Kevin McCloud interviewed: HAB, the Stirling Prize and Castleford

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My encounter with Kevin McCloud starts at a private members' club off central London's Tottenham Court Road. The TV presenter is bring filmed by Channel 4 in the thick of a design meeting for his development company HAB's housing development in Swindon.

My arrival stops Glenn Howells, who has recently been appointed as lead architect, in his tracks. 'Should I carry on?' says Howells, agog at my presence. 'Of course,' says McCloud.

It is a public show of HAB's solidarity in the light of recent reports. After McCloud and original project architect Wright & Wright parted ways, there were claims that the scheme was in 'chaos'. There were even reports that Howells was working for free.

Howells jokingly says: 'I've had so many emails from clients who are disappointed about having paid us now! They're claiming it's clearly not the usual arrangement.'

He adds: 'This came from Kevin saying there will be public consultations on the scheme, which can take place outside of hours. All I said was that we won't expect to be getting paid for that.'

Although Howells and McCloud seem to be a close-knit team, Wright & Wright practice principal Sandy Wright said McCloud was 'commercially naïve' over his handling of the affair.

In business for 15 years
'I don't even know what that means,' McCloud says, while the Channel 4 cameras roll. 'It implies a lack of business acumen. Is that an allegation? I've been in business for 15 years so I'm not unacquainted with employing and working with people. The important thing is collaboration.'

According to McCloud, Wright & Wright's involvement came about when HAB was weighing up a partnership with another developer, Bioregional Quintain. It did not work out and instead HAB went into partnership with housing association Westlea, but retained the architect. But this arrangement fell apart, McCloud says, due to 'differences in working practices and business arrangements, and one or two personal issues'.

McCloud adds: 'You could argue that getting rid of a practice is difficult, but it's not naïve. It's what happens in business.'

Stirling Prize
For McCloud, this old news. His only concern with the issue now is that on 11 October he will be hosting the Stirling Prize in front of an audience of architects.

He says: 'I'm only going to have to stand in front of 500 architects and say: "Hello, I'm the guy who apparently doesn't pay architects!"'

Castleford regeneration
McCloud is appearing on TV screens more than ever at the moment. As well as Grand Designs and the Stirling Prize, he fronts the weekly Kevin McCloud and the Big Town Plan, which focuses on the regeneration of Castleford, West Yorkshire (AJ 10.07.08).

'I wanted to see first-class design,' he says. 'I kept asking: "Who is the client here?"'

McCloud claims that in the early days the regeneration was too 'top-down', led by Yorkshire Forward and English Partnerships. This resulted in Martha Schwartz's 'village green' in New Fryston coming in for heavy criticism from locals.

Least dislikeable
'Martha came up with three proposals, which were put to the residents, who were asked to choose the least dislikeable,' he says. 'What they wanted was a community building. It wasn't so much regeneration as generation.'

The successful projects, according to McCloud, are the ones that are community-led. But the 'very best' schemes are the ones where there is a 'synergy between designer and client'.

This success, I suggest, must have something to do with it being captured by Channel 4. Perhaps people will go a little further than they normally would?

Cameras can be useful
'Perhaps having the cameras was useful in terms of charging the process,' says McCloud. 'It was as much an experiment by Channel 4 to pump £100,000 into the programme. You could argue that without that the £6 million follow-up wouldn't have happened. Maybe the £60 million after that wouldn't have happened.'

The people of 'Cas' – as McCloud calls it – don't care about the cameras. They care about the success of their projects.
McCloud says: 'I remember asking Jon Rouse, when he was still running the Housing Corporation: "Do you believe design can change people's lives?" He said: "Yes, but there is something much more important and mundane – maintenance."'

The Castleford project has been, by McCloud's own admission, a five-year research project for his own Swindon scheme, which will be screened on Channel 4 in 2010.

McCloud is philosophical about Swindon's success. 'Look it's an adventure. It's ambitious. Who knows what will happen?'