23 March 2007, London - ZEDHomes welcomes the Chancellor’s commitment to incentivising ‘high standards of environmental stewardship’ by exempting ‘zero carbon homes’ (up to £500,000) from stamp duty until 2012 (as outlined in the budget, Section 7, ‘Protecting the Environment).

Having spent more than four years sourcing both tried and tested technologies and appropriate skills to create and replicate ‘low carbon emission’ houses on a large scale, ZEDHomes would be interested in the government’s definition of ‘zero carbon homes’.

Whilst the creation of ‘low carbon emission’ homes is a positive and achievable benchmark, the ‘all or nothing’ incentivising of ‘zero emission’ housing means the treasury loses little in stamp duty – there are currently no truly ‘zero carbon’ homes in existence in the UK.

Only with careful consideration will developers be persuaded to step beyond the currently pervasive ‘stick on a solar panel and call it environmental’ mentality.

Whilst research into providing affordable, large scale ‘zero carbon’ emission home developments continues. ZEDHomes calls for a sliding scale of stamp duty that creates the incentive to reduce carbon emissions where possible and proportionately rewards all initiatives from solar panels and turbines at one end through to zero emission developments at the other.

Furthermore, we would like to see the initiative extended to other sustainable living initiatives such as the reuse of ‘grey water’ and transport sharing initiatives as part of communities.

Notes to Editors
For the past five years, ZEDHomes has been combining innovative design with existing technology to build homes and workplaces that require a fraction of the energy required to run a traditionally built development of the same size. ZEDHomes’ aims to ensure that the energy required for its developments is met by on-site energy sources that will make no demands on the earth’s precious natural resources. The company has recently seen its first developments approved in Harrow.
For further information contact:

ZEDHomes:
Ameeta Sharma
T: 0845 1228656
E: ameeta.sharma@zedhomes.com

Zed PR
Claire Thompson or Zara Shirwan
T: 0118 969 8966
E: cthompson@zedpr.co.uk or zshirwan@zedpr.co.uk