Over 100 waterside flats given the go-ahead

Richard Youle Local Democracy Reporter

Work on a city’s new block of over 100 riverside flats is under way and will take around three years to complete.

The 104 flats off Kings Road, near the Sail Bridge, will be managed by housing association Coastal Housing Group and rented to people at below market rates.

Coastal Housing said the project was being part-funded by the Welsh Government and undertaken by Everwell Development in its first project in south-west Wales.

The four to six-storey block overlooking the River Tawe and Swansea Marina will feature a ground-floor commercial premises along with 93 car parking spaces and bike parking. Detailed plans were approved by Swansea Council’s planning committee last November.

“Incredible location”

The red-bricked block will complement the restored Ice House on one side and the J-Shed building to the rear.

Kelvin Rees, Coastal Housing’s head of development, said the affordable flats were in “an incredible location” in the heart of Swansea’s waterfront area.

Charlie Parry, chief executive of Everwell Development, said the flats were much-needed. “Together, we’re not just building housing, but creating thriving, inclusive communities where people can truly belong,” he said.

Several years ago private sector plans for a block of 91 flats with 91 parking spaces were approved, but it wasn’t built.

The provision of 93 spaces for the new block of 104 flats has previously been questioned. Speaking at a council planning committee meeting in June last year, when an outline application for the Coastal Housing scheme was approved, Cllr Peter Black said: “Where are all the cars going to go? Parking in the marina area is very difficult as it is. It just seems to me that this is going to cause problems in the future.”

A planning officer told the committee that car parking standards in SA1 “have been below what we would normally achieve”, but that this had helped generate a greater density of housing without leading to parking congestion on its streets. “We are quite satisfied that the parking is satisfactory,” he said.