DSA successful in bid for The 'British' Site, Torfaen

Davies Sutton have been appointed to carry out an Options Appraisal for the former British Ironworks site in Torfaen following a successful open tender. Covering 1300 acres, the site of the former ironworks is the largest former industrial site remaining derelict in South East Wales. ‘The British’ takes its name from the British Ironworks which was founded on the site in the 1820s and operated until the 1880s. From the 1900s until the 1970s a number of collieries and drift mines were opened on the site. The last mine was closed in the mid-1980s and the site has fallen into dereliction.

The Grade II* listed National Colliery Board office building also known as the Quadrangle, designed by Hyde Park and London Zoo architect Decimus Burton, and the Cornish Engine House, a Scheduled Ancient Monument and Grade II Listed Building, will be primary focus of the study. However the site also includes a wide range of other architectural, social and industrial assets including the British Air Furnace, a Scheduled Ancient Monument, and extremely rare example of a reverberatory type furnace, the Cwmbyrgwm Colliery, also a Scheduled Ancient Monument, the Cwmbyrgwm Chimney and the 36m long Big Arch, both Grade II listed.

The Options Appraisal will continue our collaboration with heritage, operational and tourism specialists Planning Solutions Consultancy.