Swansea Civic Centre


Swansea Civic Centre – formerly known as County Hall – is the principal administrative centre of the City and County of Swansea Council. Standing some 800 m southwest of Swansea centre on a seafront site overlooking Swansea Bay, the complex houses – in addition to the council chamber and offices – a public cafe, the city's central library, an exhibition space, the West Glamorgan Archive Service, and a council contact centre.

History

Following the implementation of the Local Government Act 1972, which broke up Glamorgan County Council and established West Glamorgan County Council, the new county council initially met at Swansea Guildhall. A purpose-built facility was commissioned as the headquarters of the new county council and was designed by C. W. Quick of the West Glamorgan County Architects Department. It was opened as County Hall in July 1982.
After local government re-organisation in 1996, which abolished West Glamorgan County Council, ownership of the building was transferred to the new City and County of Swansea. The building was renamed the Civic Centre on 19 March 2008, and Swansea Central Library was moved in as part of a redevelopment scheme. The library issued nearly 566,000 loans in 2008/09, making it the busiest in Wales and the tenth busiest in the UK.
In June 2017 Swansea Council announced plans to redevelop the area, the second phase of which would involve demolition of Swansea Civic Centre and the creation of city beach which would also include an aquarium and digital science centre.

Public Transport