The Agreement will provide accommodation for an additional 545 student apartments. Collectively, this will bring the total amount of new student residences to 1,462  clustered around communal courtyards, with direct access to the beach and nearby ancillary student amenities.

This £50m new development will also deliver important ancillary facilities for students and staff at the Bay including a dedicated sports hall and recreational gym, a flood lit outdoor pitch, a crèche facility and a number of music practice rooms and communal space to support clubs and societies. In addition within this student facing complex there is the provision for a  dedicated Students Union facility thereby creating first class amenities for campus users to enjoy.

Pro-Vice Chancellor Professor Iwan Davies said: “ Swansea University is now delivering its campus development programme. At the heart of this initiative is enhancing the student experience. Next year the University will operate from two  campuses – the wonderful existing campus at Singleton Park and a new campus at the Bay. The facilities announced today will enhance the University’s composite offering for students adding to an outstanding academic teaching environment informed by world class research. The campus development programme and strategy is wholly consistent with Swansea University’s ambition of becoming a top 200 Global University.”

Rupert Joseland, South Wales’ regional director for St. Modwen, the land owner and partner developer for the Bay Campus said: “ The development at the Swansea University Bay Campus is starting to take shape with many of the key buildings now well underway as the project’s first phase gears up to complete next year.  This new campus development is a major highlight of St. Modwen’s ongoing 3,500 acre regeneration programme across South Wales and this latest agreement with the University is the next step in the vision to create a world-class educational establishment that will benefit students, staff and the local community for generations to come.”

The Great Hall, Bay Library and School of Management are all part of this inaugural phase of academic and R&D space at the Bay Campus alongside a new Institute of Structural Materials (home to Swansea Material and Research Testing Ltd), Engineering Central (home to the Innovation Hub), Engineering East (home to the Engineering Manufacturing Centre) and an Energy Safety Research Institute (ESRI).  Many of these buildings will be ‘topped out’ over the summer months as the Campus gears up to welcome students next autumn.  Work on a permanent new Campus entrance, from the dual carriageway at Fabian Way, has commenced.