The future of Welsh construction is its young professionals and new starters, join these leaders in West Wales.

We talk about the future – but what about the people living in that future? Who are the future generation? In Welsh construction, the future is represented by G4C (the Generation for Change).

G4C is a thriving sub group of CEW, providing a voice for the young professionals within the Welsh construction industry. They are the very people that will deliver the built environment schemes that need to be driven by the values of the Future Generations Act and under pinned by the circular economy. 

Right now, they have almost 500 members and recently a new G4C West Wales group has been set up. Next week is the time to get a team together to join in with the G4C West Wales Charity Quiz on Thursday 9^thMarch in Swansea where you and your team will have an opportunity to network with colleagues within the industry. G4C always manage to bring together a mix of young professionals from across the construction industry who are all keen to share ideas, discuss innovative solutions for the projects they work on and improvements to the wider industry. The whole committee of the new West Wales group will be there too – Andrew Hillier, City & County of Swansea, Chris Amos and Darren Baker of Melin Consultants, Edward Perring. Graduate, Lea Watkins of Stride Treglown, Libby Wildman and Stephen Thomas of Dawnus, Louie Vaughan of Asbri Planning, and Gareth Davies of Turner & Townsend.

How to Book: To reserve your teams place please reply to CEWales Events , You can book individually or with a team, teams can be created on the night.

Port Talbot based construction firm Andrew Scott has won a £9m contract to build the new Betws Primary School in Bridgend.

Andrew Scott is building new facilities, with one wing for English speakers and one wing for Welsh speakers.

Total project cost is £11.2m, jointly funded by Bridgend County Borough Council and the Welsh Government’s 21st century schools programme.

“We are delighted to secure this contract as building new schools is an area we specialise in,” said Andrew Scott Managing Director Mark Bowen. “The latest development at Betws will completely replace Betws Primary School, which was partially destroyed by fire in June 2012, and the dilapidated Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Cwm Garw in Pontycymer,” he said.

“Works will essentially create a ‘two schools, one site’ campus, with the two separate wings enabling the school to meet the growing demand for Welsh-medium education.”

Once finished, Betws will provide bilingual education for Cwm Garw and Cwm Ogwr pupils. The school will consist of one wing for English-medium and one wing for Welsh-medium with a shared building in between. Each wing will have its own outdoor teaching spaces and will share nearby woodland and playing fields. The enlarged school will also be able to accommodate an enlarged catchment area.

“As part of the project, the English-medium school will be constructed first and will provide space for 394 pupils. After that, the current school buildings will be demolished and construction will begin on the Welsh-medium school, which will have space 379 pupils,” Mark Bowen said.

Andrew Scott’s education portfolio includes completed works at Broad Haven CP School in Pembrokeshire, Ysgol Maes Y Gwendraeth in Cefneithin, Hendre Infants School in Caerphilly, St Michael’s Independent School in Llanelli, and Bassaleg Arts Block in Newport, as well as Coleg y Cymoedd’s Llwynypia further education campus and Cardiff-based St Michael’s College.

Construction of the new Parc y Tywyn is in the early stages with piling complete. The new Parc y Tywyn in Burry Port will provide a Passivhaus and BREEAM Excellent primary school.

It is a replacement to the existing Ysgol Gymraeg Parc y Tywyn and will offer 330 pupil places. The £9.678m budget for this scheme is joint funded 50% by Welsh Government, and will see Dawnus deliver;

• A primary school for 330 pupils
• A nursery for 45 pupils
• Facilities accessible to the wider community
• New access to the neighbouring sand facility

The Dawnus team have been working with the Enabling Zero Waste team to look at how to best prevent, reuse and recycle waste on the Parc y Tywyn site.

A site waste compound is already established. It is fenced and well signed, encouraging waste segregation at source. Having the waste compound established at this early stage will make waste segregation the norm throughout the project, making it part of the site ethos.

Similarly, dedicated bins for canteen and office waste disposal have been provided to embed segregation of waste across the whole site from early on. Past EZW projects have highlighted that canteen and office waste disposal can be an issue. Often it is a forgotten waste stream, which ends up being comingled and disposed of in mixed waste skips. CWM Environmental will dispose of food waste and dry recyclates, expecting to recover 100% of the canteen and office waste.

SMARTWaste training has been given as part of the EZW initiative to help Dawnus record and report waste produced. 

If you would like to find out more about Enabling Zero Waste please visit http://www.cewales.org.uk/current-programme/enabling-zero-waste/  ; follow @EZWaste_Wales or call a member of the team on 02920 493322.

