Grand Designs: The Street - Chris and Roxie
Category: Press Pack ArticlePLOT 3: THE BOX HOUSE
NAMES: CHRIS, 28, AND ROXIE, 27
BEDROOMS: 2
BATHROOMS: 2
STARTED: JUNE 2017
FINISHED: DECEMBER 2017
BUILD ESTIMATE: £230K
FINAL BUILD COST: £300K
At just 24, Chris and Roxie are one of the youngest couples to design and build their own home on this development. Like many of their generation, Chris and Roxie decided to stay living with their parents to save up for their first home together.
Priced out of the housing market where they live, they have decided to spend their savings on an innovative and experimental ‘flatpack’ home (plot 3). These two must build their home with a brilliant, but labour-intensive construction system, whilst holding down full-time jobs. It’s a feat that’s only possible when Chris and Roxie’s architects draft in a team of young architectural students who camp out near site, exchanging their free labour in return for experience.
This project is a great opportunity for Chris and Roxie, but not one without risk. As a home with real architectural merit starts to emerge, so do cracks in a once concrete relationship.