After 25 years at its helm, to many, Kevin McCloud and Grand Designs are basically one and the same.

And as much as people enjoy admiring (or gawking) at the scale and cost of some homes, most will agree the show's endless stream of chaotic projects — and McCloud's dry and often direct takes on the mayhem — are the most entertaining part.

But what does McCloud make of it all?

Ahead of the new series of ABC iview's Grand Designs Australia, he spoke to the ABC about why he's grateful people try the seemingly impossible, what he hopes future houses are made of and why his job never gets old.

'All of them are nutty'

Among the celebrations of Grand Designs' 25th birthday — a special film, a tour and "lots of social media froth" — McCloud said there has also been a lot of talk about the legacy of the show.

"Is it that we have changed, altered or affected the landscape of architecture? No, it's not," he said.

"Is it that we have kind of altered the course of television? No. 

"No, the great legacy is the Grand Designs drinking game and the Grand Designs [social media] Bot, and both of them, of course, focus on the kind of nuttiness of it," he said, laughing.

McCloud said the Grand Designs team liked to compare the show to a cake; some people are setting out to build their perfect home "their dreamy, creamy, sweet notion of whatever it is", while others with "grittier" designs are "like a rich fruit cake".

"We shouldn't shy away from those extremes because, in a sense, they kind of define what the series is."

McCloud paid tribute to the people willing to go on the show, praising them for their enthusiasm to experiment — even when it doesn't end the way they hope. 

"For me, it's the meat and drink of it all. It's where the core values of the series lies, with those individuals," he said.

"We have to thank them because nobody gets paid, they only do it out of the goodness of their hearts — sometimes mistakenly."

And, in case there was any doubt, McCloud emphasised the chaos and mishaps on screen were always genuine.

"It's always really important that we make films which, when [people] see them back at home for the first time on the sofa, they recognise it as their story," he said.

"It has to be true. It can't be fake, it can't be made up."

Rubbish houses

For McCloud, the designs on the show aren't just about the architectural or even entertainment factor.

Instead, he sees the "wacky, crazy" projects people cook up year after year as "the future of all of us".

"It's always about the people who are right at the margins of society, who are just pushing it. They're the experimenters," he said.

"We're very grateful to them."

McCloud said having people on the show demonstrating what's possible (and what's not) when it comes to cutting-edge design, particularly around sustainability, leads the way for those who want to follow suit. 

"Without these people doing this … then the social housing bodies, the landlords and the councils who want to do progressive stuff, [it] doesn't happen," he said.

"The open market is always slow to adopt this stuff because developers are very, very conservative and don't want to start building in hempcrete because they think it won't sell their houses."

But even in his many years on the show, McCloud has yet to see what he hopes will be the design of the future. 

"I think in 10 years time, I'm looking forward to seeing the first house built from rubbish," he said.

"I think we should be making [houses] out of waste.

"A home that's created from upcycling and from using the circular economy to furnish it, build it, construct it — the lot — that would be so good.

"We're a long way off. We can now build tables and teacups out of coffee grinds … but to build an entire house, I think that would be great to see."

Still surprised by designs

Twenty-five years and many projects in, McCloud still gets surprised by the designs he comes across.

"I thought when we started filming it, we'd have one man and one surveyor and his dog watching, and maybe the odd builder," he said.

"I thought we'd sort of run out of projects."

In the new series of Grand Designs Australia, McCloud — who joins host Anthony Burke for the first episode — said he was particularly taken by a very unique and small house in Surry Hills, Sydney.

"It took a really, really difficult site and did magical things," he shared.

"I could read you off a list of maybe 60 things that that building does which are creative and fun, and some of which I've seen before, and some I haven't.

"My most memorable experience in that house was walking into a tiny bathroom, which was very nicely done, and I walk into the shower and what I want to do is take a shower.

"I don't normally, ever, ever, ever want to take a shower in somebody else's house, but they have the had a roof light, and that meant the plants that are underneath the roof light could grow. 

"It was like showering in the midst of a tropical jungle." 

Stream all episodes of the new Grand Designs Australia series on ABC iview or watch the first episode tonight on ABC TV at 8pm.