GrandDesigns S25E04 Henley-on-Thames 2024
GrandDesigns S25E04 Henley-on-Thames 2024
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00For tens, if not hundreds of thousands of years, human beings have relied upon the pharmacy
00:10that nature provides.
00:11We have taken the leaves of plants and rubbed them into our skin to cure ailments.
00:16We have chewed on bark, but who in the 21st century would decide to take all of these
00:23arcane ideas of healing and well-being, and from them, build a house?
00:54Tony is someone for whom life is one long journey.
01:00The more I look at life, the more I recognise that labels and boxes are limiting.
01:07In his 60 years, he's been a nutritionist, a health researcher and a wellness coach.
01:12But now, Tony wants to draw his beliefs and passions together in bricks and mortar.
01:18I want to be able to use the project to express the vision of wellness
01:23through creating a house that is about health and well-being.
01:27And Tony has a partner on the path less travelled, Ara.
01:32My first career was 20 years in the corporate world,
01:35working my way up to senior management roles.
01:37But there is a massive shift going on inside me,
01:40which made me re-evaluate what was really important in life.
01:44And having flared off his life to become a physical therapist,
01:48Ara now feels more at home in the woods.
01:52I've always needed to be close to nature.
01:55I'm definitely a tree hugger.
02:00Ara has been able to spend time among the trees,
02:05because seven years ago, the couple moved back into Tony's childhood home near Hendy
02:11to care for his ageing parents, John and Betty,
02:14who designed and built their terrific 1960s family home when Tony was small.
02:21But sometimes revolution is more alluring than evolution.
02:27Tony's vision is to tear down the old house and start again.
02:31The journey that I'm about to embark upon
02:33is a new journey of embracing skills that I haven't got around building.
02:42Tony's vision of a health-promoting house
02:44is driven especially by Ara's increasingly fragile health
02:48due to a debilitating autoimmune condition.
02:52A nature-inspired house that promotes well-being
02:55is maybe just the tonic that Ara needs.
03:01Another suite we set in the woods here.
03:05Hello, Kevin. Hiya.
03:07Welcome, Kevin. Thank you very much.
03:09I'm very admiring of your estate.
03:11What are you planning to do with this?
03:13We are building a new house, a very environmentally friendly house
03:18that promotes well-being through its interconnection with nature.
03:21But what's spurring the healthy aspect of the project?
03:25I developed a number of autoimmune-type of conditions,
03:29and that's really the drive for some of the health aspects
03:33that Tony's bringing into the house,
03:35and to have a space that allows me to be able to heal as much as possible.
03:43Stress is a big problem with autoimmune.
03:47During the course of the project, your health might be tested.
03:51I'm sure it really already is big. OK.
03:54The only way I can think of to do that
03:57is to emotionally and mentally let go of as much control as I can,
04:06because we would do it differently.
04:09Ara has her very own quadrant,
04:11her quarter of the house to do basically exactly what she likes with.
04:15There's definitely an Ara in here.
04:17You're going to be in your wing upstairs having a nice time meditating.
04:20Or playing in the woods. Yeah, or playing in the woods, exactly.
04:24The first task facing this pair of health-seeking dreamers
04:29will be to demolish their old 1960s bungalow.
04:32A highly insulated raft foundation of polystyrene and concrete
04:37will then form a U-shaped footprint
04:40onto which 170 prefabricated wooden panels
04:44will be slotted together to form the structure.
04:47The house will be separated into two wings
04:52that will wrap around a central atrium,
04:55conceived by the architectural designer Nigel Hefferman
04:58as a way of bringing nature right into the living space.
05:02The east wing will contain two self-contained apartments,
05:06allowing Tony and Ara to earn an income
05:09and share their therapeutic work with guests.
05:15Ever the unconventional couple,
05:17they will each have separate quarters in the west wing.
05:20Tony's one-bed apartment with its own kitchen and bathroom downstairs
05:24and Ara's above.
05:27In pursuit of well-being,
05:29the house will have mechanical ventilation and biodynamic lighting
05:33to track natural daylight
05:35so that on dark days it can still be sunny inside.
05:39Big glazing panels will give views in all directions
05:43out into the old growth forest, which completely surrounds the plot.
05:47Large cladding will also mirror the woodland.
05:51And curves will flow around the building in bands
05:55topped with a slender zinc fascia,
05:58echoed at first floor level by elegant connecting balconies.
06:04This is a low-carbon design
06:07that seeks to emulate the vibrant, life-giving force of the forest
06:11that inspires it and its occupants.
06:15I just hope that the task of building it
06:18doesn't drain them of spirit and energy in the process.
