{"id":111617,"date":"2025-10-09T17:28:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T17:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/111617\/"},"modified":"2025-10-09T17:28:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T17:28:10","slug":"needs-must-so-welcome-room-to-improve-for-generation-priced-out-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/111617\/","title":{"rendered":"Needs must, so welcome Room to Improve for Generation Priced Out \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Much of Irish society has been negatively impacted by the property crisis<\/a>. Many young(ish) people still live with their parents. Those who have bought a house typically face punishing commutes, while a mouthy minority, wealthy and privileged enough to live within a cargo-bike freewheel of central Dublin, Cork, or Galway, try to ringfence the cities as \u201cactive travel\u201d playpens for the better off. Prices soar \u2013 and the old joke about only Longford or Roscommon being affordable begins to ring hollow (the latter recorded among the fastest growing locations for property prices last year). <\/p>\n

But if a lot of us have it tough, spare a thought for the real victims: the property porn industrial complex. Where once all RT\u00c9<\/a> had to do was send a TV architect off to chat with would-be house buyers or home improvers, today the picture is stark. With the property situation causing such misery, is it proper for a broadcaster to taunt us with tales of well-to-do types sprucing up their home in Dalkey or Montenotte? <\/p>\n

It\u2019s a conundrum and a show, such as Build Your Own Home, is the solution. Presented by Harrison Gardner, a likeable Australian \u201cmaster-builder\u201d \u2013 I\u2019m not sure what that is, and RT\u00c9 doesn\u2019t explain \u2013 it\u2019s a sort of Room to Improve for Generation Priced Out. <\/p>\n

The biggest asset is Gardner, who is laid back and likeable and doesn\u2019t try to impose his views on the householders who are building new residences from scratch. He\u2019s more chilled than a rainy morning in Cavan in deepest February. <\/p>\n

He starts the latest episode (RT\u00c9 One, Wednesday, 9.35pm) by noting that it was \u201conce normal for families to build their own homes\u201d. That is obviously no longer the case \u2013 but times change and needs must, which is why he\u2019s headed to Cavan to meet obstetrician Joan Lennon and her German partner Andrea Kowarschik, who are upgrading a largely derelict cottage that has been in Joan\u2019s family for generations. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018How can we go about building a sustainable family home without breaking the bank?\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The plan is to create three interlocking buildings, built around the original footprint. The advice the couple received was to knock the structure and start over, but they are determined to honour Joan\u2019s heritage by preserving as much of the cottage as possible. <\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t easy and the old joke about penny-pinching Cavan people does come to mind as they opt for a corrugated roof (once looked down upon, but increasingly trendy) and upcycle old plywood to build a fitted kitchen for less than \u20ac1,000. <\/p>\n

Gardner offers lots of encouragement. But unlike other experts, he resists making it all about him. Visiting the finished structure as spring arrives, he is delighted at the couple\u2019s progress.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey had this desire to honour this old place and the memories of the generations who lived here before. They\u2019ll be proud to say they did it with their own hands.\u201d It\u2019s a poignant sign-off to a show which reminds us that, even in such a well-established genre as RT\u00c9 property television, there is always room to improve. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Much of Irish society has been negatively impacted by the property crisis. Many young(ish) people still live with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111618,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[18,117,8752,19,17,1181],"class_list":{"0":"post-111617","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-housing-crisis","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-rte"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}