Celebrity ExpertsKevin McCloud, presenter of Grand Designs, is a sought-after keynote speaker and event host, engaging audiences on architecture, design and sustainability
Through campaigns such as the Great British Refurb and his regular columns for Grand Designs Magazine and national newspapers, Kevin McCloud champions sustainable development, context, the historic environment and ecological construction.
He believes the best design – traditional or radically modern – relates to context: landscape, place and neighbouring buildings.
His television work, including the series Demolition, his five-year television project about the regeneration of Castleford, broadcast in 2008, and Don’t Look Down for the BBC, has always revolved around the built environment. He admits to having an unhealthy obsession with buildings since childhood.
When not filming, Kevin McCloud writes and occasionally still designs products.
He has designed lighting for some of Europe’s finest buildings, including Ely Cathedral and Edinburgh Castle, as well as contemporary ranges of consumer products for British retailers and manufacturers.
His books cover subjects as diverse as construction, architecture, colour, lighting and, in 2010, the impending culture change that a sustainable future will inevitably demand.
Kevin was awarded two honorary doctorates in 2005 from Plymouth and Oxford Brookes.
He is a recalcitrant patron of several architectural and sustainable charities, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Foresters, an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects and a WWF Ambassador.
His two ambitions remain to entertain and improve the built environment – and consequently ‘make people feel better’.
Kevin McCloud – Speaker and Host:
Kevin McCloud is available for various corporate engagements, from hosting awards and moderating conferences to architecture- and housing-themed keynote speeches.
Kevin is the face of Grand Designs Live and has chaired and hosted many corporate events, including:
- The RICS Awards
- The RIBA Awards
- Aberdeen Sustainable Construction Conference
- Bristol Planning Law and Policy Conference
- The Northwest Property Awards
- The Manchester Evening News Awards
- The Edinburgh Quartermile Launch
