Grand Designs host Kevin McCloud shares the one thing that's changed most about show in 25 years

Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud has opened up about the future of the Channel 4 show and how different it is since he first started hosting it 25 years ago

Kevin McCloud has revealed how Grand Designs has evolved over its impressive 25-year run.

As the programme marks two and a half decades on screen, Kevin has revealed just how he thinks the show has changed in all the years he's been doing it. He said things are much different than they were when he first started.

"I think what's happened is - the numbers have changed. The dynamic of the market has changed, partly because of Covid and partly because of Brexit," he said, "Projects we get in are often very very slow to get off the ground, much slower than they used to be. Prices have gone up; that doesn't help. The big hurdle - the success of projects now - is how long they take to build."

Reflecting on the challenges faced by the Grand Designs team, he added: "It's tricky for us to follow. There's been a really big sticky patch, coming out of Covid where projects were thin on the ground.

"But now we've got a backlog of stuff that was going to be three years ago but still isn't finished. We can only broadcast what's been finished and some of them take much longer than others."

He explained: "We've always had to go out there and look for stuff; there's always been lots of research."

Kevin also insisted no one gets paid for being on the show. He explained: "They do not get paid for being on the show. They get a very very small amount of money to cover the stop-and-start nature of filming. So when we film scenes and want half an hour quiet, which means asking every builder on site to put their tools down and go for a tea break, they get paid for that."

"We film for about 20 days and over time that can build up and can impact a building project so we contribute a small amount to cover that and that's it," he explained, before adding: "I think they do it because they're going to get a really high-quality home video and they're also sensible enough to realise the weight of the journey they're going on.

"Therefore, they want to have it documented. In giving them the film, we give them a truth, we give them an account of what they'll always recognise as their story. They've got to recognise themselves and recognise their story."

*Grand Designs is celebrating 25 years on screen with a new series on Channel 4.