Grand Designs Australia - Episode Guide

After spending 2 years building his dream home in Callignee, Victoria, the worst bushfires in Victoria's history (Black Sunday) burnt the home of Chris Clarke to the ground. After recovering from the shock, Chris decides to rebuild his home on the same site, and the idea of Callignee 2 is born. Follow Chris on his journey to build his spectacular new home in the Australian bush.

Architect Domenic Alvaro and his partner Sue Bassett purchase a tiny corner car park (7m x 6m) and turn it into 220 square metres of fantastic living space. Despite a rapid pace of construction using prefabricated concrete components, their vertical build faces many interesting challenges. The design won a 2011 World Architecture Festival award.

Jan and Ed Gillman painstakingly restore a tumbled-down weatherboard (one of the oldest homes in the region) in Southport, to its former glory.

Julie and Patrick Eltridge purchase an asbestos-riddled house in Sydney's beachside Clovelly and in its place build a modern architecturally designed home using a Melbourne firm of 'pre-fab' builders, who custom build them a modular home that is trucked to Sydney and assembled on site.

Trevor and Francoise Sullivan (and their friends) build a cyclone proof tropical tree house that is windowless and based on the shape of a 50 cent piece.

On their 4,000 square metre block, Steve and Lisa Morley live the American dream and build a Hampton's style home in the Gold Coast hinterlands.

Engineer Peter Riedel and his wife Mary purchase an 1870's church for $20,000 and re-build it into a beautiful home.

Drew Muirhead builds a spectacular Balinese resort style mansion in leafy Cottage Point. The end result has a private beach with boatshed and speedboat, but the journey to the finish line isn't easy with the slope of the block and access to it posing a number of building challenges

Ian McDonald and Rob Wilhelm build a spectacular $1.8 million dollar home overlooking Port Phillip Bay on the Bellarine Peninsula.

Over the years, Nick and Anna McKimm have almost made a hobby of renovating, selling and moving on. But with three young children, they're ready to lay down permanent roots and build their dream home. A sleek, modernist, 60's inspired family residence on a large, half acre block in Melbourne's bayside suburb, Brighton.

Bernie's a tinkerer. Needing a new house and unwilling to pay a builder, Bernie takes on the construction himself, armed with an eccentric industrial design, a minimal budget and a cowboy attitude.

Anne and Michael are building a modern version of a retro home, with curved steel and walls of glass with a hint of Mondrian inspired colour - a contrast to the well-kept more conservative homes that surround them. 

Peter Maddison meets Rod Moore and Di Foggo, who plan to build an ultra-modern, fixed-price, flat-pack house high on a rocky outcrop overlooking the town of Kyneton in Victoria.

Peter Maddison meets Daniel Leipnik and Andrew Preston, who plan to build a slick, pavilion-style home, huddled around a pool and propped up by poles on a coastal hillside outside Cairns.

Michael and Sandy are leaving the city for a permanent tree change and building a new family home on their lush 20-acre property in Gladysdale. But first they have to agree on a design.

Mike and Lowen are passionate about conserving water and, like many, decide to put a couple of water tanks in their new house. But these are massive, custom-designed steel anchors that support the house above the ground. 

Art teacher and sculptor Laurie and his wife Renee, a trained artist-turned-web designer, are art lovers. They want to create a sort of domestic gallery - a modernist, cube-shaped construction of steel, stone, and glass.

Greg and Trish plan to subdivide, sell the heritage cottage at the front of their block and build a new house at the back. After setbacks and a rethink, they find themselves embarking on an epic upsizing adventure.

Edd and Amanda lost everything when bushfires swept through Steels Creek. Determined to stay with the land they love, they're building a concrete bunker embedded in the landscape with one side facing the outside world.

For 10 years Pamela and Stuart have relished weekends in a tiny, unpowered hut on their cattle property in Victoria's High Country, but with retirement around the corner, they feel it's time to upgrade. Limited only by materials that have to suit the rugged conditions, what emerges is bold and unique. Pamela and Stuart clearly embrace their architect's avant-garde approach, but will they manage to transfer the charm of their old hut, with its fabulous bush character, into this brand-new rural retreat?

After living in the same home in Melbourne's Hampton for 20 years, Brett and Jenny are set to embark on a journey of blind faith, giving Brett's architect cousin Tim free rein to build a replacement for their time-honoured Californian bungalow. His exciting design will be a clear stand-out in the street. Tim is breaking new ground, the builders are thinking out of the box, and the family is about to leap from a conventional lifestyle to an uber-contemporary one.

Eco-conscious entertainers Claire and Lisa adore their hobby farming lifestyle on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula, but the cute 1930s beach shack they've long shared with two pugs has lost its once savoured charm. They're upgrading and building a sustainable, modernist, entertainers' home that blends sophisticated design elements with rammed earth, recycled materials and raw finishes. It all sounds glamorous and straightforward, but with a zero-contingency budget, what happens when a wet winter meets an insidious clay soil?

