More historic buildings are being brought back to life in Swansea as we continue our work to preserve the city’s rich heritage.
Examples include the Vivian and Musgrave Engine Houses at the Hafod-Morfa Copperworks site which will be conserved and could in future be suitable for a range of uses including restaurants and cafes, exhibition-style space and shops.
Planning approval is now in place for this scheme, which forms part of the Lower Swansea Valley project being funded by the UK Government’s Levelling-Up initiative.
Swansea-based St Mary’s Square Developments has also acquired the unoccupied Mond Buildings in the city centre thanks to a loan arranged with the help of the council.
The company is now working on creating plans for the building, which dates back to 1911 and stands at the corner of Union Street and Park Street.
These transformations follow on from other recent work to bring the Palace Theatre building, the Albert Hall and other buildings at the Hafod-Morfa Copperworks site back into use.
Protecting and celebrating our heritage is important but it’s also crucial that we look to the future.
This is why I’d like to thank the staff who flew the flag for the council at the Gower College recruitment and apprenticeship fair on Wednesday. Departments in attendance included digital services, housing and public health, social services and building services.
They were on hand to raise awareness of apprenticeship opportunities at the council both among Gower College students and the general public.
The value of apprenticeships can’t be understated, so it’s really encouraging that the First Minister was in Swansea yesterday to discuss their importance.
During her visit, she met Joshua Longhurst, Logan Munday and Harvey Thomas – all apprentices in our digital services team – who shared their experiences of the apprenticeship programme, highlighting its effectiveness and success. My thanks to Joshua, Logan and Harvey for being such excellent ambassadors for the council.
Next week is National Apprenticeship Week, so to coincide with that our building services team will soon be launching their annual apprenticeship recruitment campaign to develop the next generation of carpenters, plumbers, plasterers and bricklayers. Other apprenticeships are also advertised on the council website throughout the year.
A number of our current apprentices are also up for awards on Monday at the Gower College Swansea Apprentice Awards, so my best wishes to everyone who’s been shortlisted for recognition and I’ll be going along to cheer them on.
The importance of apprenticeships, traineeships, the social services academy and graduate schemes tie in with our workforce strategy as we focus on growing our own, given the recruitment challenges we face. It’s essential that such initiatives form a key part of this strategy going forward.
I also met yesterday with directors and heads of service for a discussion about how we maximise the use of digital opportunities in future, drawing on the experience of Microsoft and Phoenix – who are both leading experts in their field. This is important because it will allow staff to work more efficiently and provide better services to our residents.
We’re currently identifying areas of the council that would benefit the most from the use of Microsoft Copilot, for example, in advance of this AI software being made available to some staff in the coming months to test out its effectiveness.
Many staff will have completed the staff survey last summer, but it means little if we don’t act on feedback.
That’s why a number of actions are soon being rolled out, based on your recommendations.
They’ll include the monitoring of appraisal delivery to improve the process across the organisation, as well as improved internal communications highlighting key topics for staff like training opportunities and health and wellbeing support.
Acting on the feedback we’ve received, new starters at the council will also be meeting myself and directors as part of the induction process as we look to make the corporate management team more visible to all staff. That process will start from next week, so I’ll let you know how it goes.
A new blog platform is also being explored to enable more two-way dialogue between myself and directors with staff.
Heads of service are working through actions specific to their areas and I’ll provide a further update on that in the coming months. Myself and other members of the corporate management team are also continuing to explore what more can be done across the council to meet the aspirations highlighted by staff in the survey.
Other recent work has included discussions with trade unions to agree a new absence policy for the council. It will shortly be rolled out once a training plan is complete and it’s been formally adopted. The policy will predominantly focus on long-term absence and will mean a revised way of using occupational health, while encouraging more discussion between managers and employees on making reasonable adjustments in the workplace to support good attendance.
During the First Minister’s visit to Swansea yesterday, she also called in to the Swansea Space in Mayhill Community Centre to meet volunteers and service users.
Every Thursday between 1pm and 3pm, residents gather there to catch-up and socialise. Run by the Lifepoint Church, it is one of 80 Swansea Spaces to receive funding this winter to help them continue and expand their provision. My thanks to all staff involved in the network of Swansea Spaces because they make a real difference to the residents they benefit.
My thanks also to the Welsh Translation Unit, who have been nominated by other staff for recognition.
Head of translation unit Huw Portway and his team translate an average of about 55,000 words a week, and their work is key to so many services areas.
I’d also like to thank our countryside access team for their great recent work to create a new section of coast path on Gower at a location that’s been affected by coastal erosion.
Working with a local company, a new 370-metre section of the coast path between Limeslade and Rotherslade was created in just 18 days.
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