Two Welsh companies have been shortlisted for one of the most unusual design competitions in the UK - the transformation of a concrete basement on the former Ebbw Vale steelworks site into an iconic and distinctive feature for the 2010 National Eisteddfod.

The 1,100 sq m basement is 4m deep, up to 18.5m wide and contains two rows of concrete pillars that stand 2m high which have to be retained and worked into the design.

The basement was originally used for cleaning the steel roll used on site and was once enclosed with a roof slab of concrete that spanned the entire structure.

It is one of nine basements on The Works: Ebbw Vale, the 185 acre site that once housed the steelworks and is now the subject of one of the largest and most complex regeneration projects of its kind in the UK.


Led by Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council in partnership with the Welsh Assembly Government, it is being transformed under a £350million investment programme into a modern and sustainable mixed use development to include new homes, offices, education and leisure facilities, environmental features and a new hospital which is currently under construction.

The competition, run by the Project Team at The Works: Ebbw Vale, was open to landscape architects, garden designers, artists and architects.

It attracted ten entries from throughout the UK and the four companies that have been shortlisted are: Camlin Lonsdale Landscape Architects, from Langadfar, Welshpool; Soltys Brewster Consulting, Penarth, Cardiff; Philip Henshaw and Lianne Russ, London and Tweedale, Wolverhampton.

The winning concept will be built and unveiled at the opening of the National Eisteddfod 2010 which is being hosted by Blaenau Gwent Council and based at The Works: Ebbw Vale.

Deputy Minister for Regeneration Leighton Andrews said the competition offered designers a unique opportunity to create a distinctive feature at one of the most unusual structures at The Works.

He said: "There are very few surviving structures on the site and these basements present an exciting opportunity to create something unique that preserves part of this industrial heritage. Linking the competition to the Eisteddfod will also serve as a permanent reminder of the association between the festival and The Works."

(CD/JM)