Fairwater Community Campus tops out

The new Fairwater Community Campus has accomplished its topping out milestone, as construction reaches the highest point of the £110m pioneering education campus in Fairwater, Wales.

To mark the milestone, ISG joined, Cardiff Council's Leader, Cllr Huw Thomas and Cardiff's Cabinet Member for Education Cllr Sarah Merry, Headteacher Diane Gill and Chair of Governors, Barbara Connell together with Executive Headteacher, Wayne Murphy and Chair of Governors Bianca Rees from the Western Learning Federation, of which Riverbank School and Woodlands High School are both a part of.

Funded by Cardiff Council and Welsh Government, and procured through the SEWSCAP3 framework, the new development is the city's largest in scale and investment of Cardiff's education developments to be delivered under the Sustainable Communities for Learning Programme.

Children from all three of the schools joined the celebrations with pupils providing musical and singing performances.

The scheme includes the construction of three new build schools for Cantonian High School, Riverbank School and Woodlands High School, all situated on the single site in Fairwater.

Cardiff Council's Leader, Cllr Huw Thomas said: "Bringing together Cantonian, Woodlands and Riverbank Schools on one site known as Fairwater Community Campus, will provide a distinct combination of learning as part of this unique and ambitious plan.

"The first of its kind for Cardiff, this joint education campus will be one of the most educationally advanced institutions in the UK. Each school will be able to keep its identity and will benefit from shared facilities, expertise and teaching opportunities to deliver an exceptional experience for students, staff and their communities.

The development will be Net Zero Carbon in line with Welsh Government standards and will set the standard for future Cardiff school projects. Each of the three schools will be highly energy efficient buildings that are powered from renewable energy sources, enabling Cardiff to deliver on its One Planet Strategy, which outlines the city’s ambition to mitigate climate change.

Richard Skone, Regional Director for ISG's Construction business in Wales, commented: "Reaching the topping out milestone at the Fairwater Community Campus is a significant achievement for all the partners involved in this transformative project. This development, funded by Cardiff Council and the Welsh Government, highlights our shared commitment to building state-of-the-art, sustainable learning environments as part of the Sustainable Communities for Learning Programme.

"This event marks the significant progress we have made to move from concept vision to reality, creating a campus that not only delivers modern, high-quality educational facilities that are Net Zero, but also promotes a strong sense of community for students, staff, and local residents."

This story was originally published on Cardiff News Room and can be read by clicking here.

It has been a busy summer on site, as the team welcomed a group of young people who are helping to shape Cardiff's investments in education by contributing to the design principles for new build schools. 14 of the Cardiff Young Influencers have taken part in interactive sessions, workshops and tours providing their opinions on key elements which will influence how Cardiff Council will invest and create the spaces within new schools being built in the city.

Having visited Fairwater Community Campus, they were shown the draft design principles for classrooms, outdoor space and dining areas, providing the opportunity to give feedback on what they had seen, what they thought could improve their current school, and what they think would be good in a future school. Their constructive feedback will be used to update these principles before they are finalised. You can read more about the initiative here.