Caulmert Drives Multi-Million Refurbishment of Sheltered Housing in North Wales
An engineering, environmental, and planning consultancy is playing a key role in a north Wales council’s multi-million-pound sheltered housing refurbishment programme.
Caulmert, which has offices in Bangor and St Asaph, has provided civil, structural, and geotechnical engineering design services for Wrexham County Borough Council’s significant upgrade of accommodation for elderly people in the region.
After announcing that £16.9m was to be spent on remodelling and revamping sheltered housing, Llys y Mynydd in Rhos, Llay’s Tir y Capel, and Maes Y Capel in Coedpoeth were the first schemes completed by main contractor Read Construction, with Wrexham’s Wisteria Court the most recently finished project.
The project involved increasing the size and accessibility of apartments, modernising communal areas, and improving energy efficiency through measures including triple-glazed windows and air source heat pumps.
A seven-strong Caulmert team carried out a series of activity, including ground investigations and design work around foundations, drainage, and cladding having been appointed by Ellis Williams Architects.
Caulmert associate structural engineer Ranjan Apputhurai said: “It has been fantastic to work with Ellis Williams on such an important programme for Wrexham County Borough Council.
“To be able to enhance the lives of so many elderly people within the region is wonderful, and our team have relished carrying out the activity.
“Work involved carefully planning the sequence of the refurbishments for each of the schemes, especially the four bay windows at Tir y Capel which provides the building with a wonderful aesthetic.”
The funding for the works was secured from the Housing Revenue Account and Welsh Government Affordable Housing Grant and Optimised RetroFit Programme.
Mark Jones, associate at Ellis Williams Architects, said: “It’s a credit to all involved that the schemes have turned out fantastically well, and will hopefully improve the lives a number of returning and new residents.”
Cllr David A Bithell, lead member for Housing and Climate Change, said: “We were thrilled to reveal our fourth refurbishment of our Sheltered Housing stock, in collaboration with Read Construction, Ellis Williams Architects, and Caulmert.
“This significant investment has resulted in four high quality refurbishments, which support independent living for older people.”
Founded in 2008, Caulmert is on track to meet an ambitious growth and development plan.
Its expertise in a variety of engineering, environmental, planning, and project management disciplines is supported by its use of Building Information Modelling (BIM) to ISO 19650 standard on many of its projects.
