GUEST COLUMN:
Harry Bowen
Project manager
MWP
Building more affordable, low-energy homes in rural Wales depends on demand, good design – and also whether the right manufacturing capacity, commercial premises and skilled people are available close enough to make delivery work.
That is the challenge our family business is responding to in Newtown. MWP is a contractor and developer based in the town, working primarily in the affordable housing market.
At the moment we are delivering between 25 and 50 units, and over the last five years we have specialised in Passivhaus, an ultra-low energy building performance standard. We have worked hard to reduce the amount of embodied carbon in our projects, and that has given us a specialism in low-energy, low-carbon housing, particularly for the affordable housing sector.
One of the main components in that type of housing is the timber frame. Timber frame construction is common in this area, but the panels we use are more bespoke because they carry a lot more insulation. We have been able to source those locally, but as our work has grown we have started to stretch that specialist part of the supply chain.
We are now responding to that pressure by setting up our own timber frame factory. The idea is not to replace the local suppliers we already work with. We will continue to buy off-the-shelf elements such as floor joists and roof trusses from those businesses, because we have built strong relationships with them and they remain an important part of how we deliver.
What we want to bring in-house is the more specialised part of the process: the bespoke timber frame panels that our low-energy homes need. By manufacturing those ourselves, we can improve reliability, take pressure off suppliers and give ourselves the capacity to take on larger projects with more certainty.
There is a direct business benefit to that, but the benefit will also extend beyond us. If we can do more work, our existing suppliers can provide more of the products that sit around those bespoke panels.
Manufacturing the panels ourselves gives us the chance to innovate through different iterations, learn from each project and keep refining the way we build. In a sector where low-energy and low-carbon construction are becoming more important, that ability to develop specialist capability locally is valuable.
To make our new factory a reality we have received investment through the Mid Wales Commercial Property Investment Fund.
The fund is delivered through Growing Mid Wales, the regional partnership between Powys County Council and Ceredigion County Council, and forms part of the wider Mid Wales Growth Deal. It was set up to support established businesses to develop, extend, refurbish or repurpose commercial premises across Powys and Ceredigion, helping to strengthen commercial infrastructure and support local growth.
We bought the site as the grant was starting, with the cost close to £450,000 once legal fees were included. We’ve been successful in securing a 45% contribution from the fund, which is a significant level of support and has made a major difference to the viability of the project.
The project is currently in planning, and we have started enabling works by breaking up the existing concrete yard. We hope to start on site properly in September, and once we are under way we want to move quickly because the factory is an important part of where the business goes next.
Once the factory is up and running we will be able to create more jobs in-house. Those roles will span the full process, from the design of timber frames through to their manufacture, creating more specialised opportunities locally.
We also want to develop stronger relationships with local colleges around apprenticeships. MWP is a family business with long roots in Newtown, and as we have grown, we have felt a responsibility to help bring through the next generation locally.
That is especially important in construction, where skills shortages are a real issue. Businesses cannot simply wait for the skills pipeline to appear. We have to be part of creating it, and this project gives us a practical way to do that.
For us, the timber frame factory is about improving how we deliver low-energy, low-carbon affordable housing. It is also about building capacity in Newtown, supporting local suppliers, creating skilled jobs and giving apprentices a route into a sector that needs them.
Harry Bowen discusses the Mid Wales Commercial Property Investment Fund on Unlocking Mid Wales, the Growing Mid Wales podcast. Listen here.
