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00:00Our past is alive in our old buildings.
00:05They speak of our history and offer solid solutions for today's housing needs.
00:11I'm following restorers as they battle through the good, the bad
00:19and the awful challenges of rebuilding ruins alive.
00:25What an extraordinary building.
00:27It's just a new bit of timber and a couple of wires.
00:30To create homes fit for the future.
00:41On a November day in 2022, I'm leaving the beaten track and heading into the woods.
00:50On the banks of Loch Key in County Roscommon, the ghostly ruins of the Anglo-Irish Rockingham estate lurk between the trees.
01:02Good day. How are you? Paddy. Very nice to meet you. Fiona.
01:08I'm here to meet Paddy Dunne and Fiona Brewer, two Dublin-based architects
01:13who are planning a future for themselves and their children, Mary and Grace, in this unusual setting.
01:20As well as embarking on the radical adventure of relocating to the middle of a fairy tale forest,
01:28they're taking on an unlikely quest.
01:31They've been bewitched by this curious building and want to make these four stark walls their own.
01:38What an extraordinary building. The detail and the quality of the stonework is extraordinary.
01:45What was the building?
01:47We think an old cow buyer, so like basically a high-quality milking parlour, basically.
01:52There must have been very special cows.
01:54When did you buy this and how did you buy it?
01:57We bought it earlier, late 2018.
02:01There's a forest park in the estate and I've been working kind of doing adventure sports and things in the forest park.
02:07As I was setting up as an architect.
02:09Paddy really loved here and he introduced me to here and this just came out and it's absolutely beautiful.
02:14So it's a protected structure? Yeah.
02:17So you've had to deal with those issues?
02:20Half the roof fell in while we were buying it.
02:23So it was on its way out.
02:26When they bought the building, it was on its last legs.
02:30Trees were growing right up to the walls.
02:33They'd already fought back the overgrowth and taken off the ruined roof.
02:38The cow house's 11 arches will be glazed to form large metal frame windows and doors.
02:46The existing cobbled strip will become a corridor linking the family bathroom and three bedrooms,
02:53of which Fiona and Paddy's will have an en suite.
02:57The corridor will lead into the open plan living room, dining area and kitchen with a utility alongside.
03:05Fiona and Paddy will add steel to form a pitched roof using the cow house's original slates.
03:12The back windows are small and with light an issue in the woods,
03:16they have designed a roof light running the length of the building.
03:21There will be a home office in a prefabricated cabin alongside.
03:27How much do you pay for it?
03:28Under a hundred.
03:30And with that, there's a bit more land, is there?
03:33There's an acre around it, yeah.
03:34So from the road here beside us back and out to each side, we're kind of in the centre of an acre of forest.
03:40Right.
03:41So what you have is one big old shed.
03:47And I can see from here you've already done a little bit of work.
03:51There's 11 arches along this side, that's the main feature.
03:54Two of the arches had had the stone just robbed out of them about maybe 15 years ago.
03:59Yeah.
04:00So yeah.
04:01And filled in with concrete block.
04:03Lovely.
04:04They were filled with concrete blocks, yeah.
04:05So we've had that done already.
04:07It was lovely seeing the 11 all back in a row.
04:10And I see a bit of concrete floating around.
04:12Yeah, that's recent.
04:13That's new concrete.
04:15And what's that doing?
04:16That's our ring beam to hold the steel.
04:19Okay, so the old stone wall, you put on a piece of concrete.
04:23Concrete cap, yeah.
04:24And that sort of holds it all together.
04:26Yeah, making it stable.
04:28Will we go inside?
04:29Yeah.
04:30Indoors and outdoors is a relative concept here.
04:34Well, you're standing in the corridor.
04:35I'm in the corridor.
04:36You're in the corridor.
04:37We kept the arches, we wanted to always see the arches rather than putting rooms up against them.
04:41Yeah.
04:42So you've all sorts of yummy things here.
04:44You've got this beautiful cut stone.
04:47Your intention for all these yummy bits?
04:49Take them out and put them back in again.
04:51Fine.
04:52Yeah.
04:53They plan to remove, clean and reset each cobble along their future corridor.
04:58Preserving materials is often more time-consuming and expensive than replacing.
05:04So I have my cobbles back and I'll have my lovely stone.
05:10Stone down the corridor.
05:11Great.
05:12And then I come to here and I have, what do I have in here?
05:16New stone from there in.
05:18The cobbles there, they're probably a bit too rough.
05:22They're kind of cow's cobbles rather than person cobbles.
05:24Yeah, yeah.
05:25And I have beautiful walls.
05:27Yes, they are.
05:29And what happens then?
05:30The plan is to do as little as possible to leave them if we think we can.
05:37So what we want to do is just repoint the mortar joints on the walls and leave them as they are.
05:42On the inside.
05:43On the inside as well, yeah.
05:44On the outside.
05:45But, you know, like these old buildings, they call the shots on a lot of things and you just have to just go with it.
05:52I'm concerned that the building calling the shots might lead them towards a very cold, uninsulated home.
06:00What type of heating is going in here?
