Multi million pound plans for new hotel and spa advance

Anthony Lewis, local democracy reporter

A multimillion-pound plan for a new hotel and spa on the site of former council offices looks set to take another step forward.

An update to go before Rhondda Cynon Taf’s cabinet on Monday, October 21, said a development agreement has been signed by the council and Final Frontier Space Holdings Ltd to turn the Rock Grounds in Aberdare into a hotel with a spa, restaurant and bar.

The report said the redevelopment will act as a multimillion-pound investment for Aberdare town centre, creating jobs for the community and strengthening the local economy by providing attractive tourism accommodation and an improved hospitality offer.

Legal framework

The agreement between the council and Final Frontier sets out the legal framework for the design, development, and construction of the Rock Grounds redevelopment and confirms Final Frontier’s official appointment to lead the project.

The council’s project team has already held talks with Final Frontier about the detailed design phase and the company is said to be working towards a programme which would see the design completed, a cost plan produced, planning permission secured and construction timelines established

Final Frontier will work with the council’s corporate estates service to secure a licence for access to the building to allow survey and investigation works.

Council staff have left the Rock Grounds building as part of the local authority’s wider accommodation strategy.

Design team

Final Frontier is in the process of appointing a design team to oversee the project through to a formal planning application.

Representatives from the council project board will meet regularly with the developers and design team throughout the detailed design phase, which is due to be finished by March 2025.

A review will then take place when the cost viability and programme of the construction phase will be assessed.

At this stage, under the terms of the development agreement, the council and
Final Frontier would have the option to withdraw from the process, in which case the ownership of all products of the design process would go back to the council.

Costs associated with the next phase of the development will be fully funded
from the UK Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund with the costs of the development to be the subject to a further report and would likely involve external funding partners such as the UK and Welsh governments.