Member Article

Gwynedd politicians visit environmentally friendly homes

Two local politicians felt honoured to be invited to visit and see tenants’ new environmentally friendly and affordable homes at Penrhyndeudraeth, Gwynedd recently.

One of the tenants Thea Jones moved into her new Grŵp Cynefin home, one of eight houses at Isfryn, Penrhyndeudraeth, at a crucial time in her life:

“I was living in emergency housing at Porthmadog and had recently given birth to my baby daughter, Olivia,” Thea explains.

“Gwynedd Council arranged for Grŵp Cynefin’s housing officer to visit me and I was fortunate enough to be offered a new affordable home at Isfryn.

“Baby Olivia and I moved in when she was just five weeks old, and we’ve had a lovely summer here, settling into our new little nest.

“It’s ideally located for us, as my family only live ten minutes away in Blaenau.

“I’m delighted with the environmental benefits of the house and grateful to be offered such a lovely home for Olivia to develop and grow.”

The homes, four 3 bedroom houses and four 2 bedroom houses, have been developed to a high energy efficient standard, similar to the Passivhaus standard.

Dwyfor Meirionnydd AM, Dafydd Elis-Thomas with local Gwynedd Councillor for the area Gareth Thomas saw first hand how the environmentally friendly homes will assist in drastically reducing energy costs for the tenants.

The houses heat through day to day activities of the residents as specialist equipment in the attic rotates the internal air of the houses keeping the atmosphere clean, healthy and at the right temperature.

In addition as insulation levels are so high - timber framed structure, wall cavities filled with recycled newspaper and triple glazed windows; heating the buildings will be minimal.

Trystan Evans of Grŵp Cynefin explains: “We’ve also ensured that PV solar panels are placed on the roofs of the houses to create energy and the windows facing the south are larger than those to the north, so we capture the sun’s rays to assist with the heating. All in all, they should be very energy efficient homes, keeping living costs down for the new tenants.”

Welcoming the development Dafydd Elis-Thomas AM said: “I welcome the substantial investment by Grŵp Cynefin at Stad Isfryn and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity of meeting some of the families and seeing their new homes. This new housing development by Grŵp Cynefin will ensure that families will have a safe and secure place to live in energy efficient and quality housing that meet their needs.”

Councillor Gareth Thomas said: “It was a great honour to be invited to see the new development at Isfryn and seeing local people settling into comfortable, affordable and energy efficient houses. The quality of Grŵp Cynefin’s houses at Isfryn is what we need to continue to strive towards across Gwynedd, ensuring local people’s housing needs are met.”

For further details regarding GrŵpCynefin’s affordable homes contact 0300 111 2122, email taifforddiadwy@grwpcynefin.org or visit the website, www.grwpcynefin.org.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sam Harris .