Plans for a £500 million university campus off Fabian Way were due to take a big stride forward today.
Swansea University is submitting an outline planning application for the exciting development, which is to be called The Bay Science and Innovation Campus.
The Bay Science and innovation campus
A 21-day consultation period kicks off once the plans, which are part private and part publicly-funded, are registered with Neath Port Talbot Council.
The university is planning three drop-in sessions over the next 10 days.
Two of these will be held in Swansea and one will take place in Aberavon, where people can find out more about the scheme.
Information will also be available on a university website, which is scheduled to be up and running today. Designs of the new campus show a mix of residential, academic and research and development buildings at the former British Petroleum site.
The planned beach front campus, opposite Elba Crescent, has 1,270 parking spaces, although detailed plans will be drawn up at a later date.
University bosses expect it will house 4,000 students and postgraduates, many of whom will be working closely with science and engineering companies on site.
Negotiations with various multi-national companies are continuing, with Rolls Royce already signed up to a new materials testing and research centre.
The incentive for private companies is access to academics who specialise in problem-solving and research and development.
These collaborations, it is hoped, would generate thousands of jobs in the region. And the university hopes there will be students on site by September 2013, and stresses its Singleton campus will stay.
Vice Chancellor Richard B Davies said Swansea University sought international recognition as a world-class, research-led institution.
"The proposed development of The Bay Science and Innovation Campus, and the redevelopment of the existing Singleton Park campus, is central to the success of this strategy," said Prof Davies.
"The outline planning application brings the university and its partners a step closer to realising this vision and to establishing South West Wales at the heart of the knowledge economy."
www.swansea.ac.uk/campusexpansion
Monday, March 15, 2010, South Wales Evening Post
