Linc housing association recently provided an update on progress to re-start the troubled Sunnyside Wellness Village project in Bridgend town centre.
The flagship regeneration project – which will eventually include a new health centre (for the Bridgend Group Practice), pharmacy, dental practice, car park, communal garden and housing – stalled in 2021 when the previous contractor, Llanelli-based WRW, went into administration.
In their update, Linc says that a new contract is currently being tendered (though the tender closed in February 2022), but there’s no new information as to when the project is expected to be completed.
The original target was for the wellness village to be completed during 2021. The re-tendered contract (worth £14million) suggests summer 2023 as a provisional date for completion.
Some construction work had taken place at the site before WRW collapsed, but that will need to be started from scratch by a new contractor.
Remedial work to re-prepare the site is set to start “in the next few weeks”. This work includes clearance of spoil, dismantling of existing structures, flushing and inspecting the drainage systems and installing a permanent boundary fence.
In a separate development, Linc recently purchased the adjacent former Water Board offices/Sunnyside House for another housing-led project.
Sunnyside House was shortlisted by the UK Government as a possible location for a women’s residential centre/prison alternative but those plans were later dropped.
