James Corden is set to demolish his 1960s country pad for a swanky £8 million mansion – excavating enough soil to fill two Olympic pools.
The TV host, 45, moved back to the UK last year and purchased an art deco home which he’s pulling down to replace with a modern six-bed property complete with outdoor pool, sauna and steam room.
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And while his local council approved the plans last year, James has to comply with dozens of regulations to safeguard local wildlife and trees.
The council recently gave the green light for a number of conditions to be discharged allowing the mammoth project to begin.
James’s planning team’s note for the application shows just how big the project will be with his builders having to excavate 4,977 cubic metres of soil.
To put that in perspective, an Olympic-sized swimming pool is a minimum 2,500 cubic metres.
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But the environmentally conscious star is hoping to use the majority of that soil for the driveway and parking area.
This includes working with specialist ecologists so as not to harm biodiversity, a bat licence, and completing construction, arbocultural, drainage and woodland management plans.
The star had also had to consult with his local archaeology experts for the “implementation of a programme of archaeological work” as there are 45 granite megalithic stones on the grounds.
Earlier this year, James spoke about moving back to England with his family – wife Julia and three kids Max, 12, Carey, 9, and Charlotte, 7.
“It’s been brilliant, and hard, and overwhelming. I think moving house is hard enough, moving children, moving schools – picking it up and going so far, from everything they knew from life in Los Angeles – it’s been a real challenge,” he told the Today show.
“It’s been tough. But at the same time, immensely rewarding. But my son was 3 when we moved [to America], my daughter was 12 weeks. When we left, he was 12, my daughter was 8, and our younger daughter – who is an American, and we treat her as such …
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“No, really for us, it was the notion that it was time. We wanted them to know their grandparents. And with my son finishing 6th grade, it was just an absolute pull to go home, and root that period of their lives in — we wanted them to know Britain, and their extended family.”
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