Richmond

Richmond

In the first ‘healthy’ home project ever seen on Grand Designs, gallery owner Elinor and fitness entrepreneur Born set themselves the near impossible task of creating Britain’s first hypoallergenic house. Driven by the need to alleviate their two young sons’ life threatening allergies, their new part-submerged, shed-inspired home will be built with low toxin materials and use cutting edge filtration systems to clean the air they breathe.

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Right from the start Born and Elinor are up against it. Their site may be on a leafy back garden plot in South West London, chosen because it is very close to a hospital, but it also has time limited access. As large trucks take soil away from their huge basement excavation, the route they’re taking comes under threat. Structural build panels from Latvia also face a nail biting deadline. All the while Elinor and Born research nearly every material, item and even houseplant that enters the property, desperate to make the house as safe and non-allergenic for their boys as possible.

It’s an immense burden and with the children still suffering weekly allergy attacks, it’s a race against time to get moved in. But will their innovative new house deliver the benefits Elinor and Born are fighting for? Can it really improve their boys’ lives, or will it all be in vain?...