When it comes to building huge amounts of homes in a short amount of time, every country is starting to realize that to achieve it, they must embrace offsite and modular construction. The lack of skilled labor to build onsite housing has been a problem and will only get worse as young people are disinterested in working at a jobsite.
Plans to build 20,000 low-carbon social homes for rent in
Wales by 2026 have been set out by the Welsh government's climate change
minister.
The hope is to tackle both a housing shortage and the
nation's greenhouse gas emissions. Housing associations say it could lead to
thousands of jobs and training opportunities. All the houses will meet what the
government describes as "bold, new quality and environmental
standards".
Some could even become miniature power stations, using green
technology to generate more electricity than they need. This could then be
exported to the national grid to supply other homes.
Spending on social housing for rent in 2021-22 is to be doubled, with ministers committing £250m to the project.
Bethan Proctor, policy and external affairs manager at
Community Housing Cymru, said it was a "hugely significant" move.
"It's really going to allow housing associations to
begin to decarbonize at pace and scale and will have huge positive
impacts."
These could include the creation of 7,000 jobs, and 3,000
training opportunities and help produce almost £2bn of economic output in Wales
over the next five years, she claimed.
