C4 announces Ugly House (w/t)

20 November 2014

Channel 4 features has commissioned betty and Amazing Productions to make Ugly House (w/t) a radical six part design series, hosted by expert architect George Clarke. The series will champion the power of great architecture to transform undervalued and unloved British housing stock into exciting spaces in which to live.

In each programme, innovative and awarding-winning architects and architectural designers will grapple with an "ugly" house and remodel it into a home that works and excites the owners. The results will be surprising, inspiring, and challenge our ideas about how we live in the 21st century.

Big transformations will be underpinned by a sense of real and positive social purpose, sticking to average budgets of around £50,000. With the property market growing increasingly competitive, this isn't about redeveloping your house for profit and selling it on so you can upscale. This is about loving the house you live in - and reimagining what you can afford in an amazing new light, with the help of some of the UK’s finest design minds.

For a young generation, who thought they would never be able to afford their own home, this series will inspire them to look at a whole swathe of housing stock in a brand new way. Ex-local authority properties, for example, can be significantly cheaper than comparable private properties and, with a little ingenuity and help from some of the country’s top architectural creatives, they can be transformed into dream homes.

Whether the property needs reconfiguring to meet the needs of a modern family or redesigning to transform an eyesore into a home the owners can be proud of, the show will help people to completely re-imagine their houses.

All the plans and details from the series will available on Channel4.com so viewers too, can draw inspiration from the six great architects in the series, to create their own imaginative homes.

George Clarke says, “I’m delighted to be presenting Ugly House for Channel 4 and it's a really exciting first time co-production between Betty and my new tv company Amazing Productions. Phenomenal architecture and design should be available to everyone and this show will hopefully bring it to the masses, showing us how we can turn our unloved houses into beautiful homes.” 

 

Commissioning Editor, Kate Teckman, said: “Our ambition is to blow the doors off the design potential of ‘ordinary’ British housing and make people fall in love with the home they can afford and not waste their lives dreaming about the ones they can’t”.

Creative director at betty, Neil Smith, said: “Previously the ability to commission great architecture was regarded as being the preserve of wealthy individuals creating high end projects. But this series demonstrates that architecture is also a realistic option for those on a smaller budget. It will inspire people to take on their own “ugly” houses and transform them into desirable properties.”

ENDS.

Production Information:
Production Company: betty/Amazing Productions
Commissioning Editor, Features: Kate Teckman
Executive producer: Ian Carre