Who is Edward Short and how did he make his money?

EDWARD Short shot to fame when  he appeared on Grand Designs.

Sadly, his property became famous for the wrong reasons and was dubbed the  "saddest ever" home to ever feature on the Channel 4 show.

Who is Edward Short?

Edward Short, who grew up in Plymouth, is best known for being on Grand Designs several times over the years.

However, he started life out as a record industry executive.

Every pound that was being spent, the value was going up but at the same time, the chance of living in the house was going down.

Edward Short

In 2004, Edward moved the family to Devon and bought a house on the cliff near Braunton four years later, for £1.4million.

Sadly, the impressive property proved to be a money pit, and has cost him his fortune.

How did Edward Short make his money?

Edward enjoyed a very successful career in the music industry.

But he also made a fortune through Euphoria, which was a series of compilation CDs.

They sold six million copies after launching in 1999, and made Edward a huge pile of cash in the process.

What happened to the lighthouse project on Grand Designs?

Known as the "nightmare lighthouse project", Edward's property was featured on Kevin McCloud's Grand Designs on Channel 4 in 2010. where viewers called it the "saddest property ever".

Edward was seen trying to renovate Chesil Cliff House and its annex, known as The Eye, in North Devon, which he thought would take 18 months to do.

He had huge dreams for the property but faced heartache after a constant slew of building issues

By 2019, Grand Designs host Kevin revisited the main building, and it looked more like an empty concrete garage than a home.

It was delayed further by Covid and the rising cost of materials.

Edward previously told The Sun: "Every pound that was being spent, the value was going up but at the same time, the chance of living in the house was going down."

Despite the four-storey tower, which boasts five bedrooms, four receptions rooms, an infinity pool and a sauna, being finished, Edward is gutted he will never live in his dream home.

It has remained one of Grand Design’s most talked about homes thanks to its fascinating circumstances as well as a few high-profile rumours of popstar Harry Styles buying the home, which were later confirmed to be false by the estate agents. 

Sadly the property has put Edward into debt to the tune of £7M.

In January 2024, it was revealed how the clifftop property has now been listed for sale – through debt collectors.

Who is Edward Short's wife?

Edward was married to wife Hazel, but they have since split yup.

The couple called time on their marriage after the pressure of the property put too much strain on their marriage.

Speaking to The Sun he said the situation has been "awful" for his family, and told us: "I pulled the stability rug from under them, without being able to give answers of how we were going to get out of it, other than that I had to carry on.

“I was so stressed about leaving that stain of failure on my wife and children that I was worrying a lot, I was losing sleep, but that effectively made me unable to function.”