WORK on a new sports and medical technology centre in Swansea could start in September, a meeting heard.
It’ll replace the existing pavilion by the athletics track at Swansea Bay Sports Park, off Sketty Lane, and consist of laboratories and research, innovation and teaching space over four floors.
The Swansea University-led scheme is part of a wider £136 million project to attract investment in sports and medical technology at Sketty Lane and a large chunk of land by Morriston Hospital, creating jobs, strengthening the region’s life sciences sector and benefiting people’s overall health.
University representatives gave an update about the campuses project, as it’s known, to councillors on a scrutiny panel on April 8. The panel heard a virtual reality company from Bristol was involved in the project, as was an American firm which designed self-scanning baby heart probes.
Proposals for the new building at Swansea Bay Sports Park were unveiled in June last year, with an ambition to complete it in the first quarter of 2026. A further phase would include upgrades to pitches and facilities at the sports park.
Councillors were told at this week’s meeting the aim now was to break ground at the sports and medical tech centre in September and finish the building in December 2026 or January 2027.
A close eye is being kept on costs and the university has made provision for a potential overspend of £4.4 million. Professor Keith Lloyd, project lead and and head of the university’s medical school, said it it looked like the new building can come in on budget.
The proposed campus at Morriston will include a smaller refurbished building at Morriston Hospital for clinical research, academic and commercial use, and then tie in with Swansea Bay University Health Board plans to expand into land mainly to the north of the hospital.
Key to this expansion will be a new access road, and Prof Lloyd said a planning application could be submitted to the council next month.
The road would start at a roundabout on the B4489 a few hundred metres north of junction 46 of the M4 and head east to the hospital.
The £136 million campuses project – one of nine being taken forward by the Swansea Bay City Deal – is receiving £15 million from central government, £59 million from regional public sector partners and aims to lever in a further £62 million of private money. The aim is to create just over 1,100 jobs.
Dr Miles Willis, strategic development manager at the university, said the investment required was considerable. “It’s not without its challenges, this project,” he said.
Cllr Mike White asked if the campuses project would create opportunities for schools and potential apprenticeships. Prof Lloyd said the university had an extensive outreach programme and that it wanted people to participate in sport and work in the sector. “For every player who plays for the Ospreys there is a whole backroom of people who need skills,” he said.
The meeting heard that electronic – or e-sports – was a growing spectator event which could find a place in the campuses project. Cllr Chris Holley said drone racing was growing in popularity in the USA, Japan and China.