06:02The plan at the moment is underfloor heating because it's a new floor with an air-to-water heat pump
06:09and then backup from the stove, just old-fashioned stove backup.
06:14OK.
06:15Without insulation, these four walls could draw in the damp and the cold.
06:21That's facing north, so whether you like it or not, you're going to have to insulate that wall,
06:29the wall down there, and whatever amount of wall you leave on this side.
06:39That is being debated.
06:41If you don't insulate that wall, your air-to-water system will be working overtime and it'll negate any savings.
06:51And how much money are you spending?
06:54About 350.
06:55OK.
06:56What's the floor area of this building?
06:58130 square metres.
07:00Roof to go on, is that how you're doing it, it's all timber or steel?
07:03It's timber and steel.
07:05Right.
07:06Steel frame.
07:07Yeah, with a roof.
07:08With a roof like the hallway.
07:10Running the whole length of the building.
07:13I think what you have is extraordinary.
07:15The building is extraordinary.
07:17The pair of you are just amazing.
07:20You see a glass half full.
07:23Well, you do.
07:24And if you didn't see that, you wouldn't be doing this.
07:27Yeah.
07:33What Paddy and Fiona have acquired is stunning.
07:37It's a dream for two architects.
07:40And they are so passionate and emotional and engaged in this project.
07:45And they want perfection.
07:48They want the walls exposed.
07:50They want beautiful metal windows.
07:53They want underfloor heating.
07:56And because they're both architects, they will be driven by the detail, by the nitty-gritty.
08:04And it concerns me what that will do to their timeline.
08:09I believe that Fiona and Paddy are going to have to adjust their fairytale vision
08:14to actually end up with a home that's functional, that is warm, that is beautiful,
08:23that is meeting their exacting standards.
08:27The steel for the roof was due to arrive a week after my visit.
08:33But three months pass and there's still no sign of steel delivery.
08:39It's February 2023 and Fiona and Paddy are stuck in Dublin.
08:45They're doing their best to keep things moving.
08:49OK, perfect. Great, thanks.
08:51I'm just waiting for paint now for the trusses, whenever that gets there.
08:55So it's in the next couple of days.
08:58And then when that's in, like a week or two, then they'll all be up.
09:03So happy days.
09:04Happy days.
09:05Both steel ahead then.
09:06Yeah. Good.
09:08The complicated uniqueness of the cowhouse delayed the process of ordering steel.
09:14It looks like a perfectly erected house.
09:16It looks like a perfectly rectangular building.
09:18And when the old roof came off, the dimensions and measurements weren't quite adding up.
09:23And we had to find where the discrepancy was so that the new steel could line up
09:28so that your gutters lined up with your roof properly,
09:30if the gutters are on the old part and the roof is the new part.
09:33And that actually took a lot of figuring out that this,
09:36it's not just one discrepancy where the building was damaged at one point,
09:39but there was other little bits here and there.
09:41Figuring that out actually took a lot of time.
09:43Finally, at the end of March, news comes through that the steel is on its way.
09:49With the trusses weighing up to 2,500 kilos and the roofless months taking their toll,
09:56there's still a danger that these old walls could crumble.
10:00They've repaired some of the pointing and sealed the walls with ring beam.
10:04But exposure to the elements means there's still a risk that the steel will crumble.
10:10But exposure to the elements means there are still loose stones.
10:15Paddy springs into action, jigsawing together stones from the cowhouse floor
10:21to shore up the weak points.
10:25The internal face of these walls, it's not meant to be exposed to the weather.
10:30So we've had just some issues here with over the winter,
10:33the timber, which was already full of woodworm and rot,
10:37is just starting to go a little bit too much.
10:39So with the lintels just starting to fail, you can see that they'll sag before they break.
10:45So the stone above them is coming loose.
10:47So we're just taking out some pieces.
10:49Once the roof is on, we have arranged for a stonemason to come in
10:53and work underneath it with what will then be a dry interior.
10:57He's got quite a bit of localized patching up and repairs
11:02and then repointing, replacing the mortar here in between all the stones.
11:07So, yeah, he'll be here. He'll be here getting stuck into that.
11:10Hopefully as soon as the roof is on.
11:12It's a good milestone to hit.
11:15And straightaway now it's like, yeah, on with the next thing.
11:21Where today there is forest was, in the 18th and 19th centuries,
11:26the parklands of Rockingham House.
11:29Designed by Buckingham Palace architect John Nash
11:33for his supremely wealthy Anglo-Irish owners,
11:37as with many Victorian domains,
11:40the grounds were elaborately laid out
11:43to show the extent of their interest and influence.
11:48As well as follies, bridges and dovecots,
11:51it was planted with dramatic trees from far away.
11:55Fiona and Paddy have noticed that one of these towering trees
11:59has been uprooted in the winter storms.
12:02It's been held up in the canopy,
12:05but if it falls, they see the potential to use it for timber in the house.
12:12It would be brilliant to be able to use the timber from the woods
12:15in the kitchen, and the way that we'd use it,
12:19echoing the dappled effect of the trees.
12:22But then to have it actually the tree from the woods would just be ideal.
12:26That is a western red cedar.
12:30That's pretty much the ideal timber for using for construction.
