McCloud: 'Incredible appetite' for self-build homes

Downing Street will host a self-build summit today designed to encourage more people to build their own homes.

Kevin McCloud, from Channel 4’s Grand Designs, is guest speaker at the event. He told the Today programme why the “dysfunctional” housing market means the “incredible appetite” for self-building has not so far been addressed.

“We are a nation of owner-buyers and we have a housing market which is fairly dysfunctional and dictated by a small number of large-volume developers and builders,” he said - but this is set to change following the Self-build and Custom Housebuilding Act 2015.

"Local authorities are being really forced to make land available... and to demand that a percentage of any commercial scheme that comes forward should have an allocation for customer self-build," he said.