Swansea innovation quarter plans set for approval

The proposed Swansea Waterfront Innovation Quarter, including new facilities for the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD), has moved a step closer with councillors set to approve plans for the first phase.UWTSD has previously secured about 22 acres of development land in SA1 area of the city and aims to develop 355,000 sq ft of new university accommodation as part of an innovation quarter.Plans for the first phase of the project, submitted by the university and the Welsh Government, will go before Swansea Council next week (5 July 2016).Residential, academic and commercial developments are planned as part of the wider scheme with the first phase comprising the new Faculty of Architecture, Computing and Engineering (FACE) and associated teaching and faculty space.This building will provide about 110,000 sq ft of education space and form the eastern face of the Trinity Quarter facing onto the tidal basin.A new 29,100 sq ft library will also be created to form the heart of the SA1 Peninsula.Earlier this year, the university secured a £50m funding package from HSBC, enabling construction of phase one. Kier Group was awarded a £26m contract in January 2016 to oversee its design and development.Kier was given responsibility for managing the detailed and technical design of the university’s new buildings as well as handling the entire construction process.The council’s planning committee will consider a reserve matters application, covering access, appearance, landscaping, scale and layout, on 5 July 2016.A report prepared ahead of the meeting has recommended that councillors grant consent.It added that the plans would support a “vibrant, economically and environmentally sustainable and attractive mixed use development which will be instrumental in shaping the future prosperity of the university and the wider Swansea Bay City Region”.Work is expected to begin later this year with the new buildings expected to be ready in time for the 2018 academic year.