Episode Information Bournemouth: The Penthouse

Date Published:

09/06/2008

The Project

James and Katrin Gray live in Bournemouth on the south coast. James runs his own book distribution business and Katrin works for an investment bank. They used to live in an apartment on the second floor of a former Victorian hotel. But three years ago, James bought the top floor flat. It was originally built as a solarium for the hotel in the 1920's where holiday-makers could soak up the sun. Now James and Katrin plan to convert it into a modern, luxury penthouse.

You can read more about the process of the transformation with Kevin and the team on the Trade Secrets website.

The first project was to build a large rooftop extension which became the main living area of the new penthouse. This steel frame structure was cleverly knitted between all the obstructions on the roof and leads out onto a fabulous roof top terrace with exclusive views along the coast.

Channel 4's guide to finding a rooftop plot can provide you with more information and advice on the best ways to overcome the inevitable difficulties that the couple faced.

Inside, through full height sliding glass doors, the open plan living/dining/kitchen area is a light and spacious addition to the existing building.

The second part of the project was to remodel the old solarium. To make the most of the existing octagonal living room and its amazing sea views James and Katrin opened up the ceiling to reveal the dome above. Inside is James' dreamy mezzanine library...

There were two existing bedrooms and a bathroom to one side of the dome. On the other side James and Katrin knocked together two rooms to form one big master bedroom with its own en-suite.

The entire Penthouse wonderfully exploits every view from its privileged position.

The solarium cost £300,000 and James negotiated hard to get a fixed price deal of £200,000 for the build itself.

James's job takes him away for weeks at a time, which left Katrin to keep an eye on the build as the builders cut open their roof to construct the penthouse.

Budget And Build

The Cost

Estimated budget: £200,000
Final budget: Unknown, but somewhat more than the original £200k!

Katrin and James were very organised in securing a set price for the entire build. In theory, this should prevent costs escalating because any overspend will have to be picked up by the developers. In this case, however, Katrin's persistent changes to the agreed plans meant extra spending outside of the original agreement. Choosing to relocate the kitchen, for example, is a very expensive change to make so far into the build. As it is not part of the original design brief the owners, rather than their contractors, have to foot the bill.

So how much extra did the couple spend? They wouldn't tell us, but it's fair to assume that they ran considerably over their initial £200k limit.