Tyrone and Hailey follow the advice of a feng shui expert, or 'energy ecologist', throughout construction of their new house. An owner-built labour of love, their passive solar building has a curved living roof planted with native grasses.

Max and Mariella have been planning to relocate to Bryon Bay since the birth of their daughter, Ruby. As successful property developers, an ambitious build shouldn't be a problem, but handing over control to a local building team is harder than they thought. From the outset they make fundamental changes to the design, making it a headache for the builder, and for Max. Something has to give, especially when the bank learns the house they're loaning money on isn't quite the house being built.

Brett and Rees are the proud parents of three young boys and desperately need more space. They love their inner-west community in Sydney's Annandale, so the plan is to build on the small empty allotment behind their apartment. The first sod has barely been turned when one of the heritage buildings on their boundary is in danger of collapsing. Exhausted by ongoing battles and a build that's months behind schedule, will Brett and Rees have enough grit and determination to see their project through to completion?

James and Helen plan to capture breathtaking Barossa views in their elegant new home. One room wide, 60m long, and virtually all glass, it looks straightforward on paper. The complicated part is building it. 

There's nothing flimsy about Brunella and Carlo's contemporary home in Qld's Ocean View. Its 'semi-brutalist' architecture is designed to last and driven by Brunella's passion for concrete.

Domenic & partner Sue bought small & built big. A tiny corner car park was transformed into 220 square metres of luxurious living space, but with no lift & 4 floors, has the novelty of 47 steps worn off now they have a new baby girl?

Julie and Patrick fast-tracked the construction of their ultra-modern beachside home thanks to a firm of pre-fab builders in Victoria. Peter revisits the couple to see how they're enjoying their high-end house and learn how they've settled in.

After eight years of planning, Melbourne couple Glenn and Kate Morris are finally making a start on their striking, sustainable 'sand dune' house near Inverloch on Victoria's Gippsland coastline. For them, this crescent shaped, spaceship-like design is the ultimate response to a wind swept location. Once building gets underway, the couple need even more patience as attention to detail is paramount in this curvaceous new building. Let's hope it lives up to their high expectations.

Greg, a former bricklayer, is passionate about two things - his family, and bricks. As a testament to his love for both, he's building a tri-level, solid-brick terrace house with a cantilevered pool on the top floor.

Hoteliers Richard and Denise have knocked down the family home in the Adelaide Hills and are rebuilding an even bigger version, despite the fact their kids are grown. This modern mansion will have all the bells and whistles, amid resort-like luxury on three tiered acres overlooking Adelaide, but is this unpretentious, likeable couple creating a home or a hotel for themselves? Money may be no object, but have they taken on too much?

Ardent collectors Kerry and Judy have a passion for Sante-fe style, mud houses even though they live on a sloping bush block on Sydney's north shore. Inspired by an unconventional builder who changes his mind (and their design) on a regular basis, they set out to create a home out of recycled timber and corrugated iron, rendered in clay dug up from the side of the road. It may be straight out of the American mid west but this hybrid home will have a distinctly Australian flavour and provide an earthy backdrop for their many artistic objects, artifacts and collectables.

Darren and Ruth Rogers are building their dream home on a rare vacant block in Melbourne's Richmond. Like a hidden gem the house will rise above the neighbours to take in the stunning city skyline and MCG. But with no street frontage access is via a tiny laneway - which means building it could be fraught with challenges - not least of which will be keeping the neighbours happy. Darren is extravagant and likes his luxuries - Ruth is modest, with a simple dream of a small yard and chooks. Will their different ambitions be satisfied in the final glamorous creation? 

Builder Chris Knierem wants to create an environmentally sustainable eco-house in the heart of Sydney's inner west. He manages to buy one of the last, original vacant blocks of land in Forest Lodge and while living in the house next-door, designs, and will now build, his longed for 'green' home. Despite the narrow block and tricky access, the house will feature thermal mass heating below the slab, eradicating heating bills, an underground water tank, vertical gardens, louvres for cooling and a roof-top garden with solar panels. He's hoping this green space above will encourage the return of bird life to the city and that his new home will become a benchmark for contemporary green design.

Sydney doctors Meredith and Mathew Bayfield are building a new family homestead on their 1000-acre merino sheep station in Ilford, on the NSW central tablelands. They plan to spend half their time here. The new house will have two pavilions linked by a glass walkway, made from local and reclaimed materials and wool derived products like wool insulation. The house will sit on the highest, most exposed spot on their land and while this will afford them wonderful district views, it will also challenge them in unexpected ways. As will the design, which is reworked several times on the run.

Married in 1987, Daniela and Niran have spent 25 years saving to build their dream home together. They're using the site of their old house - a battelaxe block in affluent, leafy Hunters Hill. Entry is via a long, narrow driveway, lined with trees deemed significant, so building access proves challenging and expensive. Daniela and Niran face both the challenges and the house design bravely, using a highly unusual mix of techniques and materials. Surrounded by traditional sandstone and federation homes, theirs will stand out for its fresh take on modernist architecture - one which combines their love of natural materials, organic textures and rectilinear architecture. It promises to be a fascinating marriage of styles. 

