Kevin 'Grand Designs' McCloud is actually trying to be a property developer, starting with an estate of houses in Swindon. Interesting.

Another British housing estate where you couldn't slide a 10p between the houses. It seems to be too "community" minded, the days of a whole family living on the same street are gone, we should stop living in each other's pockets.

Given they are terrace houses, thats actually a good thing .


it's not about living near people you are related to, it's about living near someone you know. At all. You can't build a community from a collection of strangers.

I was watching one recently with some eccentric and his Japanese wife carved a house of wood and had an extensive plot of land to farm.
Kevin was terribly keen that this should be the model for home building in the future.
Which is a great idea, until you remember that land is something they just don't make any more. You can't simply ask your builder's merchant to supply an additional acre for crops and chickens.