BID FOR MORE ECO HOMES BID FOR MORE ECO HOMES
TWO new social housing projects in Swansea have taken a step forward.
The energy-efficient schemes at Colliers Way, Portmead, and Parc yr Helig in Birchgrove will be funded and built by Swansea Council. Planning applications for both sites have been submitted and a decision is expected early next month. The aim is for work to start on site shortly after that.
Councillor Andrea Lewis, cabinet member for homes and energy, said: “The council is working extremely hard to ensure we can keep up the momentum with the creation of new council homes in Swansea.”
The timber-framed development at Colliers Way, formerly known as Milford Way, will comprise eight flats and 10 semi-detached houses.
The layout will take advantage of westerly views towards the Loughor Estuary.
It follows on from the completion of 18 council properties on Colliers Way last year - the first such council housing scheme in the city for decades.
A further 12 flats and four two-bed properties are also set to be built by the council on land east of Parc yr Helig.
The authority has secured £1.5 million of Welsh Government funding to install features such as solar panels and battery storage at the new properties.
Although the houses and flats will meet the socalled Swansea Standard in terms of energy efficiency, they will not quite match the first 18 completed at Colliers Way. These were built to a Passivhaus standard and only needed radiators on the ground floor. But groundwork costs, like at many housebuilding sites, proved an issue and came in at just under £646,000.
Mrs Lewis said she looked forward to the next phase at Colliers Way being developed as soon as possible, and added that a retrofit scheme was under way at a row of six council-owned bungalows in Craigcefnparc.
This will result in new heating systems, and the addition of battery storage and solar panels.
Such work is part of a City Deal project for the Swansea Bay region, called Homes as Power Stations.
Mrs Lewis said: “We have identified a small number of homes that we feel are ideal for trialling the Homes as Power Stations concept.
“The more traditional refurbishment work the council is carrying out will mean the homes will also be warmer, leading to significantly lower energy bills for the tenants.”