12:35If it falls, it has to fall by itself.
12:38We're not allowed to give it a nudge.
12:41It has to do its own thing.
12:43If we're patient, we'll get it,
12:45because it's one of the very, very last things to do,
12:48is to put the wall and ceiling finishes on.
12:51We really want to bring the forest into the house.
12:54The smell of it and the look of it and everything would just be wonderful.
12:57If this tree falls in the forest,
12:59Fiona and Paddy intend not only to hear it,
13:03but to build their kitchen around it.
13:08They couldn't afford to buy in Dublin, and have always rented.
13:12But during their long wait to make their new home happen,
13:16Fiona and Paddy are lucky enough to be able to stay
13:19in Fiona's parents' house there.
13:22They're saving money by bringing as much of their existing furniture
13:26with them as possible.
13:29This chair was my first Christmas present from Paddy
13:33when we were going out.
13:35We both gave each other bits of furniture,
13:37so I think it was a sign that we were definitely going to be
13:40setting a home together.
13:42It's July 2023, four long months since the steel roof sections went in.
13:48And, at last, today work begins on constructing the roof itself.
13:54But this hulking building measures 25 metres long
13:58and over six metres wide,
14:00so every element of the process is on a large scale.
14:07A month later, the huge feat of re-roofing the building
14:11in its original shape is complete.
14:14But there's no progress on the interior.
14:17I'm visiting to talk to Fiona and Paddy about next steps.
14:22Good morning. How are you? Good, good, good.
14:24Lovely to see you again, Paddy. How are you?
14:26Fiona, well, all ready to move in, I see?
14:29Yeah! I would.
14:31Yeah, you would.
14:33Fiona and Paddy are meticulously planning
14:36every element of design here,
14:38from their innovative roof fence
14:40to the way the slates meet the gutter.
14:42The glass is going to have a clean corner,
14:44and we thought we had to keep that going all the way down the slate.
14:47Yeah, we played with looking at the renders,
14:50to see where that gutter should be,
14:52because it's going to stand out as a clean line.
14:54Like, should it be a black?
14:56So the devil's in the detail. That's it, exactly, yeah.
14:59You know, you have the affliction about being an architect.
15:02Almost half the building here is going to be open kitchen,
15:06dining, living area.
15:08Everything opening up out to the courtyard
15:10will be an integral part to it.
15:12And then I've got a roof light in the middle.
15:14Yeah, and the roof light is running
15:16the entire length of the ridge as well.
15:18Are the sections of that open?
15:20No, the roof light is fixed the whole way.
15:23So how do you get a bit of air?
15:25There is a mechanical ventilation system.
15:27Oh, the good old mechanical ventilation.
15:29Their passion for perfection is admirable,
15:33but also time-consuming and often costly.
15:37They've designed their own ventilation system
15:39and commissioned Leadworks to cut sheet lead flashing
15:43to their precise specifications.
15:47Your budget was circa about 350?
15:51That was the initial estimates on it,
15:54but then increases pushed that up.
15:57And then there was grants available.
15:59There were heritage grants, which kind of evened that out.
16:02So we're sort of still kind of on track to build it
16:05as we wanted, still in the money we have available,
16:08saving away like the best we can.
16:11The grants have become important to you.
16:14Yes.
16:16They're a game-changer, yeah, on these kind of jobs.
16:19And when are you moving in?
16:22I think at the moment it probably looks like
16:25maybe sort of March,
16:28assuming everything goes in a fairly linear way.
16:32March is seven months away,
16:34but they've made big steps towards their new woodland life.
16:38They've uprooted from Dublin and moved their practice
16:41into a prefabricated cabin on site
16:44so they can oversee the build
16:47while continuing with their paid work.
16:50Today marks another significant change,
16:53and anticipation is running high
16:55as Noel Cullen and his window team
16:58install the signature roof light.
17:01The early versions of the roof,
17:03they had some roof light,
17:04you know, kind of standard roof lights,
17:06just popped along,
17:07looked at the small window ones on one side,
17:09and we just felt it wasn't having enough impact,
17:11so we wanted something here
17:12that would mirror in with the forest surroundings better.
17:15Along with the plans for glazing the arches,
17:18this bespoke 23-metre long roof light
17:21forms the heart of Fiona and Paddy's design.
17:25The frameless triangular prism
17:27showcases the modernity of the restoration
17:30while complementing the roof's original form.
17:34Most of all,
17:35they want to let dappled forest light into every room.
17:40We're only clearing the steel
17:41by a couple of millimetres there when we're lifting up.
17:44If that touches that steel, we are in trouble.
17:46So, yeah, there is a bit of tension.
17:49Two hours of complicated manoeuvring later,
17:52without disaster,
17:53the final part of this delicate apex
17:57is lowered into place.
17:59That's it.
18:00How are you feeling?
18:01Happy.
18:02Very happy.
18:04The stunning roof light seals in the building from above
18:07and brings a taste of the couple's
18:10definitive creative style to the building.
18:16But Paddy and Fiona are determined
18:18to let their unusual building lead them.
18:22To help them follow that path,
18:24I've brought them to Dublin's Renla
18:26to visit a home which,
18:28because of the tricky triangular plot
18:31on which it was built,
18:33led its owner to a truly radical design.
