Grand Designs

Grand Designs magazine is essential reading for anyone who is building, renovating, or improving their own home. In each issue you can expect to find 40+ pages of inspirational real homes complete with in-depth project details and exclusive tours of new TV houses. Up-to-date information allows you to stay abreast of the latest architecture, design and construction ideas and innovations. Practical project features include advice from industry experts on a wide range of challenges such as building on an awkward plot, overcoming a lack of light or space, or working with a tight budget. And, as designing a kitchen or bathroom is one of the most complex – and expensive – room transformations to tackle, every month you’ll find a project feature on each, along with beautiful real-life case studies.

Welcome

Architecture update

Kevin McCloud • Demolishing perfectly good buildings isn’t just a waste of resources, it’s an affront to their – and our – integrity

Back to their roots • Childhood friends returned to the county they grew up in to turn a derelict stable into a rural home

Digging deep • With the garden a no-go zone, there was only one way to make more living space in this Edwardian home

TIME TRAVELLER • Redesigning this house saw it fast-forward forty years in just nine months

Trick of the light

PROJECTS

Guide to project management • Knowing what’s involved in running a build will help you decide whether to tackle it yourself or hire an expert

10 Homes with solar panels • Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels capture the sun’s energy and convert it into electricity. By including solar battery storage as part of a home’s renewable energy set-up that power can be kept for use after dark. Including solar thermal technology – which provides hot water – goes a long way towards self-sufficiency and low utility bills.

Right on top • What to know before going ahead with an attic conversion project

KITCHENS & BATHROOMS

KITCHEN UPGRADE

Fit for the future • Ways to ensure your new cabinets are as eco friendly as possible

On permanent display

BATHROOM EDIT

Ground rules

ABC+ Warranty

MY GRAND IDEA • Spanish architects Laia Gelonch and Marc Subirana filled a gap in a Barcelona street with their steel-and-glass home and office