The economic potential of the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon project could create up to 1,850 jobs in Wales during the project’s three-year construction phase and represent an estimated £756m of capital investment, of which £300m will be spent in Wales, a report has revealed.
The report, published by the Welsh Economy Research Unit at Cardiff University, examines the economic effects associated with the construction, development and operational stages of the project.
The construction phase alone is expected to support 5,540 persons of employment across Wales, and if the Lagoon is completed to time, over the three-year build period, this will equate to around 1,850 full-time equivalent jobs supported across the region from 2015.
“We want to see a minimum 50% of Welsh content for our first tidal lagoon and will work with Welsh industry to ensure that the region capitalises on its first-mover advantage to serve subsequent tidal lagoon developments,” said Mark Shorrock, chief executive officer of Tidal Lagoon.
“We want to see the Swansea City region become the Supply Chain Hub for all tidal lagoons and are working up plans for a large scale assembly facility in the Swansea City Region.
“We are confident from our work so far with representatives of Welsh industry that Wales has the skills base, experience and scalability to serve a larger UK tidal lagoon industry.”
The operational phase of the project after 2018 could support an estimated £5m in extra output for Wales, and £2.2m in GVA annually for the region. It is estimated that this level of additional output, in terms of operating the Lagoon, would support around 60 full-time jobs per annum for the longer term.
The report also estimates that the redeveloped area enclosed by the Lagoon could attract up to 100,000 leisure visitors each year. This would bring between £1.5m – £2.1m of GVA and create up to 90 full-time job equivalents per annum.
Calvin Jones, of the Welsh Economy Research Unit, said: “We estimate that the £300m of regional spending evenly spread over a three year development period starting in March 2015 will result in a total of an additional £454m of additional output in Wales.
“This means for every £1m spent in the region, an estimated further £0.52m of economic activity is supported. Around half of this, almost £223m, is in the construction sector, with manufacturing and production the next largest portion at £170m. We estimate around £34m of output in financial and professional services would be supported, largely comprising project management, planning and engineering activities.”
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