Designs for Life is a new four-part series that follows four couples as they set out to build their very own designs for life. Presented by Irish architect Gary Miley, and filmed over two-and-a-half years, the series matches these four ambitious plans to four top architects, but will this be enough to turn their dream homes into a reality?
The series was filmed over a remarkable period in Irish and world economic history. It began in the summer of 2006 when the Irish ‘Celtic Tiger’ economy was still roaring but as the projects developed the economy began first to slow down and then eventually dramatically collapse. Undoubtedly a stressful time to be financing your own dream house build.
Presenter and Architect Garry Miley matches each of the aspiring homebuilders with an architect who he thinks is their ideal match. Whether it’s a new build on a stunning site or a complete overhaul of a house bang smack in the middle of a heritage town Garry, picks the architect who he thinks will meet the challenge.
The stories start with the site – the place the homebuilders have chosen for their new homes. The architect then takes the all-important brief, where he tries to understand what his new clients are hoping for from their dream house, and finds out how much they are each planning to spend.
Even if he wins them over with his design, reality usually intervenes when the more mundane issue of money is examined. Costs need to be evaluated before the critical planning stage and this is where a design can become unstuck. However for some of the clients once they’ve fallen for the architect’s vision there’s no going back and more money has to be found.
Getting these designs through planning is the next big hurdle and in Ireland it’s never an easy one – particularly when it’s a very contemporary design, or there are strict conservation guidelines to deal with. But it’s particularly nerve-wracking when costs are still not tied down and a house may never get to be built, even if planning does come through.
For many the real stress only begins when these projects eventually do get on site – whether it’s because a client has decided to manage the build themselves; or because costs keep escalating and schedules shifting or because unexpected developments are always around the corner. And throughout the build there’s the task of ensuring that the attention to detail and level of craftsmanship is doing justice to the design.
And all the while as the economy deteriorates there’s the added pressure of trying to sell existing houses, manage rents on top of mortgages and face up to the reality that a dream home may be in negative equity before you even move in.
Programme one – Julie & Patrick Ellwood and architect Denis Byrne
After 15 years living in the UK Julie and Patrick Ellwood want to settle down and bring up their young family in Julie’s native Sligo. Julie who is an osteopath and Patrick, a psychiatric nurse, wanted a rural lifestyle for their three children Scarlett 7, MacKenzie 5 and baby Kiefer.
They found a stunning site near Strandhill with outline planning permission already on it. They were keen to build something a little out of the ordinary that would suit the needs of their growing family. They were hoping to keep a house in Sligo town which they bought when they first moved back as a rental investment and didn’t want to spend more than €350,000 on the build.
They were matched with architect Denis Byrne who had a track record of designing houses for stunning rural locations.
He took their brief for an open-plan, family-friendly house with a bit of a rustic twist and three weeks later he came back with a design that really blew them away – a cluster of buildings with a large contemporary barn-inspired building at the centre. Denis was worried their budget was tight. But he’d built this concern into his design. The idea was flexible enough that they could start with a small version and build onto it in the future.
But they had fallen for the design and wanted to go big from the beginning. And they were faced with the decision of upping their budget.
It was full steam ahead to planning. The site already had outline planning but Denis’s design was very contemporary and not without risk and the process was not straightforward.
Planning came eventually came through. There was more good news when Julie and Patrick announced they were expecting another child but the pressure was on as they moved into rented accommodation and now had double their monthly outgoing of rent and mortgage.
As their 21st century barn went up Julie became more and more committed to the project and worked closely with her architect to achieve the finish she wanted.
But the costs inevitably crept upwards as the Ellwood’s decided to that there could be no making do on this project, they wanted the best for their dream house.