Cardiff Council is bringing forward proposals for a ground-breaking energy saving housing development in Llanederyn, on land between the Maelfa neighbourhood centre and St Teilo’s Church in Wales School.
The planning application for the proposed development has been submitted to the Local Planning Authority and the community and other stakeholders have an opportunity to comment on the proposals. A full set of plans and reports about the proposed development can be accessed via the Authority’s webpage by using the Planning Reference or searching by address at: https://www.cardiffidoxcloud.wales/publicaccess/
The Vision
This will be a highly sustainable development, embracing cutting edge energy technology to reduce its impact on the planet.
Homes will be affordable, spacious and practical for modern family life and set within a green landscape creating a healthy, attractive and safe neighbourhood.
The new low carbon neighbourhood will support more sustainable and cohesive ways of living, through attractive communal spaces, providing opportunities for walking and cycling and protecting and integrating wildlife in a green landscape inspired by and recognisably ‘Maelfa’.
The proposed development builds on the wider Maelfa regeneration, which over the past decade has seen large-scale investment in new retail, leisure and recreational facilities, as well as new homes.
The scheme will be ambitious and high quality. Through good design we will provide:
- A green and safe neighbourhood for living and raising a family.
- New affordable homes that are attractive, highly energy efficient and designed around modern families, with private gardens and plenty of storage.
- A ‘neighbourhood for nature’ that comes from ensuring up to 40% of the site remains open greenspace and includes wildlife-friendly landscape features.
- New walking and cycling routes linking the site with the wider community.
- In partnership with St Teilo’s School, the proposals will also include replacing the upper sports pitch on the site with a new all-weather pitch on the school playing fields.
The new development will provide 53 new affordable energy efficient homes, which will be mainly 2, 3 and 5 bedrooms and available to rent for people on the Council house waiting list.
The scheme will also include a small development for adults with learning difficulties. This will be staffed 24 hours a day to help residents live independently.
The scheme will incorporate cutting edge drainage technology using Sustainable Urban Drainage System (SUDS), to ensure rainwater drains naturally into the ground, helping to combat the impacts of climate change and creating a greener, more attractive place to live.
A new attractive landscape setting ensuring wildlife in the area is protected and integrated via:
Green streets – planting shrubs and design SUDs within widened verges. Tree planting will include native flowering species to create an attractive public realm and increase biodiversity.
Retain a natural green edge between Chapel Wood and the new houses – respecting the woodland edge and designed for biodiversity enhancement.
Green spaces – new green spaces created within the site providing a connected landscape for nature as well as areas for informal play, sustainable drainage and growing space. Planting and wildflower areas will provide visual interest and habitat for a diverse range of wildlife.
Integrated bird and bat boxes built into new homes – providing opportunities for wildlife to thrive alongside residents.
The project aims to be an exemplar sustainable development achieving energy efficient, low carbon homes by cutting greenhouse gas emissions to as close to zero as possible in line with best practice guidance.
To try and reduce the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere we are taking a whole life carbon approach which considers:
1. Embodied Carbon relates to the amount of carbon emissions released during the life-cycle of a building from beginning to end, including materials, construction and demolition.
2. Operational Carbon refers to the carbon emissions emitted during the in-use operation of a building.
To develop low carbon homes, we aim to:
- Minimise energy consumption with high performance fabric, air tightness and energy specifications
- Maximise the potential to use sustainable low-carbon energy (such as solar panels) to power and heat these homes.
These new homes will be green, affordable and easy to run.
To help meet ambitious operational and embodied targets new homes will aim to have:
Fabric First approach, meaning a super insulated and airtight building that will require only a minimal amount of heating.
Triple Glazing, meaning high energy performing windows.
Solar panels connected to batteries, will generate and store energy to power the new homes.
Air source heat pumps, which are a low-carbon heating technology that extracts the warmth from the air outside – even during the winter – and then uses it to keep spaces inside the home warm.
MVHR, meaning mechanical ventilation heat recovery, to allow for comfortable habitable spaces with good air quality that saves on energy.
Opportunities for electric vehicle (EV) charging points, meaning each home will be designed to be EV-ready, so that residents can be provided with charging facilities on request to charge their electric vehicle conveniently at home.
Materials, Assessing and choosing materials which have a low carbon footprint will help reduce the overall carbon footprint of the scheme.
The project will progress in four key stages (see below). We are at the start of Stage 4:
Stage 1: Survey work and information gathering: This stage involves undertaking all the necessary survey work on the site, such as trees, ecology and site condition surveys. They tell us all we need to know about the site to help shape the design of the proposed development. These were undertaken in Autumn 2021 and are now completed.
Stage 2: This involves using the survey work to identify the site opportunities and constraints and coming up with some initial ideas and early designs for the proposed development. We will get feedback on these ideas from a range of technical experts and the community to be able to develop a preferred option for the design.
Stage 3 Preferred Option (June 2023 – Spring 2024):
We have completed the Pre-application Community Consultation stage for the proposed development and the community and other stakeholders have an opportunity to comment on the proposals.
Stage 4 Planning Application (Summer 2024):
We have submitted a planning application. The community and other stakeholders will have an opportunity to comment further on the proposals at this stage.
A full set of plans and reports about the proposed development can be accessed via the Authority’s webpage by using the Planning Reference or searching by address at: https://www.cardiffidoxcloud.wales/publicaccess/
Get in touch
If you have any questions or concerns about this project, please contact us.