Swansea Bay University Health Board has spent just over £640,000 renting buildings as mass Covid vaccination centres. The figure would have been higher had Roy Thomas - the owner of Bay Studios off Fabian Way, which was the largest site to be used - charged commercial rent for the full duration.
Vaccinations against the coronavirus started in the winter of 2020-21 and were delivered at scale at the Bay Studios' Elba building, which had been transformed into a field hospital, and Canolfan Centre, Gorseinon. Jabs were also administered later at Aberafan Shopping Centre, Port Talbot.
In a response to a freedom of information request by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the health board said there were £487,500 rental costs for the Elba building at Bay Studios in 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23, plus £140,630 rental costs for Canolfan Centre, and £12,019 costs for Aberafan Shopping Centre. The total figure comes to £640,149. You can get more Swansea news and other story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.
