As the city centre continues on its regeneration journey,
we consider what has contributed to Swansea’s success so far
Caroline Searle, a partner in Carter Jonas’ Development team has been working with Swansea Council on the regeneration of its city centre since 2010. Here, we explore what is a shining example of how key objectives can be achieved through strategic planning, engagement, forward thinking, and most importantly of all, working in partnership on a variety of levels.
"What has made Swansea so successful has been a ‘Team Swansea’ approach that has been championed by the Council."
"This site analysis involved identifying challenges that the
city was facing and understanding the demographics."
View all Insite articles
The power of partnerships
“What has made Swansea so successful has been a ‘Team Swansea’ approach that has been championed by the Council,” says Caroline. "Meaningful change needs everybody to be pulling in the same direction and the team at Swansea Council is very engaged, with a talented and passionate officer team and strong political leadership.
“In 2010 one of the first things that I worked on was the creation of the Swansea Central Area Regeneration Framework, which is also known as the SCARF,” continues Caroline.
“The SCARF identified a vision for the city through the development of four key areas: working and learning, retail and leisure, better connection to its waterfront and the creation of a green artery through the city. The SCARF guided investment decisions in the city centre and underpinned the delivery of projects to achieve this vision.”
Planning for success
“A number of projects were borne out of the SCARF but two of the most important were key to diversifying the uses in the city centre. The first was Copr Bay - a new arena and conference venue for the city centre. This has increased leisure and business activity by bringing new visitors to the city centre and encouraging them to stay longer. It has had a substantial ripple effect in terms of local food and beverage operators and has also delivered a new, coastal park for the city centre and a bridge that crosses Oystermouth Road. Now people can arrive in Swansea and walk from the city centre to the waterfront without having to cross a major highway which has produced huge, tangible benefits. Swansea really is the capital of southwest Wales, and the arena is attracting people from all over the region.
Copr Bay and Kingsway
“The second project was 71/72 Kingsway, 100,000 ft of grade-A office space aimed at the tech sectors, which has provided a step change in the quality of employment space in the city centre. Much of Swansea’s employment space was traditionally located outside the city centre, but Kingsway will now become a new employment destination.
“These two flagship projects have increased the appetite of local developers to take on development risk and
Caroline’s current focus is on the Swansea City Centre Placemaking Plan. “Placemaking Plans are something that the Welsh Government is keen for every town and city in Wales to have,” she explains. “ It will set out the next chapter for the city centre, building on the success of the projects implemented since the SCARF and it’s got huge potential. I’m looking forward to seeing the benefits in years to come.”
Swansea future
So, what research was needed to get this project off the ground? “The Council commissioned a multi-disciplinary team including masterplanning, research, development, planning, agency and engagement specialists. We began with detailed site analysis and research,” explains Caroline. “It was really important to engage with existing occupiers, target occupiers and investors, to understand their appetite for regeneration and capacity for involvement. That is what ultimately makes a project deliverable.
“This site analysis involved identifying challenges that the city was facing and understanding the demographics. The research showed that the city centre wasn’t catering for three groups – more affluent residents, tourists and students. In addition, we looked at the various sectors operating within the city, including leisure, retail, workplace, education and health. There were lots of vacant shops and value brands, a distinct lack of family dining facilities and footfall was falling dramatically after 5pm. In terms of the built environment, considerations included identifying heritage buildings and buildings that had suffered from underinvestment. We undertook a public realm audit to understand whether public spaces were sufficient in terms of their role, function and quality.
A unique approach to creating a unique place
“We needed a full understanding of the built environment, movement patterns, quality of green spaces, and the roles that those spaces fulfilled,” Caroline says. “The public realm has to meet the needs of the local population, in terms of spaces to play, spaces to gather or dwell, where everyone can feel safe.
“To deliver the stakeholder and community engagement we worked with a local company called Urban Foundry who were able to get under the skin of this aspect of the project and help identify the city’s USPs. Nobody understands a place better than the people that live and work there, so community engagement was carried out in person and online, and there were a number of workshops held with stakeholders, all of which was crucial in identifying the challenges as well as what should be celebrated. Every place is special, and that’s what we wanted to bring out through the Placemaking Plan – to build on its strengths to make Swansea the best place that it can be.” Caroline adds that it was also important that the team was be able to draw on experience from working with other towns and cities, which helped to provide examples of best practice.
The strategies and interventions that will be proposed as part of the Placemaking Plan are all derived from the research and engagement workstreams to avoid a ‘top down’ approach to placemaking and regeneration. They will all also be assessed in terms of their viability and deliverability, to ensure that each proposal is capable of being delivered.
So what has all of this this meant to those who are involved in Swansea’s transformation?
Conclusion
Celebrating Swansea
“Another key ingredient was the wider partnerships. Swansea Council has continuously engaged with Welsh Government and also successfully secured City Deal and Levelling Up funding to make projects happen, which has been critical to the city's success. Swansea Council has also promoted the city at national conferences and engaged with the local business community, occupiers and the property sector. Everyone has the same vision for the city, and we all believe in it.”
"These two flagship projects have increased the appetite of local developers to take on development risk and undertake their own projects."
undertake their own projects. Now when you walk around the city centre, you can see projects that third parties are delivering without Council intervention. That was always a key objective of the council - to be a catalyst for growth.”
"Nobody understands a place better than the people that live and work there."
The Placemaking Plan will conclude with a delivery strategy and set out the next steps, because the success of the plan will be down to what is ultimately delivered and the wider impact that those projects will have.
“Seeing the impact of our work taking shape and having an impact on the people of Swansea has been immensely satisfying,” says Caroline. “You can see people using spaces and hear anecdotes about how businesses are doing better because of something you have collectively worked on. I get enormous satisfaction thinking that I am changing a place for the better. The roof of the car park of Copr Bay is now a one-acre coastal park – the first to be built in Swansea since Victorian times. It has added so much to the area. One day when I walked past, I saw a father and his son having fun playing table tennis there, and I thought, wow, we helped make that happen!
"Seeing the impact of our work taking shape and having an impact on the people of Swansea has been immensely satisfying."
“There’s nothing quite like having worked on regeneration projects in a city and seeing things on plan, then walking through the buildings or spaces in real life.”
“Another key ingredient was the wider partnerships. Swansea Council has continuously engaged with Welsh Government and also successfully secured City Deal and Levelling Up funding to make projects happen, which has been critical to the city's success. Swansea Council has also promoted the city at national conferences and engaged with the local business community, occupiers and the property sector. Everyone has the same vision for the city, and we all believe in it.”