- 09/06/2015
- Posted by: Joyce Watson MS
- Category: Feature
Assembly Member Joyce Watson yesterday took a tour of a revolutionary eco-housing project in Pembrokeshire.
Construction is underway on Wales’ first ‘Solar Hamlet’, in the village of Glanrhyd, in the north of the county.
Locally-based Western Solar Ltd is building six timber-clad houses – two detached and four semi-detached – on the site of a former garage. The design for the zero energy homes is based on the company’s award-winning Ty Solar prototype, located in the grounds of Rhosygilwen mansion. Once built, they will be made available to people on the housing register who have lived in the area for at least five years.
Dr Glen Peters, CEO of Western Solar, gave Mrs Watson a guided tour of three sites: Ty Solar, the hamlet and the company’s nearby eco-factory, where the buildings are partly constructed before being assembled on site.
The Labour Mid and West AM is a member of the National Assembly’s Environment and Sustainability Committee. She said:
“I am very grateful to Dr Peters for inviting me to see first-hand how this exciting project is progressing. It represents big thinking on a small scale – a new model of high-tech, low-cost, low-energy, affordable housing for Wales.
“The environment committee recently visited Vauban in Freiburg, Germany, a sustainable neighbourhood of 5,000 residents, to learn how experiences in Germany could be relevant to Wales. My visit to Ty Solar will help inform our inquiry.”
As well as benefitting from free energy, occupants of the Ty Solar homes will be offered a suite of services including superfast broadband and a subsidised electric car share scheme.
Mrs Watson chairs the Assembly’s construction cross-party group of AMs. She added:
“There are lots of ground-breaking design features and techniques involved in the construction of these homes. The project is providing high-quality, high-skilled work and training opportunities for local people; I was particularly pleased to learn that much of the pre-assembly work in the factory is being done by a team of apprentices, which the Welsh Government has supported with £141,000 investment.”
Further details regarding the availability of the units will be published later in the year.
For more information about Joyce Watson AM’s work, contact her office on 0300 200 7092 / [email protected] / www.joycewatson.org.uk
