Kevin 'Grand Designs' McCloud

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

"I'd like to build a house with a complete floor for an OO gauge layout". I think that was what I heard this evening, toward the end of the current Grand Designs series on the self build street. There's enough talent here to design that floor-full for him. Perhaps there's an opening for Hornby to get some more model railway air time? And if he built the house from cob, he could integrate the model railway into a genuine earth landscape, has that ever been done before?

[south_tyne]

I was watching this too and had a bit of a chuckle when he mentioned it. I wonder whether Kevin is an active railway modeller or simply an armchair fan?

 

[BR60103]

 I was building the grounded van from Railway Modeller and had the mag open at the prototype photos.  My wife looked at them and said "It looks like the start for a Grand Designs".

[kevinlms]

5 hours ago, BR60103 said:

 I was building the grounded van from Railway Modeller and had the mag open at the prototype photos.  My wife looked at them and said "It looks like the start for a Grand Designs".

But perhaps your task was a little easier & cheaper!

[Joseph_Pestell]

We noticed that remark too (SWMBO unimpressed). Perhaps he is pitching for a new TV programme.

[eastwestdivide]

That's what he said.

If he did go ahead with it, it would be perfectly lit, as his 'day job' is in lighting. 

[Kingzance]

Kevin and my son met a while back when son was working at the NEC and Kevin was doing one of the Grand Design shows. Son says he is a very, very nice bloke. Depending on what defines "a very nice bloke", that could mean he is into railway modelling but I believe one of his abiding (and probably all consuming) interests is in sustainable, zero-carbon, off-grid housing.

[PaulRhB]

Yes a very clever man who shows his scepticism but also quite happy to admit he was wrong. All these series later and still he makes building interesting, I wonder if he could make building a model railway that interesting too?  I could see him being fascinated by the result, techniques and technology even if the subject isn’t his passion. 

[Joseph_Pestell]

He is very well liked locally.

[south_tyne]

He always comes across as a decent bloke. He is a champion of sustainable building techniques and the need to use 'kit' and modern construction methods to build new homes. It is exactly what we should be doing and getting away from the bricks and mortar approach. Carbon neutral and carbon negative homes are a big thing for him and must be for the future if we are going to be more sustainable. There is such a long way to go though and all this fantastic technology and modern construction methods remain a niche area and a novelty in the UK sadly. Other countries are leading the way though - such as Denmark, Sweden, Germany - and we should be taking up the mantel rather than being wedded to outdated techniques and in the thrall of the national house-builders who dominate the market. We need to be supporting small- and medium-sized developers and also self-build and custom-build schemes. Making the latter two more accessible and easier to consider are key challenges for the planning system..... something I know all too well. Rant over...... 

 

As a segway, I enjoy watching George Clarke's 'Amazing Spaces' show and was actually taught by him at university as he used to come as a visiting lecturer from time to time. I have always wanted to see a programme showing a space being developed for a model railway...... there must be some novel and creative ideas out there - anyone up for uilising an old 12t van or carriage for a layout!?

 

[TheQ]

Not for a layout, But they have done a van as a summer room..

[hayfield]

I think quite a lot of creative people like railway modelling, when he said 00 gauge it sounded like he knew a bit more than the average person about railway modelling, though perhaps not to the extent of being an ultra scale modeller

[Enterprisingwestern]

2 hours ago, south_tyne said:

He always comes across as a decent bloke. He is a champion of sustainable building techniques and the need to use 'kit' and modern construction methods to build new homes. It is exactly what we should be doing and getting away from the bricks and mortar approach. Carbon neutral and carbon negative homes are a big thing for him and must be for the future if we are going to be more sustainable. There is such a long way to go though and all this fantastic technology and modern construction methods remain a niche area and a novelty in the UK sadly. Other countries are leading the way though - such as Denmark, Sweden, Germany - and we should be taking up the mantel rather than being wedded to outdated techniques and in the thrall of the national house-builders who dominate the market. We need to be supporting small- and medium-sized developers and also self-build and custom-build schemes. Making the latter two more accessible and easier to consider are key challenges for the planning system..... something I know all too well. Rant over...... 