Construction work is underway at Swansea University’s new £450m Bay Campus to build a massive new state-of-the-art centre to house a vibrant and growing community of world-class research leaders drawn from computational and mathematics sciences, who work together with purpose and impact; making Wales a global destination for researchers, students, and industrial partners. 

Pictured above from left: Ian Jones, Operations Director for Willmott Dixon Construction, Wales and the West; Julie James, Minister for Skills and Science; Professor Richard B Davies, Vice-Chancellor, Swansea University; and Professor Iwan Davies, Senior Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Swansea University, at the site of the new Computational Foundry, Bay Campus. 

The £31m Computational Foundry, part of the University’s College of Science, is expected to be completed in summer 2018.  The transformational development, which is backed with £17m from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), is the next stage of the University’s ambitious plans to expand and develop world-class facilities as part of its Campus Development strategy.

Professor Richard B Davies, Vice-Chancellor of Swansea University, welcomed Julie James, Welsh Government Minister for Skills and Science, to the Bay Campus for a short ceremony to mark the start of construction work.

Julie James, Minister for Skills and Science, said: “Developing Wales’ already impressive research and development capabilities is a key priority for this government and this new facility, which is benefiting from £17.1 million of EU funds, will drive research into computer science and help to make Wales a global destination for computer scientists and industrial partners.

“Once complete, this state-of-the-art computer science facility will also help to attract leading researchers to Wales and help establish Wales as a world leader for computer science and innovation."

Professor Richard B Davies, said: "The Computational Foundry will be a world-class centre for research within the heart of our magnificent science and innovation Bay Campus, transforming Swansea and Wales as a global destination for computational and mathematical scientists. It will also provide the most up-to-date and high-quality teaching facilities.

“The project is a key component of the strategic plans for the Swansea Bay City Region and will help turn the region into a global destination for computational scientists and IT companies.

“We are grateful for the funding we have had from the European Regional Development Fund via Welsh Government for this exciting project, and it is a pleasure to welcome the Minister here for the start of work on the Foundry. The Welsh Government’s backing is a sign of confidence in Swansea University’s ambition and plans for future growth and expansion.”

The Computational Foundry’s growth in research activities is already underway, and the new building will include research and development laboratories, postgraduate and researcher areas, specialist teaching and research facilities, lecture theatres, as well as networking and inspiration space. 

Neal Stephens, Managing Director of Willmott Dixon Construction, Wales and The West, said: “We are extremely pleased to start construction of the Computational Foundry. Using our regional knowledge, we will engage local companies, employment and apprentices to maximise the opportunities and benefits of this project.

“We are looking forward to delivering an outstanding research and teaching facility that will benefit the University and Swansea City Region for generations to come.”

The bespoke building will be kitted out with world leading experimental set-ups, equipment, devices and prototypes that will accelerate innovation.  It will also provide the most up-to-date and high-quality teaching facilities. 

The expansion will enable the University’s College of Science to grow and deliver new, meaningful and lucrative research, alongside existing teaching and outreach activity.

Flooding is almost common place nowadays across the UK. Demand for housing means building on lower lying land at risk of flooding; the changes in our weather and climate lead to rises in water levels and flash flooding. Now is the time to stay informed and up to date with any issues relating to flooding. 

Why not make a date to attend the 15th Wales National Flooding Conference. Held at the Novotel Hotel, Schooner Way, Cardiff Bay, CF10 4RT on Thursday 9th March 2017 and organised by ICE Wales Cymric in conjunction with Natural Resources Wales and in partnership with CIWEM and Cardiff University. 

With a range of speakers and exhibitions and case studies the all-day event will cover anything from sustainable urban drainage systems to coastal erosion and property flood resilience. Lesley Griffiths, AM, Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs, Welsh Government is the keynote speaker.

You can book a standard delegate place online

What is new, though, is the force of the conclusion that – given workforce attrition exacerbated by an ageing workforce – we simply cannot go on as we are.

If we put this into a Welsh context and set it alongside what we know our industry is already experiencing, then the report is even more uncomfortable. 

On 3rd May in Cardiff* CEW is hosting a conference looking at how construction in Wales adapts to the circular economy and skills is a core element of that debate. Mark Farmer, CEO of Cast Consultancy, who wrote the Farmer Report is a keynote speaker. It is well worth saving the date, re-reading his report and asking some pertinent questions.

*Details of this event will be sent shortly but if you wish to reserve a place pleae email CEWales Events