, Nino's bedroom, Otto's bedroom, and then our studio over here.
05:24Oh, you've got everything in one space.
05:26Yeah, we do, yeah.
05:28So, there's a family of four in this one crowded room. Clearly, there's need for change.
05:35So, what's through there? The kitchen.
05:38Of course, I've forgotten about the kitchen.
05:40Along here.
05:41It's nice.
05:42Yeah.
05:43Original cooker.
05:44Yeah.
05:45Splendid.
05:46As artists, you must both be quite excited, the idea of being able to make a building.
05:50Yeah.
05:51As a joint work.
05:52We think of it as a project.
05:56Their architect for this project is Ian MacLeod, an old friend of Rory's who lives locally.
06:02Together, they designed a building that has creativity and family life at its heart.
06:08Their small site is hemmed in by an electricity substation and an access road to a derelict old train station.
06:17They'll start by demolishing their current home, replacing it with a concrete slab poured right to the perimeter of their
06:24site.
06:24They'll then place factory cut super insulated timber panels to form a near passive standard structure.
06:32Two shoe boxes that should go up in under two weeks.
06:39By sliding the upper, smaller box forward into a cantilever, they want to make a generous terrace at the back,
06:47an important outside space.
06:51Inside, they've maximized light by placing three bedrooms and two bathrooms on the ground floor, while keeping the first floor
07:01open plan with a kitchen, dining and lounge area.
07:06The star attraction will be a cinemascope window to capture a view down to the beach and sea.
07:13The building will be clad in brick on the ground floor and elegant strips of Scottish Douglas fir stretching up
07:21to the roof, maximizing every inch of space.
07:25The result should be sleek, bright, low energy and much more comfortable than their current home.
07:33This is a building designed around a hoped-for view.
07:37The best glimpse of that view today is from the driving test centre's roof.
07:43Aha!
07:44Well, this isn't good, Nick.
07:46Yeah.
07:47This is great, Nick.
07:48Saved as well.
07:48Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
07:49It's like walking down the roof of a barge on a canal.
07:52Yeah.
07:53What's that hill out over there, that lump?
07:55That's Fife.
07:56Looking that way, quite bucolic.
07:59Yeah.
07:59Love it.
08:00Nice.
08:00Really nice.
08:01So you've got your architecture on board because he's a mate of yours.
08:04Yeah.
08:04Do you have anybody to help you build this?
08:07No.
08:08Who is going to build it?
08:09How are you planning on doing that?
08:10I'm going to build it.
08:12You're not going to build the whole thing?
08:13Ah, the majority.
08:15You're not going to do your own ground works?
08:17No, that's the one thing that I've decided.
08:19And you're not going to be a plumber or electrician?
08:21No.
08:22No.
08:22You're not making the SIPS panels because they're being made off site?
08:25So how much is it going to cost then?
08:27Around 200,000.
08:29You think?
08:30Yeah.
08:31When do you intend to start?
08:33We don't know.
08:35OK.
08:35So you don't know when you're going to start.
08:37You don't quite really know how much it's going to cost and you don't know who's doing
08:41it.
08:43Other than you.
08:44Other than you.
08:44We know who's doing it.
08:45How many winters yet?
08:47Does he say you're still going to have to be in this place?
08:49Well, he promised last winter was the last.
08:52I hope next winter move in.
08:55But where are you going to live in the meantime?
08:58Well, that's also a little bit up in the air.
09:00Yeah, to be determined.
09:01OK.
09:01I wasn't sure whether to give this to you, but I'm going to anyway.
09:03And you can stick it on your hard hat.
09:05Yeah.
09:05I mean, only a project manager hard hat.
09:09Well done.
09:10Thanks.
09:14120,000 pounds of savings and a small self-built mortgage will finance this ambiguous plan.
09:22But they still need a building warrant, a groundworks team and somewhere to live.
09:26And, of course, all that takes a little longer than they thought.
09:35There is some good news, as in the autumn, Jana wins an important art commission in London.
09:42Kids are here with us.
