01/05/2014 The One Show

Hello and welcome to the programme. Tonight, we are joined by a man who,

when he was younger, wished he was a bit shorter and less

self-conscious. There was not much he could do about his height, but

there was about his shyness, because he is now a professional

exhibitionist Chechen that is after doing is live Grand Designs show for

the past ten years. It is Kevin McCloud! You are known to go on

television without much clothes on? I am known to go on and on and on.

There was the shower scene? I kind of think that if you do that kind of

thing, do you know what, I am quite happy to make an idiot of myself on

television Hendry in a way, that is the only qualification required.

Shall we tell him about the shower outside? I was just singing the

theme tune to Grand Designs, and Kevin says people get married to

that theme Choon. Is that true? I know! Isn't it bizarre? If you think

about it, it would be... Reminds me a little bit of that Roald Dahl

thing. You have got a new series of Grand Designs starting in the

autumn, what can we look forward to? What is interesting at the

moment is that coming out of this recession, it has been a really

interesting time, because people have not been able to spend their

way out of a hole. People cannot just spend more and more. Whereas,

when times are hard, you have got to think hard before you commit more

self, and actually, you get much better ideas. So, we have got quite

a lot of small projects, actually, this year, but really inventive.

That is what people want to see. Now, we do know that across the

country, homeowners are opening up and extending in an effort to create

their very own Grand Designs. Tonight, we are having a Grand

Designs clinic. We hope this is OK with you. If you are thinking about

renovating or refurbishing part of your home and you would like some

advice, take a picture, and hopefully Kevin here will offer some

words of wisdom. We did not check this with you beforehand! No, this

is a bit of a surprise. Will you do it? Happily. Now, a report out today

from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary has found that police

forces across the UK could be failing to record as much as 20% of

crime. This is something we touched on last month when we did a film

about PC James Patrick, the person who blew the whistle on claims of

widespread feeling of crime figures within his own force. We will find

out more about what the report found in a few moments, but first, Lucy

Siegle, on James' story. Three weeks ago, I heard how James Patrick's

decision to blow the whistle on police crime statistics had turned

his family life upside down. I admire him but I do blame him,

because it has put us in the situation we are in now.

Emotionally, I do not think it was worth it, because we are going

through hell. James' bosses did not like the fact he spoke to The One

Show. Because he did, they are now investigating him for gross

misconduct. Since I last spoke to you, they have instigated gross

misconduct proceedings against me for failing to seek a mission to

speak to the media. It feels when Dick, it feels like I have been

chased. I have already left my job for those reasons. -- vindictive.

James' experience is not uncommon. One charity says that just under a

fifth of whistle-blowers who speak out our disciplined or demoted. A

large proportion of them are dismissed altogether. But only last

year, David Cameron said that whistle-blowers should be protected.

In general, we should support whistle-blowers and what they do to

help improve the provision of public services. So, this is your old

stomping ground? Found guilty of misconduct in April when he

published an e-book about his concerns about his employer, he is

currently appealing against that decision. James has resigned now,

but he is still officially a serving police officer until James is an

employment lawyer. Where does the law now stand in relation to

whistle-blowers and know we have seen some amendments to the law,

haven't we? The law is intended to establish the following principal -

don't shoot the messenger. When you report some wrongdoing in a

workplace, the law expects that you will be protected from being there

is the introduction of a public interest test. So now,, in order to

claim protection from victimisation and dismissal, the whistle-blower

has two show that the concern he has raised with his employer is one

which is in the public interest. To these whistle-blowing laws apply to

all sectors? Let's be clear. The police are not a special case. PC

James Patrick went on to voice his concerns in front of a Parliamentary

committee, which was headed up by Bernard Jenkin. What do you think

about what James has done? First of all, James has tried to act in the

public interest, which is the duty of every police officer. When you

give evidence to a select committee, you are immune from what you say in

the committee, that is what is called Parliamentary privilege. But

it does not protect you from whatever they may try and take

against you. You have called James Brave publicly, but should it really

be reliant on his courage, should there not be more protection for

whistle-blowers like James? There is a question as to whether there is

enough protection for police officers, which we raised in our

report. The Home Secretary has written to me and said she is

instituting a review of the protection for whistle-blowers in

the police. But for James, this is too late. How does it feel to be

standing here? It feels a little bit strange, to be honest. This is

probably the last time I will ever be coming to Scotland Yard. I hand

back my warrant card next Friday and that is the end of my ten years in

the police. Thank you, Lucy. Tony is here. What have the Met said? Well,

we have been speaking to them this week, and they say their media

policy clearly states, you must speak to a senior officer to get

permission before doing an interview or publishing a book. They point out

that PC Patrick was disciplined earlier in the month for breaching

those rules, when he published his book. I will read what they say -

they felt some of his comments have the potential to bring discredit on

the police service or even undermine public confidence in the police.

