Celtic Horizons trainees welcomed at Cwm Ifor site in Caerphilly

Eight trainees have joined the team at Celtic Horizons to develop new homes at the site of the former Cwm Ifor Primary School in Penyrheol.

After a recruitment drive to support people who have experienced long-term unemployment and former military personnel to return to work, eight trainees have started on site to help build 19 homes using the Beattie Passive modular building method.

The Cwm Ifor development has received funding and support from the Welsh Government’s Innovative Housing Fund to deliver highly insulated, energy efficient homes, with United Welsh working in partnership with Caerphilly Council and Kingfisher Developments.

Ryan Hill, Customer Employment Manager for United Welsh said:

“We are delighted to welcome the trainees to the Cwm Ifor site; six of whom are United Welsh tenants.

“These placements are helping local people to return to work; teaching certified, innovative skills that can be carried through into the trainees’ new construction careers.

“Thank you to our employment partners and our Employability Mentors for their work in supporting, preparing and equipping each trainee to make the most of this opportunity.”

Passivhaus is an advanced low energy construction standard for buildings. By using high performance insulation and making a building completely draught free, it effectively eliminates heat loss to create a building with very low environmental impact.

As well as creating valuable new job opportunities, the Cwm Ifor development is also enabling Celtic Horizons, as United Welsh’s repairs and maintenance subsidiary, to learn new methods of construction that will help us to achieve our plans of delivering many more energy efficient homes in the coming years.

Alan Rogers, Managing Director of Celtic Horizons said:

“Using a Beattie Passive Flying Factory, Celtic Horizons are building in the heart of Caerphilly, constructing Passivhaus homes in a fast, efficient way.

“Modular buildings can be developed in a shorter period of time in comparison to traditional building methods, but there are also real, long-term benefits for the tenants moving in.

“The homes will require little energy for heating or cooling, resulting in reduced energy bills and low carbon emissions for a greener community.”

The Cwm Ifor development will see the creation of 12 one-bedroom apartments, 4 two-bedroom homes and 3 three-bedroom houses.

United Welsh provides over 6,000 homes across 11 local authorities in South Wales, and after delivering more than 1,000 homes in the past five years, we intend to build at least 1,300 in the next five.