Swindon on track to create ‘knowledge central’ district close to railway station

A major regeneration scheme in Swindon will create thousands of jobs in knowledge industries and include a long-delayed additional entrance to town’s railway station, it has been revealed.

Around 100 acres of brownfield land to the north of the railway will be redeveloped, creating a new high-quality commercial district close to the town centre.

Swindon Borough Council has been awarded £100,000 by Homes England for designs to be drawn up for the scheme – known as Swindon Knowledge Central.

It will also include hundreds of new homes and a new multi-storey car park on the site of the current north car park, accessible from the North Star area, once part of the town’s huge railway works.

The new car park will allow the existing surface car parks on the south side of the railway to become available for redevelopment.

The project is among propositions within the council’s Heart of Swindon vision, which was recently shared with ministers at 10 Downing Street and formed the centrepiece of an investment summit at the House of Lords organised by the council last week.

Partners working with the council on the plans include Network Rail, GWR, Homes England, Department for Business and Trade, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), which has offices at North Star, and Business West, the South West’s largest business organisation.

The council said Swindon had one of the most productive economies in the UK and was already known as location where innovative, knowledge-based industries could grow quickly and drive economic development.

Existing research investment in the town have come from UKRI, and iCAST, a joint venture between the universities of Oxford and Bath in the regenerated Carriage Works close to the railway station.

The Swindon Knowledge Central scheme aims to capitalise on this and attract further private sector investment.

Swindon railway station is a regeneration priority for Network Rail. Work on the transport hub – promised for decades – is to follow the firm’s current upgrade projects at Bristol Temple Meads and Cardiff Central stations.

A northern entrance on the North Star side of the railway line has been on the cards for years as part of an overall upgrade of the station – but has remained in the sidings for cost reasons.

Swindon Borough Council leader Jim Robbins said: “It’s great to get this money in and agreed so quickly after the successful House of Lords event last week.

“It shows that we’re being proactive and that we’re willing to put in the effort to make sure we build a better Swindon.”

He said residents had complained about the state of the Signal Point building above the railway station for years and had also called for improvements to the car parks and drop-off areas.

The design work was the first step in making that change possible and creating the new entrance and car park would also open the door for the transformation of the station and the wider Railway Quarter area.

“It has the potential to become a new destination Swindon residents can be proud of and will include new residential, amenities and space for new organisations to join the growing list of knowledge-based groups already in the Carriage Works,” he added.

“There’s still a long way to go, and a lot of work to be done, but I’m very pleased we’ve been granted this funding, and I look forward to Network Rail and other partners coming together to create these new designs and get this project moving down the tracks.”

Network Rail western route director Marcus Jones said: “The railways put Swindon on the map and our futures have been intertwined since.

“The town has superb transport links and we’re delighted in the 200th anniversary of the railways that this key regeneration project has taken another step forward with plans for a new entrance at Swindon station in the works.

“We look forward to working with Swindon Borough Council and other partners on the development of this scheme, which will enhance the station environment for passengers travelling to and from the town.”

Business West chair Colin Skellett said it was encouraging to see how quickly the Swindon Knowledge Central project was gaining momentum.

“We are grateful to Homes England for investing in this important enabling work, which will help unlock further private investment,” he added.

Swindon’s railway works, at one time one of the world’s largest industrial complexes, closed in 1986. The North Star area, named after the Great Western Railway’s first locomotive, was one of the first sections of the massive site to be redeveloped for commercial use.