At an event for business and community leaders in Swansea on 30th September, one of Europe’s most successful developers, Hammerson, confirmed their commitment to delivering the regeneration of Swansea City Centre.
Hammerson's Simon Betty outlined the difficulties faced by the development community over the last year but went on to present a very positive picture of how Hammerson have responded to the challenge. He went on to detail how they have weathered the storm and how plans for the centre of Swansea are moving forward. The challenging economic climate has meant the withdrawal of their original development partner, Urban Splash, due to capital commitments elsewhere. In response to market conditions the overall masterplan has been reworked, going through a number of iterations to find one that meets the key objectives of this element of the City Centre Strategic Framework - namely increasing the city’s retail offer and improving the linkages between the city centre and the sea.
The masterplan includes 36,000 sq m of new retail space, including some 80 new shops, an 11,000 sq m anchor store, some 300 new dwellings and the development of new public spaces and walkways.
The next 12 - 18 months will spent progressing the plans, which encompass developments on the Parc Tawe site already owned by Hammerson. Plans for this site could include a relocated and expanded Tesco and a base for the merged Gorseinon/Swansea College, and the company have stressed that they are keen to retain many of the existing site tenants in the mix.
Although there will be little physical evidence of these developments prior to 2012 when many of the existing store leases on Parc Tawe expire, there will still be a great deal of activity taking place in the city following the Welsh Assembly Government’s designation of Swansea as a Strategic Regeneration Area and the announcement of £38m funding package. This will focus on a defined geographic area of the city and will be working to achieve both physical and community regeneration, placing Swansea at the heart of a vibrant city region.
2nd,October,2009
