Graham Norwood 
Journalism
How Welsh Waterfronts Relaunched A Region
Sunday Telegraph
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The term 'city centre living' had not been invented in the late 1970s. But if it had been, it would never have been said with a Welsh lilt.Back then I was a student in Swansea, a scruffy place where youngsters from the valleys gathered on weekend evenings to drink. Older, often unemployed locals - this was when there was a mining industry, albeit in terminal decline - stayed indoors.
South Wales' transition from so-so to chi-chi has led house prices to rocket, too, by a cool 750% in the past 25 years.
Sunday Telegraph
Cardiff was a city with a castle, imposing government offices in the centre and well-to-do suburbs. But it also had acres of derelict land near the water, a second rate shopping centre, few major hotels and more than its share of vandalism and graffiti.
Sunday Telegraph
And as for the smaller places like Newport, Port Talbot or Neath... well, there seemed little point visiting any of them unless I wanted to breathe in fumes from steel plants and coal mines, or expend youthful radicalism picketing outside those same places during the strikes that seemed inextricably linked with that era and that region.
Over a quarter of a century on, times have changed.
Cardiff Bay is the UK's most successful urban regeneration scheme and has created an up-market waterfront community, while the city centre boasts boutique hotels and world-class music and sports venues. Swansea is bubbling with new buildings and EU money and has Catherine Zeta-Jones as ambassador for the nearby Mumbles.
And who would have thought that Newport would now have a riverside boulevard, the first part of a regeneration scheme of 1,500 new top-end homes, offices and shops? Oh - and it will host one of the world's top golf tournaments, the Ryder Cup, in 2010.
South Wales' transition from so-so to chi-chi has led house prices to rocket, too, by a cool 750% in the past 25 years. That is a bigger increase than in Yorkshire, much of the Midlands, parts of the English south coast and all of Scotland.
"It's one of the most exciting locations anywhere now with Cardiff setting the pace but other places trying to catch up. The Welsh have seen what's been done in Bristol and northern city centres, transformed by new schemes and sophisticated conversions of older buildings into homes. The Welsh want the same" explains George Cardale of Savills, one of several national estate agents expanding in the principality.
Research for the Sunday Telegraph by Savills shows how the region has been transformed in the past decade. There has been a 21% rise in the number of jobs in south Wales with a shift away from mining and manufacturing to higher-paid service industries. Employment is set to expand by 1% per year until 2016 at least.
As a result the housing market has boomed.
As well as seeing large price rises for existing properties, an average of 3,900 new homes have been built each year since 1997, with a record 4,500 constructed in the 12 months to April 2007. Another 19,000 new homes will be built by the end of 2012.
The designs are not the sort you used to find in south Wales, either.
A £20m scheme close to the Mumbles by Regalian Properties has converted the 18th century grade II listed Clyne Castle - ironically, my old hall of residence at Swansea University - into 14 detached four and five bedroom houses. Despite the clunky title, Elev8 at Clyne, the uber-modern design is unique in the city; with prices of £675,000 to £950,000 it is also one of the most expensive schemes.
"I was keen to avoid simply creating a pastiche. Rather, I wanted to develop a series of homes that would complement and enhance the historic castle as opposed to mimicking it" explains Regalian owner Lee Goldstone.
The rest of Swansea is not being left behind.
There has been a £30m redevelopment of the former David Evans department store and Princess Way - 50% of the new flats were snapped up on the day they went on sale earlier this year. Nearby is Meridian Quay, the tallest residential building in Wales at 350 feet, where some three bedroom flats have exceeded the £600,000 mark. Meanwhile on the city's fringes the SA1 Waterfront is a vast area of derelict land being converted to 2,000 new flats, a marina and business parks.
Cardiff Bay's transformation has been a lengthy 20 years in the making and has cost £2.4 billion. It is now Europe's largest so-called 'city centre waterfront' but even after all this time development has not stopped.
Work has started on the International Sports Village to be finished by 2010 with its Olympic-size pool, indoor sports arena, artificial winter sports facilities, world-class canoe slalom and casino, plus 1,000 apartments.
One of those homes will be occupied by William and Susan Evans, two retirees who have sold their bungalow in the south west of England to live instead in the Watermark, the first scheme to be completed in the Sports Village area of the Bay.
"It's magnificent. Our two bedroom apartment is a little more expensive than the old bungalow but it's what estate agents call 'dual aspect' - we get views of the bay from the kitchen, bathroom and the lounge. We've always wanted to live by the water, and it's got good shopping and entertainment facilities nearby" explains William.
"I've had connections over the years with south Wales so I've seen how Cardiff has changed out of all recognition. It's better now than it's ever been" he says.
There are more homes destined for the city centre, too, in the massive St David's mixed-use scheme of apartments, shops and offices, linking the so-called Old Brewery Quarter with Bute Square, towards the Bay.
But while Cardiff and Swansea have hogged the regeneration headlines in the recent past, it is the hitherto down-at-heel Newport that is the new star of south Wales.
Drive into the city from the east and you see wide new roads, iconic bridges and a spate of cranes and building sites. Six new schemes with a total of 1,500 new homes are being built or have planning permission with work set to start next year. By 2016 there will be another 5,000 homes on the east side, on part of the old Llanwern steel works.
Regeneration chiefs in Newport are bullish about the town's chances of matching the glitzy image of Cardiff and Swansea, despite the market slowdown.
"We want to create somewhere that doesn't shut down after 5pm but continues to buzz day and night. The Ryder Cup has certainly raised the profile, helping to consolidate the impression of Newport as a city on the up" boasts John Burrows of Newport Unlimited, an urban regeneration quango which has created 2,000 jobs already and expects another 3,000 to appear before the golfers arrive in 2010.
Newport seems an unlikely contender for 'world city' status but people from over 30 countries are expected to play in, service and report on the Ryder Cup, giving it a level of exposure it's never had before.
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the place. It'll rise to the challenge" predicts Savills' George Cardale.
"But you could say the same about the rest of south Wales. A decade ago who'd have thought it would pull itself together. Now it's one of the finest parts of the UK."
Welsh regional prices:
| Region | Average today | Rise since 1997 | Since 2006 |
| Cardiff | £208,101 | 200% | 5% |
| Swansea and environs | £160,021 | 184% | 4% |
| Newport and environs | £176,253 | 217% | 12% |
| Mid and west Wales | £165,295 | 221% | 7% |
| North Wales | £176,660 | 204% | 4% |
How Welsh prices have changed:
| Type of property | Autumn 1997 | Autumn 2007 |
| Bungalows | £57,804 | £188,970 |
| Detached | £90,776 | £255,325 |
| Apartments | £39,516 | £125,570 |
| Semi-detached houses | £51,321 | £162,848 |
| Terraced houses | £41,023 | £129,837 |
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