09:46Being an artist and being a mum is really hard at the moment.
09:50Just because they are still so small and they really need me.
09:54So finding time to create new work, it's very challenging.
10:01When we're building our house, there will be so many decisions to make.
10:06It's about design and colour and fine detail.
10:10Hopefully it will, you know, it will all look great at the end and we will be really happy with
10:16a new place.
10:18We're going to have patience.
10:27But their patience is already being tested.
10:32It's 14 months since I first met Jana and Rory.
10:37And only now the demolition of the old driving test centre finally begins.
10:45Oh, there's the kitchen.
10:47Oh, the kitchen's all. Bye.
10:49Oh, what a car.
10:52I had a dream today that we walked into the new house.
10:55It's much better than any of my drinks.
10:57Mine were all freak-out drinks.
11:00Yeah.
11:01Goodbye diving test centre.
11:03Yeah.
11:04Hey, that was our, that was our house.
11:08What have I done?
11:12There's no turning back.
11:14It's gone.
11:14Their old house is turned to rubble.
11:18But they do have permission to put a small caravan on their neighbour's land.
11:23Luckily, this family are used to life in tiny spaces.
11:26This is our caravan where we're going to live for while we're building the house.
11:31The plan can always change, but we are just sticking with this version for now.
11:36As winter bites, they begin to dig out their foundations.
11:41But there's some bad news about the site of their new temporary accommodation.
11:46So we put a caravan on our neighbour's land, but they've never put it up for auction.
11:51So that's slightly problematic.
11:55By the spring, a year and a half into this adventure,
11:59this family are still living in a caravan next to the site,
12:02where construction of the new home they dreamed might now be finished.
12:07How are you?
12:08In fact, hasn't even started.
12:12No driving test centre.
12:14There's a crater left behind, yeah?
12:16But no house?
12:17No.
12:17Well, not yet.
12:18Well, no, but you were thinking you might have built it by now.
12:21I know.
12:21So what's the plan?
12:22What's the plan instead?
12:24Well, we've got the caravan here and we bought a train station.
12:30Yeah.
12:31So you bought, on top of owning this site, the site behind it?
12:37Yeah.
12:39So you bought this.
12:41I'm struggling to understand why you've bought more when you had so little money.
12:47Because it was a sort of defensive move.
12:49Because we could have been screwed if someone else had bought this,
12:53that could have prevented us building.
12:56That could have been done.
12:56This unplanned purchase includes an acre of scrubland.
13:00It secures access to their site and it certainly increases their project's ambition.
13:06But ambition is expensive.
13:09How much do you pay for this, plus your acre of land?
13:12It's £240.
13:13Have you had to dip into your project budget at all?
13:16Yes.
13:16How much money have you got left now?
13:20For what?
13:21Well, for building.
13:22I mean, for doing all of this work you've got to do.
13:24For providing a home.
13:25Yeah, it's gone down a bit.
13:28How much is it now?
13:30It's £115.
13:32£115.
13:32Before you had more to spend on one building and now you've got £115 to spend on two.
13:38Yeah?
13:38Yeah.
13:39Yeah.
13:46I mean, you can understand why they want to do this.
13:48It's a lovely idea, but the economics underpinning it are highly fragile.
13:55You know, they've got not one house to build now, but two houses, in effect, with less money.
14:03They have borrowed from family and spent all their savings.
14:07Their decision to buy this land puts them in an even more precarious position.
14:13A decision they may well come to regret.
14:28In Edinburgh, Yana and Rory's dream of building a family home by the sea is faltering to say the least.
14:36They've used almost half of their original £200,000 budget on the acquisition of an acre of wasteland surrounding their
14:44site.
14:45They now have just over £100,000 to not only start their project, but also transform this derelict old train
14:53station into a temporary home and workshop.
14:56Well, the roof's on, and the walls are good and there aren't any cracks.
15:02So, what, you're going to convert this to a workspace and convert next door?
15:05Until we flat.
15:09Oh, this is all right.
