BRIGHTON pavilion has long topped the list of Sussex's architectural wonders but there's a modern rival snapping stylishly at its heels.

Aping the style of an iconic Barcelona public building, this sleek home named the Pavello cost a budget-busting £1.5 million, a triumph of minimalism in leafy surroundings.

Mimicking the Barcelona Pavilion, the single-storey house in a clearing on the edge of Colgate, near Horsham, will feature on Grand Designs on Wednesday, one of the largest homes to feature on the Channel 4 programme.

It is the work of business owner Clinton Dall, 51, and his Brighton-based architect Desmond Harvey.

Father-of-four Mr Dall told a national newspaper he bought the five acres of land for £850,000 in 2013 and decided to use the space rather than building upwards.

He said: "At first, Des and I were thinking of a contemporary house that was partly two-storey.

"But I thought, I have got all this space, so why not have it all on one level."

Having such a low height helped them get planning permission with no conditions attached, he said, as did the reference to the iconic Spanish building.

Pavello - pavilion in Catalan - features a cantilevered flat roof, a rectangular swimming pool and glass front along the back and part of the front.

The inside is a vast, open living space with dark blue walls featuring a granite kitchen table and charcoal kitchen with the equipment on view reduced to a single chrome designer tap.

Mr Dall told the national newspaper: "I spent a long time going backwards and forwards to granite suppliers, taking photos of the different pieces.

"I knew that if the table was wrong, the whole space wouldn't work."

As for artwork, there is a bronze statue of a girl, a portrait of an African girls' face and a life-size sculpture of a male figure, made from scrap metal.

The budget for the project was £750,000 - but it ended up costing nearly twice as much.

Mr Dall said: "I told Grand Designs not to worry, I would get it finished. So I had to."

The house features in episode one of Grand Designs, which begins on Channel 4 tomorrow.