PLANS to turn council office buildings in Aberdare into a hotel have been taken forward by councillors.
The proposals for the Rock Grounds buildings include a quality hotel with a restaurant, bar and spa and on Monday, July 17, RCT council’s cabinet approved the start of the procurement process to bring in a development partner to deliver it.
The cabinet report said the designs allowed for reuse of the buildings, preserving the “attractive, and historic Rock Grounds building and features (including the Keir Hardie bust) and for an appropriate level of nearby public car parking to remain”.
The designs show the potential for the main building at Rock Grounds to be redeveloped to house the bedrooms and a bar with the annex building housing the spa.
It said the designs “take advantage of the site’s distinctive location to provide the ideal setting for a quality tourism accommodation offer including a spa, restaurant and bar, marking the development as something that is unique, and befitting the aspirations of Aberdare and the surrounding area, as a quality tourist destination”.
The council recently unveiled its strategy for office accommodation as it looks to “make best use of its assets, reduce its carbon footprint, achieve value for money, and identifying direct opportunities for generating capital receipts that can supplement the council’s financial position”.
As part of this strategy, the council confirmed its intention to move services and staff out of Rock Grounds into more suitable, energy efficient accommodation.
Subject to approval, the procurement exercise for a development partner will happen over the next six months and it is proposed that the council will enter into a lease arrangement with the development partner.
The report said that if needed, the council could seek funding from the UK Government Shared Prosperity Fund and Welsh Government Transforming Towns to secure the financial viability of the project but a separate funding agreement would be entered into with the development partner.
The council will try to align the delivery of this project with the relocation of council staff from the buildings.
The report said the council’s tourism strategy states that Aberdare can be increasingly recognised as a tourist town at the gateway to Rhondda Cynon Taf’s “adventure” landscape and the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park.
Councillor Mark Norris, cabinet member for development and prosperity, said it is an “ambitious proposal” and that there is a shortage of this type of accommodation in RCT.
He said it is an opportunity to benefit the whole region not just the area around Aberdare and would bring a historic building into beneficial use after the council leaves it.
Council leader Andrew Morgan said it is an “excellent building” which does need renovation and there is absolutely the need for these types of ventures and that there is a lot of interest in the venue and the location.
