The Welsh centre of excellence for sailing proves once again that construction is the great enabler for all elements of our society – sporting, economic, environmental and the local communities.

The best construction projects are those that add something to the community and that enable people of all ages to discover a new pastime and to boost the local economy.

The development of the Welsh National Sailing Academy & Events Centre at Pwllheli over the past few years is just one such example and the CEW North Wales Best Practice Club showcased the story behind the scheme this week.

Pwllheli has evolved into one of the finest sailing venues in western Britain. Pwllheli, positioned on the south side of the Llyn Peninsula, is one of the best locations for Olympic class dinghy sailing in Britain and is one of the UK’s centre of excellence. Its site provides a gateway to the sailing waters which include Cardigan Bay, Anglesey and the East Irish Coast. It is regarded as being world class and has hosted a significant number of successful national and international sailing competitions, raising the area’s profile as a sporting and tourist destination and providing business and employment opportunities to the area. As a centre of excellence for sail training it required state of the art facilities for sailors of all abilities – but what was built also had to create economic opportunities for the town and the surrounding region.

The Welsh National Sailing Academy & Events Centre was funded by European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Welsh European Funding Office (WEFO) with match funding from Welsh Government and Gwynedd Council. Key criteria were that the Academy Building was iconic and achieve the BREEAM Excellent standard: it has achieved all of this and more.

Call the CEW team to access the background story of the Welsh National Sailing Academy & Events Centre.

The answer might be no, but now is the time to prepare with new award categories and open days and workshops to help you promote your winning scheme or project.

Are you thinking about your entry into the 2016 CEW Awards? You should be preparing now as the awards go live on Monday, 14 December. If you’re not thinking about becoming a winner and showcasing what your team is doing and the great projects you’re involved with then, start next week. All entries must be completed by the end of February 2016. 

But if you are considering showcasing your team, your projects, one of the SMEs you work with or sharing success with a client or partner organisation then why not think about entering our new award category for 2016 – BIM project of the year. 

BIM is now an accepted method of delivering projects of all sizes and an excellent way to work collaboratively and drive best practice and with more and more examples of its use in Wales it deserves its own award category at the CEW Awards. Judges will be looking for projects embracing BIM that point to benefits to end users, suppliers and project teams perhaps with examples of working around tight site situations and assisting with time and cost savings as well as enabling structural innovation. The use of all the elements of BIM and the integration between the client and other team members early in a scheme will be important factors in a winning entry. 

But to steer you in the direction of a winning entry and to learn more about the new BIM category you should save the date for our CEW Awards open day in December – this will be held Cardiff, Swansea and Llandudno. You can also find out how to enter the new look project of year now we have split civils and buildings into different categories.

For more details and how to reserve your place call the team on 02920 493322 or email.

Our home is arguably our biggest financial asset. So, once we start to live in it shouldn’t we make sure that the money we have invested is working as hard as possible for us? So, what about our mortgages: is what the finance sector offer as a package an accurate reflection of how our homes perform?

Which is why, CEW is working hard to develop/strengthen the links between an energy efficient home and economic return.  We’re all familiar with the idea that using less heat and power in our homes will generate savings on energy costs, but the financial impact goes further than just our household bills. An energy efficient home could be worth more than a less efficient home and could attract a higher loan to value rate – something that should be reflected in our mortgages. 

This is what is behind the launch of the LENDERs project. Sponsored by Nationwide Building Society it will investigate the increased use of the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), required on every home for sale. Launched last week to coincide with the UN Conference on Climate Change in Paris (COP 21), the LENDERs project is backed by the Principality Building Society, BRE, UK Green Building Council, Zero Carbon Hub (England), Energy Saving Trust, Arup and University College London (UCL) as well as CEW to research into how to build a stronger link between energy costs, affordability and mortgage borrowing.

The building blocks for the project stem from when CEW commissioned Reading University to analyse data from energy performance certificates (EPC) from Welsh housing stock together with information on the sale prices of these homes to examine if there was a price effect from EPC ratings on house prices in Wales.  The research concluded that there is a positive association between price per square metre and energy performance rating, with houses in bands A and B commanding a price premium 13.1% greater than those in band D.  Interestingly the relative price effects were highest for terraced dwellings.  It is worth noting that the ways in which EPC ratings affect house prices may be varied, for example homes with a good EPC rating may be of a higher quality with better fixtures and fittings, they may also receive non-energy rated benefits for example double glazing may provide improvements in home security and reductions in noise pollution.  Work is continuing to develop this research.

The LENDERS research will test the use of EPC data in estimating energy costs on individual homes and look at the potential to incorporate that estimate into the mortgage affordability calculation.  In turn, this may help encourage buyers towards choosing homes with lower energy bills, and increase their willingness to invest in improving energy efficiency of their own homes and then the ones they actual buy.

This is radical step by our whole built environment industry and wider stakeholders to encourage people to look harder at the homes they want to buy and live in. We all need to look beyond just kerb appeal and the interior decor. We need to consider how a home performs at its core level – keep us warm in the winter and cool in the summer. As an industry we need to ask a series of questions. How efficient are our homes that we manage, maintain and provide for consumers; how can we educate the homeowners to take more responsibility; and then how can we stress the overall connection between performance and value?

In our role within the wider team on the project CEW has been drawing heavily on the research and expertise within the Welsh Low Zero Carbon Hub and working closely with BRE. Not only is the research going to challenge the public and mortgage lenders, it will prove that this kind of work has long term benefits for all of us – commercial developers, house builders, contractors and homeowners.  It clearly points to the value of research and pilot projects championed by the WLZCH and a positive return on Welsh Government funding.