Cardiff Arena firm donates £500 to project’s leading opponent

Martin Shipton

A company involved in building the controversial Cardiff Arena tried to donate £500 to the project’s most vocal critic, we can reveal.

Officers of Cardiff Civic Society (CCS), a campaigning organisation that defends the capital’s heritage and environment, found it peculiar when the donation arrived out of the blue from Provectus Remediation Ltd, a company of which they had never previously heard.

‘Perplexed’

Nerys Lloyd-Pierce, who chairs the society, said: “CCS was surprised, and somewhat perplexed, to find a £500 donation to the society via PayPal from Provectus Remediation, a company with no obvious connection to Cardiff, or to any of our campaigns. Following a swift online search, it emerged that Provectus was a Cardiff council partner at the recent MIPIM trade jaunt in Cannes. Obviously, we returned the donation immediately.

“We are not suggesting in any way that there is anything improper about Provectus’ activities, far from it, just that there was no context for the donation. There was no communication between CCS and the company, no explanation as to why they were giving us five hundred quid. It seemed odd that a company based in Wolverhampton would be interested in CCS and its work, therefore returning the donation immediately seemed to be the most prudent course of action.”

MIPIM is described as “The Global Urban Festival” and Cardiff Capital Region – comprising 10 local authorities in south east Wales – attended the five-day event in March “to showcase £15bn investment opportunities” in the region.

‘Local engagement’

We contacted Provectus Remediation, whose managing director Matt Barrow said: “Apologies if this caused any confusion — our intention was only to demonstrate our values and local engagement when taking on projects that impact the wider community.

“So, as an introduction, Provectus Remediation is a specialist environmental contractor currently supporting a number of regeneration and infrastructure projects across Cardiff and south Wales. Our core services include brownfield remediation, enabling works, waste management, and contaminated land consultancy – all delivered with a strong emphasis on sustainability, compliance, and community benefit.

“As part of our commitment to delivering social value wherever we work, we recently made a small donation to Cardiff Civic Society. This was intended as a gesture of goodwill and to show support for the work being done to preserve and enhance the city’s environment and heritage.

“We are always keen to build collaborative relationships with local organisations and stakeholders, so please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you’d like to know more about our work or discuss any opportunities for future cooperation.”

What Cardiff Civic Society didn’t realise was that Provectus Remediation is involved in the project to construct the new Cardiff Arena, a 15,000-seater venue due to open in 2027 in the Atlantic Wharf area of the city.

Site preparation works

An article on a Cardiff Capital Region website devoted to the project states: “Provectus have started to undertake site preparation works for the main construction contract and divert the remaining utility services. This includes installing new surface water drainage from the site to East Bute Dock; the diversion of the telecoms cables, electricity, the foul sewer and water. This work is expected to complete in September 2025.”

CCS has been extremely vocal about the project, expressing concerns about the funding of it by Cardiff council and the potential impact on other city services. The society has raised questions about the investment’s value and whether spending more than £200m on the arena is the best use of public money. CCS has also emphasised the importance of protecting existing city assets and supporting community initiatives.

The society has expressed a preference for providing more affordable housing, access to green spaces and the protection of working class heritage.

A return filed to Companies House by Provectus Remediation Ltd shows that at the end of 2023 it had net assets of £79,502.

The company’s 100 shares were all owned by The Brownfield Holding Co Ltd, which in turn was owned by a dormant company called Provectus Trustee Ltd, which has no assets.