Return to News & Projects home

Don Touhig MP visits Goodwins Timber Frame

and gives the thumbs up to efficient housing production.

Member of Parliament for Islwyn, Don Touhig, MP, paid a visit to Goodwins Timber Frame in Pontymister to see for himself the impressive scale of the development at the company’s first base in the UK.   An Irish owned company, Goodwins chose the location near Risca for its excellent motorway links and good pool of skilled labour. 

Goodwins Timber Frame make pre-fabricated housing  kits which are transported to site and erected in a fraction of the time taken by traditional building methods.

The first homes rolled off the Goodwins’ production line the Spring and since then the company has received a rapidly growing number of enquiries from builders across the country.   Because timber frame housing kits are precision built in a factory not only is time on site reduced, but material waste is reduced as well.  And while, externally, a timber frame house is indistinguishable from any other,  the  timber frame creates a building with much better levels of thermal insulation. 

Mr Touhig was impressed not only with the obvious efficiency of the timber frame concept, but also with scale of the enterprise at Pontymister. He was told by John Goodacre, General Manager at Goodwins, that the company had already employed 24 local staff within the first six months and aimed to double that within the next year. 

In addition to the 80,000sq ft factory Mr Touhig was shown the 7 acre site surrounding the factory and heard about Goodwins’ plans for development which include the creation of a new business park for light industrial units as well as new office buildings with car parking.

Mr Touhig complimented Goodwins on their efforts to reduce the environmental impact of manufacturing which include plans to recycle heat produced by plant and machinery and to create their own sewage recycling unit so that only clean water is returned to the nearby river.  He also observed that, with its speed and accuracy, timber frame construction could assist in meeting the Government’s targets for affordable housing across a wide range of markets. 

- ends -

For press information contact Kay Hobday at Full House Productions
Tel: 01454 310246
Fax: 01454 880404
Mobile: 07774 816534
Email: kay@fullhouseproductions.co.uk