This is the ultimate Aussie grand design as artists Andrew and Dianne farewell the heat of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, where they manage an Aborignal art gallery, to start a new life in a polar opposite location in Bass Strait. Their new home will sit on the wild and windy west coast of King Island, a remote location frequently lashed by the Roaring Forties. King Island isn't known for its eclectic architecture, so the house will stand apart for its unique design in the shape of a whale's tail. Overlooking the sea, it's a house that will truly embrace its location while reflecting the couple's love of the island. This is the journey of Andrew and Dianne establishing their new spiritual home, if it doesn't get blown away. 

Cole and Jane are hippies at heart with a blended family of six kids. Owner-builders, they're working from a design they came up with themselves based on a heart with four chambers.

After the Brisbane floods, Todd and Diana were forced to think differently about creating their dream home. They decided to build a cost-effective, flood-proof home made entirely of shipping containers.

Ian and Ann are challenging the norms of their traditional suburb to build a modern and sustainable home that is clad in water tanks. It's a game of invention and ingenuity for a $1.8 million investment, but will it pay off?

Sarah and Alistair plan to bring a piece of the English countryside they love to Sarah's hometown. From the pitched roof to the European interiors and flooring, they are committed to authenticity - with a touch of fantasy. 

Jason and Jennifer's derelict cottage was left frozen in time. They plan to restore it and add an industrial structure that will contrast the heritage frontage, but can they find a balance between the two?

Millie and Andrew are bringing their dream of life on a farm to fruition, including a home that is truly unique. Projecting out of the landscape and clad in natural materials, it's a contemporary take on rural living. 

Dean and Sherill are in pursuit of self-sufficiency, with a four pavilion home they hope will cement their retirement dream. Will their lack experience, man power and money mean they have to compromise?

Before Matt McLelland's wife Anne died six years ago, they'd been looking for a rural property to build on - a place to call home for them and for their four adult children to come to visit. So when Matt stumbled across 40 acres in central Victoria with spectacular views to Mt Alexander's granite hill side, he knew he'd found the spot.

Sculptor Ben Gilbert and his brother Chris, an architect, build one-bedroom living quarters at an abandoned sawmill in Yackandandah, Victoria, using an off-the-wall design crammed full of innovation

B&B owners Art van Dyke and Troy West build a three-level, one-bedroom, contemporary home bookended by an 1850s stone cottage, near Harcourt in Victoria, on land that comes with its own granite quarry.

Chef Dan Zeidan and his partner Vicky Kordatou want a truly sustainable rural escape, building a zero-waste home from recycled and recyclable non-toxic materials at Kinglake, one hour from Melbourne

While in the inner city suburb of East Melbourne in Victoria, a very small block is set to make way for a three story totally green home with geo-thermal heating and cooling and a rooftop garden and spa. Photographer Ralph Alfonso has a very strong sense of how precious our environment is and how little space we really need to live in. His downsized style of living focuses on being as frugal as possible, using a ground-breaking and innovative environmental design. The thing is… the house footprint measures just 5 x 4 metres, making it grand in design, although miniature in size.

Mark and Karen Bartkevicius restore an old hydro-electricity substation at Launceston in Tasmania and convert it into a two-bed home, salvaging original antique bricks and using old-school lime render.

Nick and Kate take inspiration from their vineyard location for the first build. Their home is designed in the shape of a leaf, with a spine stone wall running through the middle and comes with a singing studio.

A street is to become the site for a futuristic build that has the whole neighbourhood talking. It will be a diagonal structure with a Palm Springs aesthetic that will push the boundaries.

Draftsman Nigel Eberhardt is a conservationist at heart – a passion he shares with partner Nina, a school teacher. Their love for the natural environment saw them purchase one of the last remaining native bush blocks in Turners Beach, a beachside suburb brimming with neat houses and manicured lawns, on Tasmania's north coast, where they build a house around the already established trees.

Canberra couple Barbara and Bill Coyle have been lucky enough to live in houses designed by Australia's best known architects. They love modernist architecture so they engaged the right architect to design them something 70's. Bill an orthopaedic surgeon, has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. Their new house with its curved roofline and glass entrance is designed for the future when he'll be in a wheelchair.

In the Melbourne suburb of Northcote, the Skipping Girl Vinegar Factory was a siren call for sustainable architect, Adrian Light. But old buildings have a way of resisting change and this one is no exception. Adrian has big plans to turn what is essentially a four storey red brick warehouse with 20 huge concrete vinegar vats into a four bedroom sustainable home for his family. At every stage he is confronted with the realities of reworking a stubborn old, wet factory. As the months turn into years this really is a question of who will win?

The first time Brendan Moran saw his north Bondi block, it was so steep and inaccessible he didn't bother getting out of the car. But wife Penny was undeterred. She saw the potential in the awkward L-shaped, battle-axe block. Despite being hemmed in on all sides by surrounding houses and with just one skinny laneway in, they reckoned they could squeeze all they needed for them and their four kids on this block by simply going up. 

