Development agreement

25th June 2014

ST. MODWEN AND SWANSEA UNIVERSITY AGREE A FURTHER £50M PHASE OF STUDENT ACCOMMODATION AT THE NEW BAY CAMPUS

St. Modwen, the UK's leading regeneration specialist and developer of the new £450m Swansea University Bay Campus, has signed a new Student Accommodation Development Agreement with the University to deliver an additional £50m of student accommodation and major new student facilities to boost the University's Bay Campus development.

The Agreement will see the development of 545 additional student apartments for occupation during the first quarter of 2016. It also provides for new student facilities including a gym and sports hall, Student Union offices and meeting space, launderette and crèche. Collectively, this will bring the total amount of campus space under construction to around 1 million sq ft, including 465,000 sq ft of world-leading research, innovation and education facilities and 1,462 new student residences, clustered around communal courtyards, with direct access to the beach and nearby ancillary student amenities.

Rupert Joseland, South Wales' regional director for St. Modwen, the land owner and partner developer for the Bay Campus said:

"The development at the Swansea University Bay Campus is starting to take shape with many of the key buildings now well underway as the project's first phase gears up to complete next year. This new campus development is a major highlight of St. Modwen's ongoing 3,500 acre regeneration programme across South Wales and this latest agreement with the University is the next step in the vision to create a world-class educational establishment that will benefit students, staff and the local community for generations to come."

Professor Iwan Davies at Swansea University added:

"Swansea University is now delivering its campus development programme. At the heart of this initiative is enhancing the student experience. Next year the University will operate from two campuses - the wonderful existing campus at Singleton Park and a new campus at Swansea Bay. The facilities announced today will enhance the University's composite offering for students adding to an outstanding academic teaching environment informed by world class research. The campus development programme and strategy is wholly consistent with Swansea University's ambition of becoming a top 200 Global University."

The Great Hall, Bay Library and School of Management are all part of this inaugural phase of academic and R&D space at the Bay Campus alongside a new Institute of Structural Materials (home to Swansea Material and Research Testing Ltd), Engineering Central (home to the Innovation Hub), Engineering East (home to the Engineering Manufacturing Centre) and an Energy Safety Research Institute (ESRI). Many of these buildings will be 'topped out' over the summer months as the campus gears up to welcome students next autumn. Work on a permanent new campus entrance, from the dual carriageway at Fabian Way, will also commence later this month.

-ENDS-

Notes to editors:

Swansea University Bay Campus

The new £450m Bay Campus scheme will be delivered for Swansea University, by land owner and UK's leading regeneration specialist, St. Modwen, at the 65 acre former BP Transit site on the eastern approach into Swansea. It will have the distinction of being one of the few global universities with direct access onto a beach and its own seafront promenade. The new Bay Campus will provide academic, student accommodation and research space, the latter being in a series of agreements with international and national companies. St. Modwen is developing the Bay Campus, with contractor VINCI Construction UK and Swansea University's framework contractor Leadbitter, a Bouygues UK company. Work started on site in May 2013, with full student occupation due in 2015.  Visit www.swan.ac.uk/campus-development

St. Modwen Properties PLC

St. Modwen is the UK's leading regeneration specialist. The company operates across the full spectrum of the property industry from a network of seven offices, a residential business and through joint ventures with public sector and industry leading partners.

The Company is focussed wholly upon regeneration with an outstanding 25 year track record of adding value by managing schemes through the planning process, remediating brownfield land and active asset management and development.

With extensive experience in dealing with complex and challenging sites, St. Modwen has a land bank of more than 5,900 net developable acres and is focused on the long-term development of commercial property and residential land.

St. Modwen's extensive national portfolio includes; the regeneration of New Covent Garden Market, London; the £1bn transformation of Longbridge, Birmingham and the on-going regeneration of over 3,500 acres of former industrial land in South Wales. For further information, visit www.stmodwen.co.uk 

For further information, please contact:

Emma Salo/Mike Erskine

Equinox Communications

T: 02920 764 100

E: [email protected]