A multi-millionaire who bought the world's most expensive bungalow has finally knocked it down after a desperate planning war to build an eco-mansion.

Tom Glanfield paid the record price for any property on the exclusive peninsula of Sandbanks in Poole, Dorset, in 2023, at £13.5million.

Seeing the potential of the huge harbourside plot, he obtained planning permission to demolish the 120-year-old rundown, rat-infested bungalow last July.

It has now been razed to the ground as part of an ambitious £8.5m project to build a 'benchmark' home for the millionaire's row.

His grand idea had initially been eschewed by council planners, who said his development would cause 'significant harm' to the Sandbanks Conservation Area.

Mr Glanfield however, who lives in Poole, Dorset, insisted that the current house was 'no longer fit for purpose' - and said he had designed a new family home that was 'sympathetic to the beautiful surroundings of the conservation area.'

He said he plans to live in the home with his family and insisted he was 'not a property developer looking to put in a big block of flats here. I'm not flipping this 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.'

The new luxury eco-mansion will be of 'exceptional architectural value' and Mr Glanfield, 48, said the 'house among the trees' will look nothing like the modern white-washed mansions the Sandbanks waterfront has become known for.

It will be built from sustainable materials - even the hardcore for the foundations has been recycled from the crushed walls of the old bungalow - and will have a 'living roof and walls'.

Because - as its name Sandbanks suggests - the peninsula is made of sand, 80 steel piles will be driven 15 metres into the ground to support the new two-storey house.

A 150m long sea 'living' wall that will help defend the north west corner of Sandbanks from erosion will also be built at 'great expense' to the self-made millionaire, which he previously said he 'won't even see that from the property - it's all for public benefit.'

The Grand Designs-style project will take another two years to complete.

When finished, the property will have an enormous open-plan kitchen and dining area, a double height lounge, home office, entertainment bar and entertainment area, wine store and boot room.

On the first floor, there will be five bedrooms, including a huge master suite with a raised jacuzzi bath with sea views, dressing room, seating area and its own balcony.

The carbon-neutral property will also have a cinema room, gym and shower room.

Outside there will be an upper terrace and patio and an undercover patio and a lawn which will run down to the water's edge.

Mr Glanfield, wife Jordan and baby son Jude have moved into a rented property nearby while the work is going on.

He said: 'We are going all guns blazing on this and we are all-in now the old house has gone.

'It was pretty dilapidated and had rat infestation, asbestos and an oil heating system so it was very antiquated and not environmentally friendly.

'We have crushed up the old house and recycled it to be put in the foundations of the new house.

'So the old house has never really left the plot, which feels good. Like the old is becoming foundations for the new, most developers would have just dumped the materials from the old house but we have recycled it.

'We moved out three months ago and we are now staying in a small house in the area.

'We have mixed feelings about seeing the old place go but at the same time we are really excited about what we are creating.

'It is going to set a new benchmark for property design for Sandbanks. With the amount of money we are putting into it, it is going to be something that area has never seen before.'

The 1.5-acre corner plot, called North Haven Point, was originally bought for £1,000 by the Victorian botanist Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker.

The four-bedroom bungalow was built in 1905 and acted as the servant quarters for a much larger house that has long been demolished.

Mr Glanfield, a renewable energy recruitment company entrepreneur, has previously said: 'I am very much aware that I am the custodian of the biggest and one of the most iconic plots on Sandbanks and so I will make sure it will be amazing not just for my family but also members of the public who will see it from the road and sea.'

The project is also being documented on Instagram @TheSandbanksBuild.