About The House (s8/e13)

Catriona Cantwell is building 2 houses on one narrow site in Monkstown. One will be her future home and she intends to sell the other house. As an Architectural Technician, Catriona is supervising the build herself. Until now the build has been going well and the houses are almost finished but there is still a lot more to do and Catriona has her mind set on moving in before Christmas but will she pull it off in time?

In Kilmeedy Limerick, Mike and Natalie have encountered some problems with their old farmhouse restoration project. After removing the gable wall with a JCB, Mike and Natalie were shocked to find the entire building had collapsed when they returned to the site the following day. Now their restoration project has become a new build project. Although the collapse has been a huge set back Natalie is still determined to have Christmas dinner in her new home.

Duncan takes a look at the future of our homes. The Celtic Tiger brought with it a frenzy of construction and at its peak in 2006, we were building houses 4 times faster than the rest of Europe and property prices had skyrocketed. Where did it go wrong and more importantly what are the solutions? Duncan talks to John Gormley, the Minister of Environment, Heritage and Local Government.

And we look back at the highlights of this year’s series…