A contractor is being sought to help deliver plans to transform Swansea's former and historic copperworks site into a leading visitor attraction.
A EU wide tender process has been launched to transform a key area of the city's former Hafod Morfa Copperworks.
The winning bidder will make the area, including the historic Powerhouse building, ready for Penderyn Whisky to create a new distillery and visitor centre.
The site dates back to 1808, comprises 12.5 acres on the west bank of the Tawe and is linked to the city centre by the new Morfa Distributor Road.
In its heyday, copper ore from as far afield as North America, Cuba, Australia and South America was smelted at the site, putting Swansea at the centre of a global web of copper trading connections.
Robert Francis-Davies, Swansea Council cabinet member for investment, regeneration and tourism, said: “This will be a high profile work and we want a top class business to do a top class job there.
“The copperworks is a major part of Swansea’s heritage and this site will play a powerful role in our future.
“We’re working hard with the public, private sector partners and others to make the riverside corridor a key to unlocking Swansea’s great future potential.”
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Plans for the disused site opposite the Liberty Stadium, include:
- A new visitor centre with shop, tasting bar and exhibition space.
- The creation of a distillery, offices and VIP bar in the fully refurbished grade II listed powerhouse building.
- A new barrel store in part of the listed rolling mill now used as the Swansea Museum's collections store.
- A covered walkway connecting the refurbished powerhouse, new visitor centre and barrel store.
- Restoration of the former works gates, porter’s lodge and weighbridge offices.
The distillery also plans to open its Penderyn Experience whisky tour on the site. It would educate visitors about distilling and the site’s history and could attract more than 50,000 people a year.
Listed building consent and planning approval are in place and the council secured a £3.75m National Lottery Heritage Fund grant for the work, with additional works to other historical buildings in the vicinity funded by Welsh Government targeted regeneration investment funding.
Construction work is expected to take place from the end of this year and through 2020 and 2021, with Penderyn planning to open there in 2022.
The council worked with partners - including Penderyn and Swansea University -on the successful National Lottery Heritage Fund bid.