Grand Designs' Tom Webster on his dream New Zealand home

Grand Designs New Zealand host Tom Webster on the advantages of building in New Zealand, even during a cost-of-living crisis.

Tom Webster says a beautiful view would be a crucial part of his dream home in Aotearoa.

And if there were no limitations, he'd have homes in both the North and South Island.

"I'm a sucker for a long view, which could be coastal or it could be mountains," says Webster, who moved to New Zealand from the UK seven years ago.

"Currently I live in Auckland but if there were no other considerations I probably wouldn't have just one house, I'd have a mountain house in the South Island with a Southern Alps view," he says.

"Then a North Island coastal house, I'd find it hard to choose between the two."

Asked what his dream home (if he had to have one) would look like, Webster said: "It would probably be more modernist than traditional. It would be a house that is very open and transformable so you could close it all down for a cosy winter mode and then open the whole thing up to live in and out of the house in the summer.

"It would be a horizontal modern house with great transformability."

Webster says that, when comparing Grand Designs UK to New Zealand, one obvious difference is that it's easier to build a home with a view in Aotearoa. Partly because, unlike many places in the world, large swathes of it are yet to be urbanised.

"We have such a beautiful country, and a relatively new country so you have this amazing ability to build in the best view that I've ever seen as an English person.

"You can have a section with a mountain view or something in central Otago or something coastal, and that opportunity in New Zealand seems to be much more accessible in New Zealand than it is in other countries that are more established like the UK.

"You end up with this great starting point that's inspirational already and it's either you meet the challenge and you build something that's as spectacular as the place where you're building, or maybe it's a real pressure to do that... Can you live up to the expectation? Can you enhance something that's already incredible?

Webster says there's certainly been a focus on cost in the latest season of Grand Designs.

"I was on a Grand Designs UK shoot this week talking to Kevin McCloud and it's the same situation in the UK, the economic outlook changed massively during the pandemic and so people's ability to afford these houses is not as it was before.

"There's definitely an effect there and we like to reflect that with relatable projects where the budget isn't massive, I actually think it's really pertinent to show people that you can have great design and you don't have to have bottomless pockets, you actually just need to get the right design and have the right architect, the right builder, and the right team around you.

"Money isn't necessarily a limitation on creating a really extraordinary house, we've had a few of those projects and to me that's really satisfying."

That said, it's great to have some expensive, extravagant builds and Grand Designs will always have a place for those projects. "It's like exotic travel programmes, it's really nice to sit down and watch a really expensive build because it's a dream and these houses are aspirational.

"But I think you do have to balance that with some more relatable budgets and thankfully we do get those so I think it's a really good mix."

Webster says money can go further in countries like the UK, but it's cheaper to buy land in New Zealand, especially in rural areas.

"Overall though I think they are very comparable, there's a range in both Grand Designs UK and Grand Designs New Zealand."

The season finale will air on TVNZ 1 and TVNZ + tonight at 7.30.