06:25When do you deliver Ara her finished, beautiful apartment, her space?
06:31April 2021.
06:33Which is 21 months away, yeah.
06:36Where are you going to live, you guys?
06:38Well, there's a small room that I will use as a bedroom.
06:41Tony will use part of the garage.
06:43Yeah. So how much have you got?
06:45I want to do it for 800, we need to do it for 800,000.
06:48It's for a pension? Everything. That's everything? Yeah.
06:50Wow. So what happens if it goes over? I mean, they can't, can they?
06:53They can't, they can't.
06:55So as I understand it, project management involves spreadsheets, forecasts.
06:58Is this something you're familiar with, you've done before?
07:00To be learned. You know all about that, though, I'm sure.
07:03I've been a project manager in the past.
07:05I suppose I have to let go because this is Tony's project
07:08and he has to do it his way.
07:10So, you know, I have a mantra.
07:12Fortune favours the brave.
07:14And Tony is certainly brave.
07:16That's the way the project works.
07:18We need to find lots of fortuitous people and opportunities
07:22to fall into place at the right time in the right way.
07:25Project management doesn't do luck and fortune, does it?
07:28No, it doesn't. There's no spreadsheet for luck.
07:30But before any construction can happen,
07:33there's the small matter of what to do with Tony's parents' house
07:37and its treasure trove of memories.
07:39It's rather beautiful.
07:41It's lovely, isn't it? Yeah, yeah.
07:43And this, with a clock in the middle of it.
07:46It's all been done with love and you can feel it.
07:49We got married in that room.
07:51My goodness me, the memories keep coming, don't they?
07:54Wow. How are you about this, Tony?
07:56I mean, this place must be footfall full of memories.
07:59I think, for me, I've worked on a strategy for being able to let go.
08:03Breaking eggs to make omelettes. Yes.
08:06Letting go of this place is going to be as hard for you as well?
08:09Oh, probably harder for me. Harder for us. Really?
08:12Harder for me because I cared for John and Betty
08:16and because I know how much they loved it,
08:19I know how much it meant to them.
08:21It meant a lot to me too, taking care of them here.
08:24Yeah, yeah.
08:30Wow. I mean, talk about loading up your emotional wagon
08:34to the maximum permissible weight.
08:36I mean, here's Tony tackling project management for the first time
08:41with no discernible skills for that at all,
08:44with an extraordinary agenda for this building
08:47to do with health and happiness and well-being
08:50and the biodiversity of this place.
08:54And he's doing it on a site which is kind of absolutely replete
08:58with these kind of nostalgic, well, time bombs, really.
09:02Boy, oh, boy.
09:04I mean, house building is difficult enough.
09:10There are two days to go until the old house comes down,
09:14just time to salvage the precious bits from John and Betty's 60s interior.
09:19Is that the right screwdriver? Yeah, I think so.
09:22And with demolition day looming,
09:25events in both Ara and Tony's past are casting their shadows.
09:30I've done a build before, a long time ago, with my first husband.
09:35We split up before it was finished,
09:37and that's why I've been very reticent.
09:39I can feel all this churning going on in my stomach
09:43that I've been feeling for the last few weeks.
09:46And you've been feeling things too.
09:49I mean, just the other day, you know, you were really close to tears.
09:55I find certain things about the past really difficult.
09:59It's important that, rather than me live the rest of my life
10:03in the shadow of my parents,
10:05what I need to do is to kind of demonstrate
10:08my own competence and value
10:11that I've always doubted throughout the whole of my life, really.
10:16The project is really important. It's really his sense of purpose now.
10:20It's the purpose of his life.
10:23The day of no return finally arrives in the form of a demolition crew.
10:28Tony's parents' life's work in brick and teak,
10:32the home they built from the ground up when Tony was a toddler,
10:36is about to meet a brutal end.
10:39But for the moment, his inner child is transfixed by the process.
10:45We have got a massive...
10:50..dinosaur-like machine with big, grabby hands,
10:55but I'm not feeling greatly sad at the moment.
11:00Tony might be putting a brave face on it,
11:03but Ara is less comfortable with such a deep uprooting of the past.
11:08I spoke to Betty about it while she was alive,
11:11and she said, you know, she'd be horrified.
11:14This is a forever home.
11:18I know that this is something Tony has to do.
11:21He has to do it his way, which is different to his parents' way.
11:26And now the space is being cleared for Tony's creation,
11:30because it's now just a pile of rubble.
11:33I hope for Ara's sake that out of destruction comes renewal.
11:48Tony's parents' house has been consigned to the great skip of history
11:53and work has already started on the foundations.
