The presenters
Kevin McCloud
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Kevin McCloud
Designer, presenter and author
It took Kevin McCloud a while to find his niche. An abortive music career
was followed by Cambridge University, where he started reading languages
then changed to philosophy before finally settling on history of art and
architecture. After university he trained as a designer, working in the
theatre, private homes and exhibitions, then moving on to design lighting
and furniture.
He has designed pieces for some very grand buildings including Edinburgh Castle and the Savoy and Dorchester hotels. As writer and presenter of Channel 4’s series, Grand Designs, McCloud has shown viewers daring and emotionally fraught projects as he follows ambitious amateurs building their dream homes.
He has enthusiastically endorsed the eco-building movement and is a strong believer in context: traditional and more radical styles can work so long as a building reflects and fits in with its environment and its neighbours.
On this website he explains why demolition isn't always right.
Janet Street-Porter
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Janet Street-Porter
Broadcaster, journalist, author andrambler
The woman we recognise as the pioneer of 'yoof' TV has had an illustrious
and hugely varied career. Janet Street-Porter studied architecture in the
1960s, then began her career in print journalism, focusing on design and
fashion, before moving into TV.
Her first presenting job came on LWT’s The London Weekend Show in the 1970s. She went on to present and produce a range of programmes for LWT before moving to Channel 4, where she co-edited the groundbreaking Network 7. As BBC2’s head of Youth and Entertainment Features she created the equally important Def II.
After leaving the BBC in 1994, Street-Porter became the managing editor of the cable channel L!ve TV, where her clashes with the director of programmes, former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie, became the stuff of media legend. Never one to mince her words, at the 1995 Edinburgh Festival MacTaggart lecture she attacked the British TV industry as 'male, middle-class, middle-aged and mediocre'. In 1999 she returned to print media as editor of the Independent on Sunday, where she defied her critics by boosting the paper’s circulation. She is the author of Baggage, the story of her unhappy childhood.
On this website she argues why more buildings should be demolished.
George Ferguson
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George Ferguson
Architect
Demolition is the brainchild of George Ferguson, honorary architect to the
Royal West of England Academy, who was president of the Royal
Institute of British Architecture (RIBA) from
2003-2005. In 2004, Ferguson proposed that, just as we appreciate great
buildings by according them ‘listed’ status, we should also have an X-list – a sort of architectural hall of shame
of buildings that are, in Ferguson’s words 'an affront to the senses'
and should be earmarked for demolition. A fan of the work of Aldo Rossi
and Frank Lloyd Wright, Ferguson argues that the X-list should not include
buildings that are simply unpopular or controversial, but those which are
'irredeemably bad'.
Ferguson studied at the University of Bristol School of Architecture before setting up his own practice in the mid-1970s and then establishing Ferguson Mann in 1978. He was a founder of Acanthus, a national network of independent architectural practices set up in 1986 to promote excellence in design and conservation. He was also a founder of the Concept Planning Group and of the Bristol Exploratory.
On this website George Ferguson has argued for an X-list of buildings that ought to be demolished.