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Grand Designs host Kevin McCloud has been left shocked seeing how a homeowner transformed a ‘late night drunken spur of the moment internet purchase’.
On the next episode of the long-running series, Kevin revisits Olaf and Fritha, whose aspirations to create an oasis for themselves and their growing family on a tiny slice of land in Sussex near a mainline railway and A-road was captured in a 2021 episode.
They faced plenty of issues along the way, beginning with discovering half of the plot couldn’t even be built on due to an underground mains sewer and all they were left with was a very small triangle – and £190,000 in the bank – on which to build their future life together.
Now cameras have returned to Billingshurst to see how their build has continued, with the host asking about a very specific feature of their home that was left unfinished two years ago – a double decker bus.
On the original episode, carpenter Olaf purchased a double decker bus that had previously been in use in Birmingham.
With an idea to turn it into his eventual workshop, his plans hadn’t quite come to fruition by the time the episode went to air.
Grand Designs host Kevin McCloud has been left shocked seeing the transformation of this double decker bus (Picture: Channel 4)
It was first seen during a 2021 episode following Olaf and Fritha’s Sussex home build (Picture: Channel 4)
This is what it looked like when the couple first bought it home (Picture: Channel 4)
Clearly confused, at the time Kevin asked about the reasoning for the purchase, with the couple explaining how it fixed their problem of having a space for Olaf to work since they were unable to build over the sewer that had been discovered on their block.
Costing them £2600, Fritha revealed it had been a ‘drunken eBay purchase’, while Kevin said it was ‘not glamorous’.
When it came to getting the bus on site, things didn’t go quite as smoothly as plan, with Olaf having to pull apart a fence and a traffic jam forming, however it was eventually put into place.
Now, a few years on, Kevin has finally got to see how the couple turned the former commuter vehicle into a carpentry workshop, and he’s been left impressed by their work.
Kevin has been left taken aback by their work on the bus (Picture: Channel 4)
It’s now been turned into a carpentry workshop (Picture: Channel 4)
Kevin with Olaf and Fritha when they finished their home build (Picture: Channel 4)
On the upcoming episode of the series, Kevin explains how the red bus has been ‘inventively reborn’.
Gasping as he steps inside, he exclaims: ‘Blimey! You have everything you need. There are big spaces.’
Pretty happy with the final result, Olaf explains how this is the first time he’s had a ‘dedicated space’ like this for his projects.
Back in 2021, viewers saw how the couple’s unique ‘triangle house’ was built on an eighth of an acre plot sandwiched between a mainline railway line and busy A road.
At the conclusion of that episode Kevin explained how at the start of the build he saw them as ‘children of innocence, festivalgoers and free spirits’, but ‘by the end you are parents with a house and a mortgage’.
Grand Designs airs Wednesdays at 9pm on Channel 4.
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‘Blimey! You have everything you need.’