Council leaders in Carmarthenshire have welcomed the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Wales David Davies MP to the site of Llanelli’s landmark Pentre Awel development.

Mr Davies visited the 83-acre site at Delta Lakes to find out more about the innovative Carmarthenshire County Council-led project which has received £40million funding as part of the Swansea Bay City Deal.

The first development of its scope and size in Wales, Pentre Awel will bring together life science innovation, community healthcare and modern leisure facilities at one prime location.

It will provide world-class medical research and health care delivery and support and encourage people to lead active and healthy lives creating over 1,800 jobs and boosting the local economy by £467million over the next 15 years.

Pentre Awel is one of nine major projects under the Swansea Bay City Deal which is being funded by the UK Government, the Welsh Government, the public sector and the private sector.

The business case was approved by UK and Welsh Government earlier this year and building work on Zone One of the project will start this autumn with an estimated completion date of summer 2024.

It includes a new state-of-the-art leisure centre and hydrotherapy pool together with education, research and business development space; a clinical research and delivery centre; and a well-being skills centre. Externally, Pentre Awel will enjoy landscaped outdoor public spaces for recreation, walking and cycling.

Wales Office Minister David Davies said:

I was delighted to see the start of this exciting project and congratulate some of the people who’ve worked so hard on it.

The UK Government is proud of our financial contribution which, along with our partners, will help deliver this hugely ambitious plan. It has the potential to transform lives by creating innovations in health and wellbeing, as well as providing an economic boost to the area. This is levelling up in action.

Pentre Awel is being delivered by Carmarthenshire County Council in partnership with Hywel Dda University Health Board, Universities and Colleges including Cardiff University, Coleg Sir Gȃr, the University of Wales Trinity Saint David and Swansea University.

Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Leisure, Culture and Tourism Cllr Gareth John said:

Pentre Awel is one of the largest regeneration schemes of its kind in Wales and will deliver a significant programme of community benefits and economic regeneration across the county.

Not only will it bring major employment and training opportunities for the area, but it will also provide state-of-the-art leisure and health facilities for local people. It is a truly transformational project, and it will make a huge difference to people’s lives.

Bouygues UK have been appointed to design and build Zone One following an extensive tendering process via the South West Wales Regional Contractors Framework. The contract has a key focus on social value to ensure significant employment and training opportunities for local people during the construction phase.

Peter Sharpe, Bouygues UK’s Project Director at Pentre Awel said:

It was great to welcome Mr Davies to the site at Pentre Awel and talk through our plans for the building of the development and how we will be working closely with the local community, as well as Carmarthenshire County Council, to create as many employment and training opportunities for people in the region.

Our first meet the buyer event was a marvellous success and we have already spoken to many local suppliers and sub-contractors about how they could work with us at Pentre Awel. We are now looking forward to beginning the ground works and then pushing ahead with the build, working in partnership with as many local businesses as possible.

Later phases of the scheme include a hotel, a range of social and affordable housing, assisted living accommodation and a nursing home.

Pentre Awel is one of a number of projects being carried out as part of wider council plans for the regeneration of Llanelli. The housing-led Transforming Tyisha project provides a vital link between Pentre Awel and Llanelli town centre, with millions of pounds being invested throughout the area to create a thriving and more resilient local community and to improve the appearance of the main town centre to attract more commercial interest and footfall.

ENDS

Sixteen faith-based groups working with the most vulnerable people in local communities will receive a boost to support their work through the government’s £1.3 million Faith New Deal pilot scheme.

The groups, which include Christian, Jewish and interfaith organisations, will work in partnership with councils, schools, police, health providers and voluntary groups to develop innovative interventions to tackle social issues affecting those in most need of support.

Projects will include providing debt and employability advice, tackling food poverty, providing support for mental health issues and combatting loneliness and isolation.

The fund will also help faith groups to build on the collaboration with national and local government that happened during the pandemic.

Examples of this include supporting government’s effort to reach communities and administer the COVID-19 vaccine:

• A Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise partner, Strengthening Faith Institutions, helped to transform the Greengate Mosque in Oldham into a temporary vaccination centre, where over 2,000 people from local communities received life-saving vaccines.
• Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Wolverhampton worked hand in hand with public health services to help the government better understand coronavirus detection by running testing pilots in partnership with faith groups across the city.

The Faith New Deal Fund will also inform the development of a Faith Compact that will set out key principles to aid engagement between faith groups and government.

Faith Minister Paul Scully said:

We saw the instrumental role that faith organisations played in supporting vulnerable people during the pandemic. Working closely with local partners, councils and government, they supported communities where they need it most.

This pilot scheme will build on that vital work, so that faith organisations and their partners can continue to support communities as they recover.

Minister Scully recently visited the Church Revitalisation Trust based in West London, one of the faith groups awarded funding. Through their nationwide Love Your Neighbour project, they work in partnership with volunteers and public services to provide debt advice, employment training and other community care.

Revd Tom Jackson MBE, Chief Executive, Love Your Neighbour said:

Love Your Neighbour is delighted to be a partner in the very significant and timely launch of the Faith New Deal.

We look forward to working with churches and local partners including statutory authorities across the United Kingdom to increase the impact of the crisis food support, debt advice, employment training and other wrap-around care this ground-breaking initiative will enable”.

Other projects the Faith New Deal fund will support include:

• Jewish Action for Mental Health (JAMH) based in Manchester will expand their work with other faith groups, councils and health services to deliver food to those in need and work in partnership with public services to tailor mental health provision and provide support to those in need.
• All Souls Serve the City, based in London, have partnered with local churches, Westminster Council, charities and the police force to improve mental wellbeing and combat loneliness for vulnerable women.

List of successful applicants receiving Faith New Deal Pilot Fund awards.

The Sellafield Product and Residue Store Retreatment Plant being delivered by the Programme and Project Partners is reaping the benefits of 4D Building Information Modelling (BIM) technology, with the introduction of a second twin ‘BIM cave’ in the project team’s Warrington office.

This follows the introduction of the project’s first BIM cave earlier this year on the Sellafield site.

BIM is a process for creating and managing a digital representation of the physical elements of the project and the information associated with those objects.

The 2 BIM caves and 4D modelling capability bring important benefits to one of Sellafield’s largest ever construction projects, the benefits include greater collaboration to improve project scheduling, planning, communication and enhanced project visualisation.

Steve Harnwell, Sellafield Product and Residue Store Retreatment Plant, delivery director, said:

Increasing our BIM capability enhances the project’s daily ‘line of sight’ planning by improving the connection between our team members in Cumbria and Warrington to visualise the project plan and build sequencing.

We can be looking well ahead of where we are with construction today, reducing risks, the potential for costly delays and we’re already safely accelerating construction in some areas.

There are also significant safety benefits, we now have a live camera feed from the site which means our team members and stakeholders can see what’s going on from the safety of the office, allowing us to avoid the physical risks associated with being on a construction site.

We’re continuing to upskill members of the team on the technology which will benefit every phase of the project lifecycle, even long after the build is complete and operational.

The primary use of the BIM cave on the project to date has been its use with the 4D model which combines the 3D models created throughout the preliminary and detailed design phases of the project, with schedule information.

The model, which is now live linked between the project’s Sellafield site and Warrington offices, and the 4D planning team, is providing real-time updates on construction progress.

Having two BIM caves improves collaboration across the project team, allowing the team to share the project model on and off the Sellafield site, coordinate planning and build sequencing and ensuring all stakeholders have an immersive insight into the project at any time.