 

As a segway, I enjoy watching George Clarke's 'Amazing Spaces' show and was actually taught by him at university as he used to come as a visiting lecturer from time to time. I have always wanted to see a programme showing a space being developed for a model railway...... there must be some novel and creative ideas out there - anyone up for uilising an old 12t van or carriage for a layout!?

 

 

Pedants hat on, apologies.

A Segway is a patented name for an electric mode of transport, segue on the other hand!

 

Mike.

[bgman]

Some interesting comments about Mr.McCloud and whilst I have watched a great many of his programmes and had an interest I cannot say I am in total agreement unfortunately.

 

I met him during a build which was local to me and through my profession as a Building Control Officer ( now retired ) tried to discuss a helpful and cheaper solution for a problem with the owner of the build.

 

Mr.McCloud arrived on site to do his piece to camera. I was introduced by the owner and was immediately shunned as " just another official sticking his nose in where it wasn't wanted !"

The owner, who was an academic and fully understood the engineering problem, was also taken aback by his attitude and explained my position of wanting to be helpful ( yes I was the nice one and always tried to save people money).

Despite this Mr.McC turned to his crew ( all two of them ) and told them he was leaving and would come back at a time more suitable.

 

I made a point of calling the production company to express my dismay and although not a direct apology I was later told by the owner he said he had been somewhat harsh.

 

I would like to think he has mellowed over the years but rather doubt it.

[south_tyne]

1 hour ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Pedants hat on, apologies.

A Segway is a patented name for an electric mode of transport, segue on the other hand!

 

Mike.

 

Thanks, you are certainly right to pick me up on that. Please excuse my stupidity, I am suitably embarrassed. What a muppet..... 

 

1 hour ago, bgman said:

Some interesting comments about Mr.McCloud and whilst I have watched a great many of his programmes and had an interest I cannot say I am in total agreement unfortunately.

 

I met him during a build which was local to me and through my profession as a Building Control Officer ( now retired ) tried to discuss a helpful and cheaper solution for a problem with the owner of the build.

 

Mr.McCloud arrived on site to do his piece to camera. I was introduced by the owner and was immediately shunned as " just another official sticking his nose in where it wasn't wanted !"

The owner, who was an academic and fully understood the engineering problem, was also taken aback by his attitude and explained my position of wanting to be helpful ( yes I was the nice one and always tried to save people money).

Despite this Mr.McC turned to his crew ( all two of them ) and told them he was leaving and would come back at a time more suitable.

 

I made a point of calling the production company to express my dismay and although not a direct apology I was later told by the owner he said he had been somewhat harsh.

 

I would like to think he has mellowed over the years but rather doubt it.

 

That's interesting. As a mere town planner (in some people's views a poor man's architect), I would dread to think what he would make of local authority officers like me. He can often be quite snooty about planners 'holding things up' with our needless red tape. Many film think the same though. Maybe council planning departments weren't called the "last bastion of communism" by the 'esteemed' Eric Pickles for nothing!!  (mind I was proud of that claim! )

 

Mr McCloud obviously believes passionately in sustainable construction and whilst, with all people who are champions of a particular cause, he can sometimes appear one-track minded, he certainly does an excellent job in raising awareness. When it comes down to it, I still find his programmes interesting and entertaining too, so that's all what really matters. 

 

[Bernard Lamb]

2 hours ago, bgman said:

Some interesting comments about Mr.McCloud and whilst I have watched a great many of his programmes and had an interest I cannot say I am in total agreement unfortunately.

 

I met him during a build which was local to me and through my profession as a Building Control Officer ( now retired ) tried to discuss a helpful and cheaper solution for a problem with the owner of the build.

 

Mr.McCloud arrived on site to do his piece to camera. I was introduced by the owner and was immediately shunned as " just another official sticking his nose in where it wasn't wanted !"

The owner, who was an academic and fully understood the engineering problem, was also taken aback by his attitude and explained my position of wanting to be helpful ( yes I was the nice one and always tried to save people money).

Despite this Mr.McC turned to his crew ( all two of them ) and told them he was leaving and would come back at a time more suitable.

 

I made a point of calling the production company to express my dismay and although not a direct apology I was later told by the owner he said he had been somewhat harsh.

 

I would like to think he has mellowed over the years but rather doubt it.

I don't think it was aimed at you as an individual.

