Cabinet Secretary visits Celtic Offsite factory to launch Tai ar y Cyd

To mark the launch of the new consortium Tai ar y Cyd, Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government, Jayne Bryant MS, visited Celtic Offsite, our timber frame factory based in Caerphilly.

Celtic Offsite is a social enterprise within the United Welsh Group, one of the 23 Welsh social landlords that form the consortium.

Tai ar y Cyd have produced a groundbreaking pattern book that will help make building homes in Wales more sustainable, energy efficient and cost effective.

It includes layouts for 15 house types and 18 variants ranging from 1-bedroom flats to 4-bedroom houses to fully wheelchair accessible bungalows and flats.

The Cabinet Secretary said: “Tai ar y Cyd represents a significant step forward in our commitment to building sustainable and affordable homes here in Wales.

“We know that there is a real need for good quality and energy efficient homes across our communities and this innovative pattern book give developers the tools they need to build homes more quickly and deliver against our target of building 20,000 affordable low-carbon homes by the end of this Senedd term.

“I am proud that we have been able to support the delivery of these resources to support our local economies, increase the number of skilled jobs across Wales and increase the number of affordable homes.”

Richard Mann, Group Chief Executive of United Welsh said: “We were delighted to welcome the Cabinet Secretary to our timber frame factory, Celtic Offsite.

“The standardised housing designs from Tai ar y Cyd will enable us to be more efficient in our manufacturing processes, so we can build more homes at a faster rate for housing association and local authority partners.

We look forward to using the designs to build more much-needed homes for people to enjoy across Wales.”

The benefits of the new pattern book include higher quality homes, economic regeneration, faster construction, use of low-carbon materials, cost certainty, reduced waste, and less disruption to communities.

A design guide is also being launched to support design teams using the pattern book with designing high quality developments that complement the local area and context.

The new homes will utilise natural materials, including timber sourced from Welsh forests and manufactured in Welsh factories where possible.

The homes are also designed back-to-back to meet Welsh Development Quality Requirements and Welsh Housing Quality Standards.

This approach ensures that investment in new homes contributes to local economic regeneration by supporting local businesses and creating green jobs and training opportunities.

The pattern book and design guide will be officially unveiled on 15 January alongside partners from University of Wales Trinity Saint David.

The Celtic Offsite factory was established with £2m of investment from Welsh Government’s Innovative Housing Programme to help drive forward MMC (Modern Methods of Construction).