Coastal is continuing to bring new homes to meet local needs in Swansea through a revised development programme that includes locations in Swansea Waterfront, Sandfields, Uplands and Sketty. The programme reflects a renewed focus on city centre, fringe of city centre, and town centre locations where demand for housing is high and private rents can be unaffordable for many local people.

The new developments follow the recent delivery of new homes at High Street, Castle Street, and Sandfields in Swansea city centre, as well as in Neath town centre. Work is also underway at a site at Clyndu Street just above Morriston town centre.

“We see particularly high demand for the high quality homes we provide in city and town centres”, says Kelly Thomas, Executive Director of Development and Regeneration, “and are consequently reflecting this in our future development programme. Urban locations routinely offer great access to amenities as well as public and active travel options, reducing the need for car ownership. Private rents in these areas can be high so it’s important that people are able to access alternatives through non-profits like Coastal.

“Whilst we have a renewed focus on urban environments, we continue to deliver in other locations: we’ve recently completed new homes in Killay, Gowerton and Cymrhydyceirw and these sorts of in-demand areas will continue to be an important part of our development delivery. However, we have made the decision to step away from a partnership development in Penyrheol and are prioritising other, innovative eco-schemes.”

The planned, large-scale development of eco-homes at Gwynfaen was only made possible through a collaboration between Pobl Group and Coastal Housing, which saw a joint development bid submitted to the Welsh Government’s Innovative Housing Programme. This was successful in attracting over £9M towards the cost of developing the scheme’s 144 low carbon, off-gas homes for sale and rental, which were to be shared by the two organisations. Originally scheduled for a start in Summer 2020, the scheme has been significantly delayed due to factors including the Coronavirus pandemic, and will now proceed as a Pobl development, allowing Coastal to focus on a range of other eco-home projects such as those it has recently delivered in Pennard, Gower and Llandarcy, Skewen.