Four levels should do it, rising 14m in the air with an infinity edge pool, and they're pushing building regulations to get it all in. But excavating this ex-quarry is more complicated than they think. In fact, every stage of the build is hampered by the challenges of the block. It's so tight there's nowhere for the tradies to put anything, and keeping peace with the neighbours is a full-time job. 

With builder and mentor Martin at the helm, Penny dons the work boots and hard hat, and gets on the tools. Her passion is building and she's all over the intricacies of the build as she juggles her life as a tradie with being a mum. After a family holiday to Thailand, she and Brendan return refreshed and inspired to make substantial structural changes they say will make their house even better. From changing the entire entrance to lifting ceiling heights and redesigning the pool to make it even longer and deeper, the complexity of this construction would challenge even the most seasoned builders. 

After numerous council applications and changes that blow their bank balance, and schedule, right out of the water, their spontaneous decision-making threatens to spiral out of control. As costs soar into the millions, there's no guarantee how or when this multi-tiered tower will ever get done.

Building a grand design takes time and more often than not, takes longer than anyone expects. Phil and Ariana have given themselves just two weeks to build their home in Maianbar, in Sydney's south, regardless of the fact they've never built anything before. 

Utilising a build system that has never been used for domestic housing in Australia before, this could either be a new blueprint for construction in this country, or a complete disaster. They've chosen a building method popular in European residential construction - cross-laminated timber which is essentially a flat pack home using wood compressed to be as strong as steel. 

With the design focused entirely on making the water views the centrepiece of the build, the house is put together piece by piece like a giant Meccano set. But with 130-plus timber panels precision-cut in an Austrian factory and installed in a strict order on site, there is no room for error. With Phil drawing on his skills in HR to project manage, will his unrelenting obsession with a strict time frame compromise the integrity of the design?

When Nick and Nicole's brief to their architect Dan Sparkes was a house sympathetic to the dense rainforest surrounding their land, his solution was to build them a tent. The design incorporates a huge, taut translucent sail - normally used in commercial projects - covering a simple rectangular pavilion underneath. It's a brave concept but the true magic of the design lies in the retractable roof, which peels back to showcase the rainforest canopies overhead. 

Nick and Nicole will be able to lie in bed and literally look at the stars. But will this super-engineered tent simply look like a conference centre in the middle of the lush, green rainforest? Whatever happens, Nick and Nicole are prepared to take the risk and be adventurous.

Anglican Reverends Neil and Ruth have a shared love of all things Gothic and medieval. So when the couple decided to build their first-ever family home in the Adelaide suburb of Hillbank, it was no surprise that the city of churches would provide plenty of inspiration. Not that they want a church-like house. 

Neil is chasing a barn-inspired house with big, heavy timber beams. So they've chosen to create a medieval manor built in the traditional way using methods from another time. The bones of the house's eight huge A-frames will be built by hand out of timber by a team of specialist carpenters. Thousands of timber shingles will cover the massive roof, with a two-storey high Gothic glass window the centrepiece of the house. 

But Neil is constantly let down by suppliers and has grossly underestimated the cost of the build, so work on the site stalls. When summer hits and temperatures soar well into the 40s, the exposed A-frame timber beams begin to warp and crack. They elect to use something straight off a warehouse floor - insulated refrigerator panels on the roof and walls - a most unlikely fit for a medieval house. 

Not only do they look incongruous, they are hell to work with and expensive. What ensues is a tug of war between old and new materials; between a passion for the past and unsavoury reality. With a blind faith that sees Neil try to ignore spiralling costs, he enlists the help of his family to finish his passion project, turning a build he hoped would last a few months into a five-year revelation.

Hardworking GP Zewlan and her electrician husband Tom (now stay-at-home dad to their two kids), want an architect-designed home in a great location on a shoestring budget. This was looking unlikely until they found an inexpensive block on a ridge above a freeway at Ocean Shores (near Byron). Now all they need is an architecture firm inventive enough to design them a stylish home for very little money. Their modest, forward-thinking philosophy is helpful as they naturally veer away from lavish floor plans and luxurious finishes in favour of the compact, simple, open, sustainable and economical. Working within a tenuous loan framework what they get, apart from stress, is quite fantastic.

A tiny budget, a thirst for living frugally, and a desire to have a home that leaves a small footprint can force some radical thinking. So when electrician and stay-at-home dad Tom and his doctor wife Zewlan decided to build their new home in Ocean Shores, size was everything. Their plan is for a solar passive family home with three modest bedrooms that maximise potential views; small, beautiful spaces on a firm budget of $350,000. 

With the help of award-winning architects Melanie and James, they've come up with a design based on the three S's: small, simple and straightforward. Built out of chipboard, the house will be just half the size of the average Australian home. In a simple layout, three modest bedrooms will connect to one long outside/inside corridor running the length of the house and open underneath, like a deck. The lounge, kitchen and mezzanine will all be easily closed off with huge sliding glass. 

