BYUK carried out delivery of Ysgol Bae Baglan, landmark building for NPTC. The £38 million, 21st century teaching facility opened its doors in September 2016 to a diverse group of 1,500 students from the age of 3 to 16. First challenges were schools concept and design; the project would involve the amalgamation of four schools with an integrated design to suit its extreme environmental surroundings. Once open, the school soon became the heart of the community, designed to adapt, extending school services to the public and providing opportunities for everyone in use of this fantastic building.
An unforeseen challenge merged following site investigations, ground consisted of potential hydrocarbons. Initially BYUK proposed precast driven piles; however with high water table BYUK recognised risk of polluting lower water aquifer. Through collaborative working with National Resources Wales and Cambria, the team proposed an alternative dynamic ground compaction method, mitigating relative risks to the project and saving the client £100,000 of risk contingency.
£38,000,000 school, 20month build program, unforeseen ground condition, complex design, pitch drainage issues, new transpired wall systems, four schools becoming one, high expectation of stakeholder engagement, demolition of lifelong learning center, new team relationships, pressures to utlise and upskill local supply chain, additional last minuet student numbers and Microsoft sponsorship; it is fair to say that this project was tough, however that didn’t discourage the team, project was delivered three weeks early, leading to early occupation which allowed teaching staff time to settle in their building.
