Lakshmi Mittal's new environment friendly mansion

London, Feb 21: India's steel magnate, Lakshmi Mittal, plans to build a £30 million mansion on the outskirts of London that designers claim will have a "zero-carbon" footprint once it is completed.

60-year-old Mittal, who is Britain's richest man, wants to build a country home in the Surrey green belt that is self-sufficient in energy and harnesses outdoor temperature differences to create natural air-conditioning, The Sunday Times reported.

The unique modern design will not only ensure the house is zero carbon, but will make the entire 340-acre estate carbon negative.

The project is Mittal's first country home. His main home is in Kensington Palace Gardens, West London, a house that he bought from Formula One mogul Bernie Ecclestone for £57 million and decorated with marble from the same quarry that supplied the Taj Mahal.

Mittal declined to comment on the Surrey Hills project, but a statement issued on his behalf by the planners said: "Reinstatement of a substantial country mansion on a grand scale is considered to present the best means of securing the long-term future of Alderbrook Park as a single, well-managed and high-quality estate."

PTI