Something else happened on Friday evening as the Welsh construction industry celebrated at the Celtic Manor. Wales defeated Belgium in a tense European Championship football group match.

Some of the credit for the great result (the football) on Friday evening goes to construction – the great enabling force in Wales. Because where the Welsh team’s match preparation took place is also the site of the winner of the Client of the Year in the 2014 CEW Awards: Football Association of Wales – National Football Centre

The new National Football Development Centre demonstrates the Football Association of Wales (FAW) commitment to delivering a sustainable future for Welsh football. Built as part of a joint venture between FAW and stakeholders such as UEFA, FIFA, the Welsh Government, Sport Wales and Newport Council, the project had strong leadership from the FAW. There was a strong emphasis on communicating what was important and good use of publicity and high profile football figures such as Ian Rush to underline key issues such as health and safety. The client (Kevin Moon - FAW) led the whole team, right through from concept and planning, design and detailing, material section and site operations. Throughout the scheme the clients drive and vision had a positive impact. Indeed, whilst it might be fair to say the client was not an expert, they knew what was wanted and the finished centre – opened by Michel Platini and Carwyn Jones – is an example of collaboration with a client with clear objectives. Indeed, the centre is central to the future development and success of Welsh football – hence the client team’s vision. It is a purpose built facility providing top class training, playing, sports science and education facilities as well as HQ administrative accommodation for its coaching and development operation for the Welsh Football Trust – WFT. 

There were also great lessons to be learned by the contractors with sporting psychology and a team ethos being played out across the scheme and the Best Play Team Play theme connected very well with the principles championed by CEW. This was a clear cut client, contractor relationship and worked exceptionally well because the client was clear about what he wanted and needed. The contractor site team commented that: "The client was made in heaven - they knew what they wanted and what they needed. They worked tirelessly to achieve their vision, but involving and listening to every member of the team: truly inspirational."

The £1bn tidal lagoon in Swansea Bay generates work in Wales and could be the launching pad for a new industry in Britain.

News last week of the Government’s formal backing for the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon came as a huge sigh of relief for its supporters and businesses across Wales. The project has already been talked about in terms of its ability to boost construction and specifically engineering in Wales but organisations such as Tidal Lagoon Power (TLP) called the UK Government's decision to proceed a "game changer", with hopes already of five larger lagoons on the west coast of the UK.

Together they would contribute 8% of the UK's electricity and be worth £27bn to the UK economy by 2027. But there are hopes the technology and know-how will be exported worldwide – placing Wales right at the centre of major global projects, making the country as Mark Shorrock, chief executive of Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay Plc, said "a Welsh powerhouse".

So what does this talk mean? The backing by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) for the Swansea Bay project is about much more than generating green energy, even though that is significant in its own right. It hopes that the world's first man-made lagoon built specifically to generate electricity will be the start of a new global industry for the UK with Wales at its heart.

If the lagoon is successful, it could be the springboard for Wales becoming a hub for turbine assembly, providing long term jobs. The trade body for the renewable energy industry said at least half the contracts for Swansea would go to British companies. Renewable UK's deputy chief executive Maf Smith said: "This momentous news marks the start of an entirely new industry in Britain, which will lead the world in this innovative ultra-modern technology."

Mr Shorrock added: "The tidal lagoons that follow - at Cardiff, at Newport, elsewhere in the UK and overseas - must each make their own compelling social, environmental and economic case to proceed. But they have a pilot project to guide them and a blossoming technical and industrial network to support them."

TLP still has to negotiate the guaranteed price for the electricity it will generate with the UK government and there are also environmental issues to be assessed. If all goes to plan, work will start next March and the lagoon will be ready in 2018.

There is a lot to be excited about and you can read the full story on the BBC web site and keep track of developments via CEW as we will be working closely with the teams involved.

Just how do you capture heat from the air? heat pumps can deliver lower energy bills, greater comfort and better buildings – find out how from DECC.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is providing a series of free one-day training courses, designed to help businesses, developers and housing providers to understand how heat pumps can deliver lower energy bills, greater comfort and better buildings.

The roadshows will offer participants the chance to learn more about why heat pumps make sense, build their technical knowledge of how best to ensure good performance and understand the financing of heat pumps.

The roadshow will come to Cardiff on Thursday 2^nd July. Places can be booked online  here or by calling 020 8469 1333.

Heat pumps are already used across Wales in a wide variety of locations and settings. Historic Soar Chapel in Merthyr Tydfil takes its heat from two ground source heat pumps and an underfloor heating system, installed as part of a heritage renovation project, while the National Trust’s Plas Newydd in North Wales has gained much attention for its innovative use of a water source heat pump. The stunning and sustainable Oyster Catcher restaurant in Anglesey also makes use of a ground source heat pump, and the Tir Barwn poultry farm shows how ground source heat pumps can be effective in agricultural settings.