This latest case, they say, they are investigating allegations that he

has breached that policy again. But they do want to point out, and we

saw in the film, that he spoke to the Commons select committee, he

will not be disciplined for that. But as far as his initial concerns

go, and he raise those internally before he blew the whistle

externally? He says he did, as far back as 2011, when he says he sent

an e-mail to Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe. The Met says, he is a very busy man,

we cannot confirm that. But one really interesting thing is the

charity Public Concern At Work says, if you are a potential

whistle-blower, you do not have to go to your employer itself, because

you might end up in front of the guy who has got the problem with you.

You can go to a regulator, or even to the media. And there is a new

report out today, all about the reporting of different crimes, so

what have we found out? This is the report we mentioned at the beginning

by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary. And this report

indicates that a fifth of crime in England and Wales is going

unrecorded. Inspectors listened again to more than 3100 999 calls,

and on the face of it, they found the public were treated well and

professionally. But out of those more than 3000 calls, 523 which

should have been recorded as crimes were not. They are blaming bad

training, bad management, even increased workload for those

problems. We it is an interim report. Only 13 out of the 43 forces

in the country have been survey tantrum but because Greater

Manchester Police and the Metropolitan Police are included in

that, two of the largest forces, that makes a large proportion. And

this report, is it related to PC Patrick's initial whistle-blowing?

Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary say definitely not.

They conduct surveys like this once every couple of years. But this I

think we can all benefit from the clarity which is coming out of these

figures and drink I have no doubt that James will feel vindicated, and

he has told us that. Thank you very much. High specification staircases

are often a feature in the ultramodern grand designs that we

see in Kevin's programme. But as fancy and functional as they may be,

I doubt any of them would be able to keep marauding troops at bay, like

this one in Dover was designed to do.

200 years ago, the armies of Napoleon were conquering Europe, and

Britain feared invasion. The French would have arrived by sea at Dover,

but the white cliffs posed a problem. The French would have

landed down there in Dover Harbour, but the British army were based up

here at this artillery fort at the top of the cliff. If they could not

get down there in time to defend the town, it would have spells disaster.

Mandy is a local historian. The original route was up a hill, along

a steep chalk path, and then down quite a steep face, a mile and a

half long, it would have taken about an hour, very likely the invasion

would have happened at night, and the path would have been totally

treacherous. A radical solution was needed. The Army turned to

Lieutenant-Colonel William Twiss, an accomplished military engineer. He

had a ground-breaking idea. He decided to build a vertical tunnel

from up here do down there, at sea-level, through 40 metres of

solid chalk. The design featured three intertwining staircases, all

contained within one single shaft, to allow the maximum number of

soldiers to descend. Exactly how do you fit three staircases into one

shaft? Let me show you. Let's start with one staircase, here we go. And

then another staircase, this one in blue. Then the last one in red. And

then what you do is, you roll it all up, like that. And then, what you

end up with is a triple helix. And this was the result, the Dover Grand

Shaft. 140ft deep and 26ft wide. It took three years to complete and the

three flights of stairs had a total of 600 steps. In 1804 they started

digging out a well from the top. They got to the bottom at about

1807. They've riveted the sides and built the brickwork, the internal

light well was built, with the stairs coming up. What is so clever

about it? Width of the staircases, you can have two soldiers abreast.

And of course, it is completely hidden. So, I can move my soldiers

from the barracks, six at a time, with the three staircases, and no

one can see them coming. They will just pop out and attack the enemy.

But could the Dover Grand Shaft have saved Britain? We have two teams

lined up back at the forced to test it out. Pupils from Dover College

will take the staircase, and a group of military actors will be on the

coast. I will be waiting for them at the base of the shaft. Quick march!

