Shopping complex's weather delay

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Bad weather and a longer than expected archaeological excavation are being blamed for a delay in completing a £30m retail complex in Swansea city centre.

Huge glass panels are about to be added to the three-storey building on the old David Evans site on Princess Way.

Initially it was hoped it would be finished this autumn but the date has been put back to the end of the year.

The centre will house a range of fashion stores and is expected to create several hundred new jobs.

David Evans, the city's oldest department store, shut in January 2005 and was demolished early in 2007.

The new complex will include fashion chains Zara and Slater Menswear as well as independent Swansea retailer J T Morgan.

Contractors say the new 70,000-square foot building will be watertight by the early autumn and the building phase of the scheme will be finished by the end of the year so tenants can start moving in in 2008.

A spokesman for Swansea council said: "There have been a small number of factors which have affected progress of work on the development including, for example, the length of time it took to complete archaeological excavations at the site and poor weather over the last few months."

Council leader Chris Holley added: "Construction is now at an advanced stage and the benefits of this new complex will soon be there for all to see."