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.

@ChaosTrulyReigns

Hoi, Justine, stop flexing the 2 question rule!!

Follow up, my arse.

Oops - fair cop gov.

@notwavingjustironing

Hi Kevin

Do you keep in touch with any of the "projects" you've featured on GD?

There were certain people who you obviously made a connection with.

Don't leave and put your coat down.

Do you know, there aren't that many. I did sort of adopt David and Greta Iredale as my parents when I filmed the HufHaus and they rewarded me by giving me two old 1960s upholstered chairs.

I keep in touch with one or two people of course. But I'm an anti-social bugger.

It took a lot of considering, that comma did.

[wunk]

@GetOrf

Lovely photo of you on the MN homepage...

Do you realise Kevin that you are crush-fodder for an alarming number of women?

That makes me sound like I'm about to put in a giant mill and dispersed like chicken feed.

vintage teacups is sad as her vaulted ceiling bedroom lighting question didn't make it to the webchat

Don't worry, teacups. I got studiously ignored too.

I will namechange to IAMKEVIN later and I will answer it for you. Will that help?

Blimey! look at the time already!!!

Too many capitals Buppy.

Thank you bupcakes

@Bundlesmum

Hi Kevin I inherited my mother's house :) and have rented it out to some tenants. They complained over the winter that it?s cold and expensive to heat :( They are threatening to move out before next winter and they are good tenants. The house is draughty and it?s really difficult to keep warm. What can I do that?s not too pricey that will keep the place warm with the costs of heating lower than they are now?

Have you insulated the attic to a good depth (300mm is ideal)? Have you draught proofed (I spent £35 at B&Q on rubber draught proofing strip and it made a magical difference). And is your loft hatch sealed and secure? I'd also consider secondary glazing and thick curtains as more expensive options and if you have open fires put in a small efficient wood burner straight away. Also refer to the answers about the Green Deal as there will be financial help available next Autumn (2012) to make larger green improvements.

"figner"

Get out of town.

Thanks!

They were lovely people.

@GetOrf

Lovely photo of you on the MN homepage...

Do you realise Kevin that you are crush-fodder for an alarming number of women?

That makes me sound like I'm about to put in a giant mill and dispersed like chicken feed.

@redhappy

Hi Kevin I have just got a tv after a few years without one, and I'm totally addicted to Grand Designs.

I'm a newly single parent on a low income, and I'm VERY excited about the houses you are building very close by me in Stroud. My question is how do I get one?! Is there a list I can join or criteria I need to fill?

Yes. If your household income is less than £60,000 per annum you qualify to join the social housing list of your local authority. So you could put your name down through the standard allocation procedure. Alternatively, we'll also be offering homes through joint ownership and Rent to Homebuy schemes. Our website - www.haboakus.co.uk - will have details as we approach completion sometime in late 2012 (we hope to start onsite this autumn).

@TheMotherOfAllDilemmas

My question is... would you marry me?

[Damn, I think I have just proposed to a married man ]

What kind of question is that? You use the conditional tense

@JustineMumsnet

2 quick questions if you can squeeze them in: What in your view is the best modern prefabricated house on the market (like the huff house, which seem nice but a bit ugly?)

Any advice of how to control echoey acoustics in a room with no curtains, carpets and stone floors?

Thanks!

Hullo Justine - don't buy prefab; buy pre-Hab. My wonderful new housing company. Haha.

As to acoustics, would you believe, some people really like that hard, echoey sound? I blame too many holidays in Spanish villas or Tuscan farmhouses.

sharp intake of breath

Just off to rip up flooring to reveal my not so wonderful!! concrete floors to recreate echoing memories of long ago Spanish holiday...

@Fimbo

Which Grand Designs house is your favourite? Did the couple ever finish the barge near Rochester?

Do you style yourself? At this point do I admit buying my dh TNF McMurdo parka because of yours?

I'm very proud that I'm responsible for all my own sartorial decisions. Even though most of the directors, producers, researchers and teaboys I work with all keep pleading me to go shopping and allow them to choose for me.

[favourite episode answered earlier, ta]

at Justine's dungeon.

@quercus100

My 13 year-old son is dyslexic and very keen to become an architect. I have heard that dyslexics make good architects as they are great at spatial awareness. Is this true?

Without wanting to generalise or sound like an expert, it depends on your son's abilities as both an artist and a mathematician. And the degree of his dyslexia. Many architects are indeed dyslexic but I suspect that their abilities as architects are influenced by many factors.

Good luck to him though.

@Eaglebird

Hi Kevin.

I believe you have a biomass boiler. Can I ask what type (log / pellet / woodchip) and whether you're happy with it please?
I'm about to have a pellet boiler system installed (Solarfocus Pellet Top) and am quite excited about it.
Hopefully I'll be even more excited when the government finalises the details of the RHI payments :)
I'd love to see more publicity about biomass systems in the popular media.

Regards.
Eaglebird

I'm a fan of biomass but my own boiler wasn't without its problems. Talking to other owners of larger scale installations it seems that most boilers take about six months to bed in and thereafter require more maintenance and love than your average oil boiler. My machine powers a farm and runs on chipped waste pallets which are supposed to arrive free of nails, staples and stones. Truth is the machine often spits out a horrible metal bogey and then stops.

As I understand it, smaller scale wood pellet burners are becoming more efficient and more suitable to the domestic scale. Two words of warning though:don't buy imported pellets from the Baltic because they're from trees that were downwind of the Chernobyl plume so you'd be burning nuclear fuel; and be ready for your Austrian-built machine's readout to speak perfect English up until the moment it goes wrong, when it will revert to barking German.

Thanks so much to Kevin for joining us and cutting it fine to catch his train in order to answer a few extra questions. Great set of questions and Kevin enjoyed our spread so we think it was a huge success . Thanks to all those who emailed us for the tickets and we're pleased to announce that ChaosTrulyReigns, Spirael, CountThalim, Madhairday and Gentleotter have each won a pair of tickets to the Grand Designs Live.

We'll be posting more about Grand Designs Live later today.

haha he's funny! good webchat

Thank you all for the really intelligent questions and comments. You've put me through my paces and it feels a little bit like a viva exam sitting here.

I'm told you've given me a reasonably easy time, and I'm really grateful for that!