Swansea Bay Futures - Development Projects
Knowledge Economy UK
Swansea Bay has ambitious plans for the future. A number of specific strategies exist which guide the further development of Wales` waterfront city, and the whole of the Swansea Bay city region.
Plans build on the region's strengths: its people; land availability and values; Universities with recognised research excellence; business incubation facilities; support available to develop or relocate; and the fantastic quality of life offer, which makes people want to live in this beautiful and exhilarating part of South Wales.
Developments in Swansea itself are driven by the Swansea2020 Economic Regeneration Strategy and a City Centre Strategic Framework. The city has also been designated as a Strategic Regeneration Area which has seen the announcement of a £38m investment to drive individual schemes forward.
Parts of the wider area are also included in the Western Valleys Strategic Regeneration Area, which again brings a drive and funding to deliver change, working with the individual authorities who are themselves pushing forward investment and development.
Detailed Plans focus on a number of strategic developments and locations. Major planned developments highlighted in detail elsewhere on this site include:
- Swansea City Centre Development.
- Swansea University's Science and Innovation Campus
- Baglan Energy Park
- SA1 Swansea Waterfront
- Llanelli Waterside
Others of note are:
- Coed Darcy: A £1.2 billion Urban Village comprising 4000 homes, employment areas and open space, covering 1,300 acres on a former BP oil site outside of Neath.
- Fabian Way Gateway: Just off the M4, junction 42, at the gateway to Swansea, this is where Amazon has located its 4th UK distribution centre.
- Felindre: A flagship strategic business park being developed on 60 hectares of land on the outskirts of Swansea, just off M4 motorway at junction 45. It is intended that Felindre will accommodate higher level activities, such as emerging industries and hi-tech manufacturing.
- Cross Hands Food Park: The first designated centre of excellence for food technology in the whole of Wales, the Food Park incorporates Incubator Food Production Units and is fully equipped for all major food processing activities. It is located just off the end of the M4.
- Swansea Vale: A flagship development located only five miles from Swansea city centre and close to the M4 junction 44. New build office provision has already attracted occupiers such as HSBC, Lambert Smith Hampton, Konica Minolta, Pure Wafer and DVLA. The latest £12.5 million office development, Crucible Park, is the largest speculative Grade A office development currently available in the region.
More information on these and other developments can be found by visiting the Swansea Bay website, including projects such as the Bay Science and Innovation Campus: Knowledge Economy UK.
Planned Developments
SA1 Swansea Waterfront
Mixed Use DevelopmentThe £400 million regeneration of the old Swansea docks area, known as SA1 - already home to Admiral Insurance, Village Hotel and 2 Technium business incubators - is highly regarded. Office developments include Langdon House, a prestigious office development by London & Wharfedale, Ellipse 75% of which has been taken by VOSA with remainder taken up by Admiral, Admiral House and Ethos, a private sector business incubation centre.
Housing at SA1 includes a range of executive apartments, alongside retirement apartments and affordable homes.
2011 saw work on a Tesco Express combined with a Premier Inn and Beefeater restaurant completed. Other operational leisure venues on site include: The Ice House, an attractive Grade II listed building which incorporates a bar, gallery and a Thai restaurant; The J-Shed, a Grade II listed former grain warehouse built circa 1895, which has been completely renovated to incorporates a restaurant, hairdresser, cafe, an arts arcade, as well as a 20 New York-style “live and work” duplex lofts on the upper floors giving the building a rolling 24-hour life and the Grade II listed former Norwegian Church which now houses a jewellry gallery.
In 2012 developer Landas expects to start work on a 2.2 acre site on the east side of SA1's Prince of Wales Dock, with a view to developing 50 homes. Meanwhile, work has started on SA1's flagship £7.25 million Beacon Centre for Health. The primary care centre, due to open in 2013, will provide a spacious and modern environment and will be the largest primary care facility in the city.
The SA1 development aims to secure around 4000 jobs, and provide over 2000 new residential properties.
Swansea University Campus Expansion
University/Science/ResearchSwansea University is presently developing detailed plans for a Science and Innovation Campus where business and academia can develop alongside each other.
The Science and Innovation Campus will specifically capitalise on the University's growing research expertise and interactions with major international Knowledge Economy companies. More particularly it will help address the deficiency in science and technology research in Wales which is an essential component in building the Welsh Knowledge Economy.
The Science and Innovation Campus will build upon existing longstanding links between Swansea University and multi-national companies. This unique concept is the result of consultation with these companies, a significant number of which will have a presence on the new campus for example in Phase one will include Rolls Royce, Hewlett-Packard, Tata, Bell Labs and BAE.
