REGENERATING SWINDON
The Swindon Heritage Action Zone / The Works Launched in June 2019, The Swindon Heritage Action Zone( HAZ) was an ambitious five-year plan to revitalise and promote the town’ s unique railway heritage. Over five years Historic England provided heritage expertise and over £ 1.6 million of funding to help the council deliver these projects. The former HAZ zone is now called‘ The Works’ and includes GWR Park, the Carriage Works and the Railway Village, all of which have benefited from the funding.
Two of the main projects within The Works area are: The Carriage Works This has involved revitalising and bringing all of Brunel’ s Grade II-listed former Great Western Works into productive use to benefit the town centre and the wider economy.
Since 2017, the Council has been leading the regeneration of the site, to bring back each area of the building into productive use.
The Carriage Works is currently home to Workshed, iCAST, RAU and Create Studios.
Phase one of the regeneration commenced in 2018 and saw the installation of The Workshed, which is a business incubator for entrepreneurs, pioneers and creative thinkers. The unit provides office space to digital, tech and creative businesses, while also acting as a coworking space for anyone in need of a desk for the day.
Phase two then quickly progressed with the opening of The Cultural Heritage Institute, run by the Royal Agricultural University. Opened in 2020, it delivers master’ s courses in heritage-related subjects. This was soon followed by a film-making space for Create Studios, with a range of community, educational and commercial projects being delivered from the unit. The latest addition to the community is the Innovation Centre for Applied Sustainable Technologies( iCAST), operated by the University of Bath in partnership with the University of Oxford and others. This is a unique collaboration to help deliver innovation in green, sustainable technologies.
Next phase Now Swindon Borough Council has appointed Nationwide Engineering to deliver the third phase of works which will see four units converted into usable space.
Following the completion of phase two, and the Covid-19 pandemic, evaluations took place to determine what kind of space would best suit current market demand.
As a result, phase three will now include different units to the initial phases and will be designed as‘ shell and core’ spaces, meaning they are flexible for an incoming tenant to put their own style into. This could include high quality office, research and development, educational spaces or digital and creative work areas. The development also includes newly refurbished spaces on the Bristol Street car park side of the building and on London Street which has been in a derelict state and not been occupied for several decades.
The new phase will also work alongside the recently
Panattoni Park Swindon( former Honda site) Described by Panattoni as one of its significant new global developments, Panattoni Park Swindon spans 360 acres and with planning consent in place, the site will deliver 7.2 million sq ft of best-in-class logistics, industrial and data centre real estate. A formal‘ groundbreaking’ ceremony was attended in March 2024 by then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and it was later reported in December that the demolition of the former Honda factory had been completed, marking the end of an era for Swindon. Speaking on behalf of Panattoni, Matthew Byrom, Managing Director, said,“ Panattoni Park Swindon will deliver around 7,500 new jobs which is twice the number afforded by the site when it was closed by Honda in July 2021. There are also likely to be many additional opportunities for primary and secondary suppliers.” announced regeneration of the Railway Quarter, located between the Carriage Works and Swindon train station.
Councillor Kevin Small, Swindon Borough Council’ s Cabinet Member for Finance, said,“ Already we have four thriving organisations inside the building and we’ re very keen to add to that.
“ Not only will this bring new life to these historic buildings, but it will also enhance the surrounding area, bringing in more footfall to the town centre and providing high quality business spaces close to the train station which connects Swindon to two capital cities within an hour – the only place in the UK to do so.”
All the organisations currently in residence at the Carriage Works offer a variety of events and activities, including film screenings and Tuesday evening Science and Tech Café sessions to learn and discuss current topics of debate.
Space is also available to hire for events and collaborative projects in the digital, tech and creative sectors.
The Health Hydro Work to restore the Grade II * listed Health Hydro has begun. This ambitious regeneration project will breathe new life into one of Swindon’ s most remarkable historic buildings and create a unique health and wellbeing destination to draw people into Swindon’ s town centre. It will spearhead the ongoing revitalisation of the Railway Village, helping to promote Swindon as a place of historic interest worth visiting.
The restoration planning work began in 2021, with Swindon Borough Council’ s commitment of £ 1.5 million and £ 5 million of Town Deal funding.
The funding will allow the council to enhance the leisure facilities housed within the building, repair the heritage features of the building while enhancing its energy efficiency and highlight the building’ s historical features.
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