Work by Adra Housing Association on 40 of homes on the Pensyflog estate in Porthmadog is ongoing, with the investment including new solar panels and external insulation work which will help to save energy and financial costs.

Adra officials welcomed the leader and deputy leader of Gwynedd Council to Pensyflog to update them on progress with the scheme. Work started in September 2022, and all the homes will receive external wall insulation work, with most also having work on fences and paths.

Thanks to funding from the Welsh Government’s Optimisation Retrofit Programme, the houses are receiving new roofs and solar panels with a battery that will store energy, set up to help registered social landlords to reduce the carbon footprint of their existing social housing.

Iwan Trefor Jones, deputy chief executive of Adra, said: “We are extremely proud of the work that is going on in Pensyflog and this standard work has been carried out by our own in-house contractors, Tîm Trwsio. This work of decarbonising homes to reduce the carbon footprint is extremely important to us at Adra. We want our homes to be of good quality and be able to produce energy in a way that saves our tenants money, especially during these difficult financial times.

“And this work is part of a wider programme of investment in our existing housing stock, as well as our commitment to building new quality homes across parts of North Wales. That commitment has been highlighted in our Corporate Plan and it is great to see developments like the work in Pensyflog making a big difference to families who live there”.

Council leader Cllr Dyfrig Siencyn said: “I was pleased to hear about Adra’s work on the Pensyflog estate. The fact that Adra employs a local workforce to work on the estate is to be commended, as well as the fact they use contractors and external providers from North West Wales to support the work. It is important that renovation projects like this use local resources so that the investment keeps the pound local and that the broader local community benefits from the investment”.

Deputy leader and councillor for Pensyflog, Cllr Nia Jeffreys, said: “It was nice to see the work and hear how tenants would benefit from having insulation work done. With energy costs increasing it is important tenants receive work like this on their homes, to ensure they save energy and reduce costs. It will be nice to be able to return after the work is finished to hear the response of residents and how the investment has made a difference”.