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 6:17 pm on 16 October 2018.

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Photo of Rebecca Evans Rebecca Evans Labour 6:17, 16 October 2018

Thank you very much for your questions and for your enthusiasm for the project in your constituency, which is obviously going to be a UK first—it's really exciting to have those vertical gardens and so on. You refer to it as a project that is regenerating the area, and what I think is particularly exciting about the innovative housing programme is that it's not innovative housing in a bubble; it's innovative housing as part of our wider Welsh Government agenda. So, the £1.9 million for Newydd Housing Association to build 23 homes as part of the Goods Shed development in Barry will actually include spaces for start-up businesses along the same lines of that which we see in the TramShed, which, if anyone's had the opportunity to visit, is a fantastic regeneration project, and it's the same people behind that that will be undertaking that particular project. Also, one of the projects in north Wales will be making adaptable, moveable pods, built to passive house standards, for single occupancy by homeless people. So, this is addressing some of our urgent need for intermediate housing for people who are currently rough-sleeping. So, that's another exciting project. And, of course, the over-55s apartments that I referred to earlier again are about creating houses that are appropriate for people as they get into older age and as needs change, and so on. We have, again, a dearth of appropriate housing for older people. So, this really is about trying to ensure that we're linking up across Government in terms of achieving more than one thing with this innovative project.

Timber is involved in 22 of the projects. People always tell us that you can't build houses with Welsh timber, but I think this project is certainly proving that not to be the case. We certainly know that, alongside using the timber in the projects we have, in parallel there's work going on at several universities that is showing what can be done in terms of treating Welsh timber in order to strengthen it so it can be used in even greater amounts in Welsh housing as well.

On the issue of building regs, I'm afraid that's the responsibility of my colleague, and I will ask her to write to you with the assurance that you're seeking.