We are delighted to have successfully handed over the brand new Ysgol Gynradd Groes-wen Primary School for our clients Redrow and Cardiff Council, as part of the Plasdŵr development.
The new £9m school is a first of its kind for Wales, providing a dual language stream and a Welsh-medium stream. The dual language stream will consist of 50% Welsh and 50% English. There is also 96 part-time nursery places, supported by a Clych Meithrin to offer wrap around provision. The Clych will also operate an afterschool club for pupils.
The two-storey building comprises of nursery, reception and infant classrooms on the ground floor, with junior classrooms located on the first floor. It features contemporary architecture and a range of amenities accessible to the public.
The school, built to BREEAM excellent for energy and very good overall, is a two form of entry and offers 420 places in total, serving the Plasdŵr area.
The school has been developed to reduce carbon emissions associated with operational building use, largely reliant on natural ventilation and is heated via a centralised air source heat pump system. As part of the sustainability strategy, the electricity generated will be utilised within the school, and during periods of low electrical demand, the generated electricity will be exported back to the grid.
Throughout the project, we supported training opportunities for graduates and apprentices, as well as long term sustainable employment opportunities for disadvantaged individuals. We also delivered 92 targeted recruitment & training weeks per £1million spend.
Managing Director of Andrew Scott Ltd, Mark Bowen, said “we are very proud to have successfully completed and handed over the new Ysgol Gynradd Groes-wen Primary School on time for the start of the September 2023 term, to our clients Redrow. As a Welsh contractor, we are delighted to have built Wales’s first dual-stream language school. The fantastic facilities on offer at the new school will provide a quality, bilingual education for children living in the local area. We hope the children, teachers and local community will be very happy with their new school.”
Wayne Rees is Land Director for Redrow and Project Director of Plasdŵr. He said: “We are delighted to announce the opening of our first primary school, Ysgol Gynradd Groes-wen. It is the first true community space to be delivered as part of the development and will provide opportunities to bring new residents and families together.
“In keeping with the character and colours of the Groeswen neighbourhood, the school features contemporary architecture and will be surrounded by plenty of green space and outdoor facilities for children to enjoy.
“On behalf of everyone at Plasdŵr, we’d like to thank Andrew Scott Ltd for their attention to detail, hard work and dedication throughout the project, and for helping us to deliver this significant milestone in time for the new school year.”
Laura Sampford, Project Manager at Cardiff City Council, said “Having recently worked with Andrew Scott Ltd on a recently completed project in Cardiff, we have nothing but praise for the project management and high quality build from project inception through to completion. Despite this project being on an extremely tight programme, the team worked to ensure the build was completed safely and delivered by the Contract completion date. All requests for change were dealt with professionally and in a timely manner to enable us to make an informed decision. The project team worked with us to ensure we could move into the school ahead of PC, to ensure the school could open on time. Project governance and communication was excellent, and as a Client we always felt well informed.
David Johnson, Project Manager for Client Consultants Mott MacDonald, said “This was a challenging project programme that Andrew Scott proactively managed by working collaboratively with the Client teams and Head Teacher to deliver a high quality 21st Century school building within the Plasdwr Development in North-West Cardiff. Mott MacDonald are extremely impressed with the dedicated and focused approach by the whole Andrew Scott’s project team culminating in the successful completion and handover of the Primary school on time for the start of the September 2023 term. The School and Local Authority are very satisfied with the new facility.”