11:57As part of his journey of self-discovery,
12:00Tony wants to prove he can roll up his project manager's sleeves
12:04and help his ground workers shore.
12:07Where are you going? Right.
12:10I think the key to driving is just to keep it in a nice steady state.
12:14Not too fast, no sudden movements.
12:18Well, most customers just want the house built,
12:21but Tony, he was desperate to have a go.
12:24You'll probably find it easier to use that. OK.
12:27Tony's ambition with this project was to learn on the job,
12:31and he's passed his first dumper test with flying colours.
12:36A month later, I'm hoping to see some progress on the foundations,
12:40which Tony promised would be kind to the environment.
12:45Disruption in the middle of Eden.
12:49It's a sea of polystyrene,
12:52a pre-fabricated mosaic of pieces marking the outline of the new house,
12:57and it looks like it's going to take a while.
13:00A pre-fabricated mosaic of pieces marking the outline of the new house,
13:05like the remains of some Roman villa.
13:08How are you? Good to see you. How are you doing? Very well.
13:11Are you an apprentice or are you master wrangler of polystyrene now?
13:15Just playing, really. No, I don't believe that.
13:18This is a sandpit and this is Lego to play with.
13:21Sandpit and Lego.
13:23The pieces form a kind of massive tray
13:26into which a minimum amount of concrete will be poured,
13:29and the technology in fact forms part of Tony's nature-friendly ethos.
13:35Much of this polystyrene is recycled.
13:38So have you been on site every day?
13:40This is you finally making your mark in this place.
13:43Definitely. For so many years, both practically and psychologically,
13:47I felt a little bit hidden in the shadow of what my dad had done.
13:53So now it's really my project.
13:57It's down to me to be able to make it happen,
13:59to take away the doubt and the uncertainty and the lack of confidence.
14:05Tony is clearly thriving, as is Ara.
14:10Since the demolition, I've felt a lot better.
14:13And the reason is because now Tony has taken over,
14:16so it has released me from feeling a need to be responsible.
14:22That is inherently a stressful process,
14:25and therefore, don't go near it.
14:30A week later, a thin layer of concrete is poured,
14:34and then the next phase of this so-far speedy project can begin.
14:39Seems to have brought a couple of tree branches with them, too.
14:43Today, this timber-framed house will begin to rise from the ground.
14:47There are panels that come in that are pre-factory made. It's very quick.
14:52This lorry load of highly engineered timber panels
14:55should slot onto those insulated foundations over the next couple of weeks.
15:01A simple construction method for a complex design.
15:05Looks like they're all laden, so it's like a big jigsaw.
15:09And Tony always loved jigsaws as a child, so he'll love this.
15:13And he looks great with his pink hat on, doesn't he?
15:16Completely dressed for the occasion.
15:19As the first floor comes together,
15:21Tony's architectural designer, Nigel, makes a visit to site.
15:25He's been working on the general design with Tony and Ara for a couple of years,
15:30and he's got to know his clients' quirks.
15:34They are totally unique, and that also makes them special.
15:38And I think the eccentricity that they have
15:42is going to actually reflect in the building.
15:46But after 40 years of experience,
15:49Nigel is nervous about Tony's decision to manage the project himself.
15:54I see buildings abandoned when people try to do it themselves,
15:58and they can't adapt themselves to it,
16:01get into a pickle, which could be a disaster.
16:05This house must not be a disaster.
16:09Tony's vision is to construct a healing house
16:12where the pressures on Ara's health can be eased.
16:16And there is a special place that could act as a fantastic reference point...
16:23..where the therapeutic potential of nature
16:26is deployed in a truly unexpected way.
16:30This is a hospital, like any hospital in Britain.
16:33It is medical, it's functional, it's practical, it's institutional,
16:37it looks even industrial. It's got all the oohs.
16:40Except one, perhaps.
16:42It's not magical.
16:44That quality, that quality is something that instead
16:48has been concentrated on a little tiny site just next to it,
16:52hidden behind these trees, shrouded in greenery.
16:56It even has a forest on its roof.
16:59This is a building which is so magical
17:03and demands so much of your attention once you find it
17:07that you don't even realise it's built next to a multi-storey car park.
17:12This is the Maggis Cancer Care Centre,
17:15next to St James' Hospital in Leeds,
17:18a building where it's hard to tell where the realm of nature ends
17:22and the human one begins.
17:24Its architects, Heatherwick Studio,
17:27wanted to unleash the healing power of nature by dragging it right in.
17:32Wild planting envelops the structure
17:35and the structure itself speaks of natural forms.
17:39Inside, the call of nature resoundingly echoes
17:42in myriad thoughtful details.
