Lewes Revisited

Kevin McCloud revisits rural East Sussex to meet concrete obsessed professional deep-sea diver Adrian, who fell in love with cold uncompromising concrete in the skateparks of Scotland. Back in 2016 he had convinced wife Megan to build their new family home almost entirely out of the stuff – both inside and out. No cladding, no carpets, no plaster or wallpaper, it was to be as pure a concrete building as humanly possible. Adrian believed his raw, exposed, modular concrete home would be the ultimate 21st century country house.

 

However, the perils of being a pioneer soon became evident for project manager Adrian. Installation of the foundations, using a high-tech reinforced concrete mix they hoped would save them £40,000, fell foul of building regulations. Another recipe, designed to overcome concrete’s reputation as a poor insulator, refused to pour properly. With both schedule and budget under strain, Adrian was forced to resume work as a North Sea diver, leaving Megan juggling this messy challenging build, all the while looking after three young children. By 2018 water leaks were still to be addressed, the majority of the spaces were raw and unfinished and the family were still a long way away from moving into their concrete dream.

 

Now, two and a half years later, with the house now fully complete, Kevin returns to see what living in a cutting edge concrete bunker is really like.