Couple turn underground water reservoir into gorgeous family home on Grand Designs UK episode

An ambitious couple have somehow achieved an extraordinary home transformation, converting an underground water reservoir into a gorgeous family home.

Aw yeah, this could make a nice house.

It was dubbed “madness”.

UK couple Richard Bennett and his partner Felicia Böhm bought an underground water reservoir in the town of Hull, with a plan to transform it into a light and spacious forever home.

Impossible? Apparently not.

The build was featured on the latest episode of Grand Designs UK, which is available to stream on Foxtel Now, where veteran host and designer Kevin McCloud labelled the plan “foolhardy”, adding the dark chamber was specifically designed to “never step foot in”.

With just over $Au300,000 to spend on it – and setting himself a nine month time frame to get it one – Mr Bennett, an engineer, furthermore declared he was going to complete the epic project entirely on his own with no architect.

McCloud, who has hosted the design series since it began two decades ago, was stumped by the task, eager to figure out whether Mr Bennett was a genius or plain mad.

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Maybe if you look at it with your eyes closed you can see its potential.

“We had this idea a long time ago to create a sustainable earth shelter building and not pay for all the earth works,” Mr Bennett said.

“I’ve never been comfortable in a house built by others. The idea of creating something to live in and enjoy is such a natural thing for me to want to do.”

In a nutshell, the plan was to take the concrete roof off the reservoir, remove all the concrete pillars and use the remaining walls and floors as ready made structures for the new 430 square metre home.

Dream home, one would say.

As if that task wasn’t going to be difficult enough, the success of this depended on how the existing structure was built back in 1959, and whether or not the walls would actually remain standing after the roof and pillars had been demolished.

Thankfully that part worked out, but an entirely new spanner was thrown in the works after Mr Bennett was diagnosed with cancer. The project was drawn out for another five years, as blood poisoning made him sicker every day.

After taking time to recover, Mr Bennett returned to work after a three-year hiatus and threw everything at it.

The result speaks for itself.

The latest episode of Grand Designs UK featured an underground water reservoir's transformation into a home.

Unbelievable.

Virtually unrecognisable.

And, would you believe it, Mr Bennett fell $AU20,000 under budget.

Perhaps he really is a genius.

Grand Designs UK is available to stream on Foxtel Now

Originally published as Couple turn underground water reservoir into gorgeous family home on Grand Designs UK episode