15:10It's plastered.
15:11It's modern plastered.
15:12It's concrete-floored.
15:13There are even some ceilings in this bit.
15:16Yeah, we've almost finished this room.
15:20So, the plan is to live in the caravan while you do this up, move into here, build the house.
15:29Yeah.
15:30Simple.
15:31You know, quickly enough that, you know, we can enjoy our children to grow up in a new house.
15:36Yeah.
15:37Move into here this year, before the winter, so you have a proper home in this place.
15:42Oh, yeah.
15:42I look forward to seeing that.
15:45However seductive this new vision may be, I suspect the walls of this old waiting room may still have some
15:51waiting left to do.
16:01Having survived one winter in their caravan, the arrival of summer is quite a relief.
16:07Oh, that's a good one.
16:08Good shot.
16:09Do you like living in the caravan?
16:12Yes?
16:14I like living in the caravan.
16:15It's very cosy.
16:16And I like my Legos.
16:18Yeah, I like Legos.
16:19We've gone through some serious weather in this.
16:21Mine is six.
16:23We're going to be in here until mid-August.
16:26Yeah.
16:27Time is not my friend.
16:29Rory does manage to quickly convert the old ticket office into a workshop, so necessary for earning some much-needed
16:37cash.
16:39But by the following year, the old station house is still a long way from finished.
16:46Kitchen sink, shower and bathroom sink are going there.
16:50Toilet will drop into there.
16:53Yeah, things have taken longer than we thought we were meant to be in here ages ago.
16:58The tough bit is when you're living on site and you see it every day and you're like, there's my
17:03list, my huge long list of things to do.
17:06After well over a year, it would seem caravan life is losing its appeal.
17:11What do you think of living in the caravan?
17:15Bad.
17:15Bad?
17:17Really?
17:18The life last year, last past year was very hard.
17:26It's not for everyone to live in the caravan.
17:30me and the caravan are we're pretty much we're kind of ready to go our separate ways because
17:39we've spent a lot of time together and it's been good but i think we see things differently now
17:44there were some tough you know times over the winter it was it was bleak if it's raining it's
17:51it's pretty bad you're always having to like fix something in the caravan like it's leaking with
17:58the electricity going and the plumbing's blowing up again so every time you take one step forward
18:05on the house there's like something drawing you back in early in the summer after 18 months of
18:16caravan paradise this family at last have a warmer larger space to call home i've still got a few
18:24bits and bobs to do like i need to build a kitchen put a couple of doors on and the
18:32skirting and then
18:33we're kind of we're pretty much there the next place we are moving is the new house and now
18:40my optimism is like back in full force and like we're ready to do it yeah how are you doing
18:47not
18:48bad how are you doing good with renewed faith rory visits his architect and good friend ian mcleod
18:56so how's life in luxury with a proper roof over your head it's so good i don't know how we
19:01did it
19:03it's just so nice few people understand rory and the nature of this project better rory's maybe not
19:11your average person he's creative fairly eccentric i guess they could go their own space now they can
19:18go into separate rooms if you want to slide in about on their socks it's really good rory as a
19:24friend
19:25and the client won't mind me saying that he is the king of the faff so but as much as
19:34he can be seen
19:34to be faffing i think there is a master plan in his head and i think it will all come
19:38good in the end
19:39do you reckon we could pull it off in eight months i don't see why not a lot a lot
19:46of that's down to
19:46you obviously i mean i wouldn't bet my house on it positive energy goes a long way in construction
19:54but yun and rory only want to start building once they've replenished their savings
20:05a job made harder as over the next three years the world witnesses the covid pandemic and the
20:12beginning of a war in ukraine and this small corner of edinburgh becomes overgrown and forgotten
20:22five years since i last met rory and yana i've made it back to the coast and i hope that
20:29their
20:29plans for a house with a view haven't been completely obscured
20:40well the world has changed a great deal in the last five years but this quiet suburban backwater
20:47of edinburgh well this place seems almost unaltered having said that i can hear a digger
20:58no progress i mean a tiny bit but it's progress
21:06hello hello hi nice to see you hi and you how are you how are you yeah good good how
21:12are you yeah
21:13very good you look very old how are you you look very happy but then you started you've done some
