Welcome to the My Valleys House website.
The website aims to provide you with information about how to care for and improve your South Wales Valleys house. It will also help you find out more about the history and architecture of your Valleys house, street or town. Even if you do not live in the Valleys, much of this information will still be useful to you.
Your Valleys house might not be listed or in a conservation area, but it still has an important place in your community and contributes towards the unique identity of the Welsh Valleys.
Unfortunately, many traditional Valleys buildings have suffered from years of low quality or inappropriate repairs and alterations using modern materials. These works have weakened the unique character and distinctiveness of our Valleys towns and will very often create long term structural and maintenance problems.
This website was created by the Valleys Built Heritage Project, which aims to celebrate and assist in the preservation of the heritage of our Valleys.
Led by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the partnership has members representing Bridgend County Borough Council, Cadw, Cardiff City Council, CITB – Construction Skills, Civic Trust for Wales, Design Commission for Wales, Federation of Master Builders and the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (Wales).
Our partners say
"Helping communities to learn about and get involved with their local heritage is very close to HLF’s heart, as a major funder of heritage in Wales. People are passionate about heritage, just as they are passionate about their homes: so providing information on how to sympathetically restore houses through this seminar and the associated website, will help drive these twin passions forward. And in this way, the defining image of terraced houses in the Valleys will, we hope, be preserved for many generations to come." Jennifer Stewart, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund, Wales
"The conservation approach doesn't just belong to castles, fine churches and grand houses, it can just as easily be applied to all old buildings. The Victorian additions to Cardiff Castle are built in the same way as many terraced houses, so it makes sense to use the same materials and techniques. To me the conservation approach is not elitist, it is a well informed approach to the care of old buildings." John Edwards, Project Co-ordinator, Cardiff Castle, Cardiff City Council
"As an organisation that is dedicated to promoting excellence in all property related matters, we are delighted to be part of the Valleys Built Heritage Partnership as it promotes the economic and financial benefits of a conservation approach to traditional building restoration…If this initiative is successful, not only will it accomplish these things, but it will also help to promote local distinctiveness, engender a sense of community ownership, and help to regenerate the essential fabric of our Valleys communities – thus making a real difference." Cathy McLean, Director, RICS Wales
"The Trust has been delighted to be involved with this initiative. If we can look after the characteristic housing of Valleys communities we will at the same time be helping to preserve a sense of place and community. Valleys towns have a rich and radical history; this collective memory and identity is important and needs to be cherished in changing times and in the face of an uncertain future. Too often we neglect the familiar and the ordinary; but what is lost cannot be replaced – neither in the streets nor in our hearts." Dr Matthew Griffiths, Director, Civic Trust for Wales
