Major new £110m Welsh tourism project unveiled

Plans for a major new tourist attraction for Wales were unveiled today. Welsh minister for Enterprise Andrew Davies launched the Bluestone tourist village which is expected to attract 600,000 visitors a year.

The scheme in Pembrokeshire, west Wales, is expected to cost £110m and will include 1 million sq ft of leaisure, retail and holiday accommodation set on 500 acres.

The development will comprise a health spa and sports club for guests while a subtropical water world and state-of-the-art snow centre will be open to day visitors. There will also be 335 luxury log cabins set in woodland as well as 30 two-bedroom terraced cottages and 30 fully serviced open plan studio apartments.

Development will be in two stages. Construction on Phase 1 will start immediately with the development of the waterworld and associated holiday accommodation. Phase 2, incorporating the snow centre, is expected to begin in 2009.

Alfred McAlpine -which was involved in the Eden Project - is the design and build contractor and Powell Dobson of Cardiff are the architects responsible for designing Bluestone and the water park, working with Pembrokeshire Coast National Park and Pembrokeshire County Council. Jacobs Consultancy have been appointed engineers on the project, and Capita Symonds are project managers.