Ebbw Vale - Festival Park

The development project in Ebbw Vale is evidence of the way in which the former mining area is looking for new perspectives. More than 14,000 miners were once employed here in five pits and an enormous steelworks. The blast furnaces and rolling mills have long been closed, only a galvanizing plant still operates. To create attractive incentives for new commercial enterprises 141 acres/57ha of old slag heaps around the former steelworks have been cleared since 1983 and the land planted with trees, shrubs and colorful gardens, where the "Garden Festival of Wales" was held in October 1992. After the festival, work has continued with the building of new residential houses, office blocks and commercial areas. By the turn of the century the new village, called Victoria, should be ready to offer a home to approximately 2,500 people.

The Festival Park features a tropical plant house, woodland and wetland centers, a lake, an oriental pavilion, sculptures and a visitor center.