Diolch, Llywydd. I am very pleased to be able to brief Members on the second year of the innovative housing programme. The Welsh Government has prioritised Housing because prosperity is not just about material wealth, it is about every one of us having a good quality of life and living in strong, safe communities where individuals and businesses flourish. Building good-quality housing, and more of it, is fundamental to achieving these ambitions.

We're determined to increase the number of homes available, increase the rate at which they’re delivered, and improve the quality of homes built so that they're able to meet changing needs and expectations. We must also ensure that we are building not just for the tenants and the residents of today, but for future generations. We need to reduce fuel poverty, reduce the impact of house building on the environment, and reduce health and well-being inequalities, which are exacerbated by poor-quality housing. So, 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. 

Achieving our ambition will require a radically different way of working, for us and for our partners. 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. A fresh approach is required, which is why, last year, the innovative housing programme was launched. The programme aims to stimulate the design and delivery of new high-quality, affordable homes, through new housing models, new delivery pathways and new construction techniques. Organisations are challenged to develop fresh thinking for delivery sooner rather than later, to address issues such as fuel poverty and demographic change, and to help us meet our carbon reduction targets. Currently, the programme has invested in 20 new models and new approaches to building social housing and affordable homes, and 276 houses are under way and due for completion.

The level of interest in the IHP continues to grow. This year we received nearly 40 per cent more bids for funding. We also opened the programme to the private sector to submit bids, and I welcomed the positive response from a range of organisations who are prepared to join with Government in the search for future housing solutions. In total this year, 48 bids for funding were received. An independent panel was tasked with assessing the schemes to identify how far they offered the innovation and the value required for the scale of change we want to see. I'm grateful to the panel for their work, and I'm delighted to say that Welsh Government has decided to fund 26 schemes this financial year.

Subject to completing the necessary due diligence checks, I will be making available almost £43.1 million to build 657 homes. All successful applicants have been informed and a full list of the successful schemes will be on the Welsh Government website shortly.

I'd like to take this opportunity to tell you about a few of schemes that will receive investment, to give you a flavour of what we will be funding. We will be supporting a new 10-storey cross-laminated timber tower with vertical greening, creating 50 new homes in Cardiff. It shows real ambition from the housing association concerned to submit a scheme that will be a UK first. The material used is both sustainable and low carbon, and it will also have a much shorter construction phase, estimated to be only 12 weeks. We will also be funding another scheme using dowel-laminated timber, on a smaller scale, so that we can compare and contrast the two construction methods.

There will be a new factory in north Wales. We will be funding three schemes in north Wales that will together establish and support the provision of a new local factory that will deliver new local jobs and training. The timber-framed homes built at the factory will be Beattie Passive accredited, using high-performance insulation, and will be draught-free to eliminate heat loss. The factory will create homes with very low environmental impact and reduced fuel costs for tenants.

Support is being made available for a green energy model housing co-operative. We will be funding a housing co-operative from first principles development, which will see the main contractor, who is already based in Wales, building residential homes for the first time. The scheme will focus on the utilisation of green energy technologies for communal energy generation, to reduce running costs, service charges and overall carbon emissions.

There will be a large development of energy-positive homes. Investment in Parc Eirin will deliver 225 new energy-positive homes that will achieve near-zero-carbon emissions. For part of the year, the homes will be a net exporter of energy, contributing power to the national grid, and fuel poverty will be eliminated for these tenants. The scheme will demonstrate that we can deliver at scale and produce a replicable financial model for future housing development of this scale.

Support is being made available for a project involving healthcare delivery and education delivery through the medium of sustainable home construction. Six timber-frame homes will be delivered in a collaboration between a housing association, a charity and the local health board. The homes will be constructed by adults from a range of vulnerable groups, including people with traumatic brain injuries, asylum seekers, refugees and homeless people.

I'm pleased that 22 out of the 26 schemes incorporate timber into their proposals, as the Welsh Government is committed to supporting the timber industry in Wales to play a more prominent role in the construction and manufacturing of affordable homes.

Innovation is never without risk. I'm not expecting every scheme to provide the long-term solutions that we're looking for. But I know we must do something different. All the schemes will be subject to robust monitoring and evaluation so that we can learn what works best and why. This includes asking tenants and residents about their experience of what the homes are like to live in.

Turning to next year, I want the programme to push the boundaries on both the type and the scale of innovation. I expect to see more beauty in home design, more innovation in supply chains, as well as more exciting collaborations between housing associations, local authorities, private and public bodies. Only by doing this will more homes be delivered more quickly, to meet the needs and aspirations of people in Wales now and into the future.