Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud’s troubled housing firm is at risk of insolvency leaving investors fearing they could lose thousands
- Kevin McCloud’s eco housing firm Happiness Architecture Bureau is in trouble
- The firm is facing formal insolvency leaving investors of losing their money
- Accountancy firm KPMG has called in the money it is owed by the company
- Mr McCloud warned investors: ‘HAB Housing cannot pay’ the demand
Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud, pictured, has written to investors in his eco property firm to warn them the company may be going into a formal insolvency process
Investors in an eco-friendly property venture launched by Grand Designs host Kevin McCloud have said they fear they may never see their money again.
McCloud launched Happiness Architecture Beauty (HAB) in 2007 ‘to make homes that lift the spirits’.
But the Guardian reported on Friday that an email sent by McCloud to HAB Housing investors said that accountancy firm KPMG had attempted to call in money owed by HAB Housing.
‘HAB Housing cannot pay and could yet be forced into a formal insolvency process,’ the email was reported as saying, adding: ‘I am determined that investors should see their investment as not entirely lost.’
McCloud resigned as a director of HAB Land Ltd in 2018 and control of the company was acquired by another firm, BAH Restructuring Limited.
In October 2019, KPMG was appointed as a liquidator of BAH Restructuring Limited, HAB Land Limited and HAB Land Finance plc.
KPMG said in October that HAB Housing Limited was unaffected by those liquidation proceedings.
Joint liquidator James Bennett said last October: ‘The directors have reported that higher-than- anticipated design and project management costs, coupled with delays to the delivery of the sites, resulted in the companies experiencing significant liquidity issues.’
The Guardian quoted Robin Brookes, who put £5,000 into HAB Housing after it launched an equity crowdfunding campaign, as saying: ‘It is starting to look like I will be getting nothing back at all.’
Retired teacher Gill Mascord, who had previously invested £3,000, told the PA news agency that while she had not read the latest email reported in the Guardian, she felt the money was already ‘lost’.
She said: ‘I’m not expecting to get any of the money back.’
Ms Mascord said she had been aware there were potential investment risks, but added: ‘It felt less risky because Kevin McCloud was involved with it and because the principles that they were using seemed like wholly good ones.
‘I have never invested like that before and I never will again.’
Accountancy firm KPMG was written to Mr McCloud, pictured, and demanded its money back
Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud launched his own property venture in 2007 with his eco-homes business Happiness Architecture Beauty (HAB). But the company’s Lovedon Fields development has been beset by problems
The idea was that HAB Housing, McCloud’s company, would be markedly different from other construction firms