Shortlisted Swansea city centre regeneration companies unveiled

COMPANIES on the shortlist to regenerate two key Swansea city centre sites have been named.

Swansea Council is now holding detailed talks with representatives of Bellerophon, Rightacres/Exemplar, Rivington Land and Acme, Trebor Developments and Queensberry Real Estates.

The firms are in the running to redevelop the city’s Civic Centre and St David’s sites.

Bellerophon is heading a consortium bid including M&G (Prudential), Dawnus Construction, SSE & Apollo (IMAX). They’re involved in numerous mixed developments such as Embankment in London, Trostre in Llanelli and Drake Circus in Plymouth.

Rightacre/Exemplar are behind schemes such as Cardiff’s Central Square, which includes the new BBC headquarters. Rivington Land and Acme have worked on mixed-use developments at The Arc in Bury St Edmunds and Northgate, Chester, while Trebor Developments are responsible for the Gateway retail development in Cannock and Birmingham’s Grand Hotel. Queensberry Real Estate are currently on site at Friar’s Walk, Newport, and previously delivered the mixed-use development at Belfast’s Victoria Square.

Cllr Rob Stewart, Swansea Council Leader, said: “We’ve marketed some exciting outline proposals for the Civic Centre and St David’s sites that have attracted considerable interest from developers based in Wales, the UK as a whole and abroad. Our shortlist represents a healthy mix of regional, national and international regeneration experts as we look to get the very best specialists on board for the benefit of Swansea city centre, local people and visitors to the city.

“Each of the shortlisted companies has an impressive track record but the challenge now is to further explore their ideas on transforming our vision into a reality and gauge how they’d consider going about innovatively linking the Civic Centre and St David’s sites.

“We’re leaving no stone unturned in our drive to get it right but we’re also aware that the people of Swansea have waited far too long for the kind of thriving city centre they deserve. This is why in-depth meetings with each of the shortlisted bidders are now taking place every fortnight before the companies are asked to submit formal plans towards the end of July. Final bids will then be considered before appointing one or more development partners by the end of the year.”

A mixed-use leisure and retail destination is proposed for the St David’s site that would combine a new public square with shops, restaurants, a cinema and a new office development.  A multi-storey car park is being proposed for the current LC car park site that would include opportunities for commercial development.

The Civic Centre site has been recommended as the number one site of Welsh national priority status in a report produced for the Swansea Bay City Region board. Outline proposals for the site include landmark tourist developments and high quality public spaces. Swansea University is also exploring the potential for a hydro hub research and development facility on the site that could include an iconic aquarium.