St Modwen sells off student accommodation income from Welsh scheme
DEVELOPER St Modwen has completed the sale of income from student accommodation at Swansea University to the M&G Secured Property Income Fund for £32m.
The deal was done at the same time the Birmingham firm and the university signed a development agreement to deliver the first phase of a £450m new Science and Innovation Campus.
The campus will be located on St. Modwen’s 65 acre Transit site, one of the holdings within a 2,500 acre portfolio acquired from BP in 2009, and which has been fully remediated.
The first phase of this scheme, which received detailed planning permission in December from Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council, will comprise 700,000 sq ft of development including 430,000 sq ft of academic space, 899 student apartments and associated retail space.
This will deliver world-leading research, innovation and education facilities for Swansea. Preparatory works have already commenced on site.
About 4,000 direct jobs will be created during the construction phase, with a further 6,000 indirect jobs supported in the wider economy as a result.
St Modwen chief executive Bill Oliver said: “The new campus will serve as a fantastic catalyst for change in this part of South Wales and provide a huge boost to the local and national Welsh economies.
“Coupled with our on-going regeneration of Coed Darcy, Baglan Bay and Glan Llyn at Newport, this project plays a major part in the transformational change that we are delivering in South Wales.”
