Innovation centre ‘box village’ plan for Swansea waterfront
Plans have been revealed for a new waterfront ‘box village’ built from thousands of shipping containers in Swansea that would provide a new innovative environment for the worlds of business and academia to collaborate.
The planned village and business innovation precinct at Swansea’s SA1 Waterfront Innovation Quarter scheme, is seeking financial backing from the £1bn plus (when factoring in private sector backing) City Deal bid for the Swansea Bay City Region.
The City Deal is also seeking to support regeneration projects for the centre of the city from Swansea Council, as well as future phases of the £300m innovation quarter project from the University of Wales Trinity St David.
For the city centre and waterfront digital district a City Deal would help finance:
■ 100,000 sq ft of flexible and affordable new office space;
■ A digital square and new indoor arena in the city centre;
■ A Box Village which could extend to more than 200,000 sq ft, and a 65,000 sq ft innovation precinct for start-ups and co-working.
It is understood that these elements are seeking £50m in City Deal funding - but would also look to secure a further £118m from other sources.
If funded the projects would seek to create over the next decade more than 1,100 new jobs.
The university’s Box Village would consist of a series of pavilions (hubs), each with a particular focus linking directly with aspects of its academic programme.
If approved, then over time, it would be four times bigger than the proposed Box City for Cardiff Bay. It could require several thousand shipping containers that could be stacked on top of each other to create a number of storeys.
It would aim to create ‘communities of practice’ bringing students, academics and businesses together to explore ideas and create opportunities for the development of new businesses, products and services.
Once a business has grown enough it would be offered space in the Business Innovation Precinct, which will be designed as a mixeduse building to bring together the academic support of the university’s faculty of business and management (and the adjacent faculty of architecture, computing and engineering) with the business innovation of SMEs.
Phase 1 of the SA1 £300m Innovation Quarter development from the university has already started with a new facility for the faculty of architecture, computing and engineering, as well as new library facilities.
In addition, the university has made significant investment in SA1 through the purchase of the two Technium buildings, as well as the Cyprium Building, which are home to a range of private companies, a number of whom are already collaborating with the university to develop new products and processes.
The university’s vice-chancellor Professor Medwin Hughes said: “Box Village and the Innovation Precinct will enable us to further exploit knowledge and expertise to create new enterprise hubs and high skill accelerator schemes to grow new businesses linked to our portfolio, develop the skills of current businesses and attract new investment into the region.
“Through such activities the university will create new opportunities for employment, helping to generate more footfall and spending in the city centre and to retain some of the brightest entrepreneurial talents from within the UWTSD Group in the region; ensuring that we are investing in our home grown talent to our mutual benefit.”
The proposed Digital Square at the St David’s development site, would include digital artworks and digital projections.
Leader of Swansea council Rob Stewart, said: “The University of Wales Trinity Saint David’s plans for a Box Village are an exciting part of the Swansea Bay City Region’s City Deal bid that would transform the regional economy, open up thousands of jobs and generate the kind of world class digital environment that will allow local entrepreneurs to flourish and expand.
“The Box Village project, based on innovative examples of best practice, will allow flexible space for enterprising businesses to set-up, grow and globalise.
Once the components of a Box Village are in place, they really can look particularly striking and impressive.
“This project would complement our plans to develop a digital district on Kingsway and a digital square at the St David’s development site that would include digital artworks and digital projections.
“If the City Deal bid is approved, it’d also lead to a digital indoor arena on the current LC car park site that would have the capability to host major gaming competitions and competitions, catering for a hugely popular industry.
“We’re continuing to press the UK Government for approval.