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An empty sheltered housing scheme in Risca could be redeveloped after falling into disrepair.

A report describes how Tredegar Court has required “significant work” and was given a temporary fail during a Welsh Housing Quality Standards check.

Heating “issues” and “the need for constant refurbishment” prompted Caerphily County Borough Council to abandon plans to let out the building’s apartments, and Tredegar Court has been empty for the past year – except for a brief use as a temporary night shelter for rough sleepers last winter.

The council is reviewing “several potential future uses” of the building, and cabinet members agreed on Wednesday December 10 to ask the Welsh Government to remove Tredegar Court from the local authority’s rent account.

That decision follows a scrutiny committee meeting, where members heard the building may yet be refurbished if that option provides the best value for money.

Cllr Judith Pritchard asked why the future of Tredegar Court was uncertain when it was “considered to be a very avant garde, good thing in 2002 or 2003 when it was converted to extra care”.

“That seems not to have worked very well, because it then seems to have been converted back to sheltered housing, and now it’s empty,” she said.

Nick Taylor-Williams, the council’s housing director, said the “state of the building itself [is] the main driver for this change”.

He described “significant issues with the structure – primarily with the roof – and latterly the heating system of the whole facility was regularly costing a lot of money”.

The committee heard the council will “look at the options for this scheme”, and it is “likely it will come back into use in a different guise”.

“It may be they come back and say give us a cost envelope for refurbishing the property – changing the heating systems, sorting out the structural issues – that may be the most cost effective option,” Mr Taylor-Williams said.

But on the other hand, it “may be more cost-effective to demolish the building and look at other redevelopment opportunities”, he added.

Mr Taylor-Williams told the committee the council “had other plans for refurbishing some of our other schemes”, and added Ty Darran – the new later living complex, also in Risca – is “on the horizon imminently”.