The BEST episodes of Grand Designs: House of the Year
Every episode of Grand Designs: House of the Year ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Grand Designs: House of the Year!
Every year the Royal Institute of British Architects looks for the best new home in Britain, and this time Grand Designs is along for the ride.
#1 - Experimental
Season 5 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/23/2019
Kevin McCloud visits homes in the running for the 2019 Royal Institute of British Architects House of the Year. This time, Kevin and his co-presenters, architect Damion Burrows and design expert Michelle Ogundehin, visit five experimental homes competing for a place on the shortlist. The properties include a pioneering home made entirely from cork in Eton, an innovative Derbyshire stone cottage, a bold family home on the South Downs with a vaulted interior, a micro-home built on the site of a double garage in London, and an extraordinary ultra-low-energy house in Buckinghamshire.
#2 - Hard-to-Build Houses
Season 7 - Episode 1 - Aired 11/16/2022
Kevin McCloud explores the homes in the running to win the RIBA House of the Year award 2022, starting with five hard-to-build houses, including a pink beach house.
#3 - Surroundings
Season 5 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/30/2019
Kevin McCloud, architect Damion Burrows and design expert Michelle Ogundehin visit five more inspiring homes in the running for the 2019 Royal Institute of British Architects House of the Year, featuring a contemporary London home, a property in the middle of a nature reserve on the Isle of Man, a historical house in south London, a property in Hampshire built with local materials, and a cantilevered black timber box in Skye on a rocky foreshore.
#4 - Down to Earth
Season 5 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/6/2019
Kevin McCloud, architect Damion Burrows and design expert Michelle Ogundehin visit five more inspiring homes in the running for the 2019 Royal Institute of British Architects House of the Year, featuring a stylish property in Devon, a cleverly engineered home in London, a self-build eco home on the South Downs, a 21st century manor house in Northamptonshire, and an elegant home in Northern Ireland.
#5 - The Final
Season 5 - Episode 4 - Aired 11/13/2019
Kevin McCloud, architect Damion Burrows and design expert Michelle Ogundehin visit the final homes in the running for the 2019 Royal Institute of British Architects House of the Year, featuring a property in London with a sculptured copper roof, a Warwickshire home made entirely from exposed concrete, a perfectly crafted timber wedge hidden in a Devonshire arboretum, a Welsh house covered with locally quarried stone and slate, and a London home built with an incredible attention to detail. Finally, Kevin reveals with this year's winner. Last in the series.
#6 - Houses That Take You by Surprise
Season 6 - Episode 1 - Aired 11/17/2021
Kevin McCloud, Damion Burrows and Michelle Ogundehin visit five breathtaking buildings that stop you in your tracks, including a futuristic, 1960s sci-fi-inspired water tower in rural Norfolk.
#7 - Materials and Craftsmanship
Season 6 - Episode 2 - Aired 11/24/2021
Kevin McCloud, Damion Burrows and Michelle Ogundehin explore five houses demonstrating exceptional craftsmanship, including a Scandi-Scottish lochside bolthole.
#8 - Problem-Solving Houses
Season 6 - Episode 3 - Aired 12/1/2021
Kevin McCloud, Damion Burrows and Michelle Ogundehin visit five properties that solve problems, including a camouflaged home that blends into its overlooked setting.
#9 - Houses That Reinvent
Season 6 - Episode 4 - Aired 12/8/2021
Kevin McCloud, Damion Burrows and Michelle Ogundehin visit a low-key eco-home and a modern oast, before the winner is revealed.
#10 - The Final
Season 4 - Episode 4 - Aired 11/28/2018
Kevin visits homes on the longlist that use materials in interesting ways, before revealing the overall winner of House of the Year 2018
#11 - Incredible House Transformations
Season 7 - Episode 2 - Aired 11/23/2022
Kevin McCloud and the experts visit five homes that have undergone incredible transformations, from a factory reborn to a library hidden within a former cowshed.
#12 - Pioneers
Season 7 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/30/2022
In the pioneering houses category, Kevin McCloud and the experts explore a home that fuses mock-Tudor with industrial chic, and a home with a mountain on the roof.
#13 - Materials and Craftsmanship
Season 7 - Episode 4 - Aired 12/7/2022
Kevin McCloud looks at a meticulously crafted barn conversion and a timber-framed, timber-clad eco home, before the winner of the RIBA House of the Year 2022 is announced.
