£43M investment in innovative housing

Active homes, Neath

Housing and Regeneration Minister Rebecca Evans has announced a number of projects which will share in the second phase of the three-year Innovative Housing Programme, worth £90M in total.

Houses that generate their own power, flats with vertical gardens and homes built using local supply chains are some of the projects to share in £43M of innovative housing funding in Wales.

The sponsored projects are wide ranging in innovation, size and location, and include a 225 homes development near Tonyrefail, where a c£7M investment will create the infrastructure to ensure the homes can act as power stations. Developed for Pobl Group, this is the first development in the UK at this scale.

In Burry Port, Cartrefi Croeso are building 30 homes through a £4M investment using Welsh timber, local off-site manufacturing, local labour, and feature Tŷ Solar panels manufactured in West Wales.

While a loan of £650,000 for Denbighshire Council enabled partners to establish a factory to produce timber-framed Passivhaus homes for local social landlords, Cartrefi Conwy will receive £442,000 to build 16 homes using the system. The local supply chain will provide training to local people who might otherwise face barriers to the jobs market.

A range of social housing will also be built through several council programmes, constructed using local materials, to provide affordable, flexible housing for local people.

Wales and West Housing Association will receive £839,000 to build 14 homes in Bridgend using the Solcer House model which incorporates energy efficiency and renewable technologies, and some £9M will go to Linc Cymru Housing Association to create 50 homes in a timber tower with vertical greening in Cardiff, amongst others.

Rebecca Evans said: “We are investing in our Innovative Housing Programme to reduce fuel poverty, reduce the impact of house building on the environment, and reduce the health and wellbeing inequalities which are exacerbated by poor quality housing.

“It is clear that if the scale and pace of house-building is to increase significantly, traditional approaches are unlikely to deliver on their own. Done the right way, we have an opportunity to build high quality, near zero carbon homes, capturing and boosting the skills and expertise within the Welsh construction and manufacturing industries.”

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