23 New Jobs Created at SA1 Swansea Waterfront Development & £19 Million Injected into Local Economy
2018 is an exciting year for UWTSD as we will welcome our first students to our new £300million SA1 Swansea Waterfront development in September.
Twenty-three new jobs have been created at the new SA1 development, alongside opportunities for 12 apprentices and 17 work experience placements.
The construction of SA1 Swansea Waterfront development has been underway for 18 months and will provide a home for the faculties of architecture, computing and engineering, education and communities, as well as a new library. With a total of 22 welsh subcontractors working on the project, to date around £19million worth of contracts have been secured by Wales-based businesses.
The SA1 development will also be home to the Construction Wales Innovation Centre (CWIC), which will also open this autumn. The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) and a consortium led by UWTSD, are working in partnership to deliver (CWIC) state-of-the-art facilities and training for individuals and construction companies, with CITB investing £6.5m. The centre will see a minimum of 1100 students trained at the SA1 hub each year.
Situated in phase one of the SA1 Swansea Waterfront development, the building is being constructed by Kier. It will cover 1,000 square metres of floor space, providing a ConstructZone, classrooms, dedicated IT suites and conference facilities. A dedicated scaffolding training facility will also be sited close by.
To date the partnership which includes Coleg Sir Gâr, Coleg Ceredigion, Coleg Cambria and Coleg y Cymoedd has delivered training to around 1,200 people and organised over 170 events.
A total of 52 University educational engagements have been held at the SA1 site, with the latest event organised by Kier Construction, aimed at teaching construction skills in a live working environment to pupils at local comprehensives.
UWTSD is dedicated to creating a community of staff and students across all its campuses who support sustainability through social, economic, cultural and environmental responsibility. The SA1 buildings will be BREEAM Excellent, featuring renewable technologies such as Solar Photovoltaics and taking a green approach to water conservation, through use of rainwater harvesting and waterless urinals.
Landscaping will utilise local tree species and there will be exemplar quality cycle storage provision.
Significant emphasis has been placed on procuring local contractors and using a local supply chain during construction. A range of local sub-contractors have been employed to work on the waterfront development by Kier Construction, who have been appointed to oversee phase one of the development. These include Swansea Decorators, who are the decoration subcontractor, Bridgend Office Furniture, who are the furniture supplier for the teaching/academic building and Swansea Company Gibbs Surfacing, the tarmac subcontractor.
This support also includes the commitment to the use of British steel in the design of the building frame. In addition, the company is providing a range of job opportunities, apprenticeships and work placements linked to the construction work. Such opportunities are being provided for the University’s students across its campuses in Swansea, Lampeter and Carmarthen and particularly students of the Faculty of Architecture, Computing and Engineering who are gaining first hand-experience of a live construction project. In addition, the company is keen to support community and civic projects linked to the development.
UWTSD SA1 Project Manager Mike Bessell said: “The University continues to be committed to not only creating exemplar quality teaching and learning facilities, but also to ensuring the project contributes positively to environment and economic sustainability. The use of green technologies within the buildings reinforce this commitment, with the installation of the solar panels already complete. The economic achievements of the project to date are astounding, with many local companies securing contracts, and jobs created for both University graduates and the wider community.”
Howard Monsen, Senior Project Manager at Kier Construction said: “Kier is delighted to be contributing towards this vital project that is having such a positive impact on employment and education in the region.
“Kier has a long-standing record of commitment of recruitment and training in the industry, with a bespoke training classroom, designed for students from local schools, universities and surrounding colleges to experience real challenges and rewards of working within the construction industry. On the SA1 project so far, we have created 23 jobs, 3 graduate schemes, 12 apprenticeships and 17 work experience placements.
“It’s vital that we continue to exceed our community targets, we will be working closely with our supply chain and local community to provide upskilling and recruitment opportunities for now and the future.”
Other developments planned for the SA1 site include an exciting box village initiative, which will covert shipping containers to provide flexible, affordable space for start-up companies. It will be enhanced through the City Deal and will further contribute to the other innovative schemes planned across Swansea
