Reporter: Win A Home is back with its second season and it's going to be even better. Now, last season was such a huge success. What are we looking forward to seeing in this season?
Simon Bray: Last season was an incredible success, probably more than we anticipated or expected at Private Property. We got the profile of the incredible Steyn City, we saw the development that's going on in the North of Joburg. It's a really good story for South Africa in particular, to see that kind of money coming out of the ground and that much interest in property, in the market. We saw the design challenge obviously with the contestants - all the drama, all the challenges, the successes, the failures - and ultimately, Donald winning which was really great. And it's good to see what he's done since the win as well. We changed the lives of three contestants. I thought that was particularly special. When I got to hand over the keys to the multi-million grand apartment designed by Kim Hatton, that was a special feeling. So we're looking forward to more of those special feelings this season. The show was half an hour last year. We managed to extend that to an hour long show this year. So there's just that much more opportunity for drama and excitement, and great design. That's what we're looking to see in the show. We're looking to see South Africans really flexing their design muscles, doing something interesting, making property the focus.
How did Private Property get involved?
Private Property is South Africa's favourite property website, we showcase thousands of properties and estate agents, neighbourhood insight, and have great market data, on a daily basis, on our website. So it makes sense to have that role in the show, to be the expert voice in property and the marketing of property for the contestants. We are looking to guide the contestants through what buyers and consumers in the property market are looking for. What type of spaces they can create that ultimately, the market will adore. And that's really exciting personally for me because I'll get to be a judge on the show, and I'll get to put my stamp of approval or disapproval on the designs each week.
As a judge on this season, what are some of the things that you will be looking out for? What should we tell our contestants to be aware of?
It's difficult to say this early on in the contest, but I've got a couple of ideas already that could perhaps be tips for the designers to look out for. We definitely want to create spaces ultimately that are marketable, that are great spaces for people to live in, because that's what property is all about. So we want live-able spaces, not just beautiful magazine covers or great pictures. They've got to be clever ideas about how people live in those beautiful properties. One of the things we're looking at is space-saving techniques. The idea of the big home in the South African context is slowly going out the window. The idea is smaller homes, easier to maintain, safer, securer. We're looking for ways for people to conveniently save on space and energy-conscious designs. I think that's becoming more and more critical in South Africa - this focus on energy efficiency, and we're looking for designs that recognise that and bring that out, in a clever way. But I think the one thing I'm most interested in, and I think what the property market is also most interested in, is not just a number of higgledy-piggledy rooms, but one concept that's been well-executed - one plan that's on display across the entire home or apartment. We want to see it all hang together. We don't want to see a bunch of disconnected rooms. But of course, this is early days so I'm interested to see what comes out of the mix there with the contestants.