18:38This home stands out among the local Georgian
18:42and Victorian brick buildings
18:44with its bold lines and curves.
18:47Isn't this just amazing?
18:49It's like a spaceship.
18:50Wow, it is.
18:52Unlike the stark rectangle of their cowshed,
18:55this structure is built around a vast ellipse.
19:00It's an upside-down house
19:02with a staircase leading from the bedrooms downstairs
19:06to a roof-deck kitchen on the upper floor.
19:10Fiona and Paddy first heard about this house
19:12when they were architectural students.
19:15I think we might be wasting time here now
19:17when we could be having a really good snoop
19:19around this building.
19:20Well, let's go.
19:21Yeah, I've wanted to see inside this house
19:24since it was built, since I was in, I think,
19:26maybe second year in college.
19:28No, this one.
19:30Seeing it in the flesh.
19:31It's doing more than I'd even thought.
19:34The light, the color here is so beautiful.
19:39Just the detail, the materials,
19:42how it all fits together
19:43and how every, every single little corner
19:46has been thought about.
19:47It's everywhere, like it's everything.
19:48What's the next thing?
19:49It's going to be as much fun.
19:50Yeah.
19:52The level of kind of precision and accuracy
19:55and use of everything with purpose
19:58doesn't let up at all from top to bottom.
20:01They're letting in light to their new home
20:03via their roof light and arches.
20:06Here, a copper-walled stairwell
20:08makes the most of the sunlight
20:10from the roof terrace above.
20:12And then it comes out as this beautiful
20:14light-reflecting sculptural piece of art.
20:17It's just gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous.
20:19I love the use of the curtains.
20:24So you have your privacy.
20:27The mirrors are brilliant.
20:28You look way down there and you can see the sky.
20:30It's inspiring just to see that
20:33other people go to this level of detail.
20:36Yeah, it's what we want to do.
20:37I'm looking forward to all of that now
20:39from the pair of you.
20:40Yeah, the stakes are high now.
20:42Yeah, they are.
20:43There you go, you see?
20:49With the design stakes roof light high,
20:52Fiona and Paddy are back to site
20:55to deal with more earthy matters.
20:58The cowhouse's sloped cobble floor
21:01must be dug up to level the surface.
21:04The building has proved to be just above bedrock,
21:08making the process harder.
21:11The floor that was in the building,
21:14you know, it was originally for animals.
21:16There were cows in it and it wasn't going to work.
21:18So to take that floor out,
21:20we kind of expected to hit a certain amount of rock
21:23that had to come out.
21:24There was a bit more there than we'd hoped for.
21:26It's nine months since I first visited
21:29and Fiona and Paddy's fairytale home
21:33is still floorless, windowless
21:36and open to the wild wood.
21:39Winter's on its way
21:41and this building needs to be sealed in
21:43as soon as possible.
21:47Architects Fiona Brewer and Paddy Dunn
21:50have left the city to set up home
21:52in the middle of an enchanted forest.
21:55The quest to tame a ruined cowhouse
21:58as their home is no easy one.
22:01They want to respect each quirky element
22:03of this unusual building
22:05and bring their eye for perfection
22:08to bear on every aspect of the design.
22:11Today, David from Arrow Joinery
22:13is coming to measure the arches.
22:15He's making all the windows and doors.
22:18Measuring for the windows
22:20is the most urgent thing now.
22:22We need to get the windows in before Christmas
22:24so the plastering can happen.
22:26So then finishes after Christmas
22:28and then in March.
22:31Don't know. Can't say.
22:33Scrap that.
22:35Fiona's confidence in her move-in date
22:38is wavering.
22:40How are we?
22:41Hi David, good to see you.
22:42Good to see you.
22:43They need windows in as soon as possible
22:45to progress
22:47But the cowhouse's hand-built quirks
22:50means there are no straight lines
22:52or regular curves to work around.
22:551695
22:57It's a one-off, but this is what we do.
23:00This is what we love.
23:01It's a challenge and bring it on.
23:04It's all quite specific to this job.
23:07Measuring today has to be pretty spot-on.
23:09Not much wiggle room in it.
23:112085
23:14Fiona and Paddy are devoted to celebrating
23:17the building's original look
23:19and have designed windows
23:21which meet the stone directly.
23:24Although they will be carefully crafted
23:26to the arch measurements taken today,
23:29the windows will need straight edges.
23:32Unfortunately, the walls themselves
23:34are far from plumb.
23:37There's nothing for it but to crack out the cardboard.
23:42Usually on a new build,
23:44everything is level so we can measure with a laser.
23:47But coming back to a stone building
23:49like this project here,
23:51we've got to go back to basics.
23:57It's going to be 14 weeks from the date of order to size.
24:01If something wasn't right,
24:02we're going to have a major delay there.
24:06With a 14-week wait ahead
24:09until the windows are made,
24:11the building has to be boarded up
24:13to keep out the elements.
24:15But whatever the weather,
24:16now that they're working from the site,
24:18Fiona and Paddy are fast becoming
24:21at one with the forest.
