Futuristic dream home

A futuristic cross between a space laboratory and an airport terminal, this is the dream home of one of Britain’s leading industrialists. Sir David McMurtry, who was knighted in 2001 for design and innovation, has spent ú30million on Swinhay House, shaping the building and gardens to his own vision of sustainability.

The site, in the village of Swinhay, near Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, is an astonishing mix of angular, high-tech insulated metal roofing, curving bonded glass and lawned mounds that sweep up towards a series of circular stone walls.