21:18work yes yeah we did this is adrian the superstar say does he provide the plinth for the sips yeah
21:23well what's happened progress progress we can't live in a one bedroom flat forever you were a
21:30young man at the start of this once you get a structure up and it's fit out and bingo our
21:36plan
21:36is to get it watertight by i mean the classic christmas isn't it ah the classic christmas yes
21:43you've got your sips yeah price and everything yeah how much is that going to cost it's approximately 80
21:4980 grand for the sips sounds good value and thereafter no more cash it has to be from income
21:54yeah to fit it up luckily income's gone well so okay good so this is not a false dawn this
22:02is the
22:02bright sunny uplands of construction yeah indeed
22:09rory and jana will need 200 000 pounds just to get to a watertight structure
22:14money they hope they'll find with both a self-built mortgage and their savings into the red door yes
22:22train station red it's by no means a palace but the station is a big improvement on the caravan
22:29and the finished kitchen this is your workmanship yeah yeah nice is a tantalizing taste of rory's
22:37craftsmanship you've been in here how long now four years four years yeah four years now yeah it's
22:43small i mean this is diner kitchen living room office it's all in one room and the next door
22:49kids bedroom our bedroom and bathroom so it gets you know there are times where it feels like
22:56tensions yeah you know when you've got four screaming people in the house that's when it's
23:01time to move on yeah well nothing focuses the mind like children exactly yeah but there again you see
23:06you keep out this long enough then they'll have left exactly for otto who's now 10 the adventure of
23:14this project is one he's been on all his life otto who built this um me and my dad how
23:22cool to do
23:23something with him yeah when the new house is built you get your own room is that the plan what's
23:29the deal that's like the most exciting part really are you are you glad that mum and dad are building
23:34this house or do you really wish they'd just gone out and bought one bought one yeah i thought you'd
23:39say
23:39that it would have been easier yeah and probably cheaper and very much quicker but um how many of your
23:48friends have got tree houses like this none of them there you go yeah it's one thing special here
23:54cling on to that otto yeah but this is finished yeah well not yet okay good luck
24:05the slab is not yet complete and already any newfound optimism is swallowed up by harsh reality
24:16we thought we had everything all ready to go but the mortgage offer lapsed we had to reapply oh my
24:23god
24:24yet another massive hurdle we cannot stare at this foundation for rest of our lives we just have to
24:30keep going because the self-built mortgage has elapsed they have nowhere near enough money to get this
24:38building watertight so again it seems this project has no viable way forward but then this is a city
24:47that understands ambitious dreams that were left unfinished this is a national monument of scotland
24:57it's in edinburgh on calton hill the sort of the acropolis of this great city the city of the
25:03enlightenment it was built to memorialize the fallen of the napoleonic wars and to inspire future
25:12generations as well it was built to mimic the parthenon in athens but it was only half built and that's
25:20because actually they ran out of money so in the end this great structure sort of memorializes one
25:28thing and that's just not finishing things oh i can see rory and gana's house from here
25:47in edinburgh rory and gana have now been dreaming of building a family seaview home for close to a decade
25:54by the summer of 2024 after another long wait for finance the funds are in place to finally get a
26:03watertight shell up and there's an important delivery taken a while but this is our house it seems almost
26:12cruel but after such a long wait for this house these precise pre-insulated panels and thick steel beams
26:19will be fitted together by a two-man crew in just a couple of weeks slightly surreal after so long
26:27to
26:29for it just to be happening for yana and rory the green shoots of construction are accompanied by a
26:35moment of sober relief would i want to do it again never would i recommend it no
26:44this highly insulated structure cost 80 000 pounds and isn't just designed for high performance
26:51but also to slot together easily there's always a few that that we have to alter but i've done it
26:58so
26:59many times that it doesn't matter we know we know how to fix it by the following week it's clear
27:04things are really starting to happen in edinburgh i've been coming here for eight years and finally
27:12there's a semblance of a building here praise be oh oh oh that's good look at the ceilings