17:45I thought this was concrete. This is actually cork and plywood.
17:50Actually, the entire building feels like three enormous trees
17:56stepping down the hill, each with its own canopy,
17:59like medieval fan vaulting of these overreaching spans.
18:04There are more than 25 of these centres across the country,
18:08each a unique space to promote healing.
18:12Maggis' chief exec is Dame Laura Lee.
18:16There's that very famous bit of research
18:18showing that people who recover in hospitals with a view of greenery
18:22need fewer meds, they recover more quickly.
18:25I think one of the most important things for us
18:27is about how the building is going to make people feel.
18:30People with cancer come in our doors and are feeling isolated.
18:34All of a sudden, that just settles the mind
18:37and then allows people to have conversations
18:39about the most difficult things that they didn't know they were going to have.
18:47Wow. I mean, this place, like all of the Maggis centres, is world-class.
18:52Architecture and nature working as a tonic,
18:56offering a healing spiritual hug
18:58for anyone dealing with the impersonal and technical world of a hospital.
19:02Just imagine what Tony and Ara could achieve
19:05on their beautiful woodland site.
19:07However, there is one glaring difference
19:10between this place and their project.
19:13No-one on this project had to sit and endure the construction process
19:19and live in the building while it was being built.
19:22That's what they're doing.
19:25Back on site, Ara looks on from her temporary home in the garden shed,
19:31unable to avoid the relentless pace of the project.
19:35Today, the glazing has arrived.
19:38It's a harmonious process when things move in flow and harmony.
19:43And once the roof-stop structure is up,
19:47the company constructing the house frame leaves site.
19:51Tony, something of a novice project manager, has so far impressed Ara.
19:56He's on schedule, but to keep within budget, he's now on his own,
20:01with an enormous house to fit out and clad.
20:05It isn't long before his first real challenge lands.
20:10Winter is approaching, and this wooden structure is by no means watertight.
20:15The problem partly lies in Tony's decision
20:19not to commission any detailed drawings for the roof and gutters
20:23from his architectural designer, to save money.
20:26And without drawings, no company will supply him a roof.
20:31I find it really quite a painful experience to see water
20:34leaking through the timber of the roof and then landing on the floor below
20:38and leaking through that into the layer below.
20:42November turns out to be one of the wettest in memory,
20:46and as the water pours through the vulnerable wooden structure,
20:50Tony has to enlist Ara to help cover the roof in plastic sheeting
20:54to minimise the damage.
20:57The biggest worry at the moment is having a roof that isn't watertight
21:01and the whole of the black plastic sheeting blowing off in the wind.
21:04So this has become a lot more critical.
21:07The building is in jeopardy,
21:09but the biggest threat may be to Ara's delicate health.
21:13So we spent four days literally trying to cover the roof
21:16with plastic coverings.
21:18You know that something needs to be done and you just have to do it
21:22and you have to take the consequences.
21:24It affects me physically, yeah, and I just feel really unwell
21:28and my energy is very low.
21:34And I had hoped to discuss this with you today.
21:41Tony is unsure who is going to get him out of this awful bind.
21:45The house frame company, his architectural designer,
21:48or another roofer.
21:50So our rookie project manager...
21:52Please do get back to me ASAP.
21:57..fires off email after email into the night.
22:01Tony and Ara's wooden house is half-built and not watertight,
22:06and it's been raining non-stop.
22:10There's not a roofer out there who wants to help overcome the problem
22:14because Tony hasn't got any detailed drawings for his hidden roof gutters.
22:20But Tony thinks he has a solution for his gutters.
22:25It means enlarging one of the key elements in the building,
22:28envisioned by his designer, Nigel,
22:31the slender fascia capping that curves around the entire roof at the top.
22:36Nigel has a way that he wants this house to look,
22:40and 650, which is something like that, is too big for him.
22:47And he wants it to be like that.
22:50It's very deep.
22:52And it's the sort of thing you see on a factory building, not on a house.
22:58That's the problem.
23:00One option is to cut the roof down in situ
23:04to retain that delicately banded capping.
23:07But this would stretch Tony's budget to the limit
23:10and cost him a lot of money.
23:13Let us just say that Nigel and I have a very clear
23:16and strong difference of opinion on this matter,
23:19and I'm quite happy to run with 650.
23:22And that's the decision I've made.
23:25What's more, Tony's abandoned Nigel's plan to clad the capping in zinc.
23:31Instead, he wants to use a cheaper liquid acrylic coating.
23:35This is a solution.
23:38It's very hard to think that a building might be desecrated.
23:42It's like trying to take an E-type car
23:45and putting a different bonnet on it.
