Eco-firm buys factory of crisis-hit homes builder

Jun 19 2008 by Karen Dent, The Journal

AN ECO-friendly construction group has bought the factory belonging to a collapsed North East house building firm and pledged to re-employ staff that worked there.

The Zero Carbon Group, based at Hadston near Morpeth, has agreed to buy the assets of North Tyneside firm Lakeland Timber Framed Homes, which went into liquidation last month.

John Cotterill, chairman of the Zero Carbon Group, said his company had already been in touch with five of the 15 people who worked at Lakeland’s factory and he intends to contact all of the factory-floor staff. He said: “We have a full order book. We have plans to build a new factory but that’s not going to be until the end of the 2009. The liquidators agreed to our offer for an undisclosed sum.”

Lakeland Timber Framed Homes, which was part of the £7m annual turnover Lakeland Group, ceased trading last month. It made timber framed housing components but fell victim to the downturn in the housing market.

Cotterill, who co-founded the business with managing director Gordon Rothery, specialises in designing and building affordable zero or near-zero carbon housing. The group currently has a £4.4m order book and lack of capacity at its factory in Hadston has forced it to turn away work.

“We need three million affordable houses in the UK, I mean proper, affordable houses – three-bedroom properties for less than £100,000,” he said. “It’s a niche market.” The Zero Carbon Group was set up in 2006 initially as a design practice, but has grown to include manufacturing and construction companies, plus a property division which rents and sells affordable homes. The buildings, designed with local authorities, health care partners and people interested in building their own homes in mind, are based on timber-framed ‘pods’ which are lifted on to site for installation.

Its current major project is a partnership to design and build 750 retirement units in Burnley, Lancs, on a 74-acre site. It has similar projects under way in Darlington and Leeds to house elderly people.

Mr Cotterill said: “We have numerous other properties designed and sat waiting to go into the factory. That’s where our bottleneck has been. Lakeland will increase our capacity threefold. We’ve had a full order book since December and we’ve had to turn work away, and obviously it’s not good for any company to be turning work away.”