Tom's biggest concern is for the finishes after the exposed chipboard is damaged by some wet weather, he's keen to get the roof on. Will financial pressure and some inclement weather force a re-think or will he and Zewlan stay true to their small house philosophy?

Barry and Robyn Henwood love the environment in different ways; his is a passion for green technology, while she loves turning native flora into textiles and teaching yoga. They're building a stylish beach shack to retire in, one that floats on a pair of untouched sand dunes in Aldinga on Adelaide's southern coast. 

Solar-powered, and aesthetically pleasing, it should be the perfect fit, but Robyn is yet to be convinced. Her life is entrenched in the city so she needs some cajoling. The contemporary modest design features a pair of steel clad pods joined by a timber walkway, and surrounded by native bush. 

But as soon as building gets under way, the excavation impacts on the environment. Despite their best efforts replanting and shoring up the dunes, the beach scrub soon dwindles and Robyn and Barry are left pondering their next course of action. As the dunes progressively erode, the more Robyn and Barry persevere. 

But when their self-rusting steel cladding is battered by harsh coastal conditions, staining their deck and turning the exterior into something resembling dribbled fat, Robyn's doubts really set in. Can they restore their precious landscape and will Robyn eventually sever her ties with the city and make her project in the dunes home?

Heritage is a powerful thing. In the Adelaide Hills, it's shaped entire towns through stone buildings, many of which were built by the first wave of German immigrants. It was this heritage that drew a couple with Italian blood - web designer Louise Sergie and psychologist husband Steve Hardwick and their three kids - to this pocket of history. 

They bought a block with stone outhouses and an established English garden, a mix of styles that influences their thinking about their own grand design. Being an owner/builder is stressful for the most experienced, but more so if you're new to the game. 

The couple are passionate about creating a stone home and want to blend a Tuscan feel with a modern look, using 160 tonnes of locally quarried stone to create castle-thick walls, recycled timbers for internal joinery, and a cutting-edge bridge linking the upstairs rooms with a dynamic glass box, will ensure that this will be a style that defies categorisation.

What do you do if you're a perfectionist, revel in precision and minimalism, and have a deep fascination for all things Japanese? Well, if you're ex-advertising guru-turned-Japanese bar and restaurant owner Steve Minon, you track down iconic Kobe-based architect Yo Shimada to realise your dream of a Japanese-inspired Queenslander.

 Steve has an extremely steep block of land in the Brisbane suburb of Hamilton that will take an engineering feat of epic proportions to bring Yo Shimada's groundbreaking east-meets-west vision to life. Especially because conditions in flood-prone Queensland are vastly different from Kobe, something that becomes all too clear when the build is battered in cyclonic weather that washes much of the steep block away. 

With such precise and intricate design details, including the galvanised steel framework constructed by robotics, this stripped-back home takes its cues from the refinement of Japanese culture: simple, raw materials and exposed junctions that reveal the intricacies of the construction. It ticks all of Steve's boxes: one bedroom, simple, elegant and pared back. 

But when his partner, musician Jonny, moves in with his grand piano, will this modest but beautiful house for one become a house that also works for two?

Retired chef Phillip Murphy lives in a quirky cluster of disconnected buildings in the picturesque town of Stanley in Tasmania. His bedroom and bathroom are in an old woodshed. His kitchen and lookout are in an 1870s heritage-listed windmill a few metres away. 

For six years, Phillip has rattled between the two, but he's had enough. Now he's engaged his friend and architect, Greg Prentice, to design a house that will link the three small historic structures (including a decrepit rocket-shaped outhouse) into a contemporary, cohesive whole. 

The new building will be a direct contrast to the old, using modern materials, lots of glass and a cantilevered lounge oriented towards the spectacular view. As the property is directly below a volcanic plug called The Nut, the exterior will be clad in dark stained ply, reflecting the colours of the location. 

When it comes to building the family home in Canberra, IT engineer Damien Lederer wants it filled with every whizz-bang feature his hi-tech brain can create. 

Computer-controlled blinds, clear to opaque glass, a two-storey helical glass staircase and a custom-designed, air-powered laundry chute are all on the table. As well as a house that can think for itself, Damien wants to fuse green building materials with commercial elements to create a zero-carbon house, not an easy task when you're wanting all the latest wizardry and comforts. It's hard to wrap it all up in a strictly green philosophy.

Lori and Maugan are building a funky modern house on a tight suburban site. This family home will have a lot fun elements including a trapeze net, car parking stacker and a paper plane garden sculpture.

Stephen has spent 15 years at the helm of his own construction company building homes for other people. Now with his first child on the way, he's finally building his own, and the plan is to make it grand.

Tony and Tania want a million-dollar house on a $400,000 budget. Working off handshake deals with the architect and builder, will their dream home be finished?

Alice is a long-term fan of the small house movement. On a sloping site facing the Southern Ocean, she's creating a petite 40-square-metre pod, offering all she needs and nothing more.