24:23There's an awful lot here that we really love.
24:25There's loads of wildlife here already.
24:27The fox and the robins and the hedgehogs
24:30and the deer.
24:33There's a new resident here at the Cow House.
24:36They're on site so much,
24:38Foxy, a neighbourhood fox, has adopted them.
24:42So about November,
24:44a little fox came along and she was very lame
24:47and very poorly and obviously couldn't hunt for herself.
24:51So we started looking after her
24:53and she has made her home here.
24:56As well as bonding with the local wildlife
24:58and devoting themselves to their buildings every whim,
25:02Fiona and Paddy are keen to know all about its history.
25:08It is likely that their grandiose Cow House
25:11was built during a period of modernisation
25:14of the Rockingham Estate in the early 19th century.
25:18Their building doesn't make it to the history books.
25:21But on a frosty night,
25:23Fiona and Paddy are venturing into the forest
25:27to meet Dr Tomás Luc Conmara
25:30who explores memories of agrarian unrest.
25:34He wants to tell them about a significant event
25:37which took place here in 1918
25:40in the run-up to the War of Independence.
25:44A group of local Republican volunteers met here
25:48with a plan to raid the big house for weapons.
25:51The night was very similar to tonight.
25:53You know, it was dark, cold time of the year
25:56and they are approaching this massive,
25:59you know, symbol of British rule in Ireland
26:02in terms of the Rockingham house and the estate.
26:06This vast stable block is all that remains of the house.
26:11The scale of the buildings, like the one beside us,
26:16one of the few remaining buildings,
26:18was just so dramatic in terms of its contrast
26:22to the way in which most Irish people lived at the time.
26:26When we were looking into the history of our building
26:29and looking at the 1911 census, I couldn't get over it.
26:32You had this massive big estate,
26:34huge, like 30 windows looking out the front.
26:37When you had all of these people living in these tiny little houses
26:40working on the grounds, the contrast, that injustice.
26:44Fiona has a personal connection with this era.
26:47Republican leaders Cathal Brugha and Terence McSwinney
26:51are both great-grandfathers of hers.
26:54Now, the orders, Fiona, would have come from people
26:57like your great-grandad, you know, Cathal Brugha.
27:01So at that stage, in a state like this,
27:03they would have had a significant amount of arms,
27:06and the Irish were very short on long arms.
27:09They were really doing something tangible
27:11towards the Republican movement,
27:13towards the idea of revolution in Ireland.
27:16They first encountered the butler who opened the door.
27:19The rest of the staff were moved into one room,
27:22but it would seem from the records we have
27:25that they were fairly compliant, so the implication there is
27:28that they weren't even somewhat supportive
27:30of what the fellas were doing.
27:32The arms were taken, and there's a statement I have here,
27:35which was written in 1954 by a man called James Feeley,
27:38who was actually one of the men involved that night on the raid.
27:41But he writes in this statement about support and information
27:45that they got leading up to it,
27:47which may connect directly to the home that you're reviving.
27:50I have it here for you.
27:52Early in 1918, we got fed up waiting to be supplied with arms
27:55and decided that we would get them for ourselves.
27:57James Flanagan was a herdsman in Rockingham Castle.
28:00Flanagan told us that there were arms in the gun room
28:03and gave us the details of the house.
28:05James Flanagan is obviously like a central character
28:07in the story of the raid, because he takes the risk
28:10to give the information to the volunteers
28:12about the layout of the house, where the arms are in the house.
28:15You know, we can say for certainty
28:17that he would have been connected to the building
28:19and in and out of it all of the time.
28:21The ruined cow house may have housed the herder
28:24who made this significant raid possible.
28:27There's definitely, like, a lot of evidence there
28:29that this part of the building, one section of it,
28:31was divided off from the main section.
28:33Whitewash, we might have to keep now, cos Flanagan...
28:36You have to keep the whitewash. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
28:39They had led a successful raid
28:42on a symbol of British rule in Ireland
28:45and it encouraged the community,
28:47it encouraged the Republican movement.
28:50The significance of that moment,
28:52the connection to what will now be your home,
28:55adds another layer of meaning and depth
28:58to your locality and now to your home.
29:01Rockingham House burnt down in a house fire in 1957,
29:06but thanks to Fiona and Paddy,
29:08the cow house looks set to survive another century.
29:15Back in the cow house by the light of day,
29:18Fiona wants to use the historic whitewash
29:21as a reference for the colour scheme
29:23for the soon-to-be-installed walls.
29:26Sky!
29:30What I'm trying to do today is match my wall paint
29:35with the pale colours in the wall.
29:39So what I want is something that's not too yellow,
29:43not too grey, a warm pale, and I want it to go everywhere.
29:48I don't want to have a contrast between ceiling and walls,
29:51and I'm not going to have anything different between bedrooms.
29:55Romney wool is the one that stands out
29:57as being kind of harmonious with what we've got here.
30:00Take these and see how our furniture,
30:06which is my phone,
30:09looks in the house with it, and then the couch.
30:13There you go.
30:16I'm happy with Romney wool for now.
30:19We're lucky here in the tones of the limestone and the bricks
30:24that there's a lot of warmth in them.
