6. What plans does Welsh Government have to build on the successes of the innovative housing fund? OAQ54838

This year, the programme was heavily oversubscribed, demonstrating a real appetite amongst the Welsh housing sector to build homes in new and creative ways. I have therefore made £20 million available to support Welsh SMEs to innovatively produce more homes, and we're considering further programme funding.

A couple of weeks ago, I visited Ebwy Court in Ely, as part of a committee inquiry into fuel poverty. And the one and two-bedroomed homes that were about to be occupied by the new residents were an amazing example of what can be done with timber frame-build homes, mainly fabricated in a factory. This project was completed two months in advance of the projected date, and the zero-carbon housing, which is fuelled by both photovoltaics and boreholes of ground source heat pumps, will provide really affordable homes for people. There were lots of other exciting features as well, including the bicycle shed, and the option for growing their own vegetables. 

But, I just wanted to know, given the success of these projects and just how popular they're going to be, what success, if any, you've had with persuading the six big house builders to stop building the out-of-date, twentieth century stuff that they continue to build and, instead, build these zero-carbon homes, which are just going to be so much more suitable for all residents?

Yes, I couldn't agree more. It's quite possible for private house builders to build near zero-carbon homes. Year 2 of our innovative housing programme was opened up to private companies in order to demonstrate that they can do it, and they have indeed demonstrated that they can do it, and we have a large number of houses across Wales, supported by the IHP programme, demonstrating different ways of arriving at zero carbon. We also have demonstrators for modular house building, sustainable house building, using Welsh timber, Welsh supply chains, zero carbon in the supply chain and in the eventual demolition—so, a whole-life zero-carbon house. 

You'll have heard me speaking very often about my concerns regarding the quality of homes being built by some of the big private home builders, and, indeed, many of them have customers that are very concerned and speaking loudly to them about it. By the end of next year, we will, I hope, have revised the Part L requirements for house builders in Wales. Social housing is leading the way in that and sets the standard, but I'm pushing hard to ensure that we have harmonisation of standards because I think that's the game changer. So, if we can pass through this Senedd the regulations that mean that we set the standard the same for all tenures of house for new builds in Wales, then we will have gone a long way to achieving zero carbon in our house building programme for the future. 

I concur with the points made by Jenny Rathbone. I think that, in the area of zero-carbon homes, Wales really can make a lead in this area if we want to. Minister, the innovative housing fund has enabled Monmouthshire Housing Association to carry on their excellent work, developing two innovative housing sites in Chepstow, working in partnership with the Welsh School of Architecture, and this comes after a previous project in my constituency in Abergavenny.

Monmouthshire Housing Association's latest development will provide flexible, sustainable living for downsizers and first-time occupiers. This housing association that I've mentioned has a track record of providing sustainable innovative housing. How are you ensuring, where good practice carried out by this housing association is happening in one part of Wales, that that good practice is being harnessed? And, as it is a product of the fund that you are providing for housing associations and councils across Wales, how are you spreading that across Wales to make sure that people from all parts of Wales can benefit from it? 

Yes, there are several good projects. I visited the step-down project only very recently and spoke to a gentleman living there who was extremely enthusiastic about all of the benefits of having gone into a much more sustainable house, including the community around him. So, it's important to remember that these are people's homes. It's not just about the fabric of the building; it's about the community around them as well. So, I concur it was a really good interesting project. It's putting a smile on my face just remembering the conversations that we had there. 

What we're doing, as a result of the affordable housing review, is we're looking at the way that we use social housing grants in Wales to drive various outcomes, one of which is long-term sustainable near zero-carbon housing, and what we can do to use our levers in order to assist housing associations to build the kinds of houses that we want for the future. The whole point of the innovative housing programme is to de-risk some of the more innovative models to see if they work, and then, if they do work, to scale them up.

So, in this next tranche of innovative housing, we're looking to see if we can scale some of the successes. So, the programmes you have spoken of there are relatively small builds. What we want to see now is if we can do that on a 175-site or whatever. So, the next stage is to scale it up one more leg and then to see if we can scale it up altogether, and there'll be more than one model for that. Several of them have worked out really well. So, that's the next tranche of our programme.