It will take more than the 48-hour Changing Rooms deadline and he won't be using MDF.

But the three-storey terraced house, which is designer Oliver Heath's first pad in his home city, is definitely in need of some radical work.

And its design will be testament to one of his other, and probably lesser-known, great passions - the environment.

Most people know Brighton-born Oliver as one of Britain's most popular celebrity designers.

He cut his TV teeth on BBC2's Home Front, winning their young designer of the year award, and is regularly seen by millions on BBC1's Changing Rooms.

He can now also add author to his list of accomplishments.

His first book, called Oliver Heath's home book, is out next week.

Oliver, 33, a former Brighton College pupil, rents a flat in London where he runs his own design practice with business partner Nikki Blustin.

His next project will be his new home in North Laine.

He said: "I want my house to be an environmental refurbishment. Everything in it will be reused, recycled, come from a sustainable source or have low energy usage.

"As a designer, I think it is important to show how design can be environmentally responsible and stylish."

That combination includes kitchen work surfaces made from 85 per cent recycled glass, timber flooring from a sustainable forest and computerised, colour-changing low-energy lights.

Oliver said: "What goes into a house also has to come out and it has an impact on the environment."

He loves Brighton for its energy, vibrancy, sense of fun and year-round "summer feeling" but also despairs over some of its new buildings.

He said: "We're living in a heritage given to us by the Georgians and the Victorians and design needs to be intelligent."

He cites the new block housing Sports Soccer on North Street as an example of thoughtless, inappropriate design: "There is no connection between bland, corporate architecture and the character of Brighton. It is an appalling waste and not doing anybody any favours.

"When a building goes up, that design represents the character of the city. It is a massive opportunity and planners should be ashamed of themselves if they miss it."

Helped along by TV makeover programmes, Oliver says the British are now more style-conscious, design-savvy and keen to make their homes more functional and beautiful.

He said: "It's important for people to find their own identity instead of their parents'. What if you were to become a room.

"How does that translate itself? How do you three-dimensionalise your character? That's what the book is about, creating your own ID in your home."

However keen we are, we still make mistakes. Top of the list of DIY blunders is lack of planning.

Oliver said: "You need to sit down and think about what it is you want. Make a mood board and choose colours, atmospheres, flooring, lighting, objects.

"People tend to fragment it, starting with the colour sofa they want rather than how big the room is.

"The Italians and French do quality well, although their style may have been handed down from generation to generation whereas the British love a bargain.

"On the other hand, we are very good at sticking two fingers up and saying 'I'm going to be me'."

Oliver Heath's home book, published by Cassell, will be available in bookshops from Thursday next week, priced £16.99.