Kevin McCloud webchat - Monday 20th June - 1 - 2 pm

[RachelMumsnet]

He's been at the top of our webchat wish list for too long, so we're v excited to announce that we'll be joined next Monday (20th June) by Kevin McCloud who'll be answering your questions between 1 and 2 pm.

Designer, property developer, writer, eco-campaigner and television presenter, Kevin is best known for the Channel 4 series, Grand Designs. Kevin has a strong interest in sustainable building and his company Hab Housing's core aim is to construct beautiful, environmentally friendly housing. He's joining us in his role as ambassador for the Great British Refurb Campaign, which is committed to rallying the Government and business to help make every home in Britain as energy efficient as possible. The campaign is supported by Knauf Insulation, which has provided all the insulation products used in the campaign's eco-refurbishments to date.

Kevin is happy to answer questions on how you can green-up your home and eco-home design as well as chatting about his life as a campaigner, designer and broadcaster. So whilst we try to spruce up MNHQ, you put the date in your diaries to join us on the 20th. If you're not around at 1pm, please send your questions to Kevin in advance to this thread.

[wakeupandsmellthecoffee]

my question is do you sleep with random women who post on mumsnet and think you are scrummy .

[madwomanintheattic]

oo binful, that's a good one - we have similar humidity issues since moving to southern alberta and i am peering sadly at my dining table and church pew that are cracking

my house does appear to be fairly green. at least, the chipmunk and five squirrels that moved in two weeks ago seem to think so. clearly they don't enjoy underfloor heating outside i'd love to come up with a question involving grand design's wildlife-proof roofing, but suspect it would fail the wildlife corridor building specs.

so i'll wait for binful's q to be answered instead, and swoon mildly.

[EggyAllenPoe]

mousy the Uk has extensive regulation for new builds.. see here for a guide.

[wakeupandsmellthecoffee]

My next serious question is . I went to the grand Design house in coa[sta Blanca . The one with the massive windows and the two pools . I think they were South African . Well it really loooks amazing after it was finished . They run it as a sporting centre now . Any way back to the point . why did you not like it . ?

[wakeupandsmellthecoffee]

ok I have just read that I am only allowed one question so I think I will stick to the first one thanks , lol

[EggyAllenPoe]

do you think UK planning law is too restrictive and actually leads to substandard housing development due to the high cost in time & money of obtaining permissions for even small-scale projects?

[EggyAllenPoe]

..and that this results in high-density developments as well as a housing shortage?

[EggyAllenPoe]

i think MNHQ knew it was my half birthday.

[herhonesty]

Dear Kevin please settle a real hot topic on MN for us. is it worth paying the extra for premium paints (F&B, Fired earth, Little greene) or just as good getting the colour matched and saving the money....

[oldgreybird]

I have noticed that most of the homes in Grand Designs seem to have hardly any books - if any. Is that really the case or do the people stuff them in cupboards away from the cameras so their arid, bare interiors don't get spoilt?! I can only think of one home that seemed to have loads of them. And why don't you ever comment when you are talking in some of the finished homes about how the sound is so hard and echoey. You just stand there with the people and you can hear it is cavernous - how do they find living with it like that? Is is something they had even thought about when choosing so many hard surfaces and having hardly any wood, fabric, artworks (or books!) to dampen it?

[CroissantNeuf]

We (as a family) love Grand Designs and have a couple of questions:

-we love your 'demonstration' in each episode (you know...when you pick up a bit of wood, a nearby mug and another random object to demonstrate how a roof will/won't work). Do you yourself come up with the ideas for them and do you have fun inventing and filming them?

-11 yr old DD loves Grand Designs and would love to be an architect as a result. Is it a career that you would recommend? Or is it a role thats going to completely change over the next 7-10 years?

(PS - we saw you and your film crew in the same beach front cafe/bar as us in Falmouth 2 years ago -did you have a good lunch? )

[franke]

FIMBO - that houseboat was in the news recently here. Quite sad.

[franke]

My question for Kevin: Do all the houses you follow for Grand Designs make it into the series or are some so bad or dull that they are, in the end, not deemed worthy of an hour on C4?

My favourite was the house in the forest - I never tire of watching that episode. Also liked the Lutyens water tower. Oh and the carpenter guy who built the two houses in a back yard in S London somewhere. I don't like the ones where money is no object.

[iklboo]

Do you deliberately pick 'eco' house builds because you know they'll go three trillion quid over budget?

[ellisbell]

apologies if this is too specific but - I've been wondering about having some of the panels that generate electricity for the roof. However after the very dry spring we've had some cracks appear making me concerned about possible movement. How heavy are these panels and would that much extra weight on the roof make much difference? Wouldn't be able to have lots, maybe one line about 40 feet in length, near the ridge. What do you think of A frames in the garden, are they a realistic option? Are solar tiles much more expensive?

[OnlyWantsOne]

Oh my god. I have a HUGE irrational crush on him.

[Purplelooby]

VERY obsessed with Grand Designs - how to pick one question only? Hang on, that wasn't my question...

I'd like to know - has there been any house that went so disasterously wrong that you had didn't manage to air the show? If so I'd like to hear all about it - it'll make me feel better about my own home improvements :)

[ChaosTrulyReigns]

GD is mashed potato in our house. Truly comfort viewing, in fact it has inspired DD1 to become an architect.



What we'd like to ask Kevin, is, when you are elucidating so eloquently about some injudicious creations, do you actually just want to smither a snort at some of the ridiculousness that truly abounds? If so, please can you put an outtake show together, showing the giggles and faces.

TIA.

[madwomanintheattic]

blooming gophers. we had one living under the porch a few year's back and the dog scraped all the fur off her nose from spending the entire day rubbing it against concrete. the vet thought she had some sort of skin cancer.
i did hear an urban myth that someone in the village had a gopher obstacle course on the lawn, and used to position the obstacles right above the holes and sit with a camera and wait...

i've got my very own grand design going on to patch up the holes we bashed in the wall to get the critters out though. much as i love squirrels, when they are climbing up your ironing board and you're mildly alarmed about the possibility of rabies, they become less desirable...

[january29]

Love Grand designs, so many favourite houses its harder to choose which would be my favourite....

But my question is what is your house like? Did you build it yourself?

[MavisGrind]

Another one here who loves GD.

Kevin, what do you think about the fact that seemingly no matter how unique the properties look from the outside, the interiors seem to be increasingly samey and well, dull?

(from someone who is currently renting an open-plan-white-space-thing and who finds it a bit souless)

[FannyFifer]

Big grand designs fan here. :-)
Remember the house where they built a swimming pool right in the middle of it, was so dark and dingy and just seemed sooooo wrong. How do you manage to stay so diplomatic about it all.
Liked your programme that was in India and u were staying in the slum, really interesting. Did you honestly stay all night in the rat house, and what I really want to know is where you went to the loo??

[SandyChick]

Hi Kevin. We're huge fans of both you and the show in our house. We're hoping to make it to GD Live in October. My husband especially is a big fan of yours- he even has the 'McMurdo'!!!

Are you/have you filmed the next series?? Also, I have a request if that's ok?? Could you give a 'shout out' to my husband Stephen please? He's in afghan at the moment. He'd love it if you could say hi. Thanks

[NunTheWiser]

Hi Kevin, what's been your favourite moment in GD so far? DH and I still think that the French builders reversing down the drive at breakneck speed away from the ski lodge to avoid the slightly loony English owner might be the funniest thing we have ever seen on the telly.
We moved to Australia last year and have really enjoyed the Grand Designs Australia series. Are there any of the builds featured on this series that stand out for you?