Grand Tour and ex-Top Gear star James May knocks down two homes to build £3m mega-home to house fleet of supercars
GRAND Tour and ex-Top Gear presenter James May has bulldozed two homes to create a £3m mega-house to hold his fleet of supercars and motorbikes.
The 56-year-old is believed to have moved out of his Hammersmith, West London, home, while the work is ongoing – as the project is set to take more than a year.
He has put his extensive collection of cars and bikes to a garage nearby, MailOnline reports.
It is claimed he has demolished the home he bought in 2000 and a neighbouring house he purchased five years ago for £310k and plans to combine them.
His vast collection of 40 motorbikes, a Porsche 911, limited edition Ferrari 458 Speciale, Fiat Panda and a Rolls-Royce were being stored in the semi-derelict property bought in 2014.
But the new home is thought to be six per cent larger than his current home, with space for all the vehicles.
Neighbours have praised how the TV star has gone about the planning and build up to the building work.
One told the MailOnline: “I couldn’t wish for a better neighbour than James. He is a delight and has involved us all at every step of the way.
And his next-door-neighbour Cathy Lewis added: “James has been really good and given us lots of information. This will be really good for our street, will be a big improvement on what was there before and the designs are sympathetic to the area.
“We know it will take a long time with a lot of disruption, but so far, the builders have been great. The new house will look fabulous.”
This is a massive job. It will take more than a year to finish, but we are making good progress.
Builder working on James May's home
The planning permission was given to May in 2016, but he has made adjustments since then as he took in residents views on the project.
It is said he has gone to great length to make sure the new house will fit in with the area, in which there are some houses from the 1840s.
The plans were approved as a change of use of one property from commercial use to residential, demolition of the properties to rebuild into one two-story building with a garage on the ground floor.
One of the builders said: “This is a massive job. It will take more than a year to finish, but we are making good progress. We are trying hard to be nice to the neighbours and James is a delight to work for.”
May will move into the finished mega-home with his partner Sarah Frater – who he has been with since 2000.
Sarah is an art critic and is good friends with May’s co-host Richard Hammond’s wife Mindy.
MOST READ IN NEWS
May is currently filming in Japan for a new show on Amazon Prime Video.
He will travel across all of Japan from north to south in a bid to know more about the land and its people, why they are the way they are, what drives their culture and what the rest of the world can learn about their approach to life.
May, who previously co-hosted BBC Two’s Top Gear from 2003 until 2015, moved to Amazon Prime Video with his co-stars for their new motoring series The Grand Tour in 2016.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368. You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.