Series 11, Episode 5
Thursday 7 November 8.00pm
Rookie architect Nick is aiming to solve Australia’s housing crisis by showing that good design is affordable for everyone.
In an antidote to the cookie-cutter project homes that are springing up across Australia, Gold Coast couple Nick and Trent aim to build a home with style, character and fun, for the same price as a mass-produced home, and at the same pace too; in only four months. Yes, four months.
It’s a massive task, even bigger when you consider that Nick is designing this house himself. Bigger still, it’s his very first design, and he’s recovering from PTSD. Challenges don’t get much bigger than this.
For 12 years, Nick worked in the Royal Australian Air Force, serving as an Air Intelligence Officer. Coping with some critical and classified assignments, Nick returned home carrying on as normal. But friends and family knew Nick was anything but normal. Quiet and withdrawn, owing to huge amounts of stress, Nick suffered a stroke and required a heart implant.
Eventually Nick was medically discharged from the Air Force and faced an uncertain future. But the silver lining was that he retained a lifelong passion for drawing and designing buildings. So as part of his rehab, he retrained in architecture.
Now he has a new mission; to prove that good architecture is available and affordable for everyone. Helping him along the way is builder Michael, also constructing his first new build. Together they form a great team, but will they win the battle against time, budget and unexpected Gold Coast rain? This could well be mission impossible.
Series 11, Episode 6
Thursday 14 November 8.00pm
Returning to 6th generational family land, Sam along with wife Selina, build an off grid forever home for their three sons from beloved Canberra Red bricks.
Living on the land can be a powerful draw, especially when it’s land that’s been in your family for over six generations. Which is exactly the case for schoolteacher Sam.
Having grown up on the 600-acre sheep farm on the outskirts of Canberra, Sam has a dream to return to his childhood playground, along with his sweetheart, fellow schoolteacher Selina and their three young boys. The plan is to live alongside his parents and brother in an inspirational fully sustainable home, made with recycled bricks. But not just any bricks, over 14,000 original Canberra Red bricks, now considered a prized collector’s item.
Inspired by their own Tiny House build during Covid lockdowns, the family are relying on their bowerbird resourcefulness to find as many second-hand bricks and recyclable materials as possible, to build their forever home; one that may continue being home to their autistic son Sebastion long into the future. Having spent the first eight years of his life as non-verbal, family life has always been challenging. But now 12-year-old Seb is on the cusp of high school and has dreams of his own to be a farmer, so the race is on to get the house built and the whole family settled in before the new year starts.
The problem is the remaining finance for the project is tied to the sale of their existing suburban home, and with interest rates continuing to rise and house prices in their area falling, it couldn’t be a worse time to sell.
Coupled with the stresses of the build and their need to move the family of five into their Tiny House with no running water and an outside loo in the middle of winter, will they be able to cope? Or will it all become too much?
Series 11, Episode 7
Thursday 21 November 8.00pm
Sydney couple Anna and Celeste are hoping to transform a rundown Victorian terrace into a modern celebration of colour and character, with not a white wall in sight.
How do you take a rundown Victorian terrace in the Sydney suburb of Surry Hills, and transform it into a home brimming with bold colours and character? That’s the challenge couple Anna and Celeste have given their architect Dean, who was briefed to design a home that is an extension of their animated personalities, while also celebrating their relationship in a city that embraces the LGBTQIA+ community.
The challenges begin from the start with narrow back lane access meaning the delicate site demolition is a painfully slow process, taking twice as long as originally estimated. However, the headline grabbing feature of the home are two proud very pink pavilions that will ensure the house stands out from the crowd. But will they be able to choose a shade of pink that doesn’t cause a stink with the neighbours?
After 12 months, Anna and Celste have a home that is strait laced at the front but lets loose at the back. A mixture of blues, yellows and reds form a vibrant colourful cacophony, interspersed with brick, stone and wood to bring some calm to the party. Will they find that balance between vibrant celebration and homely harmony? Designing a house with no white walls is one thing, but living in it is an entirely different matter.
Series 11, Episode 8
Thursday 28 November 8.00pm
Natalie and Stuart promise to save the soul of their “fixer-upper”, but face obstacles with eccentric renovations that risk upsetting the old owners.
Interior designer and former Olympic snowboarder Jo and commercial builder husband Josh take on a mountainous challenge when they decide to build their family retreat high on a remote ridge in Victoria’s Strath Creek. Deep in sheep country on a block they were told was impossible to build on, Jo and Josh have plans to create two modern and sculptural Australian farm shed-like structures – one for sleeping in, the other for living – that sit harmoniously in the landscape.
With a budget of just $500,000 the focus is on thermal efficiency and creating elegant, liveable spaces, while outside they want a giant, seamless corrugated steel shell for each of the buildings to give them a unique, sleek look. But within weeks of starting the build the challenges mount; the outer steel shell proves to be impossible to manufacture on their limited budget, and progress onsite is hampered by the remote location and horrendous weather.
Despite the stress, Jo perseveres with her plans to create a peaceful and harmonious home that’s fitting for such a spectacular location and designs some low cost but beautifully handcrafted elements that Josh must try and construct. Will it be enough to elevate the project from merely a couple of uninviting steel sheds to an inviting holiday haven that they’ll eventually call home?
Series 11, Episode 9
Thursday 5 December 8.00pm
Rookie architect Nick is aiming to solve Australia’s housing crisis by showing that good design is affordable for everyone.
