For the duration that this post is up I have more work in train than I can comfortably deal with, therefore I am closing my books to new clients.

“Well, how do you take it all in people.” I’m referring to the clamour of all the things, in business, that we find around us these days.

But there always is the clamour! And how one deals with it determines how good a businessman one is.

We have changed our structure from an LLP to that of independent partners trading. This reduces my administrative workload, although it shall not make any difference to my relationship with, and the quality of my work for the clients.

I shall of course enjoy continuing to work with established clients.

With good regards, from

Michael

The past year in property in South West Wales has been busy, with prices still at historic lows.

Price pressure and buyer interest has moved westwards from England’s South East.

The brand new Seafront University campus opened in September roughly doubling the main University’s student number capacity. Swansea has two Universities, both expanding. You’ll see from the previous article that Swansea Council are taking high profile advice from the Swansea Development Advisory Group and that they have short-listed developers for the Waterfront and St David’s schemes; the former was recommended for Welsh national priority status.

Swansea is uniquely favoured in the UK too to be a test bed on selected sites for the next-generation BT broadband, called “G-Fast”. This runs on copper wires at jaw-dropping Internet speeds of 500Mbit/s to 1Gbit/s.

Compare this to the broadband I am using today, that I have felt at 18.2Mbit/s download speed is satisfactory. Check what is the speed of your broadband on this site: http://speedtest.net.uk/.

All these develpoments beckon future prosperity.

And let us hope that the £1bn tidal lagoon project succeeds in reconciling its strike price with the UK Government (as predicted by next Spring) and can proceed as planned. For this shall return Swansea to be again at the head of a global industry, a position that spurred the City’s growth early in the Industrial Revolution.

Swansea is at present awash with innovation. My connections with investors in property led me to become involved in recent months to involvement in two Intellectual Property innovation projects, and the marketing for these has been of great interest to me. To facilitate this work I have joined The Chartered Institute of Marketing as an associate professional.

If you are or know of an inventor who is struggling to take a worthy product to market, I welcome approaches for me – in line with the work I am presently doing parallel in this field – to help oil the wheels on a consultancy or percentage basis.

“Real estate” property is of course the core business of this site.

Whist I always welcome approaches from prospective property investors and vendors we are a small partnership and this must be always subject to capacity. Fees are a mere 1% (conditions apply) of the purchase or sale price achieved, making this an economic, bespoke service, connecting together often “off-market” property for sale with investors, and in doing this we strive to maintain in simple, high-quality attention to our clients, peace of mind.

I am gratified to observe Swansea evolving as a City. New shops, bars and eateries are evident. A local independent cinema has opened its doors. Small signs of cultural growth encourage optimism and I trust this will develop throughout 2016 and beyond as development plans get underway for the City at the heart of this region.

Season’s Greetings from Michael

Michael.

Professor Ken Maher, a Sydney-based architect, has been appointed to a new body called the Swansea Development Advisory Group.

The Group will review how the city centre should best be improved before embarking on a seven-year programme of regeneration.

Professor Maher has worked extensively in urban design across Australia and China. He’s also the current chair of the City of Sydney’s Design Advisory Panel and a member of the Sydney Opera House Eminent Architects Panel.

The Australian was approached to join the newly formed Group when he recently visited Swansea to speak at a conference the Design Commission for Wales organised in partnership with Swansea Council.

Cllr Rob Stewart, Swansea Council Leader, will chair the Group.

He said: “The regeneration of Swansea city centre is one of our key priorities. A thriving city centre isn’t just important for Swansea, it’s vital for the Swansea Bay City Region as a whole. We’re currently reviewing how we should best develop Swansea city centre in future and make the most of its strengths, but we’re keen for as much input as possible from experts, traders and the public so that all views and ideas can be considered. This is why a creative consultation activity is ongoing in the city centre.

“There’s a healthy mix on the Swansea Development Advisory Group of urban design experts and local business success stories. This gives us the ideal platform to guide how we get regeneration right and deliver a city centre that meets everyone’s aspirations.