Tabitha and Chris always dreamt of living in the forest. They bought 120 acres of rainforest in Toolangi and are building a farmhouse that will be sustainable, economical, fireproof and completely off-grid.

Peter is building an underground eco bunker that's self-sufficient, sleek and completely one of a kind. From the outside it will eventually look like a bush garden, but below ground a man cave.

Mike and Megan, a passionate pair of creatives, are attempting to build a modernist house on a modest footprint. Mike designed the house himself to include only what they need and use.

David and Sarah are in love with Mt Tamborine, the place they were married 22 years ago. They're about to build a long-awaited home away from home there, on lush mountain acreage boasting a rainforest and creek.

Barbara and Craig have built two companies from the ground up, so when they decided to embark on their dream home, it wasn't surprising they threw out the rule book and decided to do it their way.

When Rob and Sally buy land for their new home, they are faced with endless challenges. The build must withstand the elements, celebrate the amazing views and blend effortlessly into the surroundings. Is it possible?

David and Jenny have a dream to live in a super-modern terrace house in a traditional suburb. But their daring plan to create a three-storey home really pushes stress levels and finances to the limit.

Matt and Eloise leave Melbourne for Tasmania. But the budget for their build means Matt has to do most of the work himself. An injury, pregnancy and a giant Great Dane puppy all add to the chaos!

Perth couple Angelo and Kasi love the bulky concrete buildings from the 1950s. But when they see the plans for their new family home, there are a few surprises. Will they embrace the unique design?

Simon and Lauren want to convert a tiny 150-year-old church into their family home. This means honouring the history of the church while creating a modern house – will they succeed?

Dion and Turi have big plans but a limited budget when they build a new, harbourside home. As the daring build, with a lap pool running through it, becomes all-consuming, there are doubts they will finish.

Joe and Hayley design high-end homes for others, but this is their chance to build their own. The curved, bold design includes a monumental staircase and a full-sized tennis court – but is it too ambitious?

Marc and Felicity have dreams of building a non-toxic, passive home and after years of work, the unthinkable happens – a fire sweeps through their beloved home just as they are about to move in. Will their dreams be shattered forever?

Trevor Robinson loves a challenge and there's nothing he likes more than flying his ultralight aircraft over the NSW Snowy Mountains. It's a pastime that's all the more remarkable for the fact that Trevor was paralysed when hit by a car on his motorbike a number of years ago. Now Trevor and wife Jeanette are looking to build a very special home close to nature in which Trevor can move about easily in his wheelchair. 

When a 15 acre block comes on the market in the Snowy's spectacular Goobarragandra hills they pounce with plans to build a remarkable underground home overlooking their 1.5 kilometre river frontage. With Trevor as project manager the build gets underway, but as the months roll on his health starts to deteriorate not only impacting how much time he can spend onsite, but whether he will be able to move to his underground retreat at all.

In 2016, a fire destroyed the much-loved old family homestead on Alistair and Belinda's dairy farm, in Inverloch, Victoria. And while a lifetime of happy memories went up in smoke, the couple were determined to create something new that would reflect the family's farming history, while providing a home to entice their kids to stick around. 

With Belinda supervising the build, they embark on a bold new project to create a comfortable home that looks like a dairy shed, complete with silos for bedrooms. But trying to recreate an authentic looking 100-year-old barn using both old and new materials is harder than it looks, and it's not long before Belinda feels the pressure to get it right.

Building a big house in inner city Melbourne is a tricky business stymied by heritage overlays, a lack of available space and soaring property prices. But architect Annalise and project manager Kim have a plan to thwart those hurdles and turn their tiny 1850s Carlton terrace into a multi-storied modern home with a large garden and a triple car-stacker. 

Their secret - to dig down and build up and out - creating a remarkable home that bridges the old and the new, and redefines living in the inner city. The catch - Annalise is based in Dubai with the kids, while Kim is left to project manager this complex and unusual build in the face of border closures, lockdowns and construction delays. As the project drags on with his family on the other side of the world, the pressure tests Kim's resolve and his relationships.

Obstetrician Gary and nurse Clare left the hustle and bustle of Sydney for a more peaceful pace in the lush, rolling hills around Nimbin, NSW. But it wasn't just the rural life they were seeking - Gary had long held plans of building a dome-shaped house, reminiscent of the beautiful vaulted structures he'd seen while travelling through Europe in his younger years.

With plans to trial an experimental construction system for their remarkable spaceship-like home they struggle with every step of the project from collapsing access roads to blocked cement trucks! With money running out and the project running over, Gary and Clare's relationship is strained, and hopes for relaxing country hideaway turn into what seems to be the impossible dream!

When Lynne and Paul met while sailing five years ago, neither had plans to fall in love, let alone relocate to the wilds of Tasmania to build a home. But that all changes for the Melbourne couple when they visit the Apple Isle and find a beautiful stretch of coastal wilderness with panoramic views over the Tasman Sea. 

With grand plans to build a huge Modern home, they decide that Paul will project manage construction. But living onsite for months on end in a battered up old caravan will test his skills, endurance and ultimately his health. 