In an antidote to the cookie-cutter project homes that are springing up across Australia, Gold Coast couple Nick and Trent aim to build a home with style, character and fun, for the same price as a mass-produced home, and at the same pace too; in only four months. Yes, four months.
It’s a massive task, even bigger when you consider that Nick is designing this house himself. Bigger still, it’s his very first design, and he’s recovering from PTSD. Challenges don’t get much bigger than this.
For 12 years, Nick worked in the Royal Australian Air Force, serving as an Air Intelligence Officer. Coping with some critical and classified assignments, Nick returned home carrying on as normal. But friends and family knew Nick was anything but normal. Quiet and withdrawn, owing to huge amounts of stress, Nick suffered a stroke and required a heart implant.
Eventually Nick was medically discharged from the Air Force and faced an uncertain future. But the silver lining was that he retained a lifelong passion for drawing and designing buildings. So as part of his rehab, he retrained in architecture.
Now he has a new mission; to prove that good architecture is available and affordable for everyone. Helping him along the way is builder Michael, also constructing his first new build. Together they form a great team, but will they win the battle against time, budget and unexpected Gold Coast rain? This could well be mission impossible.
Series 11, Episode 10 - Season Final Episode
Thursday 12 December 8.00pm
A homeowner takes a tiny rundown heritage-listed workers cottage in the middle of the dense inner city Sydney suburb of Newtown and transforms it into a beautiful, fully sustainable off- grid home.
How do you take a tiny rundown heritage-listed workers cottage in the middle of the dense inner city Sydney suburb of Newtown and transform it into a beautiful, fully sustainable off- grid home? Surely that would be impossible.
Not according to Laura who has spent the last seven years dedicating herself to finding out ways to make it possible, and in the process eaten through hundreds of thousands of dollars on experts who have all told her it can’t be done.
Seven architects, 15 water specialists, 10 solar experts, three sustainability experts, two legal professionals and one project manager later, she found the necessary help and expertise, and with a $900,000 budget and a four-month time frame, the Impossible House was finally underway.
However just weeks into the project it becomes clear that her allowance for time and money is woefully inadequate, with challenges at every turn!
Through it all, Laura remains steadfast in her commitment to become fully self- sufficient by storing all her own water and generating all her own electricity.
But when the local council refuse her application for north facing solar panels, is the sun about to set on her off-grid dream? Perhaps this really is the Impossible House after all.
Anthony Burke features on Good Weekend magazine inside The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald today.
Season 12
Thursday 16 October 8pm
Architecture Professor Anthony Burke is back at it following some of the nation’s craziest home builders in a brand-new season of Grand Designs Australia. From an ingenious low cost Earthship in Tasmania, to a family “cave” on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula; a $10 million dollar plus concrete compound in Queensland, to an underground bunker house in country NSW for a couple trying to escape bushfires - the projects are as intriguing as they are stressful! But when it’s all done and dusted, the results are as intriguing as they are spectacular… if they finish, that is.
Grand Designs Australia – Stream the brand new season from Thursday 16 October 8pm on ABC iview and ABC TV:
EPISODE 1 OF 10
THURSDAY 16 OCTOBER 8. 00PM
Locked out of Melbourne’s soaring housing market, Matt and Kate didn’t downsize their dreams — they super-sized them.
Swapping the city for a new way of life in Tasmania, where they plan to create a community of Earthships - radical self-sufficient homes made from recycled bottles, rammed earth and cob.
With zero building experience, Matt is taking on this huge task and to top it off, he’s tackling not just one but two houses at the same time.
As they battle weather, waterproofing nightmares and timelines stretching to infinity, the couple are pushed to their limits. Will the whole dream come crashing down?
EPISODE 2
THURSDAY 23 OCTOBER 8.00PM
Having sold their very successful business in the US, Gary and Lorilie return to Australia to build a multi- million-dollar home as a legacy for their grandchildren..
But a cancer diagnosis throws doubt on attempting such an enormous project.
Can Lorilie get the house finished, what effect will the build have on her health, and if she does finish it, will this concrete monolith ever match the family warmth of the old farm?
EPISODE 3
THURSDAY 30 OCTOBER 8.00PM
At Rye on the Mornington Peninsula, Ryan plans to build a unique home,with boulders in the living room, and his bedroom in a cave.
Ryan wants his home to reflect the wildness of the Mornington Peninsula where he lives.
He’s designed a house with boulders in the living room and his bedroom in a cave.
But designing is one thing – can he actually build it?
EPISODE 4
THURSDAY 6 NOVEMBER 8.00PM
Acclaimed Australian architect Ed Lippmann discovers transforming his childhood home into a signature steel and glass showpiece may be the most daunting assignment of his storied career.
Whether it’s a soaring Sydney office building or a landmark harbourside swimming complex, star Australian architect Ed Lippmann works his magic in signature steel and glass.
But when he sets out to turn the bones of his own childhood home into a sparkling futurework, Ed discovers this deeply personal project just might be his most challenging.
EPISODE 5
THURSDAY 13 NOVEMBER 8.00PM
Builder Nick and his wife Rachel have decided to leave the coastal life in Coogee, NSW for the wide-open spaces of the Blue Mountains.
They bought a plot of land overlooking the iconic Three Sisters, and now Nick is facing the biggest challenge in his 35-year building career, constructing a house for Rachel beyond her wildest dream, with epic views, rammed earth and Corten steel.