Seren was one of the first buildings to open as part of the Council’s regeneration project to revitalise the city centre of Swansea. Located opposite the city’s train station, the Seren project aims to encourage more people to enjoy working and living in Wales’ second largest city.
With 780 student rooms across a range of different apartment sizes and studios, the development provides modern accommodation for the city’s two expanded universities, alongside a sports centre, cinema room, student study spaces and a central courtyard at the heart of the building.
The main student courtyard has been designed to be multi-functional, with a flexible lawn space in the centre for yoga and external cinema screenings, a well-equipped outdoor kitchen and a variety of covered spaces for study and socialising.
The warm tones of the hard materials palette make reference to Swansea’s industrial history as a centre of metalworking in the 18th century, when the city produced around 90% of the world’s copper.
The planting scheme has taken inspiration from the Lower Swansea Valley project which, since the 1960s, sought to reclaim the land from the historic industrial dereliction and bring nature back into the coastal city.
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Strong active travel and sustainable transport links are facilitated by the site’s close proximity to the Swansea train station and the city centre. Its’ central location has made the Seren project a key regeneration site within Swansea’s Central Area Regeneration Framework, with the striking architecture intended to provide an improved sense of arrival into the city from the train station.
