Housing development to get underway at former High School site in Rumney

National contractor and developer, Wates Residential has been formally appointed to deliver the next phases of its 10 year ‘Cardiff Living’ partnership with Cardiff Council to deliver 1,500 homes across the city by 2027 to help tackle growing housing demand.

At least 40 per cent of the new homes being developed across the city as part of the next phases will be earmarked for rent from the Council or for sale via the authority’s assisted home ownership scheme.

The first new developments are due to start on site this Autumn and include the largest single Cardiff Living development to date at the former Eastern High School site in Rumney, comprising 214 new homes including 44 Community Living  flats for older people at Addison House. This state of the art building will be the first of the new Community Living schemes that the Council is building as part of the Older Person’s Strategy for the city.

In August 2019 Wates Residential, Sero Energy and Cardiff Councilannounced that the former Eastern High Scheme had secured over £4m of Innovative Housing Programme (IHP)Grant funding from Welsh Government. The scheme will be providing ground source heat pumps and solar PV and batteries on all units, excellent thermally efficient buildings, and electric charging points across the site. Sero Energy will provide an innovative, on-site grid energy management system.

IHP funding of £1.4 million has also been secured for Croft Street in Plasnewydd to provide a highly energy-efficient modular system which will be designed and manufactured off-site in controlled conditions using the latest technology and construction materials.

The Council is aiming to install ground source heat pumps and solar PV and batteries on all of its new units in the next phase, as well improving the fabric of the buildings. As well as working towards a zero carbon future, the technology will ensure annual heating bills are lower for residents, helping to reduce fuel poverty.

Since the formation of Cardiff Living in 2016, the partnership has completed a total of 343 homes, at 7 locations across the city including 172  private sale homes at Captain’s View and Captain’s Walk in Llanrumney, Silvervale Park in St Mellons, Walker House in Llanishen and Ty To Maen in Old St Mellons.  The programme has also completed 171 affordable homes at all of the above sites as well as new homes at Snowden Road and Wilson Road in Ely, Ty Newydd in Caerau and Mount Pleasant Lane in Llanrumney.

Work is continuing on Briardene in Gabalfa and Silvervale Park, while work is due to commence on the final phase 1 sites at Highfields, Heath and Llandudno Road, Rumney shortly.

The award-winning partnership has also been recognised with a number of awards throughout the first phase of works. This includes a What House Gold Award for Captain’s View in Llanrumney which was recognised as ‘Best Starter Home Scheme’ and winner of the best Residential scheme at the RICS Social Impact Awards 2020.

As part of the partnership, Cardiff Council and Wates Residential have made a joint pledge to create employment and training opportunities for local residents. Over the first four years, Cardiff Living has invested over £567,000 in the local community through social value activities. This includes the creation of 71 on-site apprenticeships, 147 work experience placements and a ‘Building Futures’ programme providing construction and employment skills training for unemployed adults.

In 2019 Wates Residential also secured a £20,000 grant from Wates Giving, the charitable arm of the Wates Family Enterprise Trust, to run a pre-employment course in Cardiff with the School of Hard Knocks. The charity uses rugby to help young people who are furthest from the job market in developing life and employability skills.

Edward Rees, Regional Director for Wates Residential, said: “Since 2015, our award-winning partnership with Cardiff Council has delivered 426 much-needed new homes for local people across Cardiff. These new homes are an exemplar for high quality, sustainable new housing that people can be proud to live in.

“Starting the process for the next two phases of the programme is an exciting step forward for Cardiff Living and we look forward to delivering new homes in innovative ways and working with the surrounding communities as we begin work over the coming months.”

Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities, Cllr Lynda Thorne said:“The Cardiff Living scheme is an important strand of our ambitious housing development strategy to deliver more affordable homes in the city. Phase one has created beautiful new council homes to help us meet demand as well as private sale properties that really are affordable.

“One of the focuses of Cardiff Living has always been to improve on Building Control standards for energy efficient buildings and we’re aiming to bring forward the proposed 2025 standards now in the exciting developments in the pipeline.

“We’re delighted to be continuing the partnership with Wates Residential and can look forward to utilising innovative construction methods and sustainable technologies to create high quality homes fit for the future.”