AMBITIOUS PLANS FOR NEW £40 MILLION CAMPUS AT COLEG MORGANNWG
These are exciting times for Coleg Morgannwg as it embarks on its ambitious plans to create a learning facility that will be an iconic beacon for learning and education in Rhondda Cynon Taff; bringing high quality training and education to the area for generations to come.
The new £40m development, the Taf Ely Learning Campus, is part of the college’s Estates Strategy and will be developed on the 7.74 acre site opposite its existing facility at Heol Yr Odyn, Nantgarw.
The new building has been designed to meet the needs of the college’s changing and diverse curriculum and to provide staff and over 3,000 students with up-to-date, modern facilities. Designed over four floors the campus will incorporate facilities for Computing, Information Technology, Science, Care & Childhood Studies, Business & Professional Studies, Sport, Catering, Hair & Beauty, Music and Performing Arts along with a purpose built state of the art Learning Centre.
The new campus will enable the College to expand the model developed at the Rhondda campus, where facilities are available and used by the community, other public sector and private sector organisations seven days per week throughout the year.
The building is due to be completed and occupied by September 2012 when staff and students will move from their current site at Rhydyfelin, which dates back to 1960 when it opened as a technical college.
This will be the fourth major project completed by Coleg Morgannwg in the past 5 years with total investment amounting to over £15m in student facilities; these include the Science and Technology Centre, Nantgarw, Community Centre – Community, Arts, Regeneration & Lifelong Learning, Llwynypia and the Centre of Art & Design, Nantgarw. Funding announcements of £15.8m and £12m were made by the Education Minister in July 2009 and the Deputy Minister for Skills in October 2009 and the College has also applied for financial support from the European Regional Development Fund (E.R.D.F.).
The building designed by architects Boyes Rees, will comprise of two curved (facetted) parallel blocks linked by a glazed boulevard. The rear block rises to four storeys and the front block is three storeys high with a glazed roof linking the two blocks and creating a central atrium area.
The boulevard will include a number of facilities – a Gym, Crèche and Learning Centre in addition to a training restaurant, a hair and beauty salon and large spaces for music and performing arts. These facilities will all be open to the public and local businesses. A high quality conference and training facility is also included in the building to support the needs of businesses in the region.
The college's commitment to environmental standards is evident in the specifications for the new campus, which has been designed to incorporate the six basic sustainability objectives. The new college building needs to achieve a BREEAM rating of ‘excellent’ however the aim is to acquire BREEAM Outstanding.
The college is also working with a variety of experts to ensure that the campus works for the benefit of all learners and is a shining example of equality and diversity.
Sustainable technologies including solar thermal panels (incorporated in the south facing slope of the glazed roof), a biomass boiler and rainwater harvesting.
The Design Team is led by Gardiner & Theobold, Project Managers, who together with appointed contractors Laing O’Rourke, won the Project of the Year Award for the innovative Cardiff Library, which was completed in 2009. The Design Team also includes Boyes Rees, Architects; Hoare Lea, Mechanical & Electrical Engineers and Hyder, Structural Engineers.
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