“The appointment of Professor Maher and others to the Group to work alongside senior council officers follows in the wake of Sir Terry Matthews’ appointment as Chairman of the Swansea Bay City Region. This shows how serious we are about transforming the city centre and the whole region’s fortunes.”

Professor Maher is also the Executive Chairman of Hassell, Australia’s largest multi-disciplinary design practice. He’s agreed to take part in meetings through teleconferencing and video conferencing when he’s not in the UK, and will also sometimes be represented by colleagues based in Wales.

Last Thursday I attended a meeting designed to round off a year-long project developing cultural influences within the City of Swansea.

Hosting the evening were Tracy McNulty, Head of Cultural Services in The City & County administration, consultant Ruth Essex, who has formerly done good works with unlikely properties in Bristol, and artist Owen Griffiths.

There is a broad cultural undercurrent aggregating in the loosely north eastern sector of the City not too far from the functional nodal point that is the train station. Dozens of artists hidden away, an emerging force of innovative high-tech, savvy business-building, theatre performers and producers, and other creatives. There are seasoned individuals and also ex-students finding spaces that keep them resident here, working and subtly enriching the environment that helped spawn their creative lives. All this nascent creative industry has to be a great fillip for the City!

Not too far away from this and on our beaches this summer, have been German stunt riders falling off their horses for an American TV series.

I am fortunate to be working with a theatre group trying to bring to Swansea a London-style Fringe theatre café. Any patrons of the Arts reading this who may wish to assist in the sponsorship of (or indeed with the offer of suitable property that may become a new home to) impressive drama that showcases the work of new writers, please let me know?

See http://www.southwales-eveningpost.co.uk/Swansea-s-Tent-Xerxes-present-award-winning-drama/story-26488264-detail/story.html

Michael

1. The Kingsway Priority Area within the Swansea City Centre Strategic Framework gets underway as the Council have bought and are preparing to demolish and rebuild as offices, the vast former Oceanna nightclub. This is to abut a new, planned, “pedestrian friendly” boulevard. The 1967-built Oceanna occupies a .55acre site once a famous part of the nighttime economy and where a new business and residential district for the city is to be located, initially kickstarted by the foresightful planned relocation there of about 1400 City & County office staff.

2. These staff are to be vacating the present City & County of Swansea administration building which is located on a prime 14 acre sea-front site that is being sold. Half a dozen developers are shortlisted to create high-end hotel accommodation, residential and leisure facilities there and which is to include a “feature” sea life centre. A further major development site of family-friendly leisure and residential accommodation ties into and sits behind this.

3. Higher Education expansion across the Tawe river is boosting city student numbers on a second, 65 acre site, nearing completion and having its first intake of students this autumn. Also sea-front, this is one of the few University Campuses in Britain to have its own beach. At £450m, the Bay Campus is the largest current educational institution property development project in Europe.

4. Swansea’s second  University of Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) is itself moving scattered city buildings into a focussed prime waterfront development at SA1 in a £100m project highly integrated with local technical, intellectual and business partners.

5. One must not forget the £1bn Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon which received assent in June. This is truly a triumph for the locality. It is a world-first of six energy lagoons intended for the UK and a maximum amount of the supplier labour and materials is designated to be sourced within and benefit the local economy. The lagoon shall produce for 125 years enough green energy to supply at present 185,000 homes.

6. Another first is the prototype technology BT describes as “the next stage in our story” that shall carry 500Mbps to 1Gbps broadband transmission speeds.  BT has chosen selected sites within Swansea as a first city to run a test bed for this technology to be known as “G.Fast” or “ultrafast”.

7. A minor addition for the modest city of Swansea is to have recently acquired a film studio creating high-end BBC drama such as Doctor Who, Torchwood and Da Vinci’s Demons that appears to be going from strength to strength.

It is this last entry that prompted me to write this notice. Things are moving apace, but quietly in Wales’ second city. For entrepreneurs interested in property the exciting area of present interest to my mind is to capture locations for development within the newly emerging redistribution of the City Centre. If you may be interested in this I can help; please let me know.

Michael