Grand Designs Transformations review: reliably entertaining viewing

By this stage everyone has a pretty good idea of what Grand Designs is all about. Each week a relentlessly cheerful couple buy a block of land in the middle of nowhere and plan to build a four story glass cube out of recycled watch faces for around $2000 because they’ll do all the work themselves and by the way they have to get it finished in six weeks because they already sold their house and are now living in a hessian sack in a nearby swamp.

But forget everything you though you knew, because this is Grand Designs Transformations, and… actually, hang onto everything you thought you knew, because this is very much a case of ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t demolish it to build a replica Viking longhouse out of bales of hay coated in plaster’. Deluded builders, tight budgets, impossible deadlines and ideas that are just plain wrong: you’ll find plenty of that here.

Focusing on renovations and additions

What this does have that separates it from the traditional Grand Designs is that the builds aren’t the usual smash-and-grab efforts. There’s plenty of construction going on, but these are renovations, additions and alterations rather than new builds.

Presumably this will now be the home for all those ‘we bought a former rope warehouse and now we’re turning it into a home only every single room is three times regular size because this place is much bigger than we need and did we mention we’re extremely rich?’ episodes.

The focus on renovations means there’s a lot more attention spent on interior design, which is the purview of co-host and award-winning interior designer Yasmine Ghoniem.

Each hour-long episode follows two jobs. While Ghoniem looks at one based more around decoration and décor, Grand Designs Australia host Professor Anthony Burke is off looking at people panicking because their new walls aren’t level.

Barracking for the renovators

The first episode of this second season does a decent job of laying out their different approaches. Burke is given a traditional set-up, as a young couple with a health scare in their recent past decide it’s time to live life to the fullest and put an absolutely massive extension on the back of a small suburban cottage.

It all seems fairly straight forward, until they reveal those classic elements of every memorable Grand Design story: a tiny budget and a ridiculously optimistic deadline. Throw in an approach that’s all about cutting corners and scavenging, plus a lot of bad weather – turns out a roof is really useful if you don’t want rain to ruin plaster walls – and their dream home might just stay that way.

Read: Grand Designs Australia Season 12 review: stunning builds and stunning downfalls

Through it all, Burke is content to turn up and deliver cheerful comments… even if those comments are basically ‘are you sure about this?’ or ‘oh no!’. He’s taking it all seriously but he’s on their side; sure, he’s going to express reservations, but he’s not going to come out and say it’s a disaster through and through.

Ambitious? Or just awful?

Ghoniem is given a slightly tricker situation, as retired couple Eric and Nicki have decided to take one last big swing and turn a narrow North Fitzroy Victorian-era cottage (which was trashed by an earlier renovation, so no heritage issues) into a riot of colour.

On the one hand, everyone involved is up front that they’re indulging the wishes of a (slowly) dying man with bright orange hair; when the (off-camera) kids suggest the plans might make the property harder to sell, the parents say ‘that’s your problem, not ours’.

On the other, it’s clear that Ghoniem is seriously worried they’re going to make a literal mess of things. Eric and Nicki know just enough about modern art to be dangerous, and while Ghoniem doesn’t dismiss their ideas to their faces, once she’s talking to Burke she’s not holding back: if they’re not careful, they’re going to end up with a house nobody’s going to want to look at.

It’s not all negative, as the hosts stop by a (strangely empty) house where the design has pushed boundaries in a way that’s eye-catching without being stomach churning. And even when the kitchen cabinet maker refuses to go along with their plan for multicoloured (and sometimes mirrored) doors, they find a way to press on with their vision.

Grand Designs Transformations builds on solid foundations

On the whole, the Australian versions of Grand Designs have been a little closer to feel-good television than the UK original. There hasn’t been a whole lot of half-finished ruins or newly divorced dads trying not to cry over the empty children’s bedroom they spent years building. So while the first episode – and the ones to come – can be a bit of a roller coaster ride, the ending is usually a happy one… usually.

Future episodes feature surprise swimming pools, garish bathrooms where Ghoniem has to lay down the law, distracted designers, relationships on a knife-edge, family feuds, and a giant brass kitchen bench.

While there’s the occasional attempt to restore actual history, much of this season is more about people creating monuments to their own tastes over restoring what’s already there.

It’s a rock-solid basis for reliably entertaining viewing. If only some of the houses’ foundations were so sturdy.

Season two of Grand Designs Transformations starts 8 January on ABC TV, with all episodes available to stream on ABC iview

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