After months of planning and hard work, The Willows, Llangollen, will soon be home to new tenants after more than 20 years lying empty and derelict.
The Grade II listed, 3 storey town house, is being turned into 3 self contained apartments, providing much needed affordable rented accommodation for the Llangollen community as part of the Denbighshire Empty Homes Project, which is run in partnership with North Wales Housing Association.
As part of the refurbishment works, the developer, Castlemead Homes Ltd, will be providing training opportunities for young people – and given the building’s listed status, this will provide trainees with experience of heritage skills such as lime rendering and plastering.
The project was made possible with funding from Social Housing Grant from the Welsh Assembly Government, Department of Environment, Sustainability & Housing, Denbighshire’s Commuted Sums Ring-fenced for Affordable Housing in Llangollen, CADW Historic Buildings Grant and North Wales Housing Private Finance. North Wales Housing bought The Willows for £1 from Castlemead on the agreement that Castlemead would be employed to carry out the refurbishment work.
Local Councillor Rhys Hughes said: “The renovation of this building is important to the community of Llangollen in many ways.
“It provides good quality affordable housing for tenants but also improves the visual amenity of the town as the Willows holds a prominent position at the entrance to Willow Street.”
Cabinet Lead member for Regeneration with responsibility for housing, Councillor David Thomas, added:”The Willows is a flagship for the Denbighshire Empty Homes Project which has been shortlisted for a national award. I wish our officers the best of luck at the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) Welsh Housing Awards ceremony on 26th November.
