Life in the Kevin McCloud homes WORSE than Poundbury

Grand Designs star Kevin McCloud has delighted audiences with his opinions on audacious builds and disastrous homes.

But his recent excoriating analysis of King Charles’s model town of Poundbury, could leave a few raised eyebrows in Buckingham Palace. 

McCloud – who has presented the beloved Channel 4 show for 26 years – described the mock Georgian homes as ‘intolerable’ in a withering put down.

Describing the interior of a cottage he visited, he fumed: ‘It was just horrible because it was like walking into a modern developer home, only the ceilings you banged your head on.

‘It was intolerable as an environment to put people in, I thought from the experience of the architecture internally.’

But while McCloud, stuck the boot into the monarch’s vision, he failed to mention the controversy surrounding his own development in the village of Kings Worthy, Winchester. 

The eco-friendly estate built by HAB Housing – McCloud’s development company – opened in 2017 with unfinished pavements and no street lights. 

Residents, some of who paid millions for their homes, also complained of damaged ceilings and broken sewage systems. 

Eight years later, locals still feel disillusioned with the construction company and compared the early days of the estate to a ‘war zone’.

One man told the Daily Mail: ‘I think the people building the houses were great environmentally but perhaps lacked a certain construction pedigree.

‘There were times during the process where it looked like a war zone.’

Ann Edwards, a retired teacher said her ceiling fell in due to poor construction of her home.

She said: ‘My ceiling fell in. It just built up water as it was done wrong.

‘However, I think it is positive as they are lovely houses and I think they look great. The design is great.

‘It is a lovely place but the worst thing is the road as HGVs come down to go to EcoGem up the road and then they come back again.’

When residents first moved in the estate was described as ‘Fawlty Towers’ with dozens of residents saying the environmentally friendly homes were badly designed. 

‘Let’s just say I don’t watch Grand Designs anymore. We had a few problems at the start but they have been fixed now,’ one resident said. 

Peter Savage, 82, said: ‘I know people who have had trouble and it was quite serious. I think the sewer broke. You name it, it went wrong.

‘But I think the insurance covered a lot of it and it went away.

‘My daughter lives here too. She likes the house and the location now but people were stressed at the time.

‘I left the New Forest to come here and I think that was slightly better but I do like it here.

‘I have never actually met Kevin McCloud. I didn’t particularly like him when he was on television anyway.’

In 2022, Lovedon Fields – part of the Eversley Gardens the area, which has 50 houses was awarded the South Regional Award by the Royal Institute of British Architects in 2022.

Martin Humphrey recently moved into Kings Worthy with his 10-year-old toy poodle Samson.

The retired company director said: ‘The houses are well built. My previous house was built in 1991 and was a similar size but the energy costs here are half.

‘The environmental efficiency is great – especially in the summer when people can charge up their cars with the solar panels.

‘I think it was difficult for Kevin. I think time got the better of him with Covid and Brexit.

‘This area has great spaces and is a lovely neighbourhood. Really great people who are friendly and welcoming.

‘Why move away from that just so I can walk to the train station?

‘In the summer there are street parties which are really social and it’s great to have that sense of community.

‘I know some people have had some snagging problems but that’s going to happen.’

McCloud, 66, who graduated in the history of art and architecture from Cambridge University, and has since earned his living as a designer, author, and TV host recently presented a keynote lecture at the V&A Museum last week to celebrate the 50th anniversary of SAVE Britain’s Heritage.

In his speech, entitled Reinventing Buildings: A Manifesto For The Imagination, he said: ‘My general view is, and it’s a personal one I’m exercising my taste here, that I can’t bear the idea of reproducing an idea without it carrying the spirit of the age.

‘I’ll give you a very simple example of this.

‘I’ve been to Poundbury quite a lot, and there are some very fine built Georgian houses with lime mortar joints, very correct, rubbed detailing and proper section glazing bars, lamb’s tongue, whatever. And it’s all great. But you go inside these buildings, and they’re dead because they’re built of breeze block.

‘I went inside a beautiful thatched cottage in Poundbury to visit a couple, and they weren’t allowed to stick a conservatory on the back or a sunroom or anything because there were all kinds of design conditions around the scheme.

‘The interesting thing about a 17th-century thatched cottage is that it usually has the concomitant range you think of charming interior details, flagstone floor, a little bit of damp rising up the wall, big hearth, open fireplace, crooked beams and wonky ceilings.’

He added: ‘Of course, there are buildings there which are very high-status, and they’re the ones that you get shown around but I think there are other less comfortable aspects to it.

‘I have every respect for his Majesty’s tastes and views being the King.

‘Obviously, his taste arrogates itself about mine or anybody else’s, right? So that we understand. I think, as a social experiment, as an architectural experiment, great interesting. But no, not for me.’

In his lecture, McCloud, who hosts the podcast Tim & Kev’s Big Design Adventure with Tim Ross, also called for a moratorium on demolishing buildings within the first 100 years of their life.

‘The listing was granted on St Pancras, I think five days before the bulldozers were due to come in,’ he said, ‘so it was an absolutely last-minute thing.’

HAB Housing have been contacted for comment.