EU cash helps Swansea city centre regeneration
EUROPEAN investment of £4.5m in Swansea city centre is set to pave the way for the regeneration of the tired-looking Kingsway, including a new “digital village”.
The announcement yesterday by the Wales European Funding Office of the cash injection has been hailed by Swansea Council as a major step forward for the Kingsway Digital District. It says it will help transform the city centre over the coming years.
The investment is part of the wider £12.7m Kingsway Infrastructure project which includes demolition of two properties in Oxford Street to create a new link between the bus station and the Kingsway.
It will also see 850 square metres of new office space within refurbished buildings on the Kingsway targeted towards the digital sector as part of a digital village in the city centre, as well as a so-called parkland area stretching from one end to the other and a tree-covered roundabout at its junction with West Way.
Rob Stewart, leader of the council, said: “The EU funding is a key part of the story that will enable us to get on and transform the Kingsway and the city centre.
“It’ll help us create new public areas where people can sit, eat and relax. We’ll use contemporary design to enable public events, parades and gatherings to take place.
“The support we’re getting via the Welsh Government’s Wales European Funding Office (WEFO) will help us create more public leisure space in the city.
“This will help to attract jobs and investment and to support the new city centre we are building, and also, importantly, simplify traffic flows across the city centre and make it easier for people to get from east to west.”
Preparatory work saw the closure of the Metro track late last year, with traffic now heading in only one direction in the Kingsway.
Once all of the works are complete, the one-way systems will be discontinued and new more direct routes from east to west will be reestablished.
Coun Stewart said: “Momentum is building behind this project and there’s going to be more announcements in the coming weeks about the next stages of the work in the Kingsway itself.
“But the EU money that comes from the European Regional Development Fund is a crucial part of the overall cost of the project.
“The Kingsway transformation will create a greener environment, offering residents, visitors and those working in the digital village and in the city centre a friendly, welcoming area in which to do business.”
The Kingsway Infrastructure Project is part of the overall City Deal vision for Swansea.
It includes a “box village” on the University of Wales Trinity Saint David’s SA1 waterfront development that would create incubation spaces and co-working areas for start-ups and small businesses.
City Deal money would also be used to digitise the indoor arena planned for the LC car-park site, meaning the attraction could accommodate state-of-the-art conferences and event spaces for tech industries and universities, thanks to the availability of world-class internet speeds.