Housing association keen to demolish hospital and build flats

Richard Youle – Local democracy reporter

A former hospital originally laid out for the middle classes to live in “Italianate villas” could be knocked down and replaced by five blocks of affordable flats.

The old HMT Sancta Maria site in Ffynone Swansea expanded from two neoclassical villas built there in the late 19th Century and the proposed new blocks have been designed with them in mind, according to planning documents submitted to Swansea Council.

Housing association Beacon Cymru bought the vacant site around three years ago and has explored various options to redevelop it, including a revamp of the existing buildings. Eight new houses for private sale were also considered before the current 42-flat scheme was chosen.

A design and access document submitted as part of its affordable housing application to Swansea Council said the proposal had gone through a significant amount of pre-application and design work.

The plot of land is bordered by Richmond Road to the north and Ffynone Road several metres below to the south, has fencing due to incidents of anti-social behaviour, and is in a conservation area. There is a care home and a meditation centre nearby on Ffynone Road, and the closest bus stop is 50m away.

A heritage impact assessment submitted on behalf of Beacon Cymru said: “The Ffynone area was substantially developed by James Walter, the son of a local colliery owner who recognised the increasing demand for large new, middle-class, houses on the west side of the city, away from the docks and the industry along the River Tawe. He laid out Ffynone Road as an unusually wide, high-status, road to be lined with Italianate stuccoed villas.”

It said this style of development was typical of prosperous industrial cities where the middle-classes wanted to live somewhere with cleaner air, and added: “Ffynone retains the definite character of an aesthetically desirable planned suburb not simply the result of urban expansion.”

Most larger trees at the site would be retained and new greenery planted, according to the plans. There’d be a central garden, paths, a new public right of way in a landscaped area linking Ffynone Road to Richmond Road above, two parking areas and bike storage.

The blocks would have stucco render and comprise 14 one-bed flats, 24 two-bed flats and four three-bed flats. Three of the blocks would have recreated belvedere features, harking back to the original two villas which overlooked Swansea Bay in the distance.

“The application proposal has gone through a significant level of design development to arrive at the proposed solution which balances a level of design ambition, that fully exploits the opportunities presented by the site and
its location, with the need to deliver a development that is both viable and deliverable and which if constructed would secure the future of what is a challenging site,” said the design and access statement.

The former HMT Sancta Maria hospital closed in 2021 and moved to a new site by Prince of Wales Dock in SA1.