Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud has given an update on one of the “saddest ever homes.” Edward Short appeared on the Channel 4 show in 2019 with the plan to transform his parent’s 1950s home.
Speaking during the Grand Designs Live at London ExCeL, Kevin gave an emotional update about the wellbeing of Edward. Viewers were introduced to the music industry executive, who had ambitions to create “something very special” with Chesil Cliff House.
However, Edward’s dreams were left in tatters after he failed to renovate the home within 18 months. Host Kevin found out during the show that the father-of-two had been working on the transformation for over a decade.
Speaking about Edward, he said: “I had more concerns about Ed’s wellbeing and his family’s wellbeing. But yes, I did have concerns about the house halfway through.
”It was unfinished, and because he couldn’t proceed with works. The water was getting in and it cost him tens of thousands of pounds to remediate the steelwork and glazing because it was damaged. The building wasn’t fully watertight and that’s a great shame.”
Kevin added as reported by the Daily Mirror: “You go forwards to go backwards to go forwards again, but goodness me he (Ed) got there in the end didn’t he, so that’s great.”
Ed eventually finished the lighthouse-style home in 2022 and was put on the market for £10 million. However, in the latest crushing blow for him, it was revealed in January that the price had recently been slashed again to £5.25 million on Savills.
The mansion boasts eight bedrooms, eight bathrooms, and six reception rooms. Channel 4 fans who watched the episode in 2019 previously dubbed the light-house mansion as an “eye sore” and called the size of the project “greedy.”
Speaking to Devon Live at the time the episode aired, Ed said: “We’ve had an amazing time living in that spot (at the old house). There were days when the girls would come back from school, get straight off the bus and we’d all jump straight into the sea to mess around in the waves or go kayaking.
“But the whole project has been a horrendous strain for Hazel, I have sunk our family purse into this and I really feel for her. I never meant to put her through any of this.”
During Grand Designs Live, Kevin unveiled The Grand House which is “a ground-breaking Grand Designs build featuring cutting-edge products and designs for your very own grand design.”
