I : CLITHEROEADVERnSER&TIMES


www.ditheroeadvertiser.co.uk Thursday;MarchZ7,2014


i I Thureday,March27.2014:www.clitheroeadverUsercouk CUTHEROEADVERnSER&nMES; CELEBRITY INTERVIEW ■ y.>.—- s-‘5 ** - . foundations of his Career, plus shares his secrets fdstructural success.^. '


i i s i i f f * ’*


' BOOK GRAND DESIGNS TICKETS. . .


Grand Designs Live London takes place from 3-11 May 2014 at London ExCeL. Book your tickets in


The Grand Designs Live show.


ent circumstances, different weather, beautiful places and


I’m always working alongside people who I really respect. I


; work with some of the best di- rectorsiri theindustry, thebest


builders,televisioncrew,sound guys and the best cameramen, who keep winning awards for their work. It’s such a privilege


tobecollaboratingwithpeople who are so gifted.”


CONSTRUCTION CHALLENGE But,ofcourse,filmingtheshow isn’twithoutitschallenges... “The biggest challenge is


I “From a very very early age I was into drawiiig,design, model making and inia-r


^ginary worlds," says property guru and ' s ~ popular presenter Kevin McCloud.


Kevin McCloud. ■ - *%*, V^r5x*S>Af -\o; s - -


G r e? a itV § |||p i l p a p e i B r a n d s a t ,G ' i e a t -P r 'ir s 'fe is ^ / '-^ 3* v


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■ 7^-“AsalddIlivedinmyheadintheseimag-i! T.inary worlds and that’s what architecture ■ is all about, it’s about trying to make a dif­


ferent world] abetterworld;anew world. It’sabout imagination. - , '


i,Ns ^ v vi- - v ,>> :


:V '.“The word ‘property’ is a word I don’t ’ >quite understand - it’s a bit like thermo- idynamics or nuclear fission, I land ofknow what itmeans but don’t understand it in a ■1 formulaicsehse. Forme, properly is about • makingplacesandchanging theworldout ofitsratherhostileenvironmentandmak- ■


'ingsomethingbeautifulandonthehuman scale.”,, • ' - , '


GRAND DESIGNS


rProtiably-best known'for presenting . C h an n e l 's Grand Designs, Kevin is a- '


' well-respected figure in the property in­ dustry and a familiar face in households


‘everywhere. ^ - “IdecidedtopresentGrandDesignsbe-


, cause it was sold it to me on the idea that - . "


.this was not ‘makeover’ TV. It was a very long time ago when the only programmes about design were dull documentaries at three o’clockin the morning, or makeover


television featuring super quick stuff and m d f . ;


.


; . “Grand Designs wasn’t about any of .those] it was about the human experience


' and buildings. It was about poetry - the poetic experience of commissioning and making something. It was about changing


: your life andtherelationshipbetween peo­ ple and places. So that just grabbed me. It was so refreshing to hear about something


that at the time was so different” . * Nowapproachingtheisth'anniversary


since it was first broadcast Kevin says he thoroughly enjoys making the show. ■ ■■ ”1 enjoy very much meeting the people


: on those poetic journeys,” he says. “I also enjoy the variety. I enjoy very much on a


, Monday looking at a house made out of


containers on a cliff in Northern Ireland, on.Tuesday going to visit a Chippenham


, building system, on Wednesday watching people erectsteel in Wales in the wind. For - me,everydayisdifferent


, “Every day it’s different people, differ-*


often the weather and getting cold and wet every day,” says Kevin. “And also the travelling


-onashootingdaylam filming for 6 oryhours and I’m usually travelling for 6 or 7 hours too. The difficulty is the stamina - ju s t to stay healthy and get enough sleep.”


