Charlie Luxton

Charlie Luxton is an architectural designer who combines his design work with writing and presenting television programmes. He is passionate about the environment and communicating his enthusiasm for sustainable architecture and eco-friendly design.

Charlie’s most recent show, Homes By The Sea on More4 sees Charlie travelling the country to discover the most unique coastal properties in the UK. Charlie is passionate about the environment and communicating his enthusiasm for sustainable architecture and eco-friendly design.

In the autumn of 2013 Charlie fronted a new series for More4 called Building the Dream in which Charlie helps people design and build their dream home, often on a budget. Charlie is also a regular guest designer and sustainability expert for the BBC’s DIY SOS: The Big Build, and has filmed reports for BBC1’s Britain’s Hidden Heritage, the Culture Show and Rebuilding the Past, both on BBC2.

In 2008 Charlie presented the first series of I Own Britain’s Best House and was later given access to landmark buildings, including the Bank of England, for Behind Closed Doors. Also for the channel Charlie has presented returning series Build a New Life in the Country, and Best House on the Street. He has also filmed both the first and second series of Vertical City for Gallery HD.

Charlie’s other television credits include The Great Treehouse Challenge for Sky 1 (Dec 2011), the ITV1 series Homes and Property (2007), a one off documentary for BBC Radio 4 entitled The Perfect House (2007), and Restored to Glory (2005), a prime time BBC2 series covering architectural restoration. He also presented and wrote Not All Houses Are Square (2001) – a three part series for Channel 4, followed by a second series Not All Bricks and Mortar (2001).

Charlie was born in Sydney, Australia and has lived in England since 1983. He became a founding director of Free State in 2000, the design and communications company that uses the built environment to create awareness far beyond the reach of traditional media. Projects include Zoomorphic, an exhibition for the V&A and Electric Storm, a 3 month renewable energy event on the South Bank in London. In 2005 he left London and Free State to focus on sustainable housing. As Charlie Luxton Environmental Design he is currently working on several sustainable housing projects in London, Wiltshire, and the Cotswolds, where he now lives.

Charlie’s passion for sustainability and the environment extends beyond his professional work to include his home life too. As well as completing an eco-friendly renovation on his own home, Charlie has now led his village of Hook Norton, Oxfordshire, towards being selected as a winning low-carbon community and being awarded with the Government’s Low Carbon Community Challenge grant of £400,000! Various eco-measures will be implemented across the whole village to help reduce its energy use, ranging from insulation and double glazing to solar panels and two smart cars for the use of all villagers!

Charlie regularly gives lectures, hosts awards and facilitates conferences for clients as varied as Palm, Halifax, The Eden Project, Sovereign Housing Group, 100% Design, BskyB, many Architectural trade associations and in 2007 fronted a design-led promotional campaign for Teachers Whisky. He can speak in both a keynote and after dinner capacity, and his speeches have covered a wide range of topics relating to architecture, sustainability and design, from offices and housing to termites and fog basking beetles!

Charlie draws on this passion for sustainability in his lectures and speeches, often focusing on green-living, sustainable architecture and the role climate change has in altering the built environment. Charlie can tailor his speeches to cover a series of core messages that empower the listener to view climate change as a key driver to positive outcomes in society, rather than just negative, referencing the client’s achievements in this area to help illustrate the wider issues.

For more information please visit Charlie’s personal website: www.charlieluxton.com