Kevin McCloud removes architect from £19m housing scheme

Building Design reported this week that McCloud’s company Happiness Architecture Beauty (Hab) had replaced Wright & Wright after an argument over fees. The practice, which had produced designs for the Swindon project in line with Hab’s stated aim to provide “contextual, sustainable, contemporary, enjoyable, sociable, affordable and profitable” homes, has refused to sell the copyright to its designs, meaning the new firm will have to start from scratch.

McCloud, who will present Channel 4’s coverage of the Stirling Prize in October and fronts the channel’s Grand Designs show, said he had sympathy for the architect but believed his firm had behaved honourably. He set up Hab in 2006 in an attempt to improve the quality of volume housebuilding. Hab has yet to come to an agreement with Swindon Council over land.