It would seem to be a trend, if not a formal policy, in such programmes to concentrate on showing certain people in a good light while ignoring others.

Alan Titchmarsh did a makeover at the house over the road from me and seeing what happened and then seeing the final edited result it was clear how it was done to put across a certain point of view. I did feel sorry for one tradesman who went to a lot of effort, only to find that he and his contribution was cut from the final programme. They left the site in a disgusting state as they had to get the final shots of the handover just before a storm broke and several neighbours expressed horror that this chap, who claims to be a gardener, allowed boxes of plants to be thrown away. The neighbours liberated them so they did not go to waste.

 Nick Knowles is the same, you never see a Building Inspector or any other person in an official role in his programmes.

I know some people who lived in the road of one of the Grand Designs projects and they only had good things to say about Kevin McCloud

Bernard

 

[Wheatley]

6 hours ago, south_tyne said:

 anyone up for uilising an old 12t van or carriage for a layout!?

 

A 12t van is about the same size as a single garage, my suggestion to swap our garage for one was vetoed though. The SRPS have built a layout in a couple of coaches I think. 

[HonestTom]

Apparently he also has a background in theatre set design, which involves modelmaking. I think it's quite possible that he is into the hobby (I'm a theatre person myself, and I find there's a lot of crossover potential).

 

I reckon there are more railway modellers out there than we think. It's just that as with many so-called "geeky" hobbies, it's only recently become something that people are willing to admit to enjoying. Maybe we need a secret handshake or something.

Edited May 16, 2019 by HonestTom

[Joseph_Pestell]

As a former stagehand and stage manager (amateur), I believe that there should be a law against architects doing theatre set design. They make it all far too complicated and heavy.

[w124bob]

Came across this, scroll down to 2nd floor https://charente-immobilier.com/property/nouic-haute-vienne-2/ , now where can I find €83k! Same agent has a converted station for sale at€128khttps://charente-immobilier.com/property/chalais-charente-3/

[wombatofludham]

On ‎03‎/‎05‎/‎2019 at 15:04, south_tyne said:

 

That's interesting. As a mere town planner (in some people's views a poor man's architect), I would dread to think what he would make of local authority officers like me. He can often be quite snooty about planners 'holding things up' with our needless red tape. Many film think the same though. Maybe council planning departments weren't called the "last bastion of communism" by the 'esteemed' Eric Pickles for nothing!!  (mind I was proud of that claim! )

 

Mr McCloud obviously believes passionately in sustainable construction and whilst, with all people who are champions of a particular cause, he can sometimes appear one-track minded, he certainly does an excellent job in raising awareness. When it comes down to it, I still find his programmes interesting and entertaining too, so that's all what really matters. 

 

 

I'm a retired planner and I find McCloud irritating in the extreme. The way he seems to elevate self build to a fetishistic level and glosses over the "annoyances" of planning and building regs gives his dewy eyed trendy wendy disciples a completely wrong idea and false hopes of the building process.  Sites for self build projects are rare as hen's teeth and so the majority of people able to afford a new home will end up having to buy something off the peg.  Now if McCloud decided to turn his pontificating and ire on the real villains of the housing crisis - the big builders sitting on land banks of land with granted or allocated planning permission deliberately to reduce supply and increase profits, and got them to design houses people want of good modern design rather than twee Miss Marpleshire executive faux Victoriana with a worthless self-policed NHBC "guarantee", then I'd have more time for him.  It's very easy to gush about design in a one off rare as rocking horse dung self build, more difficult to actually affect real change in the big building companies who have been allowed to dictate the housing market by successive Governments of all persuasions.

I'd not come across the "quote" from Eric Pickles, a man on whom I wouldn't urinate even if he was on fire.  I too take that as a badge of honour and I'm tempted to have it made into a teeshirt.