The roadshows are designed for potential heat pump customers – such as business owners, property developers and housing providers. Priority will be given to potential customers for heat pumps, rather than installers or consultants, when allocating places at each session.

A full list of roadshow dates can be found here

Article by Graham Winter, National Assembly for Wales Research Service, with contributions from Louise Smith, Science and Environment Section, House of Commons Library

An increasingly complex picture is emerging about who will be taking decisions on large energy projects in future, with the Planning (Wales) Act 2015 about to appear on the statute books and announcements in the Queen’s Speech about further energy devolution, alongside proposed changes in the rules for onshore windfarms.  This blog post explores some of these complexities and highlights some of the issues that still need to be sorted out.

The Planning (Wales) Bill will shortly receive Royal Assent and the Welsh Government has already started consulting on what will be a ‘development of national significance’ (DNS) where it will be responsible for deciding on planning applications.  It aims to have the new consenting regime in place by early next year.  The consultation proposes that energy generation projects of between 25 and 50 Megawatts (MW) will be considered as DNS, along with certain associated development and secondary consents.

Meanwhile the Queen’s Speech announced a new Wales Bill that will devolve responsibility for onshore energy generating projects of up to 350 MW to Wales.  It will also devolve decisions on energy projects up to the same size threshold in Welsh territorial waters.  The 350 MW limit was recommended by the Silk Commission on the basis that it would bring most renewable energy schemes within a Welsh system, but larger schemes of ‘strategic importance’ would still be decided by the UK Government.  The Silk Commission report cites the example of the Swansea Tidal Lagoon (320 MW) as one that would in future be decided in Wales.  The latest proposal for a Tidal Lagoon near Cardiff is much larger (1,800-2,800 MW) and so would still be decided outside of Wales.

The Commission also recommended that in deciding on these ‘strategic’ projects the UK Government should take into account the policies of the Welsh Government.  At present these are decided primarily using the National Policy Statements on Energy infrastructure approved by the UK Parliament during the 2010-2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government.  The law is clear that in a case of conflict between these policy statements and Welsh planning policy, the former should take precedence.  It remains to be seen whether, as well as devolving powers for projects of up to 350 MW, a way of giving greater weight to Welsh planning policies will be found for UK Government decisions on larger projects.

Once these powers are transferred, the Welsh Government will have to decide whether or not to bring these larger (50-350 MW) energy schemes within the DNS definition.  This is hinted at in the current consultation paper and the new Planning Act will give them the power to vary the definition.  If this happens it will mean that a somewhat different process will apply to energy projects of this size in Wales compared to England, unless further changes are made to the approval system. The requirements for pre-application consultation on these Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) in England for example will be more rigorous than those that the Welsh Government is currently proposing for DNS schemes in Wales.   Also the statutory timescale for making decisions on accepted DNS applications of up to 36 weeks is shorter than the NSIP timescale of around 12-15 months.

A further complication is the announcement in the Queen’s Speech that a new Energy Bill will remove onshore windfarms of over 50 MW from the NSIP regime. The background notes say this will mean that the primary decision maker for onshore wind consents of over 50 MW in both England and Wales will be the local planning authority rather than the UK Secretary of State.   This will be true, but only if the Welsh Government doesn’t subsequently decide to include them in the DNS definition, which seems unlikely given that 25-50 MW energy schemes are already considered to be of national significance.  One possible option would be to move the lower threshold back up to 50 MW.  The National Policy Statements referred to above will presumably also need revising and approval by the new UK Parliament to reflect taking onshore wind out of the NSIP regime.

Gareth Barton, associate director at planning consultancy Turley’s Cardiff office was quoted in the Planning press last week as saying:

I just can’t imagine you would get to a situation where Welsh ministers would determine schemes of 25 to 50 megawatts, but if you had a 100-megawatt scheme, it would be determined by Powys or Carmarthenshire rather than at a national level. It wouldn’t make any sense.

Subject to timing, devolution of further powers through the Wales Bill should avoid this issue, resulting in all schemes between 25 and 350 megawatts being determined by the Welsh Ministers, while all onshore wind decisions in England would be made at the local level.

The changes announced in the Queen’s Speech could however still mean that a Welsh local planning authority would be making a decision on a very large windfarm proposal of more than 350 MW, as well as dealing with those below 25 MW, with the Welsh Government deciding on those in between.  The largest windfarm development approved to date in Wales at Pen y Cymoedd (299 MW) is not too far short of this upper limit.  There is already a 350 MW onshore windfarm operating in Scotland – the Clyde onshore windfarm.

This post is also available from the House of Commons Library ‘Second Reading’ blog.