Most people associate the Neath Port Talbot region with traditional heavy industries like mining and steel. Don’t get us wrong – we’re enormously proud of our industrial heritage – but that’s only part of our story. Although the blast furnaces still dominate the local skyline, the area is undergoing an altogether quieter and greener industrial revolution.
The impressive Harbourside project has involved the regeneration of over 100 acres of former dockland, transforming the area into a knowledge-focused commercial hub providing skilled jobs and inward investment opportunities. The 42,000 sq. ft. R&D village there has already attracted global companies such as TWI and ThyssenKrupp.
Baglan Energy Park is the first stage in the regeneration of Baglan Bay. The 180-acre park has emerged as one of Wales’s premier business and industrial locations, attracting significant investment by a range of companies. It’s home to the University of South Wales Hydrogen Centre, Wales’s first hydrogen research and demonstration centre. It’ll also be the location of the Swansea Bay Technology Centre, an energy-positive hybrid building that will provide a range of flexible office space to support start-up companies and indigenous business growth, with a focus on innovation and R&D companies.
Swansea University’s Bay Campus is situated on a 65-acre former BP transit site on Fabian Way, the eastern approach into Swansea. The university’s ambition was to create a new world-leading research, innovation and educational complex. This was realised with the opening of the Bay Campus in September 2015, one of the largest knowledge economy projects to date in both the UK and Europe.