Most of the old coastal path is actually tarmac today, which is

giving the soldiers an advantage, so they are making good time. But can

they beat the shaft? You can hear them, they are coming! It soon

becomes clear, the contest is no contest at all. That was seven

minutes and 18 seconds. But our actors still have some way to go.

How long before they arrive? Well done! Now, you and your men managed

that in 21 minutes and 24 seconds. Despite the modern road surface, the

shaft triumphed, and with an invading army on the horizon, every

minute counts. However, this extraordinary design was never put

to military use. Britain kept Napoleon at bay, and eight years

after it was completed, he was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo.

The Dover Grand Shaft is not just a remarkable piece of military

engineering, it is a monument to British ingenuity and eccentricity.

I love it! Kevin, you love it too. A lot of

architects spend a lot of time designing staircases to be as tucked

away as possible. Built to last. You think a lot of modern building is

not there to last. Procurement methods and the scandal over the PFI

hospitals which are only designed to last 50 years. What are we saying

about our time that we are not confident enough to make statements

about where we are now? We often hear about the housing shortage. You

got involved and you designed an estate of affordable houses. Why

were you so keen to get involved? You know what telly is like. There

is a lot of that. I thought I wanted to get back into it. I used to work

as a designer and make things. The idea of making a place and a

community is very important. It seemed to me to be very sensible to

try and put my money where my mouth is. We have gone on to do more. We

have several schemes on the go. I think it is important that anybody

in that area does have a go. The quality of our housing in the UK is

not great. The value is not fantastic because it is so expensive

to do anything because land is so expensive. We have got to devise new

ways of ownership and creating more homes and encouraging more self

build, community self build. On that point, as a maker and designer, I am

sure you have seen this, but maybe not our viewers at home. A

construction company in China has developed a technique to build 3-D

housing by printing with cement and construction waste. Is it good in

your eyes and what would you do if it came to the UK? They look a

little bit like sheds. But this is a prototype. It is brilliant. This is

happening on a small and large scale. My theories about the

aircraft, we found a man making 3-D printers which self replicated. It

is the rise of the machine. My goodness. There are printers out

there already which will print in a multiple of materials. You can make

metal structures and plastics forming around them. We are on the

verge of an extraordinary revolution in manufacturing and I believe

within 20 years those shoots... Wait a minute. -- those shoes. You will

be able to design these at home and reproduce them. Design and make your

own shoes using recycled materials. Using printers available in the

local library. Upcycling, you have done a whole series on it, it seems

to be the thing now. It is bang on trend. Yeah. Partly because we are

running out of stuff on the planet. Instead of buying new, people are

using things they have already. Let us have a look at a clip of your

brand new series. Here is the plan. From this plane, we will make as

many beautiful and useful objects as we can. People will want them and be

prepared to pay for them. I want to prove that everything can be

recycled. So I have asked three Genius designer makers to help me.

APPLAUSE The cost, 25,000. Scrap value. When

a plane comes out of service, it is worth millions. But it can be all

recouped by taking off the engines and the undercarriage. That is all

sold. Spurs for other aircraft. And you are left with the user large and

the wings and the seats and the floor and a lot of it is not

recycled -- the fuse allege. Good designer. I worked with three really

gifted designers. They were constantly coming up with new stuff.

What is really exciting is that we have had more sales as a result of

the broadcast which is more money for the charity. And it is setting

up supply chains with aircraft breakers. We had one guy who sent me

an e-mail saying, I make boxes which go in the ground to make manholes

for Network Rail. We can use the stuff. This will be on show at the

Grand Designs exhibition. We have got Max and Harry. Paul's stuff I

have a ready shown there. To be fair, I'm giving the other two ago.

Harry made a dog bed out of aeroplane tables. We have sold 19 of

them! We will see something else from Grand Designs Live later. In

your honour, we found someone who had a grand design for their own

home. It has taken years to finish, on seeing it for the first time, you

could be excused for wondering when the work is about to start.

