Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I am very pleased to provide Members with an update on year 4 of the innovative housing programme, which has focused on bringing forward more homes built using modern methods of construction, or MMC homes, as they are known. 

This year, more than ever, IHP will be at the forefront of building hundreds of homes to support our green recovery, investing in Welsh small and medium-sized enterprises, Welsh supply chains and local Welsh jobs. Over the last few years, IHP has been at the vanguard of transforming house-building norms across the UK. This year, the programme is designed to challenge how we traditionally construct homes—in muddy, wet fields—by building them in safe, dry factories instead.  

I’ve therefore coined the phrase ‘MMC/modular special’ to sum up this year’s IHP theme. In practice, it means IHP is a targeted investment fund, testing the manufacture of affordable homes at increased scale and pace. This year, more than any other, we recognise the vital contribution that publicly funded, green house building brings to our communities. To this end, I am pleased to say we have managed to secure additional funding for MMC homes as part of our national post-pandemic recovery plans.

We are determined that IHP-funded homes will strive to maximise the social, economic and well-being gains from every single pound the programme invests. One way of achieving this is to ensure that my MMC special creates order-book certainty for Welsh producers.  This is essential if these businesses are to confidently invest in creating more jobs—more local jobs—more apprenticeships and more training opportunities. Ripples from IHP investment will be felt in local Welsh construction and manufacturing supply chains, supporting the foundational economy of Wales and retaining the positive benefits of our investment within our communities.

Turning to this year’s applications, IHP is once again significantly oversubscribed, demonstrating continuing strong appetite by social landlords to build affordable housing schemes with MMC in all corners of Wales. This year, £35 million of IHP investment will deliver 400 new MMC affordable homes, adding to the 1,400 homes funded by the programme to date. In Wales, we are fortunate to have an experienced and capable construction and MMC supply chain to build the homes we need. So, I am particularly delighted that all of this year’s successful IHP schemes are backing Welsh business by deploying Welsh MMC producers and their local supply chains to deliver IHP homes.

The type of schemes we are funding include £3.5 million for Tai Tarian. They will build 55 new homes and retrofit 72 existing ones in Port Talbot to increase energy efficiency and reduce tenants' fuel bills. The new homes will be built locally in Neath Port Talbot by their local family-run MMC partner. Elsewhere, £3 million of IHP funding has been awarded to Pobl Group to build over 90 social homes in Blaenau Gwent by a Valleys-based MMC producer, using timber-frame design and including measures to ensure the houses will be zero carbon.

I am particularly excited to announce funding for a collaborative bid from a consortium of social landlords to provide over 100 much-needed new social homes across four sites in north Wales. This bid meets our ambition for a green housing-led recovery, using Welsh timber and a Welsh MMC manufacturer, opening up opportunities for local job creation and business expansion. This is a perfect example of how this Government’s desire to build back greener will provide guaranteed work for businesses, create new skilled jobs in parts of rural Wales and contribute to our well-being of future generations ambitions.

In total, social landlords submitted IHP bids comprising over 850 MMC homes. This represents a potentially game-changing level of housing demand for the MMC industry in Wales. So, with a view to capitalising on future funding opportunities, officials will work over the coming months with unsuccessful bidders to develop their schemes and bring more MMC housing to fruition. Working up a healthy pipeline of MMC homes is important. Manufacturing homes in factories means that new affordable homes can continue to be built, regardless of the Welsh weather or the impact of a pandemic, ensuring the delivery of a stable supply of homes in unstable economic times.

We are witnessing a shift away from doing things the way we have always done them and challenging the norm: a mindset IHP has championed over the years. It's my intention to mainstream and normalise MMC as a proven and fundamental part of standard development pipelines. And this is what makes this 'MMC special' really special, because building more MMC improves our ability to capture and retain more of the social and economic benefits of house building within Wales, as well as to help building greener homes, which are better for our people and better for our planet. Diolch.