£170m valley homes repair scheme

RCT Homes has a commitment to use local labour and skills

A housing organisation is starting a £170m plan to refurbish over 10,000 homes in the south Wales valleys.

RCT Homes calls it "the biggest home improvements programme Wales has ever seen" which will create more than 170 jobs and training opportunities.

It aims to bring homes in Rhondda Cynon Taf up to a new Welsh "housing quality standard" over the next five years.

Organisers say the scheme will use the local workforce and help to develop local labour skills.

Called the RCT Homes Major Improvements Programme, it will involve the installation of an estimated 5,000 kitchens, 4,000 bathrooms and 6,000 energy-efficient boilers.

Other home improvements will include installing new central heating systems, rewiring properties, improving security measures and working on roofs, chimneys and walls as well as spending £1m a year on environmental enhancements.

RCT Homes is not just a landlord - it is a major local social enterprise RCT Homes chief executive Andrew Lycett

The RCT Homes model has been promoted by the Welsh Assembly Government as a new concept for social housing with the organisation run as a community mutual organisation.

As part of this set-up tenants can become RCT Homes members and decide on the future of their homes, housing services and local neighbourhoods.

Since the membership scheme was launched in spring 2008, hundreds have applied to become tenant members.

As a result, tenants have been playing an active role in the organisation's decisions after being co-opted onto the various groups and panels which run its decision-making process.

Many have already been involved in the process to award the multi-million pound contracts to carry out the refurbishment work by inspecting and interviewing prospective contractors.

This special tendering process has also enabled locally-based businesses to bid for and win these contracts against competition from national companies.

New opportunities

This has led to the creation of 59 new local jobs, RCT Homes has itself created 53 new jobs and also tied its main contractors into using local labour to help generate 61 further jobs and training opportunities.

Chief executive Andrew Lycett said: "RCT Homes is not just a landlord - it is a major local social enterprise.

"As well as raising the standard of homes, we are working with our tenants and their local communities to create a sustainable legacy of increased employment and higher skill levels."

Deputy Regeneration Minister Leighton Andrews, who is also Rhondda AM, will launch the programme.

He said it would help bring new jobs, business and major new investment into the area.

"Taken together these strands provide a strong platform to drive forward sustainable community and economic regeneration and improve the quality of life for thousands of people living in communities throughout Rhondda Cynon Taf," he said.

"This is not a one-off opportunity but an ongoing, long-term investment. This early success will be replicated in communities throughout Wales and the assembly government is committed to ensure the maximum benefits are achieved."