30:26If we were to just, say, put in a polished concrete floor
30:30where it was just grey, then you'd have a lot of grey
30:34because there's a lot of grey in the larger stones.
30:37So if we bring some warmth in
30:39and get a lot more of those yellow tones
30:42and the terracottas and the warm tones,
30:45then I think we're moving away from the too grey, too cold then.
30:49It'll feel, hopefully, you know, like that warm, homely feeling
30:54of nestled in with cows in a cowboyer.
30:58It's no wonder Fiona's focusing on creating a cosy home.
31:03It's October 2023,
31:05and a spate of storms has been battering the country.
31:10Their house is in the path of a domino-like line-up of trees.
31:15We had a few trees come down during the last two storms.
31:19I think the first storm weakened them.
31:21The second storm knocked them.
31:23The tree that we had our eye on,
31:25the Western Red Cedar that was leaning, did fall,
31:28and we were delighted.
31:30I mean, there was no guarantee that it would fall for us in time.
31:33It was moving, and slowly, but it came down just at the time
31:37that was in time for us to be able to use the timber.
31:40I was flabbergasted.
31:41Myself and Paddy went for a little walk just to check it out,
31:44and it had come down.
31:46It was one of the big storms.
31:48So it will be cut soon and dried,
31:51and then we'll be using it as details in the house.
31:54They've hit the tree jackpot,
31:56and now will be able to use the local cedar wood to create their kitchen.
32:03A second Christmas has passed since my first visit,
32:06and I'm calling in on my woodland friends, Fiona and Paddy,
32:10to discover how far off their project is from bursting into leaf.
32:17So it's a long time since I've been here.
32:19The roof light's in, the plasterwork's really advancing, isn't it?
32:24Yeah, it's moving and looking good.
32:27For me, the big issue is what you're doing with the walls.
32:30How are you dealing with insulation?
32:32I'm concerned that without insulation,
32:35these bare walls could make for a cold home,
32:38and the unfinished pointing will let in moisture.
32:42Ideally, you'd insulate lime, insulate this wall.
32:46Yeah, I mean, that's an opinion, you know.
32:50There's pros and cons for doing it, but I mean, there are...
32:54Tell me the con.
32:56The con for doing it?
32:58Is it necessary, definitely?
33:00I don't know that it is.
33:02Yeah, like, this is a major undertaking,
33:05but I just think you need to also do a little bit of practicality
33:10in terms of insulation, that's all.
33:13I suspect this pair are opting for an extra Gansey
33:17over covering up their much-loved walls.
33:20Is it a new roof on a new floor,
33:22both of which have just more insulation in the roof
33:25than you'd have in a new-built roof?
33:27It's about being able to live in the building happy.
33:30Your walls in your bathroom and your bedroom need to be insulated,
33:35particularly at the far end, cos that'll never see the sun.
33:40And so I just think you need to think about that.
33:43But, I mean, the pointing outside, we can do that when we're moved in.
33:47Well, I don't believe you can.
33:49When you turn the heating on,
33:51if you haven't addressed the water coming through,
33:55it acts, this building will act as a siphon,
33:58and it'll literally suck the water.
34:01Yeah, but it'll suck the water, like, through the stone.
34:04Yeah, but it's still getting in.
34:07I'm saying to you, you need to address the pointing on the outside,
34:12because you have to stop the water getting in.
34:16It's all very well being as one with the forest,
34:19but not when the rain is dripping onto your bedroom.
34:26It's March 2024, just before Paddy's day,
34:30and Paddy is feeling celebratory about a big arrival here.
34:35Windows have just arrived today.
34:38You can see some of them behind me.
34:41They're unloaded and starting to install one or two of them.
34:45There's about three days' work in installing them.
34:49It's looking good so far.
34:51It's cold and wet. It's fine for the windows.
34:54Mightn't be the best for morale.
34:56It's very unforgiving trying to put the windows in
34:59without having a plaster finish either inside or outside,
35:02so it has to be a really tight fit against the stone.
35:05There's 11 arches in total, so 11 bespoke windows going in.
35:10Unfortunately, the cold, wet weather
35:13is hindering an already intricate process.
35:16The sealing tape to fill the millimetres
35:19between the frame and the stone is not expanding.
35:23Paddy has to do an emergency dash to Carrigon Shannon
35:27in search of a specialist tool.
35:30A hairdryer.
35:33Nozzle chosen, work proceeds, but it takes a full four hours.
35:38Finally, the frames are ready to take the glass.
35:43There is a chance that there might be a problem with something,
35:46but I'm not nervous about it, honestly.
35:48The people who are working on it are really good,
35:51and if there's a problem, there's always a way to fix it.
35:56The windows will form the crowning glory of this restoration,
36:00so they are handled with extreme care.
36:22It's the worst possible outcome.
36:26An entire custom-cut pane has shattered.
36:39We had a little accident, one of the units broke.
36:43It's difficult to say what happened exactly.
36:47We guess when we were lifting the unit into place,
36:51one of the edges touched the granite somewhere.
36:55That's the best guess.
36:57All we could see is just a million pieces.
37:00The window company will replace the glass,
37:03but it's a disappointing setback.