[Fenman]

11 minutes ago, wombatofludham said:

 

I'm a retired planner and I find McCloud irritating in the extreme. The way he seems to elevate self build to a fetishistic level and glosses over the "annoyances" of planning and building regs gives his dewy eyed trendy wendy disciples a completely wrong idea and false hopes of the building process.  Sites for self build projects are rare as hen's teeth and so the majority of people able to afford a new home will end up having to buy something off the peg.  Now if McCloud decided to turn his pontificating and ire on the real villains of the housing crisis - the big builders sitting on land banks of land with granted or allocated planning permission deliberately to reduce supply and increase profits, and got them to design houses people want of good modern design rather than twee Miss Marpleshire executive faux Victoriana with a worthless self-policed NHBC "guarantee", then I'd have more time for him.  It's very easy to gush about design in a one off rare as rocking horse dung self build, more difficult to actually affect real change in the big building companies who have been allowed to dictate the housing market by successive Governments of all persuasions.
...

 

That seems a bit harsh: McCloud has also set up a development company to practice what he preaches. He’s also never held back from attacking the poor quality of most commercial developments. 

 

I can see why you might dislike him. But as a punter his programme is my favourite property p0rn. 

 

Paul

[wombatofludham]

3 minutes ago, Fenman said:

 

That seems a bit harsh: McCloud has also set up a development company to practice what he preaches. He’s also never held back from attacking the poor quality of most commercial developments. 

 

I can see why you might dislike him. But as a punter his programme is my favourite property p0rn. 

 

Paul

Good for him.  However he's had little impact on the wider building industry and when he does I'll give him credit for it.  We need more affordable homes and whilst I commend his attempts to raise awareness of issues such as design and sustainability he at the same time is painting a false impression of the building process, or at least an edited and unrepresentative impression of how realistic it is to design and build your own home.  It is simply unobtainable for the majority.  

[Colin_McLeod]

It's only a tv programme and roduction decisions would be based on that.

[south_tyne]

1 hour ago, wombatofludham said:

 

I'm a retired planner and I find McCloud irritating in the extreme. The way he seems to elevate self build to a fetishistic level and glosses over the "annoyances" of planning and building regs gives his dewy eyed trendy wendy disciples a completely wrong idea and false hopes of the building process.  Sites for self build projects are rare as hen's teeth and so the majority of people able to afford a new home will end up having to buy something off the peg.  Now if McCloud decided to turn his pontificating and ire on the real villains of the housing crisis - the big builders sitting on land banks of land with granted or allocated planning permission deliberately to reduce supply and increase profits, and got them to design houses people want of good modern design rather than twee Miss Marpleshire executive faux Victoriana with a worthless self-policed NHBC "guarantee", then I'd have more time for him.  It's very easy to gush about design in a one off rare as rocking horse dung self build, more difficult to actually affect real change in the big building companies who have been allowed to dictate the housing market by successive Governments of all persuasions.

 

I agree with lots of what you say there. Planning and Building Regs are there for a reason and, despite what some folk think, we are all better off for them being there. I do get annoyed at his stock explanation of blame for a project falling behind due to 'delays by the planners' or 'planning red-tape'..... it's an easy win to blame LPAs but there will always be a reason in the decision-making process. 

 

45 minutes ago, wombatofludham said:

Good for him.  However he's had little impact on the wider building industry and when he does I'll give him credit for it.  We need more affordable homes and whilst I commend his attempts to raise awareness of issues such as design and sustainability he at the same time is painting a false impression of the building process, or at least an edited and unrepresentative impression of how realistic it is to design and build your own home.  It is simply unobtainable for the majority.  

 

That's one-hundred percent right. Self-build always has and always will be a niche market and the answer for a very small number of folk. In my LA we have a register of those interesting in self-build - there are less than 100 people on it and none of those have taken a project forward. In the last few years we haven't had more than a handful of self-build developments undertaken and this in one of the largest LAs in country. There is a shortage or plots available and ultimately a very limited pool of people who can actually complete such a project. It may look great in a rose-tinted glasses kind of way but I'm practical terms it is simply not, well practical!

 

Ultimately the housing crisis, the shortage of new homes, is the fault of the private housebuilders and NOT local authorities, especially not those in the north that do everything possible to deliver and encourage sustainable development and growth. 

 

1 hour ago, wombatofludham said:

I'd not come across the "quote" from Eric Pickles, a man on whom I wouldn't urinate even if he was on fire.  I too take that as a badge of honour and I'm tempted to have it made into a teeshirt.

 

I have a similar opinion of Mr Pickles...... but I am very honoured to be labelled as such!! A t-shirt is a great idea; I would wear it with pride!