15 July 2008

The current proposals for the provision of the new school building were submitted to the Vale of Glamorgan Planning Department on the 1st July. The proposals include for the construction of approximately 7,000sqm of new build, new sports pitches and improvements to the access into the school and egress onto Aberthin Road.

The submitted proposals are a result of consultation between the School, Design Team and Vale of Glamorgan Council.

Currently the project includes a mixture of new build, demolition and refurbishment to provide modern accommodation capable of delivering education in the 21st Century and building on the excellent academic standards achieved by the school.

The following facilities will be included within the new build element of the project:

• Sports hall
• Main hall
• Modern class room facilities
• Modern laboratory facilities
• Learning Resource Centre
• New main reception area for the school
• Break out spaces

The inclusion of the sports pitches was identified early on in the project as an important aspect of the design proposals for the school and these have been developed in line with current best practice guidelines. The pitches will include a mix of traditional grassed pitches, all weather pitches and multi use games areas. The project also includes the provision of flood lighting.

As the current site was too small to provide enough space for the schools sports pitch requirements, a number of fields adjacent to the school site were the subject of a Compulsory Purchase Order. One of the conditions of the outline planning approval for this area is that we minimise disruption to existing hedge rows and trees.

A number of surveys, including tree surveys and ecological surveys have been carried out at the school and the CPO site and further survey work is planned in the near future, with particular reference to:

• Bat Survey
• Dormouse Survey
• Habitat/Botanical Survey
• Reptile Survey
• Butterfly Survey
• Stream Survey

The results from these surveys will enable the Team to ensure that disruption is minimised where possible and inform the Team of what action needs to be taken to preserve the existing ecology of the site.

As a large number of pupils use buses to get to and from the school, the Design Team has been working closely with the Vale of Glamorgan Highways Department to develop a safe and efficient solution to enable pupils to be dropped off and picked up. The team has considered a number of options as well as visiting other schools to see how they deal with similar situations.

It is currently programmed that the construction work will commence during January 2009 and interviews to appoint a contractor to carry out the construction work have recently taken place. Once a contractor has been appointed the design of the new building will be further progressed, looking at issues such as the best structural solution for the building, procurement of materials, finalising the designs of items such as electrical supplies, heating and ventilation strategies

The issue of health and safety is of paramount importance to the Design Team, both in terms of the operation of the school and the construction process. Once a contractor has been appointed, there will be a number of meetings with the Contractor and the School’s Management Team to consider all the issues arising from the proposed works.