27:25you see you could squeeze a three-story building into that just so generous that's the sound of
27:34construction which i do not want to stop because i'm worried that if they stop hammering they'll stop
27:42forever so lofty the whole of this space is organized in a really linear way back to front
27:52of the building and this enormous great glazed end which has this oh hard thoughtful glimpsed view
28:01over the water over the first of force to the kingdom of fife
28:07for so long yana and rory have been nourished only by an idea now at last they have something tangible
28:15a structure a space so how are you good terrific you've got a sort of building we have i mean
28:24it's
28:24always a built-on amazing this is like less than two weeks oh it's amazing so you know it's really
28:30fast yeah have you dared to start thinking about how you might live and enjoy the space i think i'm
28:37still thinking about details yeah we've been mentally traveling through this space for years anyways
28:42oh yeah wow what a long journey you've been on how many miles have you walked in your mind i've
28:49got
28:49new slippers right come on i mean you know it's been so long this wait you're going to take a
28:54breather
28:54after this please don't say yes no so we're just going to crack on get it watertight yeah so that
29:00involves i'm going to build a parapet then the roof comes membrane insulation membrane goes on will be
29:08watertight from above then the windows arrive put those in when do the windows arrive straight after
29:14so they're already waiting for us in the warehouse okay and then we start on the brickwork and then the
29:21cladding yeah and then we're screwed we run out of money how much time do you have to do all
29:26this
29:27are you are you busy with work yeah always but it's like let's say we want to definitely complete
29:34it within a year and a half yeah max a year and a half that wins the end of 2025
29:39yes
29:46to see a building suddenly rise out of a site this is the great advantage of something like a sips
29:51panel
29:52system you can explore the volumes and suddenly the building is kind of within your grasp hey except
29:58that it isn't because there's still so much to do in fact the sips panel structure is really the
30:04beginning of proper construction here and that's the issue you know the momentum that this system brings
30:11is something that rory and yana are going to have to grasp and keep a firm grip on because that
30:18momentum
30:19needs to be consistent now through the rest of the project they need to drive it forwards
30:25thing is momentum isn't exactly an idea they're used to
30:33but to their credit rory and yana maintain that momentum over the next few weeks
30:39yana can you pass me that bit of play at the end they work on the roof and finish wrapping
30:45the building
30:45in a breathable membrane slowly the future joy of living in this house begins to reveal itself
30:54it will be nice view from the kitchen table by early august the windows arrive
31:00the huge piece of glazing at the front is a critical part of the character of this building
31:08i'm so glad i didn't do the windows myself that was that was heavy as ever the constant worry for
31:16rory
31:16and yana is money money is gonna get us watertight and it's back to back to the coal face with
31:26a new
31:26budget of 300 000 pounds they've already spent half of that on the slab structure and now windows
31:34i quite like this one as well though but they allow themselves the luxury of daydreaming about
31:40interiors now that we're at that stage they just realize that actually our tastes have changed a bit
31:46or it's evolved maybe a few years back i would go for more uh brighter colors uh but i think
31:53my taste
31:54sort of developed and changed and i'm now more attracted to past the colors and and warm calm tones
32:03over winter the finances dwindle the only progress is the immaculate brick cladding on the ground floor
32:12but the jobs rory wanted to do himself are yet to start
32:19jana is now working nearby with one of her closest friends in the local community
32:24the fact that they come from an art background i think they've always had to have a huge amount
32:30of drive this house is basically their life's work and they've just kept going through thick and thin
32:37and i really admire them for that by the following summer that perseverance is rewarded
32:44a small mortgage on the station house has allowed that precious momentum to return
32:49other way right okay they can now install the underfloor heating has anyone ever had their fingers
32:56stapled yes and pour the screed
33:01do you know they just made our new floors can you see them
33:06it's exciting isn't it yeah
33:10what's for dinner but the end of year deadline is becoming increasingly unlikely
