Gower College Swansea is looking at a move into the city centre. It will not say where, what for, or what it means for the empty bank on the Kingsway that carries its name.
The former TSB at 29 Kingsway, on the corner of Craddock Street, has been empty since the branch closed in 2015. Its boarded-up ground floor is covered in college branding.
Asked what it plans for the building, when it bought it and why it has stood empty, the college gave a three-paragraph statement that did not mention it.
A spokesperson for the college said: “Like any college, we regularly review our estate to make sure our learners and staff have the best possible facilities. As part of that, we are exploring a number of options for the future, including potential opportunities in Swansea city centre.”
They added: “These discussions are at an early stage. No decisions have been made, and any proposal would be subject to funding and the necessary approvals.”
The statement ended: “No decisions have been made about any of our existing sites.”
Six questions, none answered
The college was asked six questions on Monday. Where in the city centre, which courses, what would move from Tycoch, Gorseinon or Llwyn y Bryn, how it would be paid for, and when decisions would be made.
It also asked about the college’s other Kingsway building, further along the street, which houses its Employment Hub and English classes for speakers of other languages. And it asked for an update on the Garngoch campus.
The statement answered none of them directly. It said the college had “an excellent working relationship” with Swansea Council and backed its efforts to “regenerate and revitalise the city centre”.
The spokesperson said: “We welcome the opportunity to explore how we can contribute to these ambitions while continuing to provide the best possible facilities and opportunities for our learners and staff.”
The 24 flats that never came
This is not the first plan for the bank. In 2018, it was reported at the time, architects acting for the college asked Swansea Council for pre-application advice on turning it into 24 flats, with shops below and two extra storeys on top.
The letter with that request called the flats a “windfall” towards the council’s target of 1,000 new homes in the city centre, and said the building’s appearance would barely change.
No full application followed. Eight years on, the building has gained nothing but boards and the college’s logo.
Ten years since the Tycoch fire
The college has announced big building plans before.
In 2014 it won outline permission for a £40m expansion of its Tycoch campus. The scheme spread onto the former Hill House Hospital site next door in Sketty.
Five new buildings were planned, for catering, creative arts, sport and motor vehicle courses, plus a sports barn. The council approved detailed plans for the first phase in October 2016.
The same month, fire tore through the main Tycoch building.
Eighty-five firefighters and 19 engines were sent to the campus in the early hours of 28 October 2016, ten years ago this week. The fire service said it started in the library, wrecked a third and fourth floor wing, and was accidental.
Nobody was hurt. The campus shut for two days and GCSE exams were moved into the Hill House buildings.
What followed was far smaller than the £40m plan. The college put £3.5m into a new glass front, reception and student centre at Tycoch, opened in 2018, and replaced the library.
The other four buildings were never built. A decade on, the college still teaches in the old hospital buildings at Hill House.
Where the money has gone instead
The £20.6m rebuild of the Gorseinon campus finished in August, paid for through the Welsh Government’s schools and colleges building programme.
In June the college bought the former M&P motorcycle superstore at Garngoch, to open as a construction and green energy campus in late 2028. That rests on a Welsh Government business case covering 65% of the cost, which the college said in June it was finalising.
It did not say this week whether that business case has gone in.
The college’s Kingsway presence dates from 2017, when it bought a city centre property for the Employment Hub of its Better Jobs, Better Futures scheme. It has not said when it bought the bank.
What happens next
Any city centre scheme needs money and approvals, the college says, and nothing has been decided about the sites it already has. Swansea Council’s regeneration of the Kingsway has transformed the street around the old bank.
The bank itself goes into another winter boarded up, with the college’s name on the boards and no word on what comes next.
Discover more from Swansea Bay News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
