The daughters of the man behind Grand Designs’ infamous lighthouse have revealed how the ‘overambitious’ project impacted their lives. 

Lauren, 24, and Nicole Short, 22, grew up as their parents Edward and Hazel Short tried to build their ambitious lighthouse in North Devon and discuss how it has affected them in a special airing tonight at 9pm on Channel 4. 

Short, 52, spent a decade building the extraordinary Chesil Cliff House, in Croyde, Devon, with the ambitious project seeing him transform his family’s 1950s home into an art-deco white lighthouse.

It featured on ’s Grand Designs in October 2019, and was described as the ’saddest episode ever’ by many viewers after the music industry executive revealed that the arrival of the recession, building issues and the end of his marriage to wife Hazel had left his dream in tatters.

Father-of-two Edward remained adamant he would finish the design – yet his dream of an idyllic existence in the stunning cliff-top home in one of Devon’s most picturesque coastal locations was dashed and he admitted earlier last year he would be forced to sell it in the hopes of a £4million profit once it was completed at the end of 2021.

The house was finally put on the market for £10 million in July – despite not having a kitchen, bathroom, flooring or light fixtures – with Edward insisting it had all been worth it.

In tonight’s show, Grand Designs’ presenter Kevin McCloud travels back to North Devon to follow up on the project. 

The process has been ongoing throughout much of the lives of Lauren and Nicole who grew up spending periods at their father’s home, the three-bedroom annex known as The Eye. 

Speaking to Kevin in tonight’s episode, Lauren said: ‘I don’t think any of us fully gave up on the idea that the house wouldn’t still happen. 

‘But being a family house, that one got given up.

that was tough,’ with both and her sister adding: ‘it leaves a hole.’

Nicole spoke candidly of being ‘over the house’ which took 12 years to build.  

‘I had my times a few years ago where I was so over it. I just wanted it to be done ad fell out with people asking questions,’ she told Kevin. 

‘Especially because I don’t know half of the answers to these questions,’ she added. 

‘When he started it, it was going to be a two-year job or something, and it’s now 12 years down the line,’ she joked. 

The young woman also talked about her parents’ split, after the lighthouse took a toll on their marriage.  

‘But what happened between my mum and dad, even without the house, would have probably have happened anyway,’ she said, adding their parents were much happier now than they were at the time. 

She talked of her parents’ new partners, especially her father’s fiancée Jalia Nambasa, a nurse Edward is planning to marry next year. 

‘He’s in such a better place now, and I think mum finding her partner and dad finding his partner as well, just to see him happier, he’s a lot less stressed than he was and everything has fallen into place which is cool, Nicole said. 

Speaking of his own previous marriage on the show, Edward said: ‘We genuinely are better than when we were married.

She is the mother of my children, she is always going to be present in my life.’

Speaking candidly on the show, Kevin admitted to Edward he didn’t think he would see the end of the project.  

‘I feel slightly embarrassed that I didn’t think you’d do it,’ he said, adding: ‘I thought venture capitalist would come in, put in their own project manager, you wouldn’t retain title and effectively, you’d be edged out.

That was my fear.’

Reflecting on the project, the father-of-two said: ‘It’s worth it because it’s finished, it wouldn’t have been worth if it hadn’t been finished, it would have been painful.’ 

After meeting with the family, Kevin reflected on Edward story, saying: ‘Three years ago, I described this build as a cautionary tale of overreaching ambition, which damaged a relationship, fractured a family, and also, of course, had taken Ed to the brink of bankruptcy.

‘But then you see that same ambition, that same drive, is what has taken Ed to this point. a point where he can call this place finished, where the family can draw a line, they can move on,’ he added. 

‘Buildings can sustain; it’s not just physically, it’s also emotionally and spiritually too.

Their walls can contain within them angst and pain as well as love, and joy.

‘I don’t think I ever visited a place which so eloquently, so powerfully spoke of healing, redemption and achievement,’ the presenter added. 

Photographs revealing the finished property were unveiled this summer, showing the white art-deco lighthouse perched on the edge of a cliff with an infinity pool running along one edge – just as Edward had always dreamed. 

Speaking to  in July, he claimed his ex-wife Hazel was ‘blown away’ when she first saw the house, and adding: ‘I think having been unsure for so long, its only when you get to that final moment of builders pulling out — with finishing touches done and furniture in — that it’s, اموزش طراحی سایت در مشهد like, ‘Yeah, now I get it.’ ‘

Meanwhile he revealed he and his family watched the episode of Grand Designs together, adding: ‘We laughed and we cried, it was very emotional.’

And despite all the issues and problems that came with the house, Edward said he had learned not to ‘worry’ which he said was just ‘burning energy unnecessarily.’

He added he hadn’t fitted a kitchen, bathrooms, flooring and light fixtures, saying: ‘Whoever buys it will want to do their own thing.’

Last July, property consultancy Knight Frank announced the launch of the sale of the main house and its annex known as The Eye, with a guide price of £10million.

The house is positioned on a three-acre site between surfers’ paradise Saunton Sands backed by the impressive UNESCO Biosphere Reserve of Braunton Burrows, and the idyllic cove of Croyde.

It has been anchored into the bed rock of the cliff, painstakingly engineered to a level that leaves no possibility for erosion hazards.

The agents described the property as one of the most impressive waterfront homes around and said they expected ‘global interest’ in the sale.

It comprises of five bedrooms and bathrooms, four reception rooms, a sauna and a cellar.

The property also includes the three-bedroom studio annex known as The Eye and a double garage.

Edward has previously revealed he has had no option but to sell the home to cover the large amount of money he had to borrow during the project, explaining that total costs were set to reach £6million. 

Speaking last July, he said: ‘These past ten years have been a marathon slog – and I have got used to being a millionaire in debt.

I’ve accepted the only way forward is to finish and sell it.

‘I had no idea it would end up costing so much but I’ve accepted now that I’m never going to be able to live in it because I have money I need to pay back. It was my overconfidence and arrogance that got me here in the first place so I’m doing what I need to do. 

‘Even though I’ll be selling it, I’m still finding it so exciting to see this concrete skeleton finally coming together into a beautiful building.’

Edward previously apologised to locals who he said were fed up of seeing the unfinished grey eyesore on the point, but also asked them to ’stick with it’.

He had told them: ‘I know it’s a mess, and I have to fix that – but when it is finished it will be amazing.

Judge it when it’s finished.’

In a 2019 episode of Grand Designs, Edward explained that he’d long dreamed of building a lighthouse on the cliff – but said several factors got in the way.

‘I always looked at it and thought it would be so cool to knock it down and build a lighthouse,’ said Edward, speaking of how he decided to revamp their existing property.

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