Grand Designs
Following the persistence and deafening noise from my lovely work colleagues, I reached out to Grand Designs NZ in August 2021 shortly before I took legal ownership of the propertyafter a very long settlement period.
I was signed up following a brief phone call with the understanding that the episode may never air because the episode quota was full for the next 2 years. It was near the end of the project that my episode was confirmed for the 2023 series and it then became a race to the finish line.
Some commonly asked questions
Did Grand Designs contact you or did you contact them?
I contacted them via the simple application form that can be found online
How many times did Grand Designs visit for filming?
Their first 2 days of filming was in late November 2021 and I was a COMPLETE NUMPY in front of that ever looming lens! Thankfully Tom was pretty new to filming also…. so that made me feel a little bit better. There were 11 visits over 2 years - sometimes for a few hours, often a day and a couple of 2 and 3 day filming epics.
Did you get paid for the episode?
No I didn’t – that’s not actually a thing. I did get a couple of pies and some coffee tho. I also got the incredible support of the Grand Designs team who remain good friends. We all got on famously and they were very tolerant of what became a pretty non-existent construction programme and some super-frustrating, last minute cancellations of key building elements.
When did the Episode Air? And where can I see it?
The episode aired on TVNZ+ in New Zealand on the 7th of November and was the product of 2 years of filming. The episode then aired in Australia on ABC in early 2024.
It can be seen in New Zealand on TVNZ1 (on demand) and in Australia on ABC iView (on demand).
It is also available on some streaming channels.
Episode 3 (titled "Dunedin Glasshouse") of Grand Designs New Zealand Season 8 can be streamed for free in Canada on CBC Gem, or purchased via Apple TV. For viewers in select regions, it is also available on Plex and OSN+.
Currently also available on YOUTUBE however this often get’s taken down due to copyright rules
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkPEjtOKtS4
Why did you name the big oak tree ‘Rex’?
When I bought the property – 50% of the appeal was the massive oak tree. This tree really had a presence on the site and I have enormous respect for the age and beauty of the grand old oak tree.
I named him Rex because he sits on the northern comer of the site which is also the only access to the property. So, grand as he may be… he wrecks the site access, he wrecks the access to northern light and he wrecks the plans to get services to the building. he had already wrecked the existing path and he certainly wrecked a lot of the plans to develop the property.
So his name came from a simple ‘play on words’… and ‘wrecks’ became ‘Rex’
Some other fun facts about my Grand Desings journey
• The episode was dubbed #1 favourite for 2023
• The production crew and director became very good friends
• The constant pressure of filming really helped me stay on track
• I had a very brief cameo appearance in the 2025 episode shot at Emersons Brewery
• There was hundreds of hours of footage clearly cut into a 44min episode
• No I didn’t get to see the episode before it aired and yes that was nerve racking
• The episode claimed I was the new Dunedin Hospital architect but I had resigned from that role shortly after purchasing the hall
• For some uncanny reason it was always freezing and raining when the film crew were onsite
• The crew gave me a lot of stick for my coffee order – almond latte with a teaspoon of honey please
