Landmark Swansea digital hub set for green light

Plans for a pioneering building for tech and creative start-ups on the site of a former Swansea nightclub have been recommended for approval and said to represent “a huge opportunity for the city”.Swansea Council wants to develop a glass-fronted property rising to five storeys above ground level at 71-72 The Kingsway where more than 600 people could work.The building will be high-tech, eco-friendly and have flexible open-plan work spaces including balconies overlooking the city centre.Located between The Kingsway and Oxford Street, the application site is on the site of the former Oceana club and also incorporates part of a former surface car park in Picton Lane and neighbouring access lanes.The development, which has been recommended for approval, forms part of the Swansea City and Waterfront Digital District project being part-funded by the £1.3bn Swansea Bay City Deal.The key purpose of the scheme is to provide high quality office space for indigenous tech businesses and start-ups and to stimulate regeneration of the Kingsway and the Swansea City Bay Region as a whole.The proposed development involves the construction of a mixed-use building to provide flexible workspace with ancillary communal and commercial uses.The basement area is earmarked for use potentially as a gym or exhibition space, with the lower ground floor used for meeting rooms, further exhibition space and a coffee shop. The ground floor will accommodate the reception with six commercial units along The Kingsway frontage.The upper floors will accommodate office/business space with the roof area being used for as a garden area, enclosed meeting space or private event space.A new pedestrian link through to Oxford street is also envisaged as well as vehicular servicing and public realm, landscaping, green infrastructure and ancillary works.Professionals working on the scheme include WSP, Arch00, Gleeds, The Urbanists and Cushman and Wakefield.