Walsh: as green as a nine bob note

LAst year we reported on TV presenter Tommy Walsh who was building his new Eco House for a Discovery TV series at the same time as the last business he was involved with was folding.

Now “poor” Tommy has sold the house

A Conservatory firm fronted by the TV handyman went into administration November 2006, sacking its workers the day before they were due to be paid.

Baltic Conservatories in Cornwall laid off more than 100 workers at its sites across the West Country. Nothing about them was eco-friendly, but by then cheeky chappy Tommy had discovered his love and concern for the environment.

Cornwall MPs Julia Goldsworthy and Andrew George are calling on the Department of Trade and Industry to examine the circumstances behind the conservatory company’s demise.

The company bankruptcy is not the first time Walsh has been involved in a financial scandal. In 2004-5 he fronted a series of advertisements for financial products targeting old people, which were banned by the Financial Services Authority. The Ancient Order of Foresters Friendly Society escaped with a fine of just ’55,000 after targeting the elderly customers with misleading information about a savings product and failing to warn of risk with its child trust fund offering. The problems were discovered as a result of an FSA investigation rather than through Foresters’ internal systems or procedures. No doubt if the FSA hadn’t spotted it, pensioners would still be being bombarded by the dodgy advertisements.

Walsh, who styles himself the UK’s favourite DIY TV presenter, and his team, build a new home in 60 days for ’60,000 on the tatty Discovery TV show. The “excitement” of the series is to see whether they can do it in the time.

Based in March, Cambridgeshire, Walsh’s “eco-house” is using construction materials which take into account eco benefits, cost, availability and ease of use, according to the press release.

Walsh commented: ‘Like many other people, I couldn’t get a government grant for installing solar panels on my Eco House.” He appears to have come to a product placement deal with Green Frog Solar but the details have not been made public.

Bob Hick, founder of Green Frog Solar said “Government grants are proving difficult and lengthy to source”.

Walsh’s latest campaign sees him working with the Health and Safety Executive to make people aware of the dangers of working at low heights. Apparently, falls from below head height are injuring thousands every year at work. Perfect work for bottom-feeder like Tommy Walsh.

He had failed to find a buyer for the eco-house in Cambridgeshire after a year on the market.

So the Ground Force star, above, put the two-bedroom home which took him 60 days to build at a claimed cost of £120,000, up for auction and has sold it for £110,000 – making a £10,000 loss.

The house was on the market in November 2007 for £187,500.

Tags: off-the-grid, celebrity, discovery tv, tommy walsh, department of trade and industry, julia goldsworthy, ground force