HOMES in the Tivy-Side area are set to benefit from a multi-million pound makeover.

Wales & West Housing is investing £10million to modernise homes across West Wales in an effort to reduce heating bills for its residents and create new jobs for local contractors.

The upgrade work is a major investment by Wales & West Housing and will see 350 new kitchens, 250 new bathrooms and thousands of new windows and doors installed in more than 1,500 homes previously managed by Tai Cantref in Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire.

Since the merger with Tai Cantref in September 2016, WWH‘s property managers have been listening to residents to find out what they need to bring their homes above and beyond the quality standards set by the Welsh Government.

Some of the work will focus on replacing expensive and outdated electric storage heaters with more efficient gas, oil and heat pump heating systems to help residents reduce their monthly bills.

WWH’s deputy chief executive Shayne Hembrow said: “We have worked with residents to understand what matters to them. The work we are carrying out will solve the right problems in residents’ homes to provide safe, warm, good quality homes for all our residents.”

Wales & West Housing will be employing more skilled local builders and tradespeople to carry out the work and is working with its existing contractors to increase the investment in the local economy from £1million to £2.5million over the next three to four years.

To meet the increase in demand for emergency repairs and maintenance across the region,

WWH has also created three jobs for local tradespeople to work with its maintenance company, Cambria Maintenance Services, in West Wales.

“This is good news for our residents and tradespeople in Ceredigion. Over the next three to four years we hope the level of investment in our homes in the area will enable local contractors to take on more workers in their businesses. We will also be helping to train tradespeople to carry out some of the work.”