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New £35m Waterfront Learning Campus In Barry Approved

Cardiff and Vale College has secured planning consent for a new £35m waterfront campus in Barry. The project will be mainly funded via the Welsh Government’s mutual investment model (MIM), with construction costs repaid over a 25-year period.

Wales’ first net zero learning campus, which will extend to 60,000 sq ft and cater for up to 1,000 full and part-time students, is scheduled to open towards the end of 2026. The college’s existing campus site in Barry on Colcot Road will be sold to help partly finance its contribution of around 19% towards the project. It will be the first time that MIM has been used to finance a further education college in Wales.

As part of an indicative overall £100m expansion the employment-focused further education provider, which is the third biggest in the UK with annual revenues of £120m, also has plans for a new dedicated 130,000 sq ft campus near to Cardiff Airport focused on advanced technology.

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The Vale of Glamorgan Council has granted planning consent for the new Barry campus, for which Bouygues UK has been appointed the main contractor. The final cost of the project is still be evaluated but has been estimated at £35m. Construction work is expected to start early next year.

The net zero designed campus will feature active street frontages with a hair and beauty salon and a bistro/restaurant that will be open to the public and run by students. There will also be an external garden terrace, classrooms and IT rooms, a covered external dining area and a courtyard with a grass lawn and seating areas.

College learners will be involved in a project to design public art that will be incorporated into the structure of the new campus.

Cardiff and Vale College chief executive, Mike James, said: “We are delighted that the Vale of Glamorgan has approved of this investment in education and training in the region.

“It is with real pleasure that I can say that we are delivering on our commitment to provide first-class teaching and learning environments for learners and the community in the Vale of Glamorgan. We will continue to work closely with the Welsh Government, Vale of Glamorgan Council and Welsh Education Partnership Company (the special purpose vehicle overseeing the design and funding of the campus) to ensure this project will be the success that I know it will.”

Lis Burnett, leader of the Vale of Glamorgan Council, said:“This is wonderful news for the Vale of Glamorgan. The proposed multi-million-pound Waterfront campus will be a landmark development for the town. It will bring modern, state of the art education facilities for learners across the Vale.

“I am very proud of our ongoing collaboration as public sector partners with Cardiff and Vale College and the Welsh Government in helping the college progress the delivery of this exciting new educational scheme.

“The new campus will redevelop a vacant brown field site close to the town centre and offer much needed new education and vocational training opportunities in an environmentally sustainable building.

“Once completed the new campus will serve as an excellent example of how education can be a major driver for local regeneration and placemaