The wharf area will also be resurfaced to reduce the risk of flooding and to make it more accessible, and a new landscaped area for public use is to be added. The Grade II listed canalside cottages are to be refurbished for commercial use.
Our teams will be working on the cottages first, starting on 7 May and will then move onto the Y Lanfa: Powysland Museum and Welshpool Library building and the external areas later in the year.
Steve Gough, Director at SWG Group, said: “We are delighted to have secured the contract to work on Y Lanfa, which is just a stone’s throw from our own head office on the other side of the canal.
“We are proud to have built our business from our original base here in Welshpool and hope this work will aid the regeneration of our home town.”
Renders Credit: Hughes Architects
The improvements are costing around £1 million and are part of the £14 million Montgomery Canal Restoration project that Powys County Council was successful in securing UK Government Levelling Up funding for.
The council is working in partnership with Glandŵr Cymru (the Canal and River Trust in Wales) on the waterway restoration elements, with the intention of creating a better environment for both people and nature.
Councillor David Selby, Powys County Council’s Cabinet Member for a More Prosperous Powys, said he was pleased that work had started on expanding the space available to the museum and library in Welshpool, along with work to the canalside cottages to bring them back into use.
He added: “The designs for the extension to Y Lanfa look stunning! The whole restoration project aims to boost the communities alongside the canal and the biodiversity found in the blue and green corridor that runs through them.”
The designs for Y Lanfa were created by Hughes Architects and the build is being managed by the council’s Property Design Services.
Richard Lewis, Architect and Director at Hughes Architects said: “From the outset, the vision for Y Lanfa has been about much more than simply renovating bricks and mortar. We see this scheme as an enabler, unlocking the immense potential of the canalside to become a catalyst for the regeneration of the entire town.”
