Hackney Downs Revisited

Four years ago Graeme and Melanie had huge ambitions for their new home in Hackney, a comfortable haven for themselves and for their teenaged daughters, Isla and Indi. They wanted the house to celebrate and cement their new blended family, formed following the loss of their own partners.

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The only problem was where they wanted to build - a tiny twin garage plot purchased for a whopping £275,000. Located on a traditional Victorian terraced road, Graeme, an architect, came up with an unapologetically modernist bright red design. Inside it was to be cleverly laid out to maximise space vertically. Despite the challenge of excavating 4 metres down in a tight urban site, the schedule was set at just 12 months with an equally tight budget.

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But a catalogue of challenges quickly hit Melanie and Graeme, from the basement contractor withdrawing due to skyrocketing material costs, to huge increases in mortgage rates draining the budget. But as the project neared completion, a final bombshell in the basement blew their schedule off course and put even their hopes of living in the house in jeopardy.

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Eighteen months since his last somewhat gloom-laden visit, Kevin McCloud returns to see if Graeme and Melanie are finally out of their hole, have the beautifully finished house they originally envisaged, and whether they might even now be flourishing there…