Rebuilding Barry – Pencoedtre High School
At the beginning of the new year and a new term, on 7th January, 2022, the brand new £33.8 million Pencoedtre High School in Barry, opened its doors for the first time to pupils and the wider community.
Despite the challenges of the Pandemic, this project has been delivered on time and budget, by Bouygues UK, testament to Bouygues being the preferred choice of Welsh Government and Vale of Glamorgan County Council to bring about its vision for Pencoedtre – as part of the wider remit to further develop WG’s £23 million twenty-first century ‘super school’ investment in Wales.
With an award-winning major player in the construction and education sector at the helm, we were delighted to be a part of Bouygues UK’s local supply chain, selected as an official partner and subcontractor to manufacture and supply the inner strength for this high-profile development, delivering 620.95 tonnes of hot rolled steel and 24.68 tonnes of cold rolled steel.
We were therefore thrilled to have our input validated by Bouygues UK’s Regional Director, John Boughton and Operations Director, Stephen Davies as “a great collaboration” and a “team effort”. Head Teacher at Pencoedtre, Lee Humphrey, also commented that the “logistics of the build have been seamless” and that the “delivery has been phenomenal”. This means so much to us as a business.
It also means a lot to us that the pupils at Pencoedtre have been actively and emotionally engaged in bringing this project to fruition. Acting as Ambassadors, they have been involved in learning about the design procurement and construction that goes into a project such as this, becoming empowered and sharing knowledge. As one pupil said: “So much planning goes into it (the project) before the building starts. Detail and thought goes into everything.”
The final result is a state-of-the-art development that is bright, light and spacious with views to the sea. One new pupil summed it up as having “open design with homely vibes”, others described it as “slick”. As well as accommodating 1,000 pupils and 100 staff in a space fit for the twenty-first century, it also has a full-sized, sports’ hall, fantastic science labs, and incredible music studios.
Pencoedtre High School isn’t just a new school, but it’s the beginning of a new era for Barry as the school becomes a community hub at weekends and beyond the traditional school day. As the Head Teacher states: “Call it a dream, but I can imagine having outdoor events and cinema nights, bringing families in.”
At Shufflebottom, thanks to Bouygues, we’ve been able to be part of that dream. The scale and scope of this project adds to our portfolio of similar developments and positions us as ‘tried and tested’ for future twenty-first century community developments and dreams.
For more on the project please visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPy-B9391mA