Hollywood actor Orlando Bloom has been polishing his green credentials by building an environmentally friendly pad at a secret location in the English countryside. Despite his estimated £17-million fortune the Pirates star has eschewed the fancy London pied-a-terre approach favoured by some of his peers in favour of constructing a green home which will use recycled materials and be fitted with solar panels.
The Kent-born actor admitted to being totally hands-on so far as the build's concerned, an approach which it seems has cost him dear. "It has come in at double the budget, but it was me who was making all the changes! It's powered by all the latest technology and I've tried to think about recycling - using as much old material as I can".
And, if Orlando was hoping to have somewhere warm and dry to bed down after battling the high seas he'll have to wait a while longer. "It isn't furnished yet and I'm still living out of a suitcase, but it's coming together," he says.
Thirty-year-old Orlando has been a high-profile backer of the green movement for five years now. At this year's Oscars he drew up to the Kodak Theatre in a high-mileage, low-emission Toyota Prius. Under the auspices of environmental company Global Green, the Hollywood hunk also recently travelled to Antarctica to photograph the effects of climate change, spending three weeks studying weather patterns.
"I slept in a room the size of a bus shelter and shared a toilet and bathroom with 27 other dudes," he recounts. "There were no privileges. The privilege was being in that position at that time."
Photo: © Alphapress.com
