First new innovative Caerphilly Council homes completed

Work has been completed on the first new homes being developed by Caerphilly County Borough Council, as part of an innovative housing pilot programme.

The six new one-bedroom apartments, developed on the site of the former 49 Club in Trecenydd, are the first homes to be built by the Council in almost 20 years.

All homes on the development have been constructed to Passivhaus standard, consisting of very high levels of insulation, extremely high-performance windows with insulated frames, airtight building fabric and a mechanical heat ventilation system.  As well as helping to lower carbon emissions, these buildings will result in low energy costs for tenants and contribute towards housing need in the county borough.

The Council is the first in Wales to develop homes to Passivhaus standard using a unique innovative steel primaframe design.  The project has been developed in partnership with experienced construction company Willmott Dixon and local Ystrad Mynach based steel manufacturer Caledan.

Funding of £3.1 million has been provided from Welsh Government’s Innovative Housing Programme to support the project, which will also see another twelve one-bedroom Passivhaus development at Llanfabon Drive, Trethomas.

Members of the local community were invited to view the completed properties recently at a special event, where the homes were officially handed over to the Council from the team at Willmott Dixon.

Cllr Shayne Cook, the Council’s Cabinet Member for Housing, said “This is a huge milestone for us in delivering our ambitious council house building programme and I’d like to thank everyone involved in achieving this.

The quality of these new homes is exceptional and their innovative design will make sure fuel bills for future tenants will be kept to a minimum, which is crucial amidst rising energy costs and the current cost of living crisis.

Our aim is to use this pilot programme as a blueprint for future developments and I look forward to welcoming our new tenants into their homes.”

Ian Jones, Director at Willmott Dixon said, “Working in collaboration with Caerphilly County Borough Council, we’re very proud to see the completion of the homes at Trecenydd.   The innovative manufacturing techniques that have been used have enabled us to deliver low-energy, state of the art homes to the borough which will help to tackle fuel poverty and provide high quality homes for the tenants.”