When Edward Short first appeared on Grand Designs UK in 2010, he told host Kevin McCloud that he and his wife Hazel planned to transform their home into an art-deco lighthouse.
Almost ten years later, Short is almost £4 million (NZ$8m) in debt, separated from his wife and his dream home is still unfinished.
In an episode of the home renovation show that aired in Britain earlier this month, Short, a music industry exec, told McCloud that the project turned into a nightmare thanks to a downturn in the UK economy and countless building issues.
"If there is one huge guilt I have over everything, it's the impact on my family," he said.
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He said his "vanity" had put his wife through a "horrendous time", leading to their split last year.
Short 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," he said of his decision to revamp his 1950s home.
"Once you get a dream like that in your head it just doesn't budge. It's just one of those spots where you could expect to find that type of building."
His ex wife said at the start of the project: "This house doesn't do the spot justice. We want glistening white, with lots of glass. It should look striking. It should look fantastic."
The couple told McCloud back in 2010 that they planned to build the luxury home, which was to include a huge circular tower, six bedrooms, a sauna, home cinema and spectacular glass-edge infinity pool, in just 18 months. And the hoped they would be able to do it for £2.2 million.
It quickly became apparent the build was impossible to complete. Short struggled to acknowledge the project was dangerous for the construction team to work on due to its clifftop location.
Short said during the show: "That’s a dangerous site for a construction team to work on. I think professional fees are around a quarter of a million, but they will make sure it's done properly."
The house required complex engineering, with the couple sinking 25 "anchors" into the rock in order to support the home.
By 2012, a downturn in the UK economy meant the couple had to put plans on hold and they started to build a smaller building further along the coastline which they nicknamed the "eye".
In February 2016, Short secured a loan of £2.5 million from private investors, which he admitted he was depending on to finish the build.
He told McCloud the project had become a nightmare, saying: "Terrifying is an adjective that doesn’t really sum it up if I'm honest."
When McCloud asked if he could have compromised, Short said: "You are right but the concept is very difficult to walk away from. No to compromise. To owe over £2million now is scary you think, 'Christ this is mounting up'."
With the financial pressure growing, Short's wife said she was becoming increasingly worried. "Worse case scenario is we will have to sell the whole thing. Yes, that’s a scary thing and yes, that keeps me up at night."
With debts of more £3 million, the couple were trapped by the thought that if they were to finish the project, it could end up selling for £7 million.
But when McCloud returned to the property earlier this year, he found it was still unfinished. The presenter described it as "the bare bones of a house and more like a desolate carcass".
He went on to say: "It’s a little bit like finding the wreckage of a building on a seashore."
Short said: "I've had better days I must admit. It all came to a halt in June, July 2017. I ran out of money.
"A bit of an eyesore is the feeling at the moment. I sometimes wonder if I might have been too ambitious. There's what I want, and there's reality."
Admitting he was almost £4 million in debt, he told McCloud that he'd taken to staying in the home he spent £1 million building a short distance down the coast. But he also said he wasn't permitted to live there permanently due to risks of being too close to the building site of the lighthouse.
He told the show his marriage had collapsed due to the strain, but insisted he would still try to finish the building. He said: :I don’t have the option of not finishing. To finish it may take over £2 million.
"This is a beast, this is a baby that is so hungry it will eat me. It's that savage now. The end-game could still be bankruptcy.
"If there is one huge guilt I have over everything, it's the impact on my family."
Speaking of his separation, Short said: "I put her through a horrendous time with this, knocking the family home down, putting all our money into it, no one has any idea what the outcome is. It doesn't get much worse than that.
"I have to take it on the chin - my vanity has probably collapsed the marriage. That's the truth."
- Daily Mail