37:06They had hoped to move in this month,
37:09but they are having to adjust their plans.
37:16It's a shimmering July morning in the magical forest
37:19on the banks of Lochkee in County Roscommon.
37:23Twenty months have passed since I first visited
37:26the ruined, roofless cowhouse here.
37:30I'm back to visit architect couple Fiona and Paddy
37:34to find out if, despite delays and broken panes,
37:38they have achieved their ambitious vision
37:41for the old building to which they are so devoted.
37:46Approaching via the new drive
37:48and through the developing wild garden,
37:51the stunning finish of the glazed arches
37:54delivers an unexpected elegance.
37:58Goodbye cowhouse, hello Italianate colonnade.
38:03Good morning, how are you?
38:05Lovely to see you.
38:06How are you?
38:08Through the innovative glazed pivot front door I go
38:12and inside my breath is taken away.
38:15Wow.
38:16What do you think?
38:17I think it's stunning.
38:19The fallen tree has provided
38:21for the timber-like feature on the ceiling
38:24and the kitchen doors are in red cedar veneer to match,
38:28bringing a surprising combination of softness,
38:31simplicity and cathedral-like elevation.
38:35Coming in here is amazing, you know,
38:37because I was afraid actually it'd be a bit austere,
38:41but it isn't.
38:43The idea of the timber in the ceiling,
38:45which I thought was nuts.
38:47Might be a bit nuts.
38:48Maybe it is nuts, yeah, but we like it.
38:51The smell is wonderful.
38:53Yeah.
38:54That's the timber from the tree just outside here
38:57that we were willing and hoping would fall over.
38:59You got your floor down, the original floor.
39:02Original floor.
39:03We sent it off to the local stone guys
39:05and got them all back and laid them all
39:08under floor heating underneath.
39:09And same with the cobbles, took all the cobbles out
39:11and laid them back in again.
39:12Yeah, and the nice thing here is your cobbles
39:14go from inside to out.
39:16So you're just taking as much of the building as it was
39:19and the best of it as it was and keeping it.
39:21This floor looks great.
39:23Yeah.
39:24We had a lot of fun picking the individual fossils.
39:28So the girls picked ones for their room.
39:31They're oysters.
39:32They're 380-million-year-old oysters.
39:34Yeah, but they're fabulous, aren't they?
39:35Yeah.
39:36I would expect nothing less than hand-selected fossil flooring
39:40from this fabulously eccentric family.
39:44Everything in this home is architectural.
39:46Yes.
39:48Yeah, and kind of unapologetically.
39:50So, you know, that is us.
39:53Yeah, but then it's balanced against furniture
39:57which is comfortable.
39:59And to me is very soft.
40:01Yes.
40:02Visually soft.
40:03And I think that complements the room.
40:05So, as I said, that feeling I would have concerned myself with
40:09about sort of it being a bit austere, it most certainly isn't.
40:14There's real heart to this home.
40:17I love the tiles in the wall and the little recesses.
40:21They came from my grandmother's house outside Ballina, yeah,
40:25that was demolished a while ago.
40:27And there's a few little remnants of it that we've kept,
40:29so it's lovely to get things like that in.
40:31And I love that detail.
40:34Isn't it super?
40:35Isn't that just fantastic?
40:36It's just lovely.
40:37I love it.
40:38So there's lots of sophistication here.
40:43There is.
40:44It's the sort of thing where it's a lot of work to make something look easy.
40:47But you see the fact that you've kept the window out,
40:52so you've expressed the arch internally rather than externally.
40:56And the external envelope, that elevation,
41:00because you've chosen to put the windows further out.
41:04God, that's so refined.
41:07Yeah, it is.
41:08Lads, like.
41:11They've thought through every detail.
41:14And your black conduit.
41:16I cleaned them and sent them off to the powder coaters.
41:21But it makes all the difference.
41:23Doesn't it? Yeah.
41:24Because otherwise they'd be painted.
41:26Again, you see, it's that attention to detail that's so important.
41:32Yeah, we're proud of these.
41:34Well, I'm proud of everything so far.
41:36Unless there's a glitch down the corridor.
41:39Is there a glitch down the corridor?
41:41We'll go and find one.
41:43They're going to find the glitch.
41:44There are charming design quirks everywhere.
41:51Isn't that just extraordinary?
41:53And this is here for noise, is it?
41:55Yes, mostly, yeah, noise.
41:57It's to separate these living areas at night time
41:59from bedrooms that are just there.
42:01But again, going back to the few basic big ideas
42:05of keeping all the arches in one run.
42:07So we wanted a glass so that you could still
42:10continuously see all the arches.
42:12Yeah, because otherwise you'd have a door here.
42:14Yes, you'd be breaking.
42:16That for you.
42:17Yeah.
42:18What I think is just fabulous is
42:21when you look down there,
42:23because of the location of the mirror,
42:26you see the run all the way and then it's the return,
42:31which is the return you're looking at there.
42:34So isn't that a stunning view?
42:36The pattern of the arches is just beautiful.
42:39It was made to house cows,
42:42but the builders appeared to have poured
42:44love and attention into the design.