33:18it's been quite a roller coaster for quite a long time yeah i want to get off now
33:57you can see why jana's inspired by this place by the abstract open nature of it the beauty of it
34:04why rory is magnetically held to it he's lived just since he was a child because it is a great
34:11place to be
34:11and live and live and that idea i think has sustained them through this entire project
34:18this has always been home i mean i think they're nearly there i hope they're nearly there
34:34despite the sacrifices that jana and rory have made the constraints of space time money comfort
34:44they have always clung to a defiant optimism and that's a place where some of our greatest buildings
34:51are born i have trodden this street for a decade and i'm rather amazed to see this here finally
35:03i mean that's really quite sharp and beautiful and fresh
35:11that's splendid worth waiting for
35:17the gray sandstone terraces have played silent witness to the creation of this smart timber box
35:23on a perfect pale brick plinth
35:27a house that couldn't be more different
35:32isn't it amazing what you can do with a box you can slide it a bit shift it cut it
35:38an angle create
35:40interest drama movement energy and everywhere across this building in the way that the cladding
35:48runs underneath that soffit in the garden the paths the detailing of this place you see rory
35:54and jana two artists at work that's that's quite magical after 10 years of compromise and worry
36:04jana and rory hi are still smiling i can't believe it how are you very good to see you very
36:11good to see
36:11yana and you rory yeah are you well i'm good it's looking really lovely actually it's like cabinetry
36:18it's proper and i don't expect anything else from you what does ian call you king of faff
36:24king of faff wanker let's call you prince of detail exactly all right i remember standing almost
36:31exactly the spot in front of the driving test center magnificent as it was it was a beautiful
36:36building a lot of happy memories yeah i mean how many years in the driving center seven how many is
36:41in the caravan one and a half how many years in the station six how many years so far in
36:46the house none
36:48how many days in the house none oh wow so you're still living yeah yeah we're getting closer okay it's
36:56beautiful but it's not finished it's a painting which is ready to be put color onto i mean i am
37:03absolutely amazed with rory because he just keeps going in his pace and i know now we get there like
37:11we definitely get it it's gonna be amazing great let's go have a look let's go have a look at
37:16acres of
37:17plasterboard after you thank you come in oh oh oh it's it's lovely
37:29it's exquisite because it's like their bone architecture you can sort of really appreciate
37:33the building with lighting as well that's a big difference oh i love it it's so tall it's amazing
37:41really generous yeah like the bright spaces of an empty exhibition these walls are waiting to be
37:51brought to life by these two artists rory and jana can now stop floundering in the current and eddies of
37:58construction and start to truly express what they want from their home it's nice at this stage just to
38:05get a little pause and look at the the canvas it's lovely to see the shadow plate on the walls
38:12you
38:12know rooms are quite humble but uh with a high ceiling you still get this sense of general
38:18spatial love lovely point the three ground floor bedrooms are almost ready for their fresh ash floorboards
38:27i dare say it'll take a little longer for rory's handmade staircase to materialize
38:33so upstairs single space yeah yeah yeah which is i mean i'm very excited by that so this view
38:40currently through the trees that's going to be maintained right yeah and that's replaced by this view
38:47that looks great
38:50in the majesty of the station building
38:56and then this this great long window it's superb glorious
39:05beyond the makeshift floor and blank walls the views are verdant and bursting into life
39:13this space has all the promise of something quite remarkable
39:17every window you look throughout the house has a green backdrop it was the idea that the nature will
39:24sort of you know travel in also the thing you're going to have to do is gently just illuminate the
39:30station house like an like a second object because it it's so perfectly framed by that window at the
39:36front end yeah it's like a little gem yeah yeah it really is are you making the kitchen yeah yeah
39:42on top of
39:43the staircase on top of all the doors and the skating boards and the joinery and everything i think it
39:47makes sense so is the plan then to do like you know using the house as a kind of template
39:52for
39:53prototypes yeah you got to i think it's going to give us a new lease of life amazing as artists
