Grand Designs' Kevin McCloud says one thing devalues your home more than anything

Kevin McCloud has named "one of the worst things" we can do to knock value off our properties, and it seems it's all down to "space". In an exclusive interview, the British designer, best known for his role on Channel 4's Grand Designs, weighed in on what he believes is a crucially important aspect of our homes, but which some people tend to "sacrifice".

Speaking ahead of Grand Designs Live 2025 (held last weekend in Birmingham), Kevin was asked to name some of the things that homeowners do that negatively impact the value of their properties. He quickly pointed out an action that can lead to homeowners losing the "relationship between the building and aesthetic", no matter the size of their property, as every building has "some kind of context". Kevin explained: "I think in a way, one of the worst things we can all do is to sacrifice outdoor space."

He continued: "So you could theoretically build the front of your house right up to the pavement and the back of your house to cover the back garden.

"You could overdevelop, build extensions, keep going, add more bedrooms, but in doing so, you sort of lose the relationship between the building and aesthetic. It doesn't matter how small the setting is; every building has some kind of context.

"And losing a relationship with it, whether it's industrial or whether it's built up and suburban, whether it's a flat with no garden at all, but just a balcony or whether it's a semi-detached, a key part of the architecture is the front garden and the back garden."

Kevin then described how one of the things he regrets seeing when he drives through cities is spotting the amount of space we "give to the car", saying it had reached a point where people park their cars in "front of their sitting rooms". He joked that perhaps people do this so they can "admire their own car".

Kevin then revealed that he loves seeing the passage of the sun from a room and doesn't want it to be "blocked out by a 4x4", as he likes to see trees, plants and "something dancing" out the window. 

He went on to share what he described as one of his "favourite experiences in the world". He continued: "One of my favourite experiences in the world is using a net curtain, you know, seeing the effects of a breeze on a tree with sunlight on to a net curtain, on to a floor, and you see the dancing patterns, or to see the effect of sunlight reflected off a pond onto a ceiling of a room."

Kevin said these are "magical experiences" and are at the "core" of both architecture and the architectural experience, pointing out that it's light, pattern, and movement in time —things you can't buy in a tin, on a shop floor, or online. 

He added: "It's something which is precious, and is, you know, if you see it happen in a building, you wanna kinda just figure out why because you want to hold on to that, and so it's free in a way. It can be free, not cost you anything."

Kevin was speaking ahead of Grand Designs Live 2025 Birmingham, which took place at the NEC from 3-5 October. It's the UK's premier home and design exhibition.