During his time presenting


the show, Kevin has witnessed many ambitious building tri­ umphs.*.'; plus some construc­ tion challenges that haven’t


gonequitesosmoothly.So,why do some projects work while others don’t? ■ “In the real world projects that work are those that come


in on time,-that are on budget and that people love,” explains Kevin. “I think on television,


however, what makes a project „ work is the honesty and the openness o f the individuals because we’re trying to under­


stand a process through other people’s eyes. “The.more candid and


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open they are the better. When they’re not, when they're try­ ing to cover up something that has gone wrong or when they’re trying to sell something by us­ ing us as a mouthpiece that’s when it doesn’t work.Tt stops workingwhenitbecomescom-


. mercial. “The biggest mistake we all


make - and everybody in con­ struction makes it, everybody in the world makes i t - is to be- iievethatourprojectisgoingto


■ ' c°me in on time, in budget and that it’s going to be the best ex­ ample of its kind in the world,” continues Kevin. “Every hu- man being is vulnerable to the sameoptimism-but that’s why we build. Ifwe didn’t have opti- ■


, mism we wouldn’tbotherinthe first place and as a species we’d still be living in caves.”


KEY TO SUCCESS


Thekey to unlocking a success­ ful self-build is balancing the


compromise between time, money and quality. Kevin ex­ plains...


barking on a self-build would depend on what the project is, ’ how much money they have


and what their approach is,” he says. . “I think the most impor­ tant thing is to understand


that there’s more than one way to build. If you have unlimited funds but a short amount of time then your approach is go­ ing to be different than i f you have a really tight budget ora very constrained site. “However, one thing I will


say is that there are three vari­ ables in building: time, money and quality-and you can nev­


er have all three. This is always true and it applies whether you go over budget or you’re in budget; it applies whether you’re building a tiny house or a big house.


“You can b e the richest per­


son on the planet, you can de- : mand the highest quality] but- it will still take time. You can


have no money, a tight budget and a demand for quality, but you’ve got to expect that it’s go­ ing to take forever. If you want it quickly and on budget be prepared to see compromises in the quality of what you’re do­ ing. You can never achieve per­ fection in all three and one will a|ways suffer. In fact; if you get two out of threeyou’re doing re­ ally well.”


PROPERTY PROGRAMMES


In addition to Grand Designs, Kevin has also appeared on our screens in a selection of other shows including Don’t Look Down, Kevin McCloud’s Grand Tour, Demolition, Homefront, Kevin McCloud: Slumming It, Kevin McCloud and the Big Town Plan and Kevin Mc­ Cloud’s Man Made Home. “One of the things I’m most.


proud of doing is making the two programmes in India about the slums. They were called Kevin McCloud: Slum-: ming It and I learned such a : hugeamountthatlfeltwecould. be putting into our own urban planning.


“I also particularly enjoyed building my ‘shed’ on Man / “My advice to someone em­


Made Home because it was such a diversion for me. I really


really lovedmakingTheGrand Tourtoo—itwasjustadelicious kind oflayer cake that was a real indulgence and treat.


“Wealsomadeagreatseries


about urban regeneration in Yorkshire in Castleford called Kevin McCloud and the Big Town Plan. It took six years to make which was a big chunk of mylife andlwasvery excited by that television project.” Always keen to explore new challenges we’ve even seen


Kevin swap house keys for car keys when he appeared as a ‘Star in a Reasonably Priced Car’ on an episode of Top Gear. “Top Gear was great fun


and I learnt something that I didn’t know about myself,” laughs Kevin. “Clarkson said .to me afterwards, ‘you should have been a driver, you should have been a racing driver -you have a talent there that has lain dormant for 50-odd years!’. Since then I’ve done little bits of mucking about with cars on tracks-just a little bit.”


