Kevin McCloud: British Homes Are Getting More Playful

Kevin McCloud, host of Grand Designs for 27 years, says British residential architecture has entered a more playful era — and he welcomes it.

"I think that's perhaps the best thing of all," McCloud told Dezeen as the latest series of the Channel 4 programme got underway. "That in architecture now, after the very earnest early 21st century years of digestion and reflection and the sorting and filtering of ideas in the 20th century, we seem to have actually calmed down a bit. Everybody's got a bit more relaxed."

First aired in 1999, Grand Designs follows the self-build projects of individuals and families creating their dream homes. McCloud has presented the show from the beginning, making him arguably Britain's most recognisable name connected to architecture.

Why arches are back

McCloud pointed to a steady return of arches in homes as evidence of the shift. The age-old motif has proven especially popular in recent years.

"An arch can soar and it's a vault, but it also actually plunges down and helps ground," he said. "So I think as a device, it's intriguing to see it back."

"There's a sense of playful interweaving of sustainability and history and even of archaeology into buildings, which I'm really enjoying right now," he added.

His optimism contrasts with much of the commentary around the 2026 Stirling Prize shortlist, which some critics have cast as uninspiringly samey — five of the contenders are brick-built buildings. A brick home on the edge of Epping Forest by Sergison Bates is among the nominated projects.

McCloud takes the longer view. "I take it all with a pinch of salt," he said. "Every time there's a utility building or a house or housing scheme on the shortlist, people say it's got really boring, and then 10 years later look back and think, actually it's really cool."

What about carbon and demolition?

McCloud also sees "a renewed interest in carbon, as opposed to just sustainability".

"Sustainability is a big blanket term," he said. "But I visit many projects now that are interested in using biodiversity and land management, and the sequestering of carbon into soil through planting and through trees, in a measured way, to then balance the carbon impact of building."

Linked to that, he detects a "new wave of interest in saving buildings" — communities fighting demolition threats regardless of architectural style. He cited the 1960s Shirehall in Shropshire, a modernist, council-owned office building currently up for sale.

"It's perfectly fit for use, but the council wanted to get rid of it," McCloud argued, warning that the building risks being transformed into homogeneous developer-designed housing.

"I think there's been a kind of democratising of heritage over the past 10 years, which has seen local community groups starting to fight for stuff they love from whatever period," he said.

What stands between Britain and better housing?

A vocal campaigner for more social housing and higher standards, McCloud expressed tentative hope that recent changes to England's National Planning Policy Framework will bring improvements — with a significant caveat.

"There's a word that's still missing from planning policy, and that's the word quality," he said. "It's a really tough ask to get design quality into social housing. Getting that one word out of politicians' mouths would be just so good. But if it's just about numbers, which is all it's been for the past 50 years, then forget it."

For McCloud, quality housing needs nothing groundbreaking:

• space
• storage
• a strong connection to the outdoors

Above all, he stressed, architects must be trusted to take ownership of their roles in a built environment too often dominated by profit-centric, developer-led designs.

"Allowing architects to do what they do really well, wouldn't that be lovely?" he said. "Fundamentally, just relying on people who are really good at their jobs being allowed to do their jobs."