23:48It's just not going to work.
23:50It has to be that free-flowing form.
23:53I'm very worried about the outcome,
23:56and I don't want my name to something that's not what I intended.
24:02So, unable to find a compromise between them,
24:05Tony and Nigel part company.
24:08Ara, meanwhile, has gone to stay at her nephew's in Madeira
24:12until her health recovers.
24:14Tony really is on his own now.
24:19But at least he's decided what to do.
24:22He forks out for an expensive temporary scaffolding
24:25to make his own roof.
24:28So, I'm basically making it up as I go along
24:31and trying to figure out a way of doing it,
24:33and we'll see whether that works or not.
24:35If it doesn't work, we'll just have to try something else
24:38until we find a way that does.
24:40And in typical Tony fashion,
24:42he's viewing the challenge as a step in the right direction.
24:46I'm going to try and make it up as I go along,
24:49and we'll see whether that works or not.
24:51If it doesn't work, we'll just have to try something else
24:54until we find a way that does.
24:56In typical Tony fashion,
24:58he's viewing the challenge as a therapeutic opportunity.
25:02I'm very easily distracted by things.
25:05What I've wanted to be able to do
25:08is essentially to fall in love with the process, for me.
25:12If you enjoy the process, it really doesn't matter how long it takes.
25:19And so, five months pass.
25:22Five months of scaffold hire and lonely work
25:25on solar panels,
25:27and trimmed with a great big grey acrylic capping band.
25:30Yikes!
25:32But for Ara, who's just got back from Madeira,
25:35there isn't any time for celebration.
25:37Complete chaos when I got back.
25:39I'm way, way over budget.
25:41I would reckon we're probably, at this stage,
25:44about 50 to 60 grand over budget.
25:46So, there's no scope for bringing in any other workers.
25:50With her bags barely unpacked, Ara is drawn back in to the project.
25:55I caught a bit of a chill.
25:57I had two nights, whereas up till 8 o'clock in the evening,
26:01it was cold, painting, because we've got a deadline.
26:05She's pulling out all the stops
26:07because the scaffolding's being taken away in the morning.
26:10Tony still paces himself with rest as well as work.
26:15I can't relax until I get the job done,
26:18and I can't get the job done unless he has all these breaks
26:21and other ways of being able to deflect the stress that he's under.
26:28It just highlights the difference in our personalities.
26:32The contrast in Tony and Ara's sense of urgency
26:35is inevitably a concern for her.
26:38I try and whip Tony into shape, but he's so resistant.
26:42From every point of view, financially, health-wise,
26:45I could walk away right now and I would be...well.
26:50But that's not how the heart works, because I love him,
26:54and I'm just hoping I can survive this.
26:59Thankfully, the pair are able to reach a compromise.
27:03Ara is desperate to move back into a space
27:06with a functioning bathroom and kitchen,
27:08so Tony commits to putting all the focus into finishing Ara's apartment
27:12before her health is put under any more pressure.
27:18And, in typical Tony fashion,
27:20he's come up with a left-of-field plan to cover the walls
27:24that he thinks will help him catch up time.
27:26I've done something a little bit different.
27:28I haven't gone for conventional plasterboard.
27:30Instead, he's using a wallboard made from recycled gypsum and cellulose.
27:35If it's placed accurately enough, there's a big advantage.
27:39We don't need a plasterer and we probably don't need a painter.
27:43The downside is it's heavy.
27:45Each board weighs about 45kg each.
27:48That's too heavy for Tony to handle on his own,
27:51so, of course, Ara is roped in again.
27:54Which way are we doing it? The way we always do it.
27:57I remember now. Three, two, one, go!
28:01Each board weighs as much as a baby hippo, so it's back-breaking work.
28:06Hold it this way to begin with.
28:08It's progress towards Ara being able to move in.
28:11But with 450 boards to fit, much is resting on her shoulders.
28:17And getting drawn in was just what Ara wanted to avoid.
28:23I guess part of what you're trying to do, of course,
28:26is to simply manage your physical health through this. Absolutely, yeah.
28:29And are you cool about that in terms of the progress being made,
28:32in terms of your flat?
28:34It's like this whole process has been a bit like
28:37going on a self-development course.
28:40Oh, with a building? Yeah.
28:42Because at first I had to learn how to trust.
28:46And trust the process.
28:48And trust that, you know, fortune favours the brave. Yeah.
28:54And now I can learn patience, which is my next lesson.
28:58It's turning into some kind of spiritual treatise. Yeah.
29:02Well, isn't that what life is?
29:09However, this happy state of equilibrium is short-lived.
29:14A couple of days after my visit, Ara's worst fears
29:18about the danger of working with such heavy loads come to pass.
