Grand Designs host shares update on ‘saddest house ever’ years after tragic episode

Grand Designs’ host Kevin McCloud has given an update on the ‘saddest ever’ project to appear on the show.

Edward Short, 52, featured on the Channel 4 show back in October 2018 but was hit with setback after setback, plunging him into millions of pounds worth of debt, with Short even saying he felt he was ‘cursed’.

Speaking to the Daily Star in 2022, Short said that he had battled through ‘the banking crisis, the Brexit years, which were very hard, the coronavirus pandemic and then the pingdemic’.

“It's a very long list and sometimes you do feel cursed by it all,” he told the publication.

When Short’s episode aired, many viewers said it was the ‘saddest ever’ after seeing the toll the lighthouse-inspired property in Croyde, Devon, took on Short.

In all, Short spent more than a decade getting the house ready and ended up with a stunning property - but even after all that, it failed to sell, prompting Short to split it into two listings.

In a recent interview with the Metro, Grand Designs’ host McCloud revealed he still keeps in touch with Short.

Channel 4

“Ed and I still communicate by email now and again,” he said.

“It’s not always the case you keep in contact with people, but in his case, it was such a special project and we had a lot of shared interests in common and we share a mutual friend.”

And despite all he’s been through with the gaff, Short is still hopeful the right buyer will come along.

McCloud went on: “He is still battling along with it.

“We went back for the revisit which was great and rather redemptive and now I think it is still on the market.”

Before adding: “I haven’t checked in with him recently, but he is hoping for a bite on the line, as it were.”

Fingers crossed, mate.

Channel 4

Once the property is sold, Short has - perhaps unsurprisingly - suggested that he’d never take on such a large project again.

Speaking in 2022, he shared: "I can not make any plans of what I do next until it is sold - but I would be very surprised if they involved any more big build projects. I think I need a physiatrist and help with PTSD.

"I’ll always be proud to have finished this. I owe it to my family to have a real end result, but the time has come to move on.

"I will have achieved what I set out to do, never deviating from the plans, and for that I’ll always be proud.

"These past ten years have been a marathon slog - and I have got used to being a millionaire in debt."