Yr Egin, S4C’S new headquarters is taking shape and is expected to open in 2018. Take a look at time lapse footage to show it emerging from the ground.

The video link shows the work already undertaken at the site of S4C's new headquarters in Carmarthen. The time-lapse footage shows the last eight weeks of ground work at the site on College Road.

The building, called Yr Egin is expected to open its doors next year. The project involves the construction of a creative and digital hub and the development of a creative industry sector cluster. It will create around 200 jobs and help the local economy and support the Welsh language.

The Welsh language broadcaster will receive a loan of £10m to help fund the relocation of its headquarters from Cardiff to Carmarthen and collaboration with the BBC. It is understood approximately £7m will be spent on new facilities at the base it will share with the BBC in central Cardiff. Other funds will support the move to S4C’s new Carmarthen headquarters. S4C will also receive £350,000 in Government funding, enabling a “significant upgrade on its technical and IT equipment”.

The new building will be served by the Carmarthen West link road at its junction with College Road. Along with the headquarters the road will serve up to 1,200 new homes over coming years as part of the Carmarthen West development site. Town leaders also hope that the road will help ease congestion in the Johnstown area of the town. Kier, the company awarded the contract to build the Canolfan S4C Yr Egin development in Carmarthen recently hosted an event for local sub-contractors and suppliers in a bid to encourage businesses in South West Wales to help them deliver the ambitious project.

Yr Egin will also be a centre that will be at the heart of the community providing opportunities for local people to enjoy the building and its resources - a cafe, auditorium and performance areas. Construction started in March with the centre on track to be completed by summer 2018.

Developers of a new nuclear power plant in Anglesey have launched a third consultation of its plans, unveiling a more compact design for the power station.

Horizon Nuclear Power are planning to submit a development consent order later this year, seeing plans for the station, Wylfa Newydd, to enter the next phase. Hoping to be generating power by 2025, these new plans take up a smaller area than the previous versions, with more buildings shared between the twin reactors. Plans also show an accommodation campus for temporary staff, which will be located at the construction site near Cemaes.

Suggesting a single “carefully managed” campus for workers on site, the campus will be built with 2,500 beds and the capacity for 4,000, highlighting the large-scale nature of this construction project. With leisure, shopping and health facilities also featured within the plans, it is Horizon’s aim to limit the burden on public services.

While the size of the station itself has been the focus of the update, many other alternations have been made; many incredibly positive. According to the firm, a Welsh language and culture coordinator will be sourced to take the development forward, ensuring Welsh language sits at the heart of the development. Funding for a programme for new affordable housing, initially around the power station and nearby Amlwch has also been suggested, in addition to an investment programme for the island’s five secondary schools to improve science and technology facilities.

While all of these plans boasts a variety of advantages for the Welsh economy, the plans do need the final go-ahead from the next UK government, needing to sign off an agreed price for the electricity generated from the scheme – known as a strike price.

CEW are proud to be involved with the team delivering the A465 heads of the Valleys (Section 2) Gilwern to Brynmawr, up the Clydach Gorge.

As one of the projects that make up the Exemplar programme, the team shared their knowledge, learning and understanding with the industry on Thursday, 8^th June.

It was a packed Skills Academy briefing room with the designers, project managers, client, contractor and the team shared their lessons learnt, strategy and insights in how they are intending and delivering the scheme.

The dualling of the scheme over 8km and includes 14 major structures, 12km retaining wall and the excavation and removal of over 1.2million m³ of earthworks. All of this through an extremely narrow rock Gorge with the river to one side and Brecon Beacons to the other.

Section 2 of the A465 is recognised by the Welsh Government within the National transport plan as a strategically important route and the delivery of these works will have an undeniable long-lasting effect on the surrounding area.

CEW and the Exemplar programme look to find those aspects of the procurement, contract, team work and management that delivers a successful project on all levels and that “all can walk away from happy.” 

It was World environment day on 5th June. Did you know? What did you do? Check the update from CIRIA to see how the messages impact Welsh construction.

This year's theme "Connecting People to Nature" invites us to think about how we are part of nature and how intimately we depend on it.

This is something which CIRIA's BIG Biodiversity Challenge helps industry support, as well as showcase their biodiversity credentials. By doing one thing, big or small, to protect and enhance biodiversity on site, construction firms are enabling people to connect with nature where it may not have previously been possible. With the closing date for this year's award entries set for 12th June, take the challenge (it's free) and be part of something BIG.

CIRIA’s annual debate returns to London on 22nd June and promises to be as lively as last year, with an expert panel debating whether the future of Sustainable Cities is certain and green. Readers may also wish to sign up for our forthcoming Hidden defects in bridges roadshow, the launch events for our Responsible sourcing handbook (1st June and 19th June) and much more. Take a peek at our forthcoming events calendar.

We also have a number of opportunities for organisations wishing to get involved in various research projects including: Deterioration and degradation modelling of infrastructure assets; Structural health monitoring (SHM) systems for civil infrastructure and Groynes in coastal engineering. In addition, there are a whole host of other research opportunities - do take a look.

Keep in touch on Twitter and LinkedIn for all the latest news throughout the month.

The headlines for construction from the latest Natural Resources Bulletin focus on developers.

If you work in development then you need to be aware that the Cabinet Secretary for Environment & Rural Affairs, Lesley Griffiths AM, is looking to revise the national planning policy to support live music venues. She wants an explicit reference to the Agent of Change principle within the updated national planning policy. This will mean that if new developments or uses are to be introduced near a pre-existing business – such as a live music venue – it is the developers’ responsibility to ensure solutions to address and mitigate the noise are put forward.

In other news, Welsh Government is consulting on the proposed implementation of schedule 3 of the Flood Water Management Act 2010 which covers sustainable urban drainage systems on new developments. This covers off local authorities being the approving body – it also implies responsibility for the developer to ensure their projects have a sustainable drainage systems that meets mandatory national standards. The consultation closes in August.