Retirees and childhood sweethearts Liz and Warren have been together for over half a century, but a relaxed lifestyle is the last thing on their minds. They've taken on a hundred-acre Macadamia farm in the Byron Bay hinterland, with grand plans to build an epic five-bedroom Mediterranean style villa-cum-castle. 

Inspired by their adventures abroad their design is whimsical, unconventional, and extravagant. With no architect their plans embrace spontaneity and change on a whim, add in project managing it themselves and things soon freewheel. Question is, will this fairy tale dream have a happy ending?

Tani Richards has some fascinating pastimes. As well as practising yoga and horse riding, she has a passion for all things medieval, including dressing up like Maid Marion for a bit of horse back archery! After selling her and pilot husband Tim's medieval style family home known as the 'Sand Castle' in Perth's City Beach, she has plans to build an 'earth castle' on their 60 acre property north of Perth. 

But this is not your standard earth castle! Built into the sides of a man-made dam, there are plans for a drawbridge, turret and even a moate. With underground rooms and tunnels, and gothic features and finishes, the footprint is vast- nearly 2000 square metres in total. But Tani's endless modifications, coupled with fallout from the pandemic take a toll on the budget and the timelines- not to mention many of Tani's dreams for her medieval fortress!

Soaring property prices have put inner-city living out of the reach of many. But not for architect Ben and artist wife Tania, who decide to think laterally and get creative buying a tiny 64 square metre discarded scrap of land in one of North Melbourne's grittier back lanes. Their plans - to build a three storey, three bedroom, two bathroom home with a large garden - all for the not-so-grand price of $600,000. 

But their slim budget is in total contrast to their expansive ideas. Ben is working on a revolutionary concreting method using a giant robot that can transform boring concrete walls into soaring works of art. And while it's an interesting idea in theory, using their own family home to test it is high stakes indeed! With the family crammed into rental accommodation while Ben finesses his master work, the pressure mounts while the months drag on. 

Will his plans to transform concrete buildings into habitable architecture works of art ever become a reality?

Bel and John are building a radical underground house on 25 spectacular acres at Whittlesea, in Victoria's Plenty Valley - so named for its fertile farmland and magnificent views. But the area has also acquired a more terrifying reputation. In 2009, 120 people died nearby at Kinglake in what's now known as the Black Saturday bushfires, and as a result Bel and John want a home that's fire proof! 

With John away at work for much of the build, it's up to Bel to project manage the difficult and complex build. But a number of unexpected challenges make the process harder than anticipated, and with their underground sanctuary looking more like an airport terminal than a stylish home, the pressure reaches breaking point!

If opposites attract, Fiona and Sal are a match made in heaven. He loves the beach but she hates sand, she likes cafes and shopping, while he's happiest hanging out at home with his turtles. Finding some middle ground isn't always easy, but their biggest challenge to date is agreeing on the location and design of their new home! 

The solution: Sal gets to decide its location - just a few streets back from the rolling surf at Torquay in Victoria - and Fiona gets to decide the design - a Modernist, super-contemporary home, made 100 per cent from concrete! With Sal's increasing concerns the house is going to look like a giant crypt, compounded by the stress of an ever-expanding budget and growing timelines, tensions reach an all-time high. 

Can Fiona keep the project on track, and deliver the slick, elegant concrete house of her dreams or will it end up an expensive drab box?

Warehouse living in the buzzy inner city! For Anita and Kris Martincic it was a long held dream after years living and raising their children in Sydney's suburban south. So when a 100 year old derelict building known as the Newtown Hat Factory comes on the market, they jump in - dazzled by its potential and the chance for a sophisticated life of music, art and great restaurants. 

But there's an enormous amount of work to be done first! This ruin of a building was once a squat inhabited by some of Newtown's more colourful characters, but now it is barely standing, with crumbled, falling down walls and rotten floors. With grand ambitions and starry-eyed excitement they finally get underway rebuilding the hat factory, but what starts as an interesting architectural challenge, soon becomes a nightmare of endless delays and relentless cost blowouts. 

With the stresses and the bills mounting, Anita and Kris are forced to consider what it is they value most - the old hat factory or their health. 

Dennis and Karen have long dreamed of living in the wilderness and in 2013 they finally bought their perfect bush block in Clarence, a tiny pocket of the spectacular Blue Mountains, west of Sydney. But beauty comes at a price... bushfires are an ongoing threat and designing a house to withstand them is a challenge. 

For Dennis, an engineer, the answer is obvious - a house made of steel. He sets about refurbishing seven giant shipping containers into his and Karen's new home.

Catherine and Mick found love later in life. After both confronting serious health issues they realised there was no time like the present to build their dream home The big question is what? Having spent two years scouring Australia on the hunt for the perfect block, they settle on 50 acres atop the spectacular rolling hills of South Australia's Fleurieu Peninsula and set about building a remarkable structure that more resembles a corrugated iron shed than a house! 

