GLOBETROTTING TY UNNOS BUILDING FINDS HOME AT ROYAL WELSH
A permanent new attraction is being added to the Royal Welsh Showground in time for this year’s popular four-day agricultural event.
After impressing visitors to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington last year, the award-winning Ty Unnos demonstration building is being given a new home on the showground at Llanelwedd, Builth Wells.
Ty Unnos (house built in one night), a modular building system for affordable housing that uses sustainable Welsh wood, has been developed by Coed Cymru over the past three years in partnership with The Welsh School of Architecture and Bangor University.
Funded by the Countryside Council for Wales, Environment Agency and Powys County Council, the Ty Unnos project’s mission is to develop a system of high performance affordable housing based on the properties of home-grown timber.
The building is constructed in such a way that it will allow for further development and improvements to be incorporated into the building. "What you see now is a snapshot of the development of Ty Unnos, which will evolve in time." said Michele Jones from Coed Cymru, based in Tregynon, near Newtown.
Pembrokeshire Timber, Haverfordwest and Wentwood Timber Centre, Caldicot are supplying timber, Corus is supplying the roof and Kenton Jones, Welshpool the kitchen.
The building system comprises a series of portal frames made from Welsh spruce beams. Secondary ladder beams span between these frames to form floor and ceiling joists and wall studs before pre-insulated infill panels with voids for windows and doors are attached.
"It's a really exciting and diverse job and I am delighted to be working with Welsh timber again," she said. "I am looking forward to meeting new people and using my experience and Coed Cymru's network of contacts to improve the supply chain."
The Ty Unnos system, which is now being manufactured and marketed for affordable housing by Oswestry company Elements Europe, has won a string of major awards for innovation.
We are delighted that the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society has agreed to the permanent display of the Ty Unnos house on the showground,” said Michele. The erection of this version of Ty Unnos coincides with the 25th birthday of Coed Cymru and we plan to use it to display some of the organisation’s main achievements and progress over the years, including the development of box beams, cladding and Welsh Angle furniture.
The Welsh School of Architecture designed both the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and Royal Welsh Showground versions of Ty Unnos.
Established in 1985 as a public sector partnership, Coed Cymru promotes the management of broadleaf woodlands and the use of locally grown hardwood and softwood timber in Wales.
Working with around 100 Welsh manufacturers, Coed Cymru began product development work on utilising Welsh timber in 1990 and has successfully developed outdoor furniture, laminated flooring, windows, doors, cladding and wood chips for fuel.
For more information please contact David Jenkins at Coed Cymru, 01686 650777 or Duncan Foulkes, public relations consultant, on 01686 650818.
For more information please contact David Jenkins at Coed Cymru, 01686 650777
Coed Cymru, The Old Sawmill,
Tregynon, Newtown,
Powys SY16 3PL
Tel 01686 650 777
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