08/12/2021
The Zero Carbon Homes challenge was launched in 2005 by then Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott. The initiative asked the construction sector if they could produce a Zero Carbon home for less than £60,000. At the same time, the Government launched the Sustainable Homes codes. Both initiatives kick-started the revolution which led to the huge growth in Modern Methods of Construction. Our co-founder Phil Woolas was alongside Prescott at the time as his Minister of State for Local Government, a position he held for two years until moving to be the UK’s Climate Change Minister at the Department for Environment.
The Zero Carbon home challenge was taken up by Phil when he left Parliament in 2010. Having spent seven years working with a variety of MMC providers using varied systems including CLT, steel box and SIP panels, he launched Boothwood White Innovations with co-founder and North West manufacturing entrepreneur, Alex Totty in 2017.
“I wanted to prove the detractors wrong - the Zero Carbon Homes challenge was seen as a quirky fantasy at the time. It's now becoming mainstream and BWI is at the forefront of the effort".
Boothwood White takes its name from the Boothwood Reservoir in West Yorkshire whose chief engineer was Phil’s paternal grandfather, Thomas White. The reservoir is famous in northern England as the site with the farmhouse in the middle of the M62.