29:23I was clearing up something on the floor,
29:27and I just heard him make a big noise.
29:33Tony fell off a trolley while screwing a board into the ceiling,
29:38fracturing his tailbone and cutting himself badly.
29:43He was rushed to hospital to get stitched up.
29:49It was really scary.
29:57Tony spent a week in hospital.
30:00It's tilted because you can already feel it bending.
30:03But only a month later, he's back lifting boards,
30:07although a full recovery is going to take time.
30:11He's a lot slower.
30:13Like today, he slept about 11.30 this morning.
30:17You see, Tony's thinking of how much time he thinks he'd lost so far.
30:21I'm thinking of how much time he's potentially going to lose
30:26moving forward.
30:28It's the classic dilemma of the self-builder.
30:31On the one hand, the freedom of doing it yourself,
30:34and on the other, if you're struck down
30:36and there's no money to bring in anyone else,
30:38then you've run out of options.
30:40So I'll get the trolley now.
30:44Tony has no options but to carry on as best he can.
30:49Almost two years since they began the journey,
30:52there's still a mountain to climb to get this vast house finished.
30:56I have serious doubts about whether it'll ever get done.
30:59So, Tony, how are you?
31:01OK. I was looked after really, really well.
31:03Haven't we got an amazing healthcare system?
31:05Yeah, you were very well looked after.
31:07Good, good.
31:08Forgive me, but I can imagine Tony building this house
31:11very happily for the next 10 to 15 years
31:13because you've accommodated it into your working life.
31:16It's integrated into my lifestyle anyway
31:18and it's a very beautiful lifestyle, really, I think.
31:21What a privilege and opportunity to be able to have a wonderful place
31:25and to be able to learn the skills of building a house.
31:28It's a one-off opportunity.
31:29I love all that. I love all that.
31:31It's a disastrous idea for the building, of course,
31:33because, you know, the building wants to get watertight and weathertight.
31:36The building does.
31:37And Ara wants resolution.
31:39I think all you say is very true and honest and spot-on.
31:44The only way a building gets built requires a discipline to get it there.
31:49Yeah.
31:50And to make it happen.
31:57Over the next few weeks, as Tony's strength recovers,
32:00there is a renewed focus on site.
32:03When Ara's moved in, that will be a really positive thing for both of us.
32:09For Ara, it's because she's moved in.
32:11And for me, it's because Ara can relax
32:15and won't be as stressful
32:18and questioning of what I'm up to.
32:23Walls go up.
32:25Pollution-reducing paint goes on.
32:28A bathroom and kitchen go in.
32:30And before long, a very important milestone is reached.
32:34Do you want me to take your box? Yeah.
32:36Or the case? I'll take the case.
32:38You can hold the case, can't you? Yeah.
32:40OK. Right.
32:42Let's go and move in.
32:45Welcome to your new home.
32:49It's a lovely new home.
32:51It's so lovely to be able to be here again amongst the trees.
32:57Enjoy your stay, son.
32:59I will.
33:03Now that Ara is in,
33:05Tony can start to tackle that mountain of other tasks.
33:09The cladding on the outside.
33:11He's using vertical strips of Akoya wood,
33:13simpler than the original idea of bending horizontal strips,
33:16but less elegant.
33:18And the fit-out of the remaining three-quarters of the interior.
33:22But as the peak of that mountain appears through the clouds,
33:27Ara receives some devastating news
33:30that forces them to reassess everything.
33:34I went to have a lump investigated that had been there for some time
33:39but was getting bigger.
33:41And I was told straight away that it was a cancer.
33:47It really forces you to look at what's really important in life and...
33:55..I really just have to do the best I can to take care of myself
33:58and try and step back from the building.
34:02I think it's really necessary for me to be able to put it to one side.
34:08Ara has to focus all her attention on her health,
34:12while Tony is forced to confront an uncomfortable truth.
34:17Here's the difficulty, here's the irony of the whole thing.
34:21The whole project started out as creating a house
34:24that promotes health and wellbeing.
34:27And from Ara's perspective,
34:29it's a house that has created pretty much the opposite of that.
34:33I don't think I've ever wanted a couple
34:35to succeed in finishing their project as much as Tony and Ara.
34:54The seasons are on the turn in this patch of Oxfordshire forest
34:58where Tony and Ara have been toiling away for four years,
35:02building a house that draws inspiration from the healing power of nature.
35:09Well, I'm approaching Tony and Ara's house with a little trepidation
35:13and no little concern,
35:15because on top of the emotional, psychological,
35:18the physical load that this project has brought to bear
35:22comes this latest news of Ara's cancer, which is so sad.