39:58and
39:58does that apply to you as well yeah yeah definitely definitely i am looking forward to make some
40:03paintings for the walls here
40:08here
40:09rory and jana's very long adventure has been full of hardship and sacrifice
40:15but they did have support from their local community
40:19from family and of course from their architect an old friend of the king of faf
40:28is this is this the longest project you've had on site uh absolutely yeah i'd be i'd be worried
40:35if i had too many that went on this long the number of hurdles along the way have um you
40:42know
40:42been been a challenge but no point in the process where i ever thought it even crossed my mind they
40:48wouldn't deliver a wonderful project at the end of it a key attribute of rory and yana is that
40:53it always works out this place is tantalizingly close to being a functioning house
41:02it must be a huge relief for this project's sternest critics nina and also how desperate are you to
41:11have your own space very desperate i thought you might be yeah yeah with a door on it yeah my
41:18friends
41:18came yesterday they find it really different to what it was mom and dad yeah i'm proud of them
41:25yeah you're on their side yeah that's when i took a wee while but it's fine yeah do you think
41:33later in
41:33life you would build your own house nope i don't think so no it takes too long
41:43getting their family into this home has to be the next big priority
41:47the protection joys and comforts this space will deliver are at the heart of why we build
41:57making it a home that will always take a little bit longer
42:03i feel like i'm sitting in an art gallery now it's sort of like scarily ready for something you know
42:10it just seems to me that the long journey is not for everyone i don't blame them it's fucking hard
42:15sometimes in 10 years we built two houses we built two careers we brought up two children
42:26yeah i'm happy with that you know i'm happy with that score in 10 years you two seem to have
42:33found
42:33the stamina and i wonder where it comes from i remember it was winter we're in the caravan
42:41and a ruin in the back garden a hole in the ground no money and it was pissing with rain
42:49and i just thought shit what are we gonna do yeah yeah i cannot see a way out of this
42:54i think like we're both determined and we don't give up it's our lives you know these were our decisions
43:01and we truly like stand behind them it doesn't matter what anybody else think this is our journey
43:08and it's exhausting and sometimes you're doubting it of course you do but it's ours
43:15does the finished thing resemble your view your vision your hope
43:21i think it actually surprised me a little miracle
43:26blinking well it is really and we're still together which is great
43:31are you like like 400 000 pounds in debt now no more like 300
43:39how much have you think we think somewhere between three and 350
43:45thousand gonna rent out the station house and oh wow keep the workshops
43:51so you've got a plan here yeah otto and nina oh how are they i think they definitely didn't
43:58have the easy i hope what that show them that if you work really hard you can really you can
44:05get
44:06what you dream of
44:12so it would seem that jana's belief that dreams are there to be realized is true
44:17that with resilience and stamina and optimism good things can happen they did here
44:30i know what you're thinking you're thinking you could have built this on budget in time 15 18 months
44:38you'd be in there living your life how fantastic except that you wouldn't have an extra acre and a
44:43half a garden that you could have negotiated to buy you wouldn't have been able to then acquire the
44:48track next door giving you access to your station that you bought to live in and which you're now
44:53letting in order to win some income from i mean what this project demonstrates is that if you take a
45:00time if you open your heart to opportunity to excitement to adventure if you're prepared to take
45:07the artistic route wow then you create a different kind of world for yourself although i do suspect
45:16that to do this kind of thing you really just need to be rory indiana
45:32back in 1999 jill and chris gutted an industrial mill what a dump they wanted the shock of the new
45:41what's it gonna look like like a spare ship they wanted the best i mean it's my kebab just
45:47back side and they weren't satisfied with the end results is there something in the house that
45:51knocks you you shouldn't ask me something like that 25 years later i'm back well the illusion is complete
46:25the end result is complete
46:26and i'm back well the illusion is complete
46:27but i think that's what it's gonna be done
46:28and i think that's what it's gonna be done
46:28and i think that's what it's gonna be done
46:28you