Kevin McCloud has a message for Australians – stop building such big houses.
The nation’s love affair with large homes – especially unimaginative McMansions that defy their environmental surroundings – means size is coming at the expense of exciting architecture, affordable and well-built housing supply, and ultimately the liveability of our cities, the British host of Grand Designs says.
McCloud, who is visiting Australia for a speaking tour, finds himself complaining about black roof tiles and shaking his head at examples of “spoilt architecture”, noting one particular build he has just seen – a grand beachside house in Sydney relying on huge concrete slabs for its construction.
“The architecture is different in New Zealand, which treads lightly, there’s an awareness of the difficulty of building and getting materials, but Australia says, ‘Hey, c’mon, we’ve got the planet, let’s mine it, let’s build with it, let’s sell it, let’s create wealth,’” McCloud says, while acknowledging this is his “caricature” from afar.
Instead, McCloud embraces the yes in my back yard (yimby) mantra as the solution to Australia’s dire shortage of homes.
To be clear, he is not blind to the importance of heritage buildings, nor pro-developer, nor an advocate for overly tall apartment towers devoid of character being plonked on suburban streets – allegations levelled by critics against Australia’s nascent yimby movement.
Rather, McCloud is scathing of large developers “who’ve shifted from delivering volume to profits” and is adamant tight rules are needed to ensure the industry builds quality homes and ceases its “corrosive undermining of what makes a decent civilised society”.
When he says he is a yimby, he is talking about terraces and infill development that “revitalises what are otherwise becoming very expensive suburbs”.
“The idea of actually seeding small-scale stuff, two-, three-bedroom homes in between what’s there, like connective tissue, that’s exciting,” he says. “That’s sort of happening in the UK already because we have such a huge pressure on land.
“How can we stitch stuff into gaps that is smaller and a bit more responsive and which revitalises?”
If Australia doesn’t build differently, he argues, it will end up with “frozen” and ageing suburbs that cannot support local businesses and ever-expanding city fringes with new estates where services cost more.
“It’s essential if we’re going to have enough in terms of density to provide a local doctor’s surgery, shops, school. And even things like water infrastructure, sewerage, which most local authorities really cannot afford to keep on extending ad infinitum.”
McCloud says it is the mark of a functioning city that it can adapt to the needs of the present.
“What happens in our cities is that stuff comes and goes, it gets knocked down, it falls down, it catches fire, people build new stuff. Great things disappear sometimes but, generally speaking, cities evolve quite organically and as organisms. When they don’t, they wither and they die.
“You need that kind of fresh innovation. Cities are petri dishes, stuff grows in them. And that’s what makes us want to live in them.”
He acknowledges that infill development can change the nature of a suburb – but says this can’t be a reason to leave chunks of a city untouched.
“It’s wonderful to see a lovely 60s suburb or a lovely 80s thing. But actually you’ve got to be very careful because society can’t always afford to support those communities. Shops, for example – many people now need a car to buy a pint of milk.
“The walkable, rich, diverse and exciting suburb, I believe will only happen when we continue to seed new ideas into them, new architecture, fresh blood, if we treat the suburb like a village, like a city, and you allow for the growth and the infilling. So yeah, I’d say yes in my back yard every time.”
For those who marvel at architectural spectacles on his show, as he does, he believes increasing density should not be something to fear – it should trigger excitement.
In Sydney this week he visited a 69-square-metre home wedged between a modern mixed-use building and a factory in Surry Hills – a project which received the Robin Boyd award for residential architecture last year.
The home will be featured on the local edition of Grand Designs, due to air on the ABC with a new host, Anthony Burke, and McCloud points to it as an example that can capture the imagination.
“It’s an exquisite building full of joy and fun, it’s tiny and on a little plot, it’s an infill building. And it’s exciting.”
McCloud says it’s important for TV design shows to highlight smaller homes, to show how they can be stylish, cutting edge and functional, and to change the Australian ideal of a large home.
“Space does not equal size. You don’t simply show off cubic metres of air. Actually, the well-designed home can be really small, really efficient, really sustainable and ecological. It can be supremely well-built, it can be well-crafted, because when you don’t put in eight toilets, just one, you’re going to spend some money on the quality.
“I’ve always been of the view that you show stuff which is exemplary … there’s a way in which you can … nudge the audience with you.”
• Kevin McCloud’s live show Home Truths is touring Australia throughout February
