Here's Neath Port Talbot’s award winning energy positive Bay Technology Centre.
The Secretary of State was welcomed to the new building on Thursday, June 22nd, 2023 by the Leader of Neath Port Talbot Council, Cllr Steve Hunt.
Cllr Hunt said: “Supporting this council’s Decarbonisation and Renewable Energy Strategy (DARE), the centre is a step change in approach to building design and surpasses the ‘net zero’ concept to provide what is in effect a building as a power station - the first commercial facility in Wales that is energy positive in operation.”
The centre was developed by Neath Port Talbot Council to provide extra commercial property in response to the full occupation of the neighbouring Innovation Centre and the demand for high quality business space.
The £8.5m scheme was awarded £3.75m in European Regional Development Funding alongside £3m from the Swansea Bay City Deal and £500,000 from Welsh Government’s Economic Stimulus Fund. Neath Port Talbot Council committed £1.25m.
The centre has won several awards to date including:
Net Zero award in the Constructing Excellence Wales (CEW) Awards (June 2022),
Sustainability Award in the Insider Wales Property Awards (June 2022), and
Commercial Property Project of the Year British Construction Industry Awards 2022 (October 2022).
The 25,000 sq ft centre hosts office and laboratory space for start-up companies, indigenous businesses and inward investors looking for a base to set up and grow their operations – helping support innovation, diversification and the growth of the regional economy.
It has a focus on innovation from a range of industry sectors including energy, digital, life sciences and similar innovative business activities. It sits in one of Wales’s prime business locations, right next to both the M4 and the main Swansea to London railway line.
