Excel Telecom Group has expanded into new carbon-neutral premises and is also offering ‘green minutes' to its customers. In a bid to make its operations more environmentally-friendly as it grows, the company moved from offices in Wetherby into the Carlshead Business Centre near Harrogate.

As well as being completely carbon-neutral, this award-winning 200 year-old barn conversion also uses cutting-edge biomass technology to heat its premises. Fuelled by wood grown on the farm, this innovative system saves the equivalent of 60,000 litres of oil each year.

Excel Telecom Group is now also helping its customers to make their own lifestyle more eco-friendly by offering them the option of ‘green minute' phone services. The company purchases carbon credits on their clients' behalf from climate-friendly projects around the world; these offset the energy used to transport their minutes around the telephone network, resulting in a carbon footprint of zero.

Managing Director John Ledingham-Smith said: "The recent success of Excel Telecom Group prompted our move to bigger and better premises, but we wanted to ensure that our business growth did not come at the expense of the environment! We are very pleased to have found a new home where we can expand in beautiful surroundings knowing that we are carrying out our activities in a carbon-neutral state.

"At the same time our new green minutes packages offer our customers an eco-friendly option which allows them to use their phones to their hearts' content without worrying about the impact they are having on the environment. Even in the current economic climate the green agenda is still important to many responsible businesses."

Excel Telecom Group experienced a major boost in 2008 when it was selected as one of the main partners in the NYnet project, which is currently delivering next-generation broadband and telephony services throughout North Yorkshire. NYnet is an EU-funded collaboration between North Yorkshire County Council and Yorkshire Forward which aims to make rural companies more competitive in today's hi-tech business environment. The project has also received the backing of former leader of the Conservative party and MP for Richmond William Hague.