THREE blocks flats in Llanelli are getting a £2.5 million makeover which the housing association which owns them said will cut residents’ energy bills and be better for the environment.
The retrofit project at Sunny Hill includes external wall insulation and replacement windows for 32 one and two-bedroom flats, plus new heating systems and solar panel and battery installation. There’ll also be new entrance canopies, metal railings, trees, shrubs and grasses.
The application by Pobl Group, with support from Pentan Architects, has been approved by Carmarthenshire Council and will be funded by the Welsh Government, through its optimised retrofit programme, and Pobl Group.
Detailed plans are being finalised with contractors, Pobl Group said, with work expected to start just before or after Christmas.
Patrick Stone, head of assets at Pobl Group, which manages more than 23,000 properties, said: “Making our homes greener is an important part of our overall efforts to reduce the impact of climate change across Wales, and the support of Welsh Government via its optimised retrofit programme is enabling us to tackle the challenge. Our goal is to make our homes more environmentally and financially sustainable.”
Jayne Bryant, Wales’s cabinet secretary for housing and local government, said: “The work Pobl is undertaking to decarbonise and upgrade existing homes is fantastic and I welcome their plans for Sunny Hill.”
She said the retrofit programme supported the social housing sector decarbonise homes and that nearly £260 million has been invested.
She added: “It is vital that the 2020s is a decade of decarbonisation for housing and I can’t wait to see the homes when they’re completed next year.”