It's taken some time to realise that I don't like to make things easy for myself - but I do like to make things right. A year ago we moved into a detached 1960s four-bedroom house in Brighton. Hardly the designer home one might expect for a man, who enthuses about good sustainable design on TV, but it took a year and a half to find this ugly house on a nice street and I really believe this 1960s-style house offers us a golden eco-friendly opportunity.
On the plus side it's something of a Tardis. Small on the outside but roomy inside, its large windows make it lovely and light, and it has a generous plot size in a great central Brighton location.
On the downside, it's both characterless and woefully energy inefficient; lacking in roof, wall and floor insulation, and filled with outdated wasteful boilers, appliances, taps and toilets.
But it could very easily become the house of the future: efficient to run and low in CO2 emissions, but also nurturing, and personal – a good home to live in and a great place to bring up my children.