A town centre development that is currently under construction in Newtown will receive extra funding from the Welsh Government to cover rising construction costs "resulting from Brexit and Covid".

The Riverside Venue, a two-storey building on the site of the former Radio Hafren studio, is expected to open in spring next year. Open Newtown, which is leading the project, said it has been "frustrated" by current delays on-site which are "out of our control".

Project manager Gary Mitchell said: "Despite the design team completing a thorough, three-stage value engineering process, to reduce the cost of structure, foundations, mechanical and electrical systems, along with internal fit-out, the project has been facing a funding shortfall.

"The impact of Covid and Brexit has caused significant increases to material costs especially in glazing, timber and steel, which our project has a lot of. This is not unique and has been a common problem for construction projects across the country. Added to the increase in costs are significant delays in sourcing materials, all hampering the construction timetable.

"We have also been keen from the very outset to set the environmental considerations of the building very high on our agenda, we want this building to be an exemplar of ‘sustainable’ design. The building will reach ‘low energy standards’ which has been designed towards Passivhaus standards. It has high spec triple glazing, Larsen Truss insulation framework, insulated groundslab, air source heat pumps, solar panel array and sustainable urban drainage systems. Going that step further all the internal furniture and catering will be sourced sustainably.

County Times: An artist's impression of the completed projectAn artist's impression of the completed project

"Our funders understood our predicament and with support from Powys County Council we reached out to secure further financial support. Open Newtown has worked hard over the last month or so to work with our partners and funders to help us mitigate against these impacts.

"We have secured an additional £156,302 support from Welsh Government and £128,000 from other funders including Powys County Council and the National Lottery.

"We are frustrated with the current delays on-site, which are out of our control."

In August this year, Minister for Climate Change Julie James MS and Deputy Minister for Climate Change Lee Waters MS agreed an additional Transforming Towns Grant funding of up to £156,302 towards the construction costs in addition to the £950,000 that was awarded in early 2020.

A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “We provided additional funding to Powys County Council in August to support the ‘Riverside Venue’ development in Newtown due to an increase in construction costs resulting from Brexit and Covid.

“Powys County Council and the applicant ‘Open Newtown’ also provided additional funding to cover the material price increases of the project.”

Open Newtown said the glazing system is expected to be on-site during the second week of November, and are looking to complete the Riverside Venue project by mid-April.