#14 - Built Against All Odds
Season 8 - Episode 1 - Aired 11/19/2025
The search for the House of the Year 2025 begins. Kevin McCloud reveals homes built against the odds, from a cliff-carved retreat and a storm-lashed abode to a collapsing hillside haven.
#15 - Homes That Take You on Holiday
Season 8 - Episode 2 - Aired 11/26/2025
A Kent beach home blends work space with an endless sense of escape. A plot in east London transforms into a sun-filled sanctuary. And a taste of the Caribbean is conjured in suburban Surrey.
#16 - Materials and Craftsmanship
Season 8 - Episode 3 - Aired 12/3/2025
A dramatic new sandstone home rises in Bannau Brycheiniog (the Brecon Beacons). Norwich's medieval brick tradition is re-invented. And an 18th-century Essex barn is brought back to life beam-by-beam.
#17 - Incredible Transformations
Season 8 - Episode 4 - Aired 12/10/2025
In the grand finale, Kevin McCloud explores dramatic re-inventions where barns, bungalows and townhouses are radically transformed. And one home is crowned RIBA House of the Year 2025.
#18 - Extreme Houses
Season 4 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/21/2018
Kevin and his fellow judges visit an awe-inspiring set of cantilevered black boxes, a far-flung crofter's cottage, a curvy concrete property, and a wedge house
#19 - Houses with a Past
Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired 11/14/2018
Kevin McCloud, architect Damion Burrows and design expert Michelle Ogundehin visit five more inspiring homes in the running for the 2018 Royal Institute of British Architects House of the Year, including an old Victorian gin distillery in east London transformed into a remarkable modern home, and a turn-of-the-century farmhouse in Devon given new life mixing the traditional with the contemporary. The team also visit a Grade II listed house in Bath, a derelict farmhouse over 400 years old, and a house with a mirrored library at its centre.
#20 - Houses That Dare to Be Different
Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired 11/7/2018
Kevin McCloud visits homes in the running for the 2018 Royal Institute of British Architects House of the Year, including a magnificent monolithic dark-rendered block in London, a controversial, cutting-edge glass modernist building in Henley, and a north London townhouse filled with Nicaraguan mahogany.
#21 - The Minimalists and the Winner
Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 11/28/2017
Kevin McCloud reveals the winner of the most prestigious prize for residential architecture, the Royal Institute of British Architects House of the Year 2017. But first, Kevin, the architect Damion Burrows and magazine editor Michelle Ogundehin sift the final category from the long list, all of them homes that share a pared-back, minimal look. Properties include a former caretaker's shed in London, and a small but perfectly formed home with oak panelling and sleek polished concrete floors. Last in the series.
#22 - Homes in the Country
Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/21/2017
Kevin McCloud, architect Damion Burrows and magazine editor Michelle Ogundehin review homes in the country. There's a luxurious tree house in Dorset that shows off the wonder of wood, and an awe-inspiring cantilevered concrete home on the Isle of Purbeck, with floor-to-ceiling glazing. Plus, a property with a cluster of zinc-clad boxes imitating local traditional Scottish farmsteads, and a 17th-century Devon barn that's been sensitively restored for modern living. But which will be shortlisted for the Royal Institute of British Architects House of the Year 2017?
#23 - Water
Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 11/14/2017
Kevin McCloud, Damion Burrows, and Michelle Ogundehin look at five more inspiring homes in the running for the Royal Institute of British Architects House of the Year 2017. This episode considers homes with a watery connection, including a glamorous, white, curvy, cliff top residence with extensive views over the English Channel.
#24 - Local Materials
Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 11/7/2017
Kevin McCloud visits homes in the running for the 2017 Royal Institute of British Architects House of the Year. He is joined by architect Damion Burrows and Michelle Ogundehin, editor-at-large of Elle Decoration. In this episode, they visit five properties which draw on local materials and traditions, including a 21st-century shepherd's hut in Scotland.
#25 - The Winner
Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 12/15/2016
Kevin McCloud reveals the winner of the Royal Institute of British Architects House of the Year 2016. First though, there are four extraordinary nominated houses to review, all of which offer a creative response to a tricky site. There is a house stitched into a wall that sits between a Zen courtyard and an English walled garden; a clever, open plan family home built in a former allotment; a house made from a group of red tin pods on a piece of urban wasteland; and a large, glamorous home in Northumberland that creatively pulls northern light through the house.