A revolutionary new eco-friendly building technique is being pioneered in North Wales thanks to a housing association’s major renovation of former council properties.
Cartrefi Conwy is engaged in a £30 million renovation of almost 4,000 former Conwy Council properties and now a ground-breaking partnership with British Gas is providing a unique opportunity for Llandrillo College’s building students.
Two of their first year plastering students have become the first from North Wales to be trained in a new external insulation technique which is giving a new lease of life to many post war properties.
Fifty bungalows in Rhos on Sea’s Elwy Drive and Victor Wilde Drive are having an extra insulating outer skin fitted by the renovation project’s main contractors, G Purchase Ltd.
Working alongside Cartrefi Conwy’s contractors on the new insulation are college students Richard Bell, 23, from Rhyl, and Matthew Thomas, 19, from Colwyn Bay, and Mike Rutter, Cartrefi Conwy Contracts Manager, said: “It’s giving these students an opportunity they would never otherwise have had because this is the first time this technique has been used in North Wales.
“We have a number of this type of property, which are prefabricated concrete and single skin so cavity wall insulation can’t be done because there’s no cavity.
“This is something which these students would probably never even have seen before never mind learned how to do and it gives them an important extra skill when they go out into the jobs market.
“From our point of view government legislation means all properties have to be insulated by 2050. Where homes are made of stone or are single brick with no cavity we’ve had to find an effective alternative to ensure they are brought up to standard.”
The products used in the insulating process are made by industry giants Rockwool and Steve Williams, Project Manager for G Purchase Ltd, said: “These students are the first from North Wales to be trained to use this special rendering.
“We have had them here on work experience and we’ve sent them to the Rockwool College in Bridgend to be trained in its use and then they’ve come back here to us and had first hand experience in applying it.
“There is a layer of insulation fitted to the exterior of the building, a netting coat, a base coat and a primer coat which is cement-based with a pigment and then a final coat to finish it.
“These two lads have done very well and it’s definitely an extra skill for them to have – the college in Bridgend told us they train very few students from North Wales.”
Student Matthew Thomas said: “The course has gone very well and it’s been very interesting to learn this new technique and to have the chance to actually use it on site.
“It’s brilliant the way it works by fitting the insulation to the exterior of the house and then applying the render on top of that and to be the first in North Wales to be able to do it is a bit special too.”
Daryle Brackenbury, lecturer in plastering at Llandrillo College, said: “It’s a great opportunity for these students to gain a placement locally and learn an important new skill and have the chance to apply it.
“We’re very pleased at how it’s working out and how well they are picking it up and if we’ve got people with these skills in North Wales then there’s no need to bring people in from elsewhere.”
The programme of new insulation rendering has been backed by funding from the Community Energy Savings Programme arranged by British Gas and Steve Currey, of British Gas, said: “There are lots of these types of houses about, solid wall properties, with just a single skin and no cavity, and built either of concrete, brick or stone construction, particularly in rural areas.
“This is the only way of insulating them so we are keen to encourage this process to bring them up to a good standard of insulation.”
The final coat of render actually comes in a selection of colours and Cartrefi Conwy’s Mike Rutter added: “We held an open day for our tenants to explain how the system works and to allow them to choose which colour to have their home finished in. The houses certainly look good and they’re a lot warmer as well – some tenants have already reported that they have had to turn their heating thermostats down because their homes are so much warmer.”
