Grand Designs at 25

Kevin McCloud is best known for the internationally acclaimed, Bafta award-winning series Grand Designs which has been running on Channel 4 for 25 years. It is now shown around the world along with spin-off series including Grand Designs: The Street and Grand Designs: House of the Year. Grand Designs has grown to encompass Grand Designs Magazine and live consumer event Grand Designs Live.  Kevin recently joined forces with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Mary Portas to challenge the government’s commitment to climate change policies for Channel 4’s The Great Climate Fight. Kevin’s other TV work includes two series of Man-Made Home, Kevin’s Supersized Salvage and Kevin McCloud’s Escape To The Wild, as well as his four part Grand Tour of Europe. Kevin has written several books on design and champions sustainable development, context, the historic environment, and ecological construction. He studied History of Art and Architecture at Cambridge, is an Honorary Fellow of both the RIBA and the Society of Light and Lighting, a fellow of WWF and a recalcitrant patron of a handful of organisations. His two ambitions remain to entertain and to make the built environment better – and consequently ‘make people feel better’. He was awarded an MBE in 2014 for his services to architecture.  

Foreword by John Lonsdale
Foreword by Daisy Goodwin

1999    
Water Tower Conversion – Amersham
Straw Bale House – Islington
Hedgehog Co-op – Brighton 

2001    
Cruciform – Lambourn
Barn Conversion – South Devon

2003    
Rustic – Sussex 
Waterworks – Chesterfield

2004    
Beach House – Hastings    
Norwegian Longhouse – Glasgow    

2005    
Stealth House – Peckham    
White House on a Hill – Belfast    

2006    
Cedar-clad Box – Stirling    
Water Tower – Ashford    

2007    
Two Timber Houses – London    
Straw Bale Roundhouse – Cambridgeshire    

2008    
Lime Kiln House – Midlothian    
Sugar Cube – Bristol    

2009    
Vaulted Arch House – Weald of Kent    
Apprentice Store – Somerset    

2010    
Recycled Bungalow – Isle of Wight    
Passive House – Cotswolds    

2011    
Artists’ Barn – Braintree    
House in the Hills – Herefordshire    

2012    
Glass House – Brixton    
Artists’ Muse – Skye    

2013    
Flint Farm – Newbury    
Hangar House – Strathaven    

2014    
Container House – County Derry    
Engineered Timber House – North Cornwall     

2015    
Riverside Shed – South Downs    
Stilt House – East Sussex    

2016    
Tree House – Gloucestershire    
Shadow Barn – Horsham    

2017    
Extruded Barn – County Down    
Earth-sheltered House – Peak District    

2018    
Concrete House – Lewes    
Expedient House – Leominster

2019    
Watershed – Hull    
Lighthouse – North Devon    

2021    
Pond House – Chichester    
Self-heating House – Bletchley
Triangle House – Billingshurst    
Gardener’s Bothy – Kinross    

2022    
Spacesaver – Sydenham Hill    
Scandi Villa – South Manchester    

2023    
House in the Woods – South Herefordshire    
Passive House Premium – North Cotswolds    

Honourable Mentions
2003: Threshing Barn –Surrey
2004: German Kit House – Esher
2005: Modernisation of Elizabethan Farmhouse –Gloucester
2006: Farmhouse Chalet Renovation – Les Gets, France
2007: Gentrified Fourteenth-century Peel Tower –Yorkshire
2008: Contemporary Family House – Bath
2009: Twenty-first-century Farmhouse –Marlborough
2010: Modest Contemporary Home –Woodbridge
2011: Hole in theWall –Kensington
2012: Camden Workshop –Camden
2013: Cob House –East Devon
2014: Cliff Top House –North Wales
2015: Cow Shed – South Somerset
2016: Woodland House – Essex
2017: Box House – East London
2018: Twins Houses – Sheffield
2019: Round House –Lincolnshire
2021: Cemetery Lodge – South West London
2021: Barn Conversion – Sevenoaks
2022: Modular House – Tunbridge Wells
2023: Tree House – Scunthorpe
  
Afterword by Ned Williams
Episode List  
Acknowledgements    
Index    
Picture Credits