35:27And, you know, it wouldn't surprise me now
35:29if, as a result of all of this,
35:31the pair of them just decided to walk away from the project.
35:38And I wouldn't blame them for that either.
35:41Tony's vision was to rejuvenate the site where he grew up,
35:45make his mark here, deal with the difficulties of his own past
35:49and help, perhaps, restore Ara's fragile health.
35:52Is it possible that, against all the odds,
35:55they may just have got there?
36:00Well, there's a thing.
36:03There is no site fencing.
36:06There is a finished drive.
36:08There is a finished house.
36:13Four years after pulling down the old house,
36:16a new and curvy home has finally asserted its place
36:20as the focus of this woodland clearing.
36:25Kevin, welcome.
36:27Good to see you again.
36:29It's great to be back to walk down a finished drive
36:31to see a finished building.
36:33It's come together in the last weeks.
36:35And you're both living in it? Yeah.
36:37I'm really heartened by what I see.
36:39I think it's just awesome, isn't it, what Tony's achieved?
36:42I think we've experienced quite a lot together,
36:45including many challenges.
36:47Yeah, I mean, considering this man did it
36:50without much in the way of detailed drawings.
36:52And complete incompetence from a project management point of view.
36:56Well, you mentioned that. You know.
36:58Now, Ara, I'm sorry to hear about your cancer.
37:02I want you to save your energies
37:04and I'm sure you want to do the same thing,
37:06just assuming that I'll have a look round with Tony.
37:08That'd be great, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Thank you.
37:10I know, we'll catch up later.
37:12Admittedly, Tony's chunkier grey capping
37:14lends the house the air of a 1950s diner,
37:17but the overall achievement here is astonishing.
37:20They've laboured to turn this house from a shell to a finished home.
37:25Oh! Whoa!
37:27Tony, it's done!
37:34It's delightful.
37:36It's airy.
37:38Welcome to our hallway. You've done it.
37:40The best thing of all is that veranda beyond and then.
37:44The green of the lawn and the depth of the forest beyond
37:48is really arresting.
37:50There was a pond in your parents' garden, wasn't there?
37:53And there's a sort of echo, stylistically, of this.
37:56It's like almost looking at a mitochondria there, you know?
37:59There's leaves floating around on the top of it.
38:01It's like looking at kind of stuff happening inside a cell.
38:04Yeah. It's amazing. It's quite magical.
38:06The aim has always been to have circles within circles.
38:10So this is the inner circle, which is nature and outdoors
38:14and then the house basically creates a ring that goes around it.
38:18Yeah. Just remind me of the geography.
38:20R is upstairs. R is upstairs and downstairs.
38:23And two guest apartments on the right-hand side.
38:26Of course. And the wellness component of that,
38:29in welcoming guests into your house,
38:31is that also integrated into each apartment then?
38:34Yes. I wanted to create something that goes beyond just the eco-friendly house
38:38and look at the concept of what a healthy house is really about.
38:41Can we go and have a look at some tech? Yeah, let's go and have a look.
38:45This is where I'll be staying when I, you know, book my tree bathing.
38:49Tree bathing holiday.
38:51Indeed, this is the place to stay.
38:53It's bright in here. It's beautiful.
38:55All of the lights in here do have the ability to mimic the daytime light.
39:00Even though we've got a grey day today, if you come and stand where I am...
39:04Oh, my Lord!
39:06What trickery is this?
39:08That's incredible.
39:10Just move and you can see it jumps from one to the other.
39:13If somebody came for the first time,
39:15they would look here and think, this is a skylight.
39:18It is sorcery, and yet it lifts my spirit, as the sun does.
39:25Tell me how you've managed to finish this building.
39:29We went over budget...
39:32200K.
39:34Where did that come from?
39:36Various things that were originally allocated as pension funds and such.
39:40So what that has now done is placed a great deal more need
39:46for the house to pay for itself
39:48through programmes and retreats and exciting things like that.
39:51Yeah, yeah, yeah.
39:52It strikes me that in describing this,
39:54what you've provided for Ara is the most supportive environment
39:59for her to battle this cancer and win.
40:02Obviously, my hope is that all that we're talking about now
40:06in terms of the health benefits of the house
40:08can make a real difference for Ara.
40:11And indeed, everybody else who comes to stay
40:15and experience the magic of the house.
40:19There are illusions, too, in the way the house plays with space.
40:23The guest wing is generous, but on the other side of the courtyard,
40:27the couple's own quarters are quite the opposite.
40:30There's a bedroom for a monastic hermit,
40:33a humble kitchen and a modest living space.
