Ardent was appointed by Tidal Lagoon Power Ltd in 2013 to provide land and property advice in relation to Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon. The project proposes the development of a tidal lagoon power facility in Swansea Bay, Wales. The development is intending to put forward the construction of a 10 kilometre barrage across Swansea Bay and incorporating 26 hydro turbines that will generate up to 250MW of electricity using the rise and fall of the tide. The energy generated will be transmitted onto the national grid via a substation in Port Talbot. The proposal also intends to provide a world class visitor centre and new sporting facilities accessed via a new connection to Swansea City centre.

Ardent was the sole land referencing agent on the scheme and we prepared the landowner consultation schedule, land plans and the Book of Reference for the DCO submission which was completed 7 February 2014 and accepted for examination on 6 March 2014. This was the first tidal lagoon scheme to be examined by PINS. On 9 June 2015 the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change granted development consent for this application. This was another successful DCO supported by Ardent and the Secretary of State’s decision to grant approval for this project could kick-start the UK’s tidal power sector.