Secretary of State for Wales visits new University Campus

Secretary of State for Wales, David Jones MP, and Sweden’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Nicola Clase paid a recent visit to the site of Swansea University’s Bay Campus to observe progress on the £450m development.

The UK’s leading regeneration specialist, St. Modwen, is developing the campus with its construction partner, VINCI Construction UK, and Swansea University’s framework contractor, Leadbitter, a Bouygues UK company.

The new campus, which will welcome its first students on site in September 2015, will provide world-class research facilities and enable the University to significantly increase its ability to access research council grants and other sources of funding such as Horizon 2020.  It will also provide an ‘open innovation’ environment for industry to collaborate and engage with academic expertise to help develop manufacturing products and processes and introduce new ones, contributing to the economic regeneration of the region.

In addition, the Bay Campus is providing significant local employment opportunities. More than 1,100 workers have already been inducted to work on the site. There are over 200 sub-contracting opportunities, of which over 100 have already been let to companies from the Swansea Bay region and across Wales.

Ms Clase was visting the university as part of a two-day economy and growth themed visit to Wales and was able to see first-hand how scientists at the University’s College of Medicine are collaborating with colleagues at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm in life sciences research and development.

Secretary of State for Wales, David Jones said:

“Higher education plays an important role in driving economic growth and having employees with the right skills is essential if businesses are to grow and prosper.  Swansea University is renowned for its impressive research programmes and the new bay campus will provide exciting new opportunities for students.  I hope that this will continue to drive economic regeneration in the region and I am delighted to have the opportunity to hear about the University's progress in this area."