BYTHEBOOK


Away from our screens, Kevin also shares his property ex­ pertise in a selection of popu­ lar books, including Kevin Mc­ Cloud’s Colour Now,' Grand Designs Handbook, Kevin McCloud’s 43 Principles o f Home, Choosing Colours, and Kevin McCloud’s Grand Tour ■


“BOOKS ABOUT PROPERTY AND


ANDTHEYUKETO DREAM.ITHINK


THINKWE ALL WANT TOBEUEVE THERE ARE STILL OTHER


; i


AVENUES OPENTOUS IN LIFE, STILL OTHER POSSIBILITIES”


WORLD, ANOTHER POSSIBIUtY.I


BECAUSEPEOPLE LIKE PICTURES


ARCHITECTURE AREPOPULAR


THOSE PICTURES SHOW ANOTHER t


ofEurope. “I’ve written a series of


: books because I enjoy taking


ideas andmakingthemaccessi- ble.Also.rvealwaysIikedbang-


ingon-that’stheshort answer,” laughs Kevin.


' , “Books about property and


architecture are popular be­ cause people like pictures and


they like to dream. I think those pictures show another world, another possibility. I think we all wanttobelieve there arestill


otheravenuesopentousinlife, still other possibilities.”


MEETKEVD1 Next month homeowners and


property enthusiasts can gain ideas and inspiration from hun­


dreds of exhibitors and experts at Grand Designs Live, which


- will be returning to the Lon­ don ExCeL from 3rd-iith May.


“Grand Designs Live is very. much about trying to bring the


spirit of Grand Designs to a live event where people can come


and see the products and tech­ nologies for themselves,” ex-


. - plains Kevin.' “It’sreallyimportantinthis


day and age, when so much is - sold overtheintemet, to be able


togoandtouchstuffandtalkto the makers and talk to the peo-


...pie who are responsible. I think that’s where exhibitions come


~intotheirown...andGrandDe- signs Live really do es deliver.


* ; . “At the ExCeL we get over 100,000 people coming in who


justwanttomakecontactwith the suppliers and see the stuff from which buildings are made


- After all, products and technol­ ogy are the building blocks of the programme and o f build­ ings. “Myrole there isalikeaMas-


ter of Ceremonies really and I’m on stage a lot,” he contin- ■


v. ues. “We have a lot o f seminars ’ and Ihost one of those too. Plus,' I spend time meeting visitors:


while I’m looking at what we’ve gotonshow. -


. ■ 7 “There are also some won-


. derfui features. For example, •we’ve got an ‘Ask An Expert’ feature where 30 or so profes­ sionals from the construction industry (from project manag­ ers to designers, from archi- tectstotechniciansandsurvey- ■ ors) give up their time for free/- " Visitors can turn up without', an appointment and sit down withdrawingsorplansandrun


CLITHEROE


1 lam to 5pm St Mary's Hall Church St Clitheroe


BB7 2DG (up past the library)


f * CRflfTVVinTflGE.com 1 rFs


through ideasJ usually do a cou­ ple of sessions myself during the course ofthe exhibition and it’s a fantastic feature. In the surveys


we’ve done it’s one ofthefeatures that visitors say time and time


again they love because it’s so practical, it’s so helpful. “‘Kevin’s Green Heroes’ is an­ other great favouriteof mine. It


showcases a dozen or so brand new products that nobody has


seen before, really interesting sustainable ecologicalproducts. ■’ That’s going to be a big highlight forme.”


ANHONOUR With his unrelenting efforts to- :


advance at www.granddesignslive. comorcallthebooking hotline on 08448541348.


: wardseco-solutionsintheprop- ertyindustiy.bothonscreenand in print, it is unsurprising that


, Kevin’s work has been recog- ■ -nisedatoneofthehighest lev­ els. Recently appearing in the New Year Honours list, Kevin is being awarded an MBE for serv-


ices to sustainable design and|I energy saving property refurs£ bishment...- •_


“When I found-out I was


being awarded an MBE I felt flattered and honoured - I think that’s why they call it an honour isn’t it?” laughs Kevin. “I haven’t actually received it


yet but I’m looking forward to it • enormously.” - ■


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