The future’s green for North East eco-friendly builders
Nov 3 2008 by Andrew Mernin, The Journal
AN ECO-FRIENDLY housebuilder has won a deal worth up to £15m to build 2,000 zero carbon homes in Romania.
Northumberland’s Zero Carbon Group will export around 100 eco-friendly homes to Romanian firm South Pacific this year in an initial contract worth £1.8m. Over the next five years, the value of the deal will then climb to £15m as the company builds a further 1900 homes for the site near Budapest Airport.
The company plans to open a factory in Romania in partnership with South Pacific and will send out a team of 12 labour and management staff to the Eastern Block and will also export specialist machinery from its headquarters near Morpeth.
Meanwhile the group will open a 55,000sqft factory in the North East later this year as it looks to increase its capacity to 700 homes a year and its workforce from 25 to 40.
Group sales and marketing director Julie Dixon said the firm has outlined two possible sites in North Tyneside and Northumberland.
She also said the company hopes to grow its international business on the back of its deal in Romania and has recently taken inquiries from as far afield as Jamaica, Australia and South Africa.
She said: “We were approached by the Romanian company because there’s a shortage of housing in Romania and a shortage of skilled labour there as a lot of workers have left the area.
“The interest in the product has been phenomenal and we are hoping to export homes elsewhere. We’ve had inquiries from Jamaica, Australia and South Africa but we’re too busy to do anything about it at the moment.”
Last June the business bought the assets of North Tyneside firm Lakeland Timber Framed Homes which had recently fallen into liquidation.
Six of the company’s 15 workers joined Zero Carbon Group.
This year, its flagship project has been a partnership to design and build 750 retirement units in Burnley, Lancashire, on a 74-acre site. It has similar projects under way in Darlington and Leeds to house elderly people.
Click on the links below to read more stories from The Journal on zero carbon housing:
March 2007: Low carbon build need not cost more
May 2007: Corporations will benefit from low carbon economy
Sept 2007: Homes for the future: More affordable, more sustainable
