New council houses completed in West Cross

Swansea Council is putting the finishing touches to a set of six brand new semi-detached bungalows at a site in West Cross known as the Circle.

The latest new council homes to be developed by the council are part of a wider plan to introduce new council housing in the city and help tackle the homelessness issues identified in the area.

The state-of-the-art homes are being funded through a grant from the Welsh Government along with money collected through council rent fees.

During the pandemic, the Council secured more than £5.4 million from the Welsh Government to provide up to 80 units in the city to tackle homelessness. Some of this funding (£763,000) was used to develop the six new bungalows.

Further funding from the Innovative Housing Programme (IHP) was invested in the new homes so that they benefit from energy saving technology including battery storage, ground source heating, thicker wall cavities and solar panelled roofs.

The homes were built by the Council’s Building Services team, helped along by a team of apprentices, who developed new skills in working with modern energy related construction methods.

A special handover ceremony recently took place which helped mark the ending of the construction phase.  

Swansea Council Leader Rob Stewart was joined by Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Service Transformation, Cllr Andrea Lewis to view the properties along with local councillors and staff from the Council’s Housing and Building Services teams.

Cllr Stewart said: “It’s fantastic to see what’s been achieved at Cherry Blossom Lane, with the efforts by our own Building Services, who have almost completed the next generation of council homes.

“These new homes will be available for council tenants to move into shortly and include all the technology to keep the homes warm and make it possible to have very low energy bills.

“I believe these homes exceed the quality of homes you can find on the open market – they’re fantastic.

“This helps us build on our commitment to build a 1,000 new homes in the next few years.”

Cllr Lewis, said: “I’m so impressed with the standard of construction of these new homes. This is a credit to our in-house Building Services Team along with the apprentices that have worked on this development.

“We’ve already got tenants lined up, ready to hand over the keys to them and I’m sure they’ll be delighted when they move in.

“This is the latest scheme and follows on the heels of schemes in Blaenymaes, Birchgrove and Clase, all of which feature similar energy saving technology.

Part of the new development at West Cross also includes the creation of a large boundary wall which circles the six properties. The wall has been created using stone, excavated from an earlier house building scheme in Clase.

Cllr Lewis added: “Part of our philosophy in creating new homes is making the most of the funding we have and also looking at ways to reuse materials from other sites.

“The boundary wall at the Circle is not only an essential part of the development, it also provides an attractive feature at the rear of the properties. I’m pleased we have been able to make good use of the materials recovered from our other developments.”