Kevin McCloud talks amazing experiences, eco-housing and all things Grand Designs ahead of Birmingham exhibition

With 17 series and more than 160 episodes, Channel 4’s Grand Designs – and its presenter Kevin McCloud – has rightfully earned a place in the nation’s heart

Over almost 20 years, it’s become compulsary viewing, featuring the growing number of people who decide to build their own home, either from scratch or by way of clever renovation. The results are awe-inspiring and unique.

It’s spin-off exhibition show – Grand Designs Live – has been running for more than a decade, and returns this weekend to NEC Birmingham. It offers inspiration and advice to property enthusiasts through exhibitions, talks and celebrity guests ready to share their knowledge.

Kevin, 58, fills us in on what we can expect from the show this year, which runs until tomorrow. “There’s so much to do here, the TV series alone we’ve been making for 20 years. Grand Designs Live we’ve been doing now for 12 years and it has changed so much,” he says.

“We know what works, we know what people love and we bring that back again and again. Anyone can turn up and they won’t be disappointed because there is something for everyone.

“We get together some of the best architects, designers, surveyors and more. It’s an amazing thing to be a part of and the team work so hard to put it all together.

“The thing about Grand Designs Live is that there is so much to see and engage with. We have a virtual reality ‘sand box’, where you can come and put on some goggles and do a 360-degree view of a design space – bringing spaces to life – it’s very exciting!” Kevin says.

“The thing is the TV show has been going for so long now that people turn up and they are already informed, passionate and energetic so it means we have a great buzz. It’s so exciting to get to meet all of our viewers. It also means that there is a great quality of questioning from visitors when I’m on stage. The audience is so involved because they are so well informed already.”

Grand Designs Live features more than 400 exhibitors, 1,500 free advice sessions, 60 free kitchen advice sessions and 40 speakers including design guru Kevin himself.

Despite being in its 12th year – Grand Designs Live is constantly evolving and looking for new, exciting exhibitions and products.

“We have a new garden featured this year called The Local Garden Deli. It is a bunch of wheel barrows – that doesn’t sound appetising – but we got a group of local designers to design wheelbarrows all using produce from the area,” Kevin says.

“Chester Thompson from Bristol is bringing one of his Help The Homeless containers to the show. The containers house homeless people so this has been great to be involved with. We also have the ‘sand box’, which I mentioned earlier. Although it’s not the first time we’ve had this exhibit, the technology changes so fast that it keeps it fresh and it’s like doing it all over again – it will blow your mind.”

As well as exciting new exhibits, Grand Designs has a whole host of innovative products in the spotlight – many boasting eco-friendly properties.

Many are showcased under the umbrella of Kevin McCloud’s Green Heroes, an initiative sponsored by Anglian Home Improvements.

This handpicked selection of eco-friendly designers sit at the heart of the exhibition.

“The Green Heroes are always good fun. It’s hard to know exactly what will happen until people turn up with their stuff, they could turn up with anything,” Kevin says.

“Some of the ideas we show are highly experimental, you don’t know whether you will see a prototype or a range of products right there in front of you.

“I travel round and see amazing products being used on building sites and over the course of the year we end up with 20 or 30 products we need to whittle down. It is a really important thing for us to showcasing products that are not well-known, that are experimental.

“We have some amazing items to show you this year such a Pinatex which is an alternative to leather made from pineapple fibre.

“Durapalm is a plywood panelling made from palm trees. It’s waste timber from palm oil plantations. Often they are just burned or buried, but we are giving them new life.

“We also have the Huskycup which is a reusable cup made from coffee grounds, bizarrely.”

Green Heroes is something close to Kevin’s heart. Kevin was appointed an MBE in the 2014 New Year Honours List for services to sustainable designs and energy saving property refurbishment.

Kevin and the team at Grand Designs Live are keen to encourage their audience to be more eco-aware, as well as showcasing more emerging entrepreneurs.

“We’ve had a conversation recently about how we want to showcase more emerging brands in design and architecture, which is what I believe we should be doing,” he says.

“We also want to be showing more and more emerging young craftspeople. The show is full of small makers and retailers who might have a showroom, or work out of their attic, who do really well on the internet.

