Llys Y Gwynt Temporary Supported Housing, Holyhead

Llys Y Gwynt provides temporary, shared supported housing for young people with support needs in Holyhead. The project was awarded funding from the Welsh Government as part of their homelessness Covid-19 response, addressing a need for three additional units on the site to offer a triage approach to dealing with youth homelessness.

As the design progressed, it highlighted the difference between the current Welsh Government standards and the existing provision, becoming clear that all units across the site needed to offer the same standard to ensure all residents were treated equally. To achieve this, the units inside the existing building needed to increase in size, which meant an additional three units were required within the extension to make up for the short fall in space. Once complete, Llys Y Gwynt will provide a total of 12no. units, 6no. within the existing property and 6no. within the new extension.

The Llys Y Gwynt extension has been designed exploring innovative ideas of how modular construction can be used to solve the housing crisis in Wales. The proposed extension is designed using Structurally Insulated Panels (SIPs) which use very high levels of insulation and air tightness to achieve excellent U-values and minimise the amount of energy used by the building. The system has been chosen to reduce the construction phase impact on the existing property and the service it provides, meaning the construction period for the 6No. new pods will be relatively short, with the majority of the work undertaken off site. Once this element of the build is complete, the intention is that some of the residents can be moved across into the pods while the rest of the improvements work to the existing building are completed.

The scheme received planning consent in October 2021 and is due to start on site in Spring 2022.