The former base of a tile retailer looks set to be turned into a vital medical courier centre for the NHS during the coronavirus pandemic if planning permission is granted.
NHS Health Courier Services has applied to Swansea council to ask for outline permission to transform the former Topps Tiles store at unit 25, Samlet Road, within Swansea Enterprise Park, into a new base.
And the plans refer to Welsh Government advice to chief planners that applications responding to Covid-19 should be processed as a "matter of urgency".
It states: "The need for the facility is undoubtedly heightened in the current crisis. We therefore emphasise the need for the prompt validation of this application to allow the health service to promptly occupy the vacant unit."
The Health Courier Service supports frontline medical services across Wales operating 24 hours a day 365 days a year where required.
It provides vital clinical logistics support services for primary and unscheduled care in hospitals, clinics, surgeries, GP practices, pharmacies and schools.
It transports specimens, pathology blood/blood products, whole blood, platelets, vital medicines, and a wide variety of other non-patient items in routine, urgent, and emergency conditions.
The unit would compromise of office space, training rooms, staff facilities, and the main consolidation area where medical supplies will be stored for distribution.
It will utilise a variety of small vans, lorries, emergency support vehicles and 4x4 vehicles, and operate between 7am and 5pm Monday to Friday.
The premises had been purpose built for occupation of Topps Tiles in the late 1990s, the plans state, but has been vacant since June 2019.
Swansea council's planning department will now consider the bid.
