George Clarke interview: the architect talks Prince Charles, David Beckham and the Shard

TV’s most opinionated architect tells Ele Cooper about working with Prince Charles, fancying David Beckham and why he doesn’t rate The Shard.

What are you up to today?
I got back from a trip to India late last night, now I’m doing interviews, I’m doing a voiceover this afternoon to promote the Ideal Home Show then I’ve got a client meeting at 5 o’clock and a business meeting at 7 o’clock tonight. I’m trying not to think about how exhausted I am!

Blimey! How was India?
Unbelievable, it was fantastic. I went to Mumbai and then travelled around Rajasthan. It was an incredible ten-day break with just me and my wife, because from today until the beginning of June things are going to be crazy.

Did you get recognised in India?
(Laughs) I did actually! I’m always quite shocked when it happens because I really enjoy what I do but it’s a job for me. Then you turn up in the middle of bloody nowhere – I was an hour-and-a-half from Jodhpur on a posh campsite – and this Canadian woman went, “Oh my god it’s you, I can’t believe it!” It’s very complimentary. I also heard from a woman in Scotland who said she’d just redesigned her home and wouldn’t have had the confidence to do it if she hadn’t seen the Home Show. And you just think, my God, if the programme has made an impact on one person like that then it’s worth doing.

George Clarke on… Celebrities
 

Do you get star-struck when you meet other celebs?
(Laughs) I do! It depends who they are though. With some celebrities I just think ‘how on earth are you famous – you’re untalented and you talk a load of rubbish’.

Does anyone in particular spring to mind?
There’s one guy but I can’t say who it is; even if I gave you a clue you’d get it! But he’s such a muppet it’s unbelievable, he really annoys me. However, when you meet someone who has become famous because they’re bloody good at what they do, that’s different. The first time I met David Beckham, I didn’t say anything – I couldn’t get the words out of my mouth because he’s genuinely a superstar; he’s transformed football in Britain.

The other time I’ve been star-struck was when I met Kate Moss. I’ve been obsessed with her ever since she became famous – when I was a student I had a poster of her on my wall, then when someone introduced me, I just said “hello” and stood there holding my beer. She must have thought I was very boring.

Did she look the same in real life?
Better. She’s stunningly, truly beautiful – an icon. David Beckham looked better in real life too; I didn’t think I had a gay bone in my body but I definitely fancied him, I basically fell in love with Mister Beckham!

George Clarke on… Career

From what I can gather, you seem to have your finger in a lot of pies, work-wise.
I’m an architectural prostitute. I have the most diverse architectural practice you would ever imagine; it’s amazing what we get involved in. We’ve got TV development projects, the media profile work, the architectural practice, a property development company and a building company.

That’s a lot of services.
In the good old days of architecture, in the 1830s and 1840s, the architect did everything. The term ‘architect’ wasn’t even commonly used, you were ‘master builder’, because you were involved in the design, the build, the accountancy, everything. It was only when the RIBA [Royal Institute of British Architects] was formed in 1852 that the word ‘architect’ became the title we used. I’ve become a master builder again so we’ve come full circle because we find sites, design them ourselves and build them ourselves. I love it. It’s my life. I’ve never wanted to do anything else since from the age of 11 years old.

What’s your favourite element of what you do?
If I’m on my own and I’m not being hassled, I can sit and sketch for hours. I find it therapeutic. From all the carnage that happens in my life, it’s quite nice to be able to just sit and do some drawing.

You’ve achieved an incredible amount. Have you got any ambitions left?
Oh God yeah! Every day is a new experience. My office is just starting some projects in Mumbai, where my business partner’s from. I’m fascinated by the emerging economies of China and India and there’s a good chance that we’ll set up an office in India later this year.

The economies are moving so quickly and expanding so much and there’s such an enormous amount of building work happening. I think it would be good to be involved in that, to help it in the right direction. There’s a danger that those countries could build a lot of rubbish, and also build a lot of stuff that’s not as sustainable as it should be. I don’t mean to sound like a preacher but it would be nice to be involved in projects over there to make sure they don’t make the same mistakes that we did. Britain’s made a lot of mistakes, you just have to look at the architecture of the 1960s and ’70s to realise how badly you can do things.

