The staircase is constructed from the offcuts of CLT - the large pieces of wood popped out for windows. A simple plan to own the smallest two-bedroom house in London on a £160k budget is beset by disaster and goes massively over budget. Having already spent £73k on a miniscule 38 square metre plot in a run down part of East London, Joe has designed a split level, six half floor house that will cleverly maximise space. A tiny pocket-sized house built on the site of a former garage in south London and a modern castle inspired by Roman ruins have been revealed as the first two projects shortlisted for RIBA 's House of the Year 2019 award. Couple Penny Talelli and Mark Edwards are determined to mix their love of period and contemporary design when building a home for their family of four. Having already spent £73k on a miniscule 38 square metre plot in a run down part of East London, Joe has designed a split level, six half floor house that will cleverly maximise space. Wooden homes are common in New Zealand, but how does this unusual structure fit into Worcestershire's Malvern Hills?Inside, floor-to-ceiling doors and windows maximise the views and light

Is the result worth it?A young couple’s dream of escaping ever rising rents in London by building their own home for just £160,000 turns into both a nightmare and an obsession on tonight’s episode of Design engineer Joe Stuart, 26, and his Swedish girlfriend, service designer Lina Nilsson, were paying £20,000 a year in rent on a west London flat when they decided they wanted their own home.Not just any home, but officially the smallest new-build two-bedroom in London allowed under latest regulations.Joe says: “I’ve always been fascinated by making things, making things work.”Lena is enamoured of the chance to create their own home in London while just in their twenties: “You don’t have to pay rent to someone else. At 83 square meters it may be the smallest two double bedroom house that you’re allowed to build in the capital, but it’ll be theirs and not a landlords. You can make a place that’s good quality and it’s yours.”Kevin McCloud on the roof terrace of the house built by Joe Stuart and Lina Nilsson.The trio outside the front door of the house which was hand timber clad by Joe.Joe and Lina found a tiny plot of land in east London, three miles from Canary Wharf.The land is on the site of a former coffin workshop and cost £73,000.At just 83 square metres (893sq ft) the couple had to work to squeeze in as much as they could to the space, with no inch wasted.The plans included a vast top floor kitchen-living area...McCloud says the property is a "tiny house with a view to infinity".McCloud perches on the open staircase which brings light down to the lower levels.A hole in the ground with a ‘car park aesthetic’ is how Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud describes this property in the Peak District.Ecologist Fred Baker grew up in a Peak District village near Bakewell in Derbyshire and, despite many of his childhood friends deserting it for work and careers, was determined to stay there with wife Saffron and children Billy and Grace.Construction ran months over deadline thanks largely to the lack of a mortgage - and no budget in mind - when the owners started and bad weather added to the delays.Deep underground will lie three bedrooms and two bathrooms, while a sun-drenched middle floor will house a living room and kitchen that during the day will draw heat into the house through the south facing row of windows, while at night rubber-sealed, massively thick wooden shutters will seal off the home from the outside world, keeping in the heat.Surveying the "mesmerising” stonework cladding the finished house, McCloud hails it as a "buried concrete fortress wrapped in stone and timber” in a "heroic and momentous landscape”.Fred admits: "I couldn’t have done this without her.