42:48Led by the building,
42:49Fiona and Paddy have continued that tradition
42:52of simple but beautifully crafted design.
42:56Well, we go down to the bedroom.
42:59Let's go.
43:00You can see the texture on the ceiling.
43:03It's fabulous.
43:04The lighting is wonderful, isn't it?
43:06The girls' bedrooms are off the cobbled corridor
43:10along with the family bathroom.
43:12The spacious main bedroom,
43:14with its roof lit en suite,
43:16has its own terrace.
43:18Herdsman James Flanagan's limewash
43:21is faithfully preserved here,
43:23but I'm still concerned about eating.
43:27When's the installation going on?
43:29It's funny when you come into this room,
43:31you can feel the temperature drop, can't you?
43:34It is cooler, yes.
43:35Yeah.
43:36Yeah, no harm.
43:37This end, it's the slowest drying out.
43:39I mean, the whole place has still got
43:41lots of drying out still to do,
43:42but it's kind of progressively working.
43:44It's getting there.
43:45Funny, you can see the line of damp.
43:46We might inject a DPC if the damp doesn't go down.
43:50A damp-proof course is one thing,
43:52but I hope they will address pointing
43:55and insulation in the future.
43:57It's a lovely room, though, isn't it?
43:59It's great to have.
44:00I mean, imagine lying in bed and watching the stars.
44:03Mm, the moon is fantastic.
44:05And shooting stars.
44:06It's really lovely.
44:07Shooting stars while lying in bed.
44:09Amazing.
44:10So you're dead chuffed, the pair of you?
44:12Mm, yeah.
44:13Yeah, we're delighted with it.
44:15I should be.
44:16My initial reaction when I met the pair of you
44:19was it's all going to be a bit sort of perfectionist
44:22and to be a bit austere and cold,
44:26but it isn't.
44:27It's a real family home,
44:28and I think hats off to the pair of you
44:30for not compromising.
44:32There's a real warmth.
44:34And as somebody else said, when you're in the house,
44:38you feel your outside.
44:40There's a real connection
44:43between the inside of the house
44:45and the setting and the outside.
44:48This home is very lucky to have you as the owners.
44:51You've really treated the building with such respect.
44:56You've taken it, taken the elements,
44:59and if you'd like, given it a 21st-century makeover.
45:04Outdoors, in the forest air of their newly cleared courtyard,
45:09the scale of their project is clear.
45:12This home is slightly experimental with that.
45:16Not on purpose, but we just followed what was needed.
45:20We didn't set out to purposely do something unusual.
45:24There were areas where we were kind of testing out ideas,
45:27but mostly it was just listening to what the old building needed.
45:31In terms of your rating, this started life as zero,
45:35and what will it become?
45:37About a C1.
45:38A C1.
45:39It is good.
45:40It is, yeah, it's great.
45:41When you put the insulation on the walls,
45:44you'll be in the Bs.
45:46You'll be in the Bs.
45:47And at the moment, you're using a gas boiler,
45:51but you've designed it so that as heat pumps improve,
45:56you'll be able to switch over.
45:58Switch over to a heat pump.
45:59I'm glad they can make the place more toasty
46:01when they've done some more saving.
46:03So you've bought the property with a bit of land around it
46:07for how much?
46:10Under £100,000, and then an overall spend of just over £400,000.
46:17So I think overall we've got good value on it.
46:21I think we're happy.
46:23They felt priced out of Dublin,
46:25but now they have the bespoke home of their dreams
46:29for about £500,000.
46:32We had to adjust what we wanted to do for inflation,
46:36and then we got to adjust things the other way
46:38as grants, relevant grants, became available.
46:41Yeah, I mean, you started off and there was no grant.
46:44That's made a huge difference.
46:46Yeah, that pretty much cancelled out the inflation
46:49to allow us to do the project we had wanted to do day one.
46:52And then we made savings in other things.
46:55At the kitchen, we went for X display,
46:58and we got our couch on done deal for €100.
47:01Things like that.
47:02And we've been gathering our furniture for a long time.
47:05So we did make savings.
47:07It is amazing if you're willing to put in the legwork,
47:11how you can actually save money.
47:14But it is time.
47:15It's communication.
47:16You're working with the people.
47:18You're asking, you know, what's the going rate,
47:21and how can I make it cheaper?
47:23And if you can cut a thousand off here and a thousand off there,
47:26they do all that up.
47:27It's a home of bargains that looks absolutely high-end.
47:31You really should be very proud of the period.
47:36You know, this is just a spectacular piece of architecture.
47:41To celebrate this unique home reaching full growth,
47:45the housewarming begins.
47:48This is a passion project for Paddy and Fiona.
47:53And if you like, they've invested so much time and energy
47:59into this project and questioned every detail
48:04and have ended up with this extraordinary building,
48:07which is a delight.
48:09Far from being a sterile home, it's anything but.
48:13It's fabulous. It's really comfortable.
48:15Love to come down for the dinner party, chill out.
48:18Amazing terrace courtyard.
48:20Like, really stunning.
48:22I have to tell you, I'm jealous standing in this home.
48:26cheering & applause
48:56music
49:26music