Phase one involves the establishment of the Innovation Hub as the mechanism for knowledge economy led economic development and regional regeneration. Comprising Engineering and Business commercialisation, the College of Engineering and College of Business & Economics, the Innovation Hub will also be a showcase for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects. Phase one will also deliver testing and research buildings supporting the SMaRT and SPECFIC Projects*, plus accommodation for 2000 students, a information and resources centre and retail facilities.
The Innovation Hub has been uniquely designed to provide an extensive, open-innovation environment to maximise the growth of collaborative research with industry in specific high-tech clusters (Advanced Engineering, Digital Economy and Low Carbon) where the University’s College of Engineering has established strengths).
Phase two will enable more academic provision and additional space for industrial research and development and further student support provision and accommodation.
*SMaRT (Swansea Materials Research and Testing) is a company set up as a major collaboration between Rolls Royce and Swansea University that will serve Rolls Royce's needs for creep and fatigue testing of new and existing materials that are used in the aerospace and aero engine industries. It will conduct a mixture of academic research and commercial industrial testing and analysis. £50 million has been awarded in research and training funding by Rolls-Royce and the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) at a national level.
SPECIFIC (Sustainable Product Engineering Centre for Innovative Functional Industrial Coatings) is a £20m project which aims to transform buildings into ‘power stations’ through commercialising the use of functional coatings on steel and glass to enable energy capture, storage and release. SPECIFIC is a new Innovation and Knowledge Centre led by Swansea University and Tata Steel. It is funded by the Technology Strategy Board, (TSB), the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council, (EPSRC), and the Welsh Government as well as the main partners.
http://www.swan.ac.uk/campus-expansion/
Llanelli Waterside
Mixed Use DevelopmentLlanelli Waterside is an ambitious regeneration project by Llanelli Coast Joint Venture - a partnership between Carmarthenshire County Council and The Welsh Assembly Government. This project is already transforming the waterfront into a thriving new business, leisure and residential community.
Huge progress has already been made including major infrastructure investment, the coastal link road; residential development at North Dock and Machynys; the Nicklaus designed Machynys Peninsula golf course; the Dragon 24 Office Development at North Dock; the renovation of the harbour and the construction and 100% let of Dyfatty Park – all at Burry Port.
More recently, an investment of £1.8 million has enabled the restoration of the historic Pump House, turning it into Sospan, a first class restaurant with a unique training academy for young Welsh Chefs.
Plans to regenerate a former tinplate works site into a multimillion-pound leisure complex have also taken a step forward, with proposals to transform the Old Castle Works into an £18 million state-of-the-art facility incorporated into the Llanelli Coast Joint Venture. The scheme will include a leisure centre, sports academy, ten-pin bowling alley and indoor and outdoor adventure activities.
Baglan Energy Park
Major CommercialBaglan Energy Park is the first stage in the regeneration of Baglan Bay, a single development site to eventually total some 1,500 acres. The vision for the area is the phased development of business and manufacturing opportunities on a low-density, high quality landscaped site.
The Energy Park, totalling around 180 acres and located adjacent to the M4, is a private/public sector initiative involving partners, St. Modwen, Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council and the Welsh Assembly Government.
Several companies are located on the Baglan Energy Park site including Intertissue, Hi-Lex Cable System Ltd, Remploy Ltd and Montagne Jeunesse with speculative office and industrial premises available to let, and bespoke development opportunities also on offer.
Some of the companies on Baglan Energy Park benefit from General Electric’s combined-cycle gas turbine power plant, which offers more sustainable energy supply and reduced costs to support business operations. The site is also home to Wales’ first Hydrogen Research and Demonstration Centre, exploring the use of hydrogen as a fuel of the future.
Emerging as one of Wales’ premier business and industrial locations, the Energy Park has already attracted world class investment from a range of companies. This has resulted in the Park securing prestigious accolades including a British Urban Regeneration Award and an Excellence Wales Award for best practice in regeneration.
Swansea City Centre Development
Mixed Use DevelopmentThe City Centre Strategic Framework is facilitating the development, transport, infrastructure and environmental enhancements within Swansea, with plans expected to deliver £1billion worth of investment. Hammerson has been appointed to transform a key section of the city centre with proposals including 600,000sq ft of additional retail space, residential units and new leisure, office, hotel and conference facilities as well as a European style boulevard.
Work on a new Quadrant Transport Interchange was completed in 2010. The bus station features 20 bus bays, three coach stands, a modern passenger waiting area and an information desk as well as Shopmobility facilities, Changing Places toilet facilities for visitors with mobility problems and three retail units.
Other plans include a `Covent Garden` style development, riverside retail and commercial development, refurbishment of the train station and development of an urban village. www.swanseacitycentre.com
