A far greener Castle Square and the completion of several major new developments are on the way to Swansea in 2025 to boost city centre footfall and help attract more shops and other businesses.
The schemes form part of a £1bn regeneration programme that will continue throughout next year and beyond.
Led by Swansea Council and due to start in early 2025, work to transform Castle Square will feature a substantial increase in green space including lawns and planting.
A new water feature for interactive play will also feature, along with new outdoor seating areas, a giant new TV screen above a bandstand facility, the retention of public use space and two new pavilion buildings for food, drink or retail businesses.
Developed by Swansea Council and part-funded by the Swansea Bay City Deal and Welsh European Funding Office, the new office scheme at 71/72 The Kingsway will be complete in early 2025, Due to provide space for 600 jobs in sectors like tech and digital, over 75% of the office space there is now under offer and tenants will start to be announced from next month.
Construction work is also anticipated to start next year on a public sector hub at the former Saint David’s Shopping Centre site as part of a partnership between the council and regeneration specialists Urban Splash.
Hundreds of council workers and other public sector staff will work there once the building is complete, helping enable the redevelopment of the Civic Centre site on the seafront. Other features of the overall Saint David’s Shopping Centre site’s redevelopment will be made public as soon as they’re finalised.
That’s also the case for the former Debenhams unit, where talks with a number of prospective retail and other tenants are continuing at pace.
The Y Storfa community hub at the former BHS unit on Oxford Street will also open in 2025. It will include some council services, the city’s main public library, the Swansea office of Careers Wales, the Welsh Glamorgan Archive Service, Citizens Advice Swansea Neath Port Talbot, the South Wales Miners Library and other public services.
Cllr Rob Stewart, Swansea Council Leader, said:
“We know how important Swansea city centre is for local residents and the people who work there.
“The council isn’t responsible for setting business rates and attracting shops to buildings we don’t own, but what we can do is to help create a city centre where thousands more people live and work.
“That will then create the footfall that’s needed there to safeguard our existing businesses and attract more shops and other businesses in future, helping to tackle challenges like online shopping.
“This is why office schemes like 71/72 The Kingsway and the public sector hub are so important.
“The private sector is also heavily investing in Swansea, with major schemes like Princess Quarter and the biophilic building also due for completion in 2025, supported by plans to bring the Mond Buildings on Union Street back into us and the opening of the Cosy Club at the Exchange Buildings in the Maritime Quarter.
“These projects and many others will add to everything that’s been achieved in recent years which includes the opening of Swansea Arena and the reopening of both the Albert Hall and the Palace Theatre building.
“It’s all part of our commitment to create a thriving city centre and generate more jobs and opportunities for local people.”
A planning application from Skyline Enterprises is also likely to be determined next year which – subject to approval – would lead to a new outdoor leisure destination on Kilvey Hill.
Other progress will include the council continuing to work with the Ospreys to achieve their ambition of playing at St Helens from the 2025-26 season.
Construction work on a new hotel could start in Swansea by the end of 2025 on land between the arena and the LC, and plans are also in place to improve the entrances to Swansea’s award-winning indoor market.
Work to strengthen and improve the sea defences in Mumbles is also due for completion in 2025.
Other council-led projects that will see progress in 2025 include work to bring the grade two listed laboratory building at Hafod-Morfa Copperworks back to life.
The work will see the building made suitable for a restaurant or a number of other possible uses.
