Wates Construction has completed 36 new affordable homes in Deeside and Penyffordd, as part of Flintshire County Council’s £50m landmark regeneration scheme.
The schemes at Dobshill, Penyffordd and Garden City, Deeside, are the latest phase of Flintshire County Council’s landmark Strategic Housing and Regeneration Programme (SHARP) partnership, which aims to deliver 500 new affordable homes over five years, and marks the council’s first housebuilding activity in over three decades.
At Dobshill, Wates has completed 24 new one-, two- and three-bed homes for the council, while at Garden City, 12 new one- and two-bed apartments have been built across two, two-storey blocks. Both schemes have been designed and delivered to Welsh Design Quality Requirements (WDQR) and Lifetime Homes standards, and are set to revitalise Flintshire’s supply of affordable housing.
Construction has now completed on both projects, with Wates working carefully to ensure they were delivered safely in line with social distancing throughout the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The two developments represent a £5m investment from Flintshire County Council as part of SHARP regeneration programme, designed to bring high-quality homes to the region while providing job opportunities for local supply chain partners. At Dobshill and Garden City Wates’ total spend for contractors within 50 miles was in excess of £3.5m.
As the council’s lead development partner for this framework, Wates has already delivered more than 180 affordable homes in Flint, Shotton, Leeswood, Connah’s Quay, Penyffordd (Holywell) and Mold under the programme and is currently building a further 26 units at Maes Gwern, Mold.
All projects have been used to support educational initiatives in the region too. In the last year with SHARP, Wates has delivered 892 training weeks, eight work placements, four career advice events, 385 apprenticeship weeks, seven community benefit activities and 16 additional jobs have been created.
Dave Saville, Business Unit Director for Wates Construction in the North West, said:
“We’ve worked alongside Flintshire County Council for five years now delivering SHARP and have seen first-hand how this programme is revitalising the region – through increasing housing provision, creating job opportunities, and acting as an important education tool for young people to learn construction skills.
“Much of our most critical works at Dobshill and Garden City were delivered throughout the challenging Covid-19 pandemic. I’d like to thank the hard work and ingenuity of our teams and supply chain to completing these projects safely and to the same high standard we always pride ourselves on. We look forward to delivering our next tranche of affordable schemes over the coming months as part of our ongoing partnership with Flintshire County Council.”
Flintshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Housing, Councillor Dave Hughes, said:
“SHARP continues to deliver high quality homes which are much needed in Flintshire. This Council is committed to delivering the benefits of SHARP to different communities in Flintshire and support the Welsh Government in achieving its target of 20,000 new homes across Wales by 2021.”
The next phase of SHARP will see Wates deliver a further 71 homes for Flintshire County Council, across three sites – Ffordd Pandarus and Ffordd Hiraethog in Mostyn, and Nant Y Gro in Gronant – with local construction suppliers recently invited to a virtual Meet The Buyer event to find out more on how they can support.
