PUBLIC TRANSPORT LINKS TO THE SITE AT NANTGARW WILL BE KEY
BUSINESS editor Sion Barry gives his verdict on the development...
IT is good to see an investment of this scale going north of Cardiff into the wider Cardiff Capital Region.
While consolidating its back office and benefit processing offices across the region, so not creating new jobs outside of construction related, it will house 1,700 DWP staff.
And the project will help counter claims by some, whether fairly or not, that Cardiff gets too much investment.
Public transport links to the site at Nantgarw will be key – especially as hundreds of DWP staff currently working and living in Cardiff will have to commute in, as well as those from other locations across the region.
We will have to wait until later this month to see which company has been chosen to carry out the next phase of the Welsh Government’s Metro project with electrification of the Valley Lines and the running of the next Wales and Borders rail franchise from October this year.
But whether it is MTR or KeolisAmey, there will be a significant increase in rail services on the Valley Lines, in what effectively promises to be a new turn-up-andgo network.
However, having a new station[s] even closer to the development site would make commuting in and out even easier.
That will be down to whether the winning bidder has identified such infrastructure closer to the site than the current nearest train station at Treforest in its bid plans; although if not, such plans could still be taken forward if funding is secured.
But new stations and park and ride facilities – taking traffic off the A470 – have already been identified by Rhondda Cynon Taf council in its strategic plans at both Nantgarw and Upper Boat.
The developer behind the DWP project is Cardiff-based property development Rightacres Property, which is spearheading the one million sq ft Central Square and the proposed 2.5 million sq ft Central Quay schemes in Cardiff.
They have recognised the potential of the wider Pontypridd area, which will be at the heart of the core Valley Lines when they are electrified by 2023.
And again it is drawing down on its proven funding partnership [for Central Square] with financial services giant Legal & General.
And if Rightarces is seeing the commercial potential of the area, other job creating investors will surely follow.
And with the biggest DWP site in south Wales currently in Cardiff, it will create a strategic development opportunity next to the University Hospital of Wales when it is vacated.
And if acquired by the hospital this could see the potential for new research and development space focused on commercialisation and the spin-out of a new wave of life sciences firms.