PICTURES: Northants couple share latest progress on ambitious water tower conversion recently featured on Grand Designs
Here’s the latest update on a Northants couple’s remarkable water tower conversion, which recently featured on Channel 4's Grand Designs – with exclusive pictures included.
The Grand Designs episode that aired on October 23, hosted by Kevin McCloud, took viewers inside an extraordinary project: Adam and Tassy’s transformation of a former water tower in the village of Roade into a family home.
Chronicling their journey from the purchase of the water tower in 2018 for £100,000 all the way to October 2023, Chronicle and Echo caught up with the couple to hear, in their own words, what’s happened behind the scenes.
Explaining the reasons behind picking the water tower, the pair, both aged 39, said: “We were trying to find a barn or an old farm. We went and looked at loads of properties, and we never seemed to get anywhere. And then this came up for sale… I joked at the start that every plumber needs a water tower. Our eldest came to the viewing and said, ‘Daddy, buy it.’ We took her into it, and she said that, so we had to get it then, and here we are. We were able to buy it outright as well.”
The couple’s initial application to Grand Designs was, by Adam’s account, spur of the moment. He said: “It was me stupidly that did that. You fill out a form on their website and they ask you to do so many words. Me being me, I was like, nah, I’m not interested. So I filled out the form just saying ‘it’s going to be awesome.’ A couple of weeks later, I got a phone call from one of the producers, and they said we’ve never had an application form like that, with so few words, you got our interest. They came out and did a day filming, and it just went on from there basically.”
Their build officially began in 2019, marked by an unexpected interruption that didn’t feature on the programme. Tassy said: “The day we started the build is the day I went into labour with the youngest, which Grand Designs missed!”
Adam added: “I was working on site, and Tass rung me up and said, ‘Adam, get home, I’ve gone into labour.’ I had just hired all the equipment as well, so I was like, oh man!”
Over the last five years of working on the tower, the couple has faced several challenges. Adam said: “For that, we were only actually working on it for two to three years, if that, not even full-time. That was me working weekends and evenings.”
Tassy added: “There was a whole year we didn’t go inside pretty much—that’s when my back went, and I had an operation, and I was reliant on Adam to look after the kids. Then there was Covid, we stopped during that period; Adam wouldn’t buy wood because it was four times the cost. We weren’t willing to spend that kind of money.”
Despite the obstacles, they’ve made significant progress, especially in the past year. Adam said: “We’ve carried on going and have done quite a lot. The roof’s been cut out, the fins have been cut out, all the walls have been done now, and we’re just getting on with the floors now inside the tank. We’ve done quite a bit. We’re focusing on the tank area and getting the structural walls going in.”
Tassy added: “Nothing’s an easy task here. It’s all being done manually, we’ve not got a crane on site, we’re not paying the costs for cranes. Everything is being done in bucket loads.”
Adam has since taken on the project full-time. Tassy said: “This last year Adam has been working full-time on the tower and it’s going to continue that way until the money runs out.”
He added: “We’re still ok for money because I’m a Yorkshireman at the end of the day, I have the deepest pockets and the shortest arms. We’re still using the money off the sale of our house. We sold our house. We’re completely mortgage-free regarding the tower.”
As a family of five, the project has become a shared experience for their three children, who love getting involved. “They enjoy it, they love it. They enjoy getting involved in everything. If there’s something fun we can get them doing, they’re in,” said Tassy.
Financially, the project is done without debt, and they have taken a careful approach to each stage of the build. “We don’t have a completion date, we’ve never been working to a completion date, it’s literally building what we want to build,” Adam said. “We’re not working to a budget, we’re working to what we want and what we can afford and how we can do it at the time. We don’t have a bank of mum and dad. We don’t want to get into ridiculous amounts of debt. We do it as we can afford it, but we don’t want to cut corners and do it the cheap route. We’d rather do it, do it right, and do it within our means.”
The couple’s shared passion for building and design has been integral to their journey. Tassy explained: “It isn’t just about building the home. We genuinely have an interest in what we’re doing. So it’s the journey of doing it for us. I love interior design and architecture, it’s something I would have loved to have gone into. Our house we lived in before, we bought it and ripped it back to brick and started again. We rebuilt it, and when we sold it, it sold for £40,000 over the ceiling price in that area and what we put it on the market for.”
Asked what advice they would share with others thinking about building their own homes, Adam said: “We have to have been kind of naive to have done this in the first place, because if we knew what we were getting ourselves into, we probably wouldn’t have done it.”
“Advice for anybody, just go and do it. No one’s going to be there holding your hand, no one’s going to do it for you. It’s you that’s got to get up and do it. Do your research. Stay strong with it. There’s been plenty of times when I’ve been on site on my own with loads of stuff to move... it’s just like, no one’s coming to save you, no one’s coming to help you, you’ve just got to dig down deep and get on with it.”
Tassy added: “And don’t be swayed by others’ opinions. Everyone will tell you not to do it. Everyone will say you’re mad. We had it very early on, from my family more than anything. But you’ve just got to ignore the naysayers and push on.”
Reflecting on their Grand Designs experience, the couple said the crew has become like family. “Because we’ve been filming for five years, the crew have become like family. We’ve built up a friendship with the team now, and every time they’re here, we have fun. It didn’t come across on camera, but literally we do have a good craic with them,” Adam said. “Kev’s alright as well!”
Following the episode, they’ve been grateful for the encouragement from the public. Tassy said: “We’ve had a lot of contact with people through our Instagram page. I was worried initially because we’re not finished. That was my biggest worry. How the public would take it because they’ve not seen the finished product, but actually, there’s a lot of people rooting for us and they’ve been really supportive.”
Today, Adam and Tassy continue their work on the water tower, determined to see it through to completion. Adam said: “We’re still in the middle of it. We’re still ploughing on. Still happy. I’ve not received any divorce papers yet. I haven’t been attacked with a knife.” Tassy added: “I can push him off the top at some point though.”