Do you think India will be receptive to that message?
I think they will, one thing we’re very lucky with is that Britain has got a good reputation for design. Indian people are very open to discussions about that – and now is the time to do it because the market is exploding. If we tried to do work there in 20 or 30 years’ time, we might be too late. It needs to happen now.

George Clarke on… Charity (and Prince Charles)

I understand you do quite a bit of charity work.
Yes – I do stuff for Shelter and I’ve also just become an ambassador of the Prince’s Foundation, working with Prince Charles on promoting architecture in the built environment.

What’s Prince Charles like?
He’s an absolute gent. He’s incredibly knowledgeable about architecture, he’s a very charming man, a very warm man. The royal family can easily get stick these days, but Prince Charles has got some fantastic charities. He raises nearly £130 million a year for all of his charities, and I’ve teamed up with him because he’s incredibly passionate about sustainability and ecological projects. I’m absolutely thrilled that the Prince has committed to the Ideal Home Show as well.

‘The Prince’s Foundation Ideal Home’ is a Georgian house which looks at ecological building innovations. It’s modern but slightly traditional, but for me it’s not about the style because I’m a contemporary modern architect but I still like old buildings.

George Clarke on… Housing and architecture in Britain

How did the recession impact upon architects?
There more job losses in architecture than there were in the banking industry; you’d be amazed. Then of course people stopped spending money on their homes and developers stopped building.

Back in 2019, good old Mister Gordon Brown said he wanted Britain to build three million new houses by 2020. At the absolute peak of the property market, the biggest peak we’ve ever seen in the history of house-building, the most we built was 240,000 houses in a year. We are now building 70,000 because of the recession. How on earth we were ever going to meet that target is beyond me.

So how do you get fired up when the house-building industry is in such a sorry state?
People have really had to refocus their attention a bit. If you get a big energy bill through which you can’t pay, it’s going to make you think about the environment a bit more. It’s making us think about how we can build more sustainably. Rather than it just being the trendy thing that people talked about in the late ’90s and early noughties – “Let’s build a house with straw bale and put a solar panel on the roof” – it’s becoming something that people see as a necessity.

People are realising that we’re living in a very unsustainable way, and that actually if we do some very clever, simple and affordable things, we can reduce our energy bills. Okay, changes might be made for moral reasons too, but people just don’t have enough money to do it unless it will have a financial benefit.

Do you think sustainable architecture can make a difference before it’s too late?
Towards the mid to late-19th century we saw the Industrial Revolution, which obviously made enormous improvements to the way people lived in Britain. But we’ve also realised the environmental cost of the Industrial Revolution and this might sound a bit ambitious but I believe the beginning of the 21st century will see an Ecological Revolution, the beginning of a sustainable age where we use clever design, innovations and technology, really understanding how we can build and live in a more ecological way.

What do you think of the Shard?
Um… (Laughs) You’ve put me on the spot! Um… I’m not really bothered about it. I’m not bothered about high-rise buildings for the sake of being high-rise buildings. It will look good, don’t get me wrong, the architect designing it is a very talented man. But what worries me is what all these glassy buildings are going to look like in 50 years’ time. I’ve always been concerned about the huge popularity of new-build flats that look like commercial office buildings. They look trendy when they’re first built, but they just look awful after 15 years. The Shard will become an icon, but I don’t think it’s as sustainable as it should be. I’m not sure it’s going to stand the test of time.

George Clarke is the Ambassador for the Ideal Improvements section at this year’s Ideal Home Show 2023. George will be at the show in person offering a series of demonstrations and seminars offering practical advice on many home improvement projects. The Ideal Home Show, London will open its doors for 17 days from March 11-27 2023, at Earls Court. Tickets can be either booked at IdealHomeShow.co.uk or by calling 0844 415 4144. 50p per ticket goes to the Ideal Homes for Heroes appeal supporting ABF, The Soldiers’ Charity.