Between £2 million and £3 million has been set aside by Swindon Borough Council to fund the conversion of the next phase of the Great Western Railway Carriage Works.

This time some of the work will include the stripping out and refurbishment of the Station Industrial Estate buildings as well as the buildings running alongside London Street.

The council’s proposals are to convert four units at the furthest western and northern corner of the building  to “flexible use  for higher education facilities, offices or research and development.”

While the council’s application for the refurbishment, conversion and change of use has not yet been approved by its own planning department, the fact that a contract has been put out to tender for the work suggests, at least, that Euclid Street is confident of getting the green light.

A report commissioned by the council on its use says: “A particular feature of the scheme is that the two largest occupiers are from the knowledge economy and this opens up the possibility of attracting further occupiers to the town looking to co-locate.”

Even if a university doesn’t want to join the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester - which has its cultural heritage institute in the buildings - and Oxford and Bath Universities’ iCast institute, the council is confident tenants will be found:

It adds: “The bulk of demand has come from smaller companies looking to occupy aspirational space that supports their business growth. This demand appears to be sustainable as there is currently a waiting list of smaller occupiers looking to take space in the scheme.”

“The design approach for the next phase seeks to follow much of the approach taken for the initial regeneration phases however also responds specifically to the slightly different character of the units in question where opportunities to open up a larger, more open space is possible and reinstates the historic character of the building."

The contract being offered for the work to clear the units and restore them, adding mezzanine floors to maximise the use of the very high ceilings, says the costs is between £2.2m and £2.8m.

The money for the work has come from central government's Towns Fund. The council was successful in getting nearly £20m awarded to fund several improvement projects

The work will see four units in the Station Industrial Estate and two and a half units in the buildings running along London Street refurbished.

The work is expected to take between 10 and 15 months.

A further planning application will be needed for the completion of the whole project.

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