Jump to content

interesting interview with Kevin Mcloud


joe90

Recommended Posts

Thanks @joe90 for the link. Surprised they sell the  Grauniad down your way....

 

As it happens the man himself is also in the news today  for unhappier reasons

 

This bit could have been written by @JSHarris

'

• Grand Designs don't happen without what McCloud believes to be the essential component of any home improvement project: an architect. "Expert help needn't be impossibly expensive. Everyone deserves and needs to work with talented individuals. If you go to a good architect, your fees will pay for themselves."

 

and most uncomfortably this is all too true

 

I come across people who are very successful in their own sphere, and really believe they can do it all themselves, but they can't."

 

Ouch. Thanks @nod for teaching me that.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, I too think I can do it all but  my builder, my best friend, and my wife all tell me I am overdoing it so I have subbed out more work than I originally thought.

 

As far as the architect bit is concerned, I didn’t need one, I knew all along what I wanted. As I have been a project manager in a previous life I didn’t need one of those either ( but I am retired so can be on site all the time). I am not saying there are not good architects out there to help people “ discover” what they want. I just don’t like the architects that push their own “ wet dream” despite the customers requirements. Typical example on TV recently, a programme about turning an ugly house into a dream house, client tells architect what he wants and their budget, architect comes up with a scheme that’s double the customers budget, but it will look good!!!!

 

So sad about that self biuld, did they not have insurance.?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"He also has his own £18m grand project: a development of 109 new-build homes in Oxford. It will perhaps be a bigger challenge than most Grand Designs. McCloud's company, Hab, is aiming to create low-cost, affordable and sustainable homes that embrace an eco-vision that includes car clubs, cycleways and food collectives."

 

Is that Graven Hill, or somewhere else?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 minutes ago, ProDave said:

"He also has his own £18m grand project: a development of 109 new-build homes in Oxford. It will perhaps be a bigger challenge than most Grand Designs. McCloud's company, Hab, is aiming to create low-cost, affordable and sustainable homes that embrace an eco-vision that includes car clubs, cycleways and food collectives."

 

Is that Graven Hill, or somewhere else?

 

The interview is nearly 7 years old.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

41 minutes ago, ProDave said:

"He also has his own £18m grand project: a development of 109 new-build homes in Oxford. It will perhaps be a bigger challenge than most Grand Designs. McCloud's company, Hab, is aiming to create low-cost, affordable and sustainable homes that embrace an eco-vision that includes car clubs, cycleways and food collectives."

 

Is that Graven Hill, or somewhere else?

 

 

Pretty sure this was the disaster that ended up on TV a few years ago.  Really bad design flaws, like toilets that you couldn't get into because the door hit the pan, daft plywood "chimneys" that were supposed to work as passive ventilators, but didn't and a whole host of conflicts between the design team and the builders.  I'm pretty sure they didn't meet half the targets they'd set, either.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not going to bother to read the article (some of us down here read, and read the Guardian).

But does he justify the "studying for 7 years" at all?  There are several ways to interpret that.

 

Not that I would ever say a word against Architects, without at least one expletive :D:D

Edited by SteamyTea
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That £18m project was was rejected, but two other projects of his in Oxford were approved around the same time: article. A look at the google street view on those roads mentioned doesn't appear to show anything 'special' with regards to those house designs

 

I believe the one riddled with issues was the Applewood Development in Stroud (Telegraph).

Edited by Visti
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, JSHarris said:

 

 

Pretty sure this was the disaster that ended up on TV a few years ago.  Really bad design flaws, like toilets that you couldn't get into because the door hit the pan, daft plywood "chimneys" that were supposed to work as passive ventilators, but didn't and a whole host of conflicts between the design team and the builders.  I'm pretty sure they didn't meet half the targets they'd set, either.

 

That was The Triangle in Rugby - at least the plywood chimneys were.

 

They are now on about site 8 or 10. 

 

I tracked the the first few, and they did get better each time. At the start they were a bit gimmick-driven eg pocket orchards. Now they do far more in-house, and particularly thorough engagement and Design statements.

 

But they are still in expensive areas.

https://www.habhousing.co.uk/projects

 

I am quite impressed with how he has driven it on. It is the type of smaller company we need another hundred of.

 

Ferdinand

 

 

Edited by Ferdinand
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes the interview was 7 years old but what caught my eye, and supprised me about him was this:-

 

His personal favourite Grand Design cost just £28,000. It was built by Sussex woodsman Ben Law from the trees in the woods in which it stands. Recycled newspaper insulates the floor and thick straw bales line the walls, covered in lime plaster. All the electricity comes from solar panels and wind turbines, while water is taken from a nearby spring. "He built the most delightful home and he built it all on budget. It's the extraordinary personal values of people like Ben Law that matter. It's not about half a million or three-quarters of a million pounds. It's the brutality of those sorts of figures that stops people in their projects."

Beautiful crafting, innovative design and highly personal touches are what makes a home improvement work, not piles of money, says McCloud. He points to Monty Ravenscroft's home built on a sliver of land in Peckham on a small budget as one of the enduring stars of Grand Designs.

 

also:-

 

"Your home should be about enriching the daily experience. I don't want to be too philosophical, but next week you might be under a bus. Figure out what you have, do you like it, do you really want it? Don't try building a fantasy of how you should be."

 

food for thought.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 minutes ago, PeterW said:

 

Yet bizarrely they are saying it will cost £500k to rebuild ..??? 

 

Who on earth has put the rebuild cost at £500k?

 

IIRC, the original build cost was something like £25k.  Accepting that there will be a premium if they want it rebuilt more quickly than they originally built it, and that as it was made from "found materials" there will be a premium on finding close approximations to those materials, but there's no way that it can cost 20 times more to rebuild it than it cost to build.

 

I sounds to me that someone has made an error.  £50k would seem believable, around double the original build cost, as costs haven't increased massively since they finished building it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, RandAbuild said:

That's Pembrokeshire not the Ben Law woodman's house in Sussex!

 

I can't see where the £500,000 comes from either. They seem to be trying to raise £20,000.

 

Of course, if you were to get either the Lammas or Ben Law house built by a builder, either could easily cost £500,000 to rebuikd as the labour cost for such bespoke houses would be enormous.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...