40:38They're one-bedroom apartments. It's that simple.
40:40Oh, absolutely. Yeah, I think it's the minimalist appeal that works.
40:44My nature is to let go of the past and focus on the future.
40:47Well, I think your decision to remove the house that your parents had,
40:51you know, that of itself is a deliberate statement of faith
40:55in the future, in your future, and a deliberate letting go of the past.
40:59It is. It is. Very much so.
41:02The house may have taught Tony to let go of unnecessary baggage,
41:06but for Ara, who is now living with cancer,
41:09I wonder what her relationship with the house now is,
41:12in the wake of all the pain of its genesis.
41:16Hello. Hello. Welcome.
41:18This is a space full of curves. That's what I like.
41:22It's a lovely space. It's beautiful looking out.
41:26I mean, I'm right in the woods, and for me, this is the magic.
41:30And I'm in my chair, it's just gorgeous.
41:33And then the deer, they come pottering along.
41:36You know, it's all very pretty.
41:38My main focus is to be as happy as I can,
41:41and I think because being happy helps your immune system,
41:44it helps healing in every way.
41:46Buildings can also magically almost help that.
41:49Yeah, and when you've got a beautifully designed,
41:52beautifully insulated, the love that's been put into it
41:55by Tony and everybody who's worked on it,
41:58like a meal that's been made with love, you can feel it, can't you?
42:01Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
42:03And allow it to heal you, be at peace with life and have fun.
42:09Rarely have I come across a house where the well-being of the people
42:13building it is so intimately entwined with the building itself
42:17and its construction.
42:19So is it now time for a new chapter for Ara and Tony?
42:25What have you learnt about yourself over the course of this project?
42:29I can't think you've found it very easy, have you?
42:34No!
42:36It's been the hardest thing I've ever done.
42:39I've had a lot of challenges in my life.
42:41Yeah.
42:42There have been times when I've been resentful.
42:44And I've come through that.
42:47What have you learnt about each other?
42:49I mean, I've learnt a lot about Tony.
42:51Before we did this project, I hadn't seen him be as focused,
42:57as dedicated, as stoic.
43:01And I think that was part of his intention, you know, the redemption.
43:05He wanted to see what more he could find within himself.
43:09You know, you've learnt so much and you've done so much.
43:14My father was somebody who practically was very capable.
43:17And I think redemption was to embrace practical skills.
43:23That bit, I feel a sense of accomplishment.
43:26But what he also did, which I haven't matched,
43:30was his ability...
43:40..his ability to take responsibility for his family.
43:45I haven't got there yet. I haven't managed it.
43:48And that, I think, is the deeper disappointment
43:51that I feel about myself, really.
43:53I haven't managed Ara and her health that well.
43:56Nobody could have predicted what was going to happen to me.
44:00And so now the path is to do peace and contentment and gratitude.
44:07And I have so much to be grateful for.
44:10I mean, I live in a little piece of heaven.
44:12It's heaven round here.
44:15It's my turn to deal with that.
44:17I'm in awe of the pair of you.
44:23Very tough.
44:25And very...
44:28..wonderful of you to have got this far.
44:31I think that's just a great thing.
44:35If it were possible to actually see positive human energy,
44:40then maybe it would look something like this spaceship of a house.
44:47You know, I've always believed that good buildings,
44:50especially houses built by self-builders,
44:53can be a very pure, almost mythical expression of who we are.
44:59Our hopes, our dreams and desires, our ambitions,
45:02and, of course, our fears as well.
45:05And, boy, is this no exception, eh?
45:07This place has really put Tony and Ara through the mill,
45:11the absolute wringer.
45:14But what I think they've learnt on the way through
45:18is that the process of building can also be a redemptive one,
45:22that it can be something where the energies flow both ways.
45:28You see, now it's time for this building to step up to the plate
45:32and become what it promised to be.
45:34It's time for it to become a house of healing.
45:49Echo!
45:50It's huge.
45:52If it does go on too long, then we could grow to hate it.
45:55Yeah. Or each other.
45:57I think there's a very good reason that nobody's tried to live in this water tower before.
46:00It's painful. This is very, very painful.
46:03I think it's mad.
46:04The one thing that could really bugger us up here is if it leaks.
46:09Urgh!
46:10I'm the one that worries we break up as a family and this ruins us.
46:18Well, plenty of looking around lovely homes,
46:21but without the drama of them being built.
46:23New Zealand's best homes with Phil Spencer next here on Channel 4
46:27and contemplating all their caramel creations,
46:30pro-Leaf and superfan Oti Mabuse join Joe for an extra slice.
46:34Stream or watch tomorrow at 8.