“What the exhibition does is give these people the chance to meet their audience, as well as providing the audience with the chance to physically interact with the product, which the internet does not allow.”

Kevin is not only excited that he gets to showcase his Green Heroes and a variety of emerging brands, he’s also excited to be returning to Birmingham – a city he says is in his top five to visit in the UK.

“We’ve been at the NEC for more than a decade now and it’s so great to be back.

“It’s such a big and busy city that has gone through immense change. The construction of the new library, regeneration in the city centre, new housing projects – it’s very exciting to be here.

“I also think Birmingham has always been such a multicultural place. It’s a real multicultural centre in Britain and it adds a real relevance to it. I think it is such a fascinating city, I’m a huge fan.

“I live near Bristol which is where my office is based, and if you asked me for my top five cities Birmingham would be up there. It’s such a dynamic place.”

Launched in London in 2004 and in Birmingham in 2005, Grand Designs Live has won multiple industry awards and has been hailed the UK’s most successful exhibition to launch in the last decade.

Kevin reflects on the reasons why Grand Designs attracts thousands of visitors to London and Birmingham each year. He believes it’s because of the innovations they make to the show each year, as well as the popularity of the TV show.

“It’s important that we cater to anyone who is on that adventure of trying to make a home, which is an important process,” Kevin tells us. “I think people come partly because they enjoy the TV show, but also to get a feel for the products. I think it alerts people to the importance of building whether it be coming to a seminar, feeling the products or trying the building technology – it gives them something to engage with.

“About 10 years ago someone said to me that I wouldn’t do well with this exhibition and that exhibition were dead and nobody would come because of the internet – and they couldn’t have been more wrong,” he laughs.

“Exhibitions such as Grand Designs are important because they bring the retailers and the audience together, and then you really realise the value of the love and care that goes into the craft.

“When you buy from somebody you meet them, you shake hands and then the object will carry the memory of that encounter. Objects don’t mean anything to us, they’re useful, what they carry with them is energy.

“Architecture is the same, when you commissioned a building to be made it’s the builders, the carpenters, all the people that put their love and time into it that you remember. That is sacred.

“What we have at Grand Designs Live is that very sacred relationship between human beings.”

Grand Designs was first broadcast in 1999 and has been hosted by Kevin McCloud from the very start.

The show has seen Kevin encounter some weird and wonderful projects – from turning shipping containers into a home to renovating a 14th century castle that hid templar knights. It’s something that Kevin feels privileged to be a part of.

“It has been my life for 20 years. I have got to meet people, experience amazing things and occasionally visit a piece of architecture which is not available to the public,” Kevin says.

“I once visited the Pantheon in Rome when filming. I was the only person there and then at 9am 5,000 people streamed in. Before that I was able to just lie down and take it all in which was incredible.

“It is a privilege to be able to experience places and different people on this journey of making a commision and discovering how hard that is to do with love and care. That for me is the greatest source of inspiration in my life.”

Kevin has learnt a lot in his time on Grand Designs, and has one salient tip for people set to embark on their own Grand Design project: don’t be afraid to make mistakes.

“The first thing, of course, is to understand, the only tip really, is that we’re all human – not machines. We are not the spreadsheet, we are not the programme, we are not the bank balance. Try as we might, we always make mistakes.

“All of us at one point don’t spend enough time preparing, or spend way more than we thought we would. That’s not because we’re weak it’s because we’re human.”

The future looks bright for Grand Designs – both the TV show and live event.

Kevin and the team continue to innovate and put their hearts into something they love so dearly. “The TV show is commissioned for a few more series which is fantastic and Grand Designs Live has it’s own life and identity now and that will continue for many more years.

“We’re growing both the show and Grand Designs Live which is very exciting. We don’t rest on our laurels – we’re always looking for ways to innovate and to grow.

“We always want to improve the offer commercially and to ensure that people who have been before always have something new to do. That way, we grow our relationship with our customers and our viewers, it’s not one-off thing it’s a continuous relationship and experience,” Kevin says.

“It’s in lots of people’s lives around the world and it’s something that we feel very passionate about. It means we have lots of people working very hard constantly honing, polishing and reinvigorating what we do – and we love doing it.”