Here is Lucy in Hastings. Picture the scenario, you spend ?270,000 on

a house burning huge amount of money on a make over and the whole project

takes you five years -- then a huge amount of money. What would you

expect for the dosh and dedication? No, your eyes are not deceiving you,

this is the finished job. This is one man's modern take on a Tudor

classic. Alistair. Hello. This is amazing. But why? Seeing the house

over the years as a child, it had a particular magic. It did not look

like this at all. It was completely modernised but I knew it had

potential. You set about removing the things most people find

attractive about a house. Completely. Who wants to live with a

modern bathroom suite? Most people think, my God, we are going back 500

years. In some ways, we are. But it is an allusion in some ways because

I have central heating and new electrics. -- it is an illusion.

What do you get from it question not it is a bit of escapism. -- what do

you get from it? What was the hardest thing to get right? Using

the oak I chose, it is tough. Building the box beds upstairs, that

was a nightmare. And just working in the small space. How do you feel

about it now? I feel very rewarded by the house and I feel I have given

something back to the town as well. To be vulgar, how much is it worth?

I knew you would ask! I haven't a clue. The point of most renovations

is to increase a property's value. We have invited around two estate

agents to take a look. We have not told them that they are about to

enter a house like nothing they have ever seen before. Here we go. Look

at this! It is very dark in here. She mentioned the light. Old

shutters. Very old shutters. Interesting furniture. She is taking

it all in. Personalised comments. Certainly not your average kitchen.

That is about the most modern thing in here. Not exactly full of home

comforts. She is missing the comfort factor. 385,000. She has not been

round it yet! This is so beautiful. She is loving upstairs. This is like

something from the end this -- the English Heritage site. She is

starting to get it. Someone who loves period will love this I think

a stock I think. She is warming up. They were still as they get to the

top. It is lighter. Probably one of the most unique, amazing houses. For

the person who wants a museum piece, they may be willing to pay ?400,000.

It is completely unique and almost impossible to put a value on.

Ultimately, the market will decide if it were to ever come up for sale.

It could be worth up to 385,000. For the open market, they may want to

modernise it, you would have to take a lump sum. What did you make of

their reactions? They were blown away but as they mounted the stairs

and things were less murky and dark, the obvious detailing they

were enthusing about. What about the valuations? The second was nearer

the mark when she was talking about there will be a market for someone

who wants a property just like this. I am not selling. Wow. You

have to applaud his commitment. It was like a 16th century edition of

Homes Under The Hammer. Pictures have been coming in. Only time for

one. You have picked a winner. Vicky would like advice on what she can do

with her 1960s feature wall. Controversial. There is a ladder

suggesting work is ready to begin. I would say, judging by the fire

itself which is the exact model my parents had, this is a piece of

retro vintage waiting to become fashionable. I would do nothing to

it. Wait five years. Really? Yeah. Isn't it absurd? Last time you are

on, you said it needed a roof and lots of glass. Look at that! She

stuck with what you said. Roof and glass. Time to go outside because we

are going to meet two lads with a vision of what their house will look

like in the future. Have a look at this. It was designed by two

architects who we are just about to meet. It was inspired by a 1903

equation. The idea is to create a moving structure both great to

living in the summer because it opens up with lots of glass windows,

but it is also great in the winter because it closes to form a solid

block with thick external walls. Come on. Let us get this house open.

Right. You are over there. Can we open the door? Sure. What do you

think of this, Kevin? It is genius. It is great. I have seen a sliding

house and I have seen a house that disappears, but I have never seen a

house that is a trolley. David, come on over. It is based on this coffee

table which was in the family. My father discovered the 1903 formula

in the 80s and developed the first simple coffee table. We revisited it

after I asked permission to turn his table into the house. Look at that.

Perfect square to a perfect triangle. Crazy or what? What are

your first thoughts on this, Kevin? How do you get planning permission?

Ultimately, hugely adaptable. You can orientate it to the sun. You can

have a winter setting and summer setting. What would be the ideal

concept to open it up? We are looking at a track system with

hydraulics. Because it can move, it can track the sun so it can generate

energy so it becomes a generator. Like a sundial. This is not

finished. It is a bit smaller. The children's version for the garden!

How much? Between a 20,000 and ?1 million. Can you choose your carpets

and curtains? You can see it at the Grand Designs Live exhibition. We

will be wheeling it around the show! Thank you very much. That is all we

have time for. You can see Kevin at the Grand Designs Live exhibition

from the 3rd of May until the 11th of May. I will be back tomorrow with

Greg Wallace and John Torode from MasterChef. I will see one