The Welsh Conservative Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Energy and Rural Affairs – Janet Finch-Saunders MS – has urged the Welsh Government to confront a fall in Welsh housing completion rates by adopting green tech solutions.
Mrs Finch-Saunders used a speech to a virtual Plenary session of the Welsh Parliament to urge the administration to not stand in the way of new home building innovations, including computer-controlled off-site manufacturing. Her speech comes during Wales Climate Week 2020. Nearly 50 percent of construction industry clients expect the use of offsite construction to increase over the next five years.
Commenting, Mrs Saunders said:
“It is a sad fact that the Welsh Labour-led Government have failed to address the nation’s housing crisis. Third quarter statistics have revealed that there was a 17-percent decrease in new home registrations across Wales, when compared to the same period last year. There was also a five-percent drop in new home completions, when comparing year on year.
“This issue can be confronted by adopting new home building innovations, including computer-controlled off-site manufacturing. But the Welsh Government are standing in the way of this adoption. Four hundred new MMC affordable homes are due to be delivered this year, but I understand that social landlords submitted IHP bids comprising over 850 MMC homes.
“Why is the success rate for these applications not higher? We should become a world leader in providing affordable MMC homes, blending new technology with traditional materials, so that these buildings play their part in supporting and promoting Welsh resources, such as slate and wool.
“By supporting technical innovations that produce homes which are carbon neutral or carbon passive, the concern over housing stock can be confronted head on. Actions speak much louder than words, after all. It can also be an economic lifeline throughout our Coronavirus recovery, as we know that the pandemic has hit our young adults and apprentices very hard.
“Indeed, the Chartered Institute of Housing Cymru have called for a workforce strategy to future proof the housing sector. By further adopting these tech-driven solutions, we will generate a swathe of long-term green collar jobs, helping workers to develop a raft of new skills, so as to ensure that Wales is primed for a more sustainable future.”
