Diggers are deep at work in the heart of Swansea as one of the city centre’s most prominent public spaces is torn up and rebuilt.
Heavy machinery has been excavating Castle Square, the open space beneath the ruins of Swansea Castle, where the old paving, steps and fountain are giving way to a greener redesign.
The work is the latest visible stage of a scheme the council first set in motion earlier this year, when an artist’s installation went up on the hoardings to mark the start of construction.
Contractor Knights Brown is now on site, with the square fenced off behind “danger deep excavations” signs and the ground stripped back to bare earth.
The council is rebranding the space Castle Square Gardens, a nod to its history — before its 1990s redesign, the area was known as Castle Gardens.
When finished, the square is set to include new lawns, biodiverse planting, a water feature for interactive play, two pavilion buildings for food, drink or retail, and new seating, lighting and paving.
It will also have a giant TV screen above a bandstand-style space — and that screen has become a talking point.
At a council scrutiny panel this week, councillor Dai Jenkins asked whether the new screen would be ready in time to show the 2027 Six Nations.
Council leader Rob Stewart said the timetable made that a close-run thing, but that it was the ambition.
“The current completion and handover is likely to be after the Six Nations, but again, I know Lee and the team are currently looking at how they can advance that schedule,” he told the panel.
“It would be great if the screen were operational and the public were able to use the new square in time for the Six Nations.”
He added: “If not, obviously it’ll be available at the next major sporting event, but [I’d] love to see it open for the Six Nations if at all possible.”
A big screen is not new to Castle Square. The previous one was first put up for the 2012 London Olympics and stayed in place long afterwards, becoming a fixture for major sporting and civic occasions.
The two pavilion units, meanwhile, are already drawing interest. The council’s regeneration manager Lee Richards told the panel the authority could not yet name tenants, as the units had not been let.
But he said there was “significant interest”, adding that “a number of local vendors” could be “really good fits” for the spaces.
The square sits at the centre of the city’s wider regeneration, with new flats and commercial schemes taking shape around it — including ten apartments planned for a building overlooking the square.
The leaf-boat sculpture that long stood in the square has been removed and put into storage, with the council in talks over a new home for it — Cwmdonkin Park among the options.
(Image: Swansea Council)
For now, the diggers will keep working, with the greener Castle Square Gardens — screen and all — still to take shape.
