The second phase of Swindon’s Kimmerfields regeneration scheme has been launched with promise that it will bring “vitality and vibrancy” to the town centre by adding a new and much-needed commercial district capable.
The £350m project, led by Muse Developments and backed by landowner Homes and Communities Agency, is transforming a prime 20-acre zone which forms the major part of the largest re-shaping of the town centre in more than 50 years.
Muse has already completed the first phase – a £15m 850-space multi-storey car park and 45-apartment residential building – and is now taking Phase Two to the market. 
The commercial district will bring 600,000 sq ft of grade A office space to Swindon at a time when the town’s property agents fear the central area is running out of top-quality business accommodation.
It will also feature 100,000 sq ft of retail and leisure-related space as well as a number of new streets and public open spaces.
Launching the new phase to Swindon’s business leaders and property agents, Muse joint managing director Nigel Franklin said it would, for the first time in decades, allow the town to compete against other centres on the M4.
With London’s commercial property market widely seen as overheating and rents soaring in towns such as Reading as a result, Swindon’s time had come, he said.
It will also be developed as the benefits of the electrification of the main railway line to London start to be felt in 2017.
“It will bring the heart back to Swindon town centre,” he said. “It will truly add vitality and vibrancy to the centre.”
Kimmerfields Phase Two will coincide with development of Swindon’s long-awaited cultural quarter around the Wyvern Theatre and follows the completion of the new entertainment, leisure and retail centre at Regent Circus.
It will involve link in with transformation of Fleming Way from a four-lane through-road which divides the town centre in two, into a bus and bicycles-only single-lane link bordered by a ‘linear park’ with relaxing space for shoppers and office workers.
