Repairs underway a decade after faulty insulation scheme damaged homes

Lewis Smith, Local Democracy Reporter

Repairs to damaged properties in a south Wales village are underway more than ten years after work from an insulation scheme that wrecked homes in one of the country’s poorest communities.

Bridgend County Borough Council says progress has been made on works to repair over 100 properties in Caerau which received defective insulation under two heating projects.

Between 2012 and 2013 the homes were part of an energy saving scheme which saw Bridgend Council awarded £300,000 to insulate 25 properties under a grant known as Arbed.

A further 79 had work carried out through a UK Government scheme known as the Community Energy Saving Programme. Though, after faulty insulation was installed, the houses were left with severe issues including damp, mould and crumbing walls.

It led to an almost decade long battle for residents before a Welsh Government grant was awarded in 2022, alongside a contribution from Bridgend County Borough Council, to fix the damage caused.

The latest update was given at a full council meeting in November 2025, after Cllr Ian Williams asked how many properties had remedial works completed as well as how much it was expected to cost.

In a follow up he also asked if he could be given access to view an un-redacted internal audit regarding Arbed because of the slow progress and amount of time taken to acknowledge the issues, insisting all members had a right to know what happened.

However, the Local Democracy Reporting Service understands that this request has since been denied.

So far works have been fully completed at one property in Caerau, with the rest expected to be finished by March of 2026.

Speaking on the repairs a council spokesperson said: “Significant progress has been made with the Caerau wall insulation remedial works and all eligible registered properties have now had the previous insulation removed.

“The final phase of the scheme is now underway and following a drying out period all properties will gradually be completed on a rolling basis throughout the coming months, with render or new insulation being installed in line with nationally accredited standards.”

Cllr John Spanswick who is the leader of Bridgend County Borough Council said the removal of the inadequate insulation represented a major milestone in the project.

He said: “My sympathies are with the people who have had to live through this for ten or fifteen years and the terrible state of the properties. We are doing our best to put things back.”

He also acknowledged that people would like to see the work happen quicker and accepted that not everyone would be happy with the range of repairs, which would not cover internal repairs.

The total budget for the work in Caerau is just under £4m and will be carried out by appointed contractors at Warmworks.