But weather conditions in this rugged coastal location can be ferocious, and time delays and budget blowouts put a huge amount of pressure on the project and Mick and Catherine's relationship. Will their new home become their own little patch of paradise, or a rattly and expensive tin shed in hurricane?

As building materials go, gold, copper and bronze are usually the domain of ancient temples rather than contemporary Australia design. But for Dr Shiva Gunapu and his psychologist wife Rima, incorporating the rich colours of their Indian heritage is an essential element for their new home. 

And if combining the vibrant colours of their culture with a super modern design isn't challenge enough, they are also building in one of Adelaide's oldest and most conservative suburbs. Will their house be a stunning example of Australia's evolving cultural landscape or a gaudy misfit in the neighbourhood?

Electrician Mick takes on the challenge of a lifetime when he and artist wife Belynda decide to build their dream Modernist home in the bucolic Dooralong Valley, on the NSW Central Coast. For Mick, this project is more than just a test of his building capabilities. Diagnosed with dyslexia from a young age, formal education was a challenge and this project is his chance to disprove the theory he would 'never amount to much'. 

With the help of friends in the building trade, and leaning heavily on his best mate Greg, the vast and elegant building slowly but surely takes shape. But devastating and unexpected events including a broken neck and the death of his beloved father take an enormous toll, both on the project and his family and Mick is forced to make a devastating decision

Constructing an Underground Acropolis in the South Australian Desert town of Coober Pedy is an ambitious undertaking - but when Paul Athanasiadis' parents retire, he wants to build them the ultimate 'underground Greek Mansion'. Underground homes are common in Coober Pedy as a way of keeping cool, but there's none of the scale or grandeur that Paul plans for Yannis and Maria's house. 

But constructing a house under the earth is never easy. As well as the risk of catastrophic collapse, tunnelling into rock-hard ground is a test of time and patience, and when equipment breaks down everything stops. Adding to the stress, Paul is juggling two businesses, being the town Mayor and commuting 850 kilometres to Adelaide to see his own family.

New host of Grand Designs Australia Anthony Burke is joined by Grand Designs UK icon Kevin McCloud on a road trip to see the best contemporary Australian architecture.

Seeking a country retreat for all their family, Ross and Cathy use their knowledge and love of the outdoors to build a cutting-edge straw home that can withstand the harshest of elements.

Husband and wife architects Gaurav and Vish design a multigenerational home for their aging parents and young children, entirely clad in over 9000 terracotta tiles.

Above Tasmania's breathtaking Huon River, Dan Rawlins must overcome personal tragedy, and his own lack of building experience, to almost singlehandedly construct an off-grid home, made of hemp.

Rookie architect Nick is aiming to solve Australia's housing crisis by showing that good design is affordable for everyone.

Returning to sixth generational family land, Sam along with wife Selina, build an off-grid forever home for their three sons from beloved Canberra Red bricks.

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.

A former Olympic snowboarder and her builder husband take on a mountainous challenge when they decide to build a unique shed-like home on a remote ridge in Victoria's Strath Creek.

Natalie and Stuart promise to save the soul of their "fixer-upper", but face obstacles with eccentric renovations that risk upsetting the old owners.

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. 

Locked out of Melbourne's soaring housing market, Matt and Kate move to Tasmania to build two Earthships with no building experience.

Following a cancer diagnosis, Gary and Lorilie set out to build a multi-million dollar multigenerational family home.

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.

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.

Builder Nick is hoping to build his wife Rachel the ultimate house in the idyllic Blue Mountains; a place that for the first time in her life, she can finally call home.

Richard Rowles plans to live with climate change, by building a flood proof house on the banks of the volatile Brisbane River.

Psychologist Paul North has employed his son Josh to take on the unique task of building a bullet proof earth berm house, deep in Victoria's Yass Valley, to protect them from bushfires and the extremes of climate change.

Richard and Erin Sims start out building a farm-style lodge, however it balloons into a building of epic proportions, complete with three 'wings', seven-metre-high chimneys, and thousands of hand-picked dolerite stones.

Rita and James have just 230 thousand dollars to self-build a sustainable, off-grid family home for themselves and their two kids. They plan to use recycled plastic bags, milk cartons, home-made bricks, and an earthen floor.

In Yarraville, Victoria, a passive house builder starts a crusade to build the healthiest home in Australia on the site of an old pigeon club house!

The new season of Grand Designs Australia opens with a one hour special Kevin McCloud's Top 10 Grand Designs Australia premiering Thursday, April 20 at 8.30pm on Foxtel's Lifestyle.

Set in historic Homewood House in Surrey, England, Grand Designs Australia host Peter Maddison and Grand Designs host Kevin McCloud sit down with a cup of tea and an old fashioned slide slow to reminisce about the design features of each of the ten homes, selected from the past six seasons.

The design gurus talk cladding, tiles and form, and with whisky in hand, engage in some gentle banter over each other's take on the architecture of their favourite builds. While the special looks over the past, it also serves as a teaser for the upcoming seventh season.