A millionaire has bulldozed the “world’s most expensive bungalow” to make way for his new eco home. Tom Glanfield, 48, bought the £13.5million property at Dorset’s Sandbanks resort – described as a millionaire’s row – in March 2023. He had plans to knock down the Edwardian cottage and replace it with a modern family eco-home.
Planners recommended his application be refused, arguing it would cause “significant harm” to the Sandbanks Conservation Area. After two years of negotiations, Mr Glanfield was finally given the green light to demolish the property in July 2025 and demolition began in May 2026. After two weeks work, the building has now been completely flattened and the old house crushed to make the foundations for the new build.
Mr Glanfield said: “It’s such a relief to have it demolished finally, and it’s really cool because we recycled the old house by crushing it up and turning it into the foundations of the new house.
“Everybody keeps asking me if I miss my old house, but it never actually left the property. It’s quite nostalgic that the old house is being used to make the new one. I’m really excited to get it started and make something that Poole can be proud of.”
In a planning meeting in July last year, the self-made millionaire insisted he was not a property developer and was not “flipping [the bungalow] for profit”.
He added: “I am very much a family man who is trying to make a family home. I will probably die in that home”.
Mr Glanfield said the bungalow had a leaking roof, mould and mildew. His plans involve turning his new house into a sustainable, two-storey eco home for his family.
The entrepreneur says the new build will boast renewable power and a desalination facility. A “crumbling” sea wall, which is currently “unsafe”, will also be enhanced and restructured.
He said: “My dream is to build a family home that will not only retain the modest beauty of the plot but will also stand the test of time.”
Mr Glanfield received significant backing for his proposal from the local community – with 38 letters of support submitted to the council.
Among those was one from neighbour Ros Smart, who labelled the plans an “outstandingly innovative design for an iconic site”.
Planners argued the proposal should be refused on conservation grounds, saying alternative options involving the retention of the cottage could have been explored.
Planning officer Babatunde Aregbesola told the planning meeting that the existing building was considered very important to the Sandbanks Conservation Area (CA) given its age, which he described as “very early Edwardian, one of the oldest in the area”.
Mr Glanfield is working on the development with local architect firms Marlow and Arc as well as award-winning landscape designer Andy Sturgeon.
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