Walk past an empty building in Swansea and there is a fair chance Ian Morgan has had his eye on it. One of his companies has already given one such building a very different future and others are set to get similar or different treatments.
A Swansea resident and Ospreys rugby club director, his companies are behind several projects in Swansea. He feels the city is beginning to find its identity and that bricks and mortar retail have a future. He said he wanted Swansea, to aspire and grow – and reckoned it was undergoing a resurgence.
“What we have got on our doorstep is second-to-none,” he said. But he warned that a shortage of skilled construction and development staff was a major challenge.
One of his companies, Kartay Holdings, has just completed a multi-million pound office and commercial project called Princess Quarter, on Princess Way. The three-storey building has flexible office space, a terraced roof with meeting “pods” and a boardroom, and space for a coffee shop and two retail units on the ground floor. Never miss a Swansea story by signing up to our newsletter here
Mr Morgan said: “We were looking at putting in apartments, but our plans changed. We realised the need for good-quality office space. We wanted to create something really high-end, something you’d see in any affluent city in the UK.”
It was all about attracting good-quality tenants who would in turn spend money in the city, he said, benefiting the local economy. Mr Morgan said he believed the demand was there and that all being well the building could be fully occupied by May or June. He added that the construction project had received Welsh Government and Swansea Council grants, and that Kartay Holdings had refused to compromise on the finishes, creating “a fair bit of additional spend” for the company.
He said employers were looking for a higher quality office environment than in the past but not as much space due to the rise of hybrid working which allowed staff to rotate from home to office.
Princess Quarter has flexible offices, a ground floor coffee shop space and retail units
(Image: Richard Youle)
Another large office development on The Kingsway, spearheaded by Swansea Council, is very close to completion. And detailed plans for a five-storey public sector hub between St Mary’s Church and the rear of the Tesco superstore have been approved. More buildings are expected to follow alongside.
Kartay Holdings meanwhile has acquired a 10-storey office building next to Princess Quarter, called Princess House, and plans to refurbish it. The company, along with sister company Morganstone, is also renovating a row of shops on Oxford Street and creating 33 one, two and three-bedroom flats above for housing association Caredig. “There is a lot of interest in the ground floor,” said Mr Morgan.
The vacant Ty Gwalia office block on The Kingsway
(Image: Richard Youle)
Morganstone and Coastal Housing Association – now called Beacon – are planning to convert the former Ty Gwalia office block on The Kingsway into flats with ground floor commercial space. The new-look building, called Ty Menyn, would be two storeys higher than currently. Four years ago Ty Gwalia’s previous owners gained planning permission to knock it down.
Mr Morgan said: “We thought that was crazy, and we are delighted that we can retain and enhance it.” He hoped the new plans might be determined by the council by the end of February, and that if approved the project would take around 18 to 20 months to complete.
How the commercial building which is occupied by McDonald’s, by Castle Square, would look after being refurbished
(Image: Kartay Holdings)
Another building Mr Morgan has his sights on is the block partially occupied by McDonald’s, next to Castle Square. The proposal is to refurbish and extend it, creating 29 one and two-bedroom flats. McDonald’s would become a ground floor and basement floor restaurant instead of ground and first floor. The Taco Bell unit would be retained and a new commercial unit created.
A pre-application consultation is under way pending the submission of a planning application. Mr Morgan said the upper floors of the block had been empty for years, and that the flats would be private rental rather than housing association or student rental. Asked if he felt this was risky, he said: “It is a risk, but we think it’s going to work.”
The council will be transforming the adjacent Castle Square into a greener and more inviting space, including two pavilion-style buildings for food, drink or retail businesses, which Mr Morgan welcomed.
Away from the city centre Mr Morgan’s housing development company, Westacres, is planning to build 13 open market and 14 affordable homes on land at Crwys Farm, Three Crosses, Gower. And it is currently on the second phase of The Willows – a 101-house and flat development on land off Aneurin Way, Sketty.
The Willows development, Sketty
(Image: Richard Youle)
Developers have to build a certain proportion of affordable homes depending on where the scheme is in Swansea. The target percentage in Gower is 50%, which one company has told the Local Democracy Reporting Service was deterring sites from being brought forward. Mr Morgan said the 50% percentage was a challenge, and that landowners needed to bear this in mind when they came to sell land.
Another construction cost pressure is materials, although Mr Morgan said it had settled down. Businesses everywhere in the UK face higher employment costs from April when new national insurance rules come into force, with retail and hospitality expected to particularly feel the effect.
Mr Morgan said the “foremost challenge” facing his sector was a shortage of skilled tradespeople, planners and project managers. “I think it has been a slowburner over the past 25 years,” he said. “Brexit left a void, and then it was exacerbated by Covid because some people decided not to come back.”
He said major construction projects, such as the new Hinkley Point nuclear power station, Somerset, had “sucked in” a massive number of contractors. Asked what he thought should be done to address the shortage, Mr Morgan said: “I think it needs a joined-up approach from the Welsh Government and CITB (Construction Training Industry Board) to show the potential opportunities.” He pointed out that skilled workers could take home “some big money”. A good carpenter, he said as an example, could earn £70,000 upwards per year.
Swansea, like all cities and towns, has its challenges. Mr Morgan said city centres had changed, and that you had to have a mixed leisure and retail offer. But he also believed that bricks and mortar retail was coming back.
Mr Morgan added: “I think Swansea is now starting to find its identity. It’s about realising what we have got. Homeworking has made a difference to where people can relocate, and what we have got on our doorstep is second-to-none. I think it has been a hidden secret.”
Image of how refurbished shops on the corner of Oxford Street and Union Street, with new flats above, will look
(Image: Kartay Holdings)
A Welsh Government spokesman said it had developed foundation qualification and apprenticeship programmes to support the construction sector, led by the CITB. He said the shared apprenticeship scheme, Y Prentis, which was funded jointly by CITB, employed apprentices across a range of construction trades. “We also continue to support the skills needs of businesses and trades through programmes adjacent to apprenticeship schemes, such as part-time further education courses, our personal learning accounts programme and national vocational qualifications,” said the spokesman.
The CITB said it was actively promoting skills training in Wales, was hosting a conference for employers and training bodies in Cardiff later this month, and had rolled out schemes to make it easier for employers to identify and address their skills challenges. Julia Stevens, CITB engagement director for Wales, said: “As well as this, we’ve helped inform the Welsh Government’s view on the skills challenges around net zero, particularly their net zero skills action plan. Our involvement was pivotal in the recent creation of degree apprenticeships in Wales, which would not have progressed as they have without our input.”