New student accommodation plans for empty St Helens Road offices

Former offices on St Helens Road in Swansea City Centre are to become student accommodation – 6 years after plans were originally approved for the 78-bed scheme.

The Sun Alliance House office building on St Helens Road has remained empty since plans were originally approved in 2017 to transform the building into student accommodation.

The plans did not materialise however, and the building has since come in for criticism for quantities of rubbish that had accumulated outside.

New owners, Urban Centric, have submitted fresh plans to Council planners for changes to the layout, increasing the ground floor footprint but delivering the same number of bedrooms. Student lounges and a cinema room will also be created.

The developers say that the physical appearance of the building will be largely the same as the plans previously approved back in 2017, with no additional impact of neighbouring buildings.

Work is expected to start in September, with completion in Summer 2022.