Welsh minister announces Innovative Housing Programme

The Welsh Housing and Local Government Minister, Julie James, announced the allocation of £30M to innovative housing projects in Wales as part of a £90M Innovative Housing Programme fund to test new approaches to social and affordable housing.

One of the projects to receive a proportion of the funding includes the construction of 76 homes in Ruthin by the ClwydAlyn housing association which have the potential to produce a net whole life carbon expulsion figure of zero, with the use of renewable energy offsetting any carbon produced in the building process. These homes will feature air source heat pumps, solar power, and intelligent batteries, meaning that the cost of heating and lighting is predicted to be less than £80 per year.

In addition to this, a project to deliver 17 homes in Chepstow, Monmouthshire, for first time buyers, by the local housing association will receive a proportion of the £30M fund, as will a project in Cardiff to construct 214 low carbon homes which will be a mixture of both council housing and market housing.

And finally, an amount of funding will be designated for the Swansea Council to aid in the construction of 25 new homes to the ‘Swansea Standard’, which includes a low carbon, energy efficient specification with solar panels, designed to achieve low running costs for tenants.

Minister James stated: “We face serious challenges in Wales, in terms of responding to the climate emergency and also delivering more affordable housing. This programme offers us the chance to develop homes with low fuel bills to tackle fuel poverty, homes designed and built with a low carbon impact in mind, and homes that can evolve with their households.

“We have an opportunity to deliver affordable, high-quality homes that meet all these challenges, which reduce the impact of housebuilding on the environment, and that can be built at scale to meet the needs of our communities.

“Good quality, beautiful houses are so important to people’s lives. I look forward to seeing these projects develop and to seeing the finished builds become homes.”

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