9. Statement by the Minister for Housing and Regeneration: Update on Year 2 of the Innovative Housing Programme

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:05 pm on 16 October 2018.

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Photo of Rebecca Evans Rebecca Evans Labour 6:05, 16 October 2018

Thank you very much for your welcome for the statement, and also for your comments. The overall budget for the programme over the three years stands at £90 million. However, there are plenty of opportunities here for the innovative housing programme to work with other funds of money. So, the social housing grant, for example, has been used in a number of the projects that we're announcing today in order to create a package of support. Some elements will be given funding just for the innovative element, whereas others will be for a larger part of that project as well. So, there are, again, innovative ways we can look at financing the projects.

You referred to the importance of making sure that these projects really are about the whole supply chain and not just about the end delivery. There's £4 million, for example, for Cartrefi Croeso Ltd. They're building 30 homes in Burry Port. They're using Welsh timber and also local offsite manufacturing, using local labour. Also, alongside that, then, they'll be using the Tŷ Solar panels, manufactured in west Wales. So, wherever possible, there's been work going on to ensure that delivery is based on a very local footprint in order to both benefit the local economy, but also reduce that carbon footprint as much as possible. There are several great examples in the schemes that have been announced today as to how those supply chains have been sought to be made as short and as local as possible.

In terms of timber, you asked whether it is just about timber. No, there are lots of other innovative materials that are being used. So, the Stackpole infill project in Pembroke will be a system designed as an over-55s apartment block, and Welsh timber will be used there, but also clay-based paints for a low pollution, carcinogen-free environment will be used as well. So, we're trying to look at all opportunities, not just in the outer construction of the frame of the building, in order to use greener approaches, if you like.

The issue of decarbonisation of homes is a huge issue. The innovative housing programme gives us some of the answers for the future, but it certainly doesn't help us in terms of the existing housing stock we have which is, as you know, some of the oldest and least thermo-efficient housing in Europe. So, this is one of the reasons we've established the advisory group on the decarbonisation of existing homes, and we've tasked that to help us shape a programme to realise our decarbonisation ambitions in the existing housing stock. Now, that's going to involve a lot of retrofitting work, and it won't be just the part of Government to do that; this is something where we will have to work alongside mortgage lenders, planners, the construction sector but also individuals as well, so that when people are thinking of investing in their home, actually, they see investing in the energy efficiency of their home as attractive as investing in something more, perhaps, tangible, such as a new bathroom or those kinds of things. So, it is going to take a big shift, I think, in terms of people's expectations and their willingness to engage in this agenda. It's certainly a journey that we're starting along. 

Our ambition was to create 1,000 affordable homes as part of our 20,000 affordable homes through this project. What I would like to see ultimately, though, is these kinds of models of construction becoming much more mainstream. So, this isn't by any means a niche project; this is a trailblazer, really, I think, to help us revolutionise the way we build homes in Wales.