Huddersfield Revisited

Back in 1999 Chris and Gill took on the considerable task of converting a 19th-century wool mill near Huddersfield. The historic building’s original shell would be painstakingly restored using traditional materials, but inside the plan was to gut the building and create a totally contrasting high-tech minimalist interior. Used to creating bespoke joinery for luxury hotels and bars, the perfectionist couple were determined to bring the same exacting standards to their new home.

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The pair got stuck right in, ripping out the internal walls to create one gargantuan open space, and flirting with disaster as they removed the only supporting wooden beams and replaced them with steel. A £6,000 shower unit was balanced on the edge of their second floor, and they designed and built their own staircase and kitchen. Eye-wateringly expensive lighting and music systems were painstakingly installed.

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Twenty-five years on Kevin McCloud returns to find out how life in the house has been, if their meticulous approach has stood the test of time, and whether their radical early noughties home still feels cutting-edge today.