Work has started as a Swansea construction firm helps bring another of the city’s heritage buildings back to life.
A team from Landore-based John Weaver Contractors has now moved on-site at the Lower Swansea Valley’s Hafod-Morfa Copperworks grade two listed Laboratory Building.
The company secured the contract to renovate the historic structure after Swansea Council advertised the opportunity.
The work, expected to take around 16 months, will see the building made suitable for a restaurant or a number of other possible uses.
The building is thought to date from the second half of the 1800s, with the planned work being supported by the UK Government’s Levelling-Up Fund.
A range of other Lower Swansea Valley schemes funded by Levelling-Up are due to follow.
Cllr Robert Francis-Davies, Swansea Council’s Cabinet Member for Investment, Regeneration and Tourism, said: “We’re saving the Laboratory Building and bringing it back into use – and we’re delighted that a Swansea business employing local people will undertake the construction work.
“The copperworks site is a key part of Swansea’s heritage and we see it becoming a major leisure destination.
“We’ve saved two nearby historic engine houses for future redevelopment and use, and we’ve installed a boating pontoon on the River Tawe nearby. Significant progress on our Lower Swansea Valley Project will be made this year and next.”
Work on the Laboratory Building will include stabilising the building, sensitively refurbishing it, and making it watertight and usable. There’ll be a new Welsh slate roof, new external doors and windows, a terrace and level access to the building making it accessible to all.
Cllr Rob Stewart, Swansea Council Leader, said: “This project forms part of an investment worth over £1bn in Swansea that’s transforming our city into one of the UK’s very best places to live, work, study, enjoy and visit.
“It’s part of our commitment to restore and celebrate Swansea’s rich heritage, while boosting the local economy and creating more jobs and opportunities for local people.”
The council engaged GWP Architecture to undertake designs. As a restaurant it could seat more than 100 diners. The council will deliver the project with Coreus Group.
John Weaver Contractors is a family firm with over a century of construction experience.
Heritage projects it has worked on include the city’s Glynn Vivian Gallery and Brangwyn Hall, plus Caerphilly Castle, Hay Castle and Port Talbot’s Margam Castle.
Terry Edwards, Managing Director of John Weaver, said: “We’re delighted to be selected as the contractor rejuvenate the Laboratory Building.
“Our in-house artisan trades personnel look forward to working with the local community.
“We pride ourselves in delivering quality conservation projects for future generations to enjoy for many years to come.”
In the copperworks’ heyday, copper ore from around the world was smelted at the Swansea site, putting the area at the centre of a global web of copper trading connections.
The Laboratory Building was probably used to test the quality of copper ore coming into the copperworks that helped put Swansea on the world’s industrial map.
It’s architecturally the most ornate of all the surviving buildings on the copperworks site, with many classical features.
However, it became derelict and unsafe in recent years, losing much of its roof.
The two and three-storey structure, with ornate windows and a fine stone doorcase, stands next to the Morfa Gates, once a key copperworks entrance.
The planning and listed building consent approval it has means that the council can now repair and enhance the structure’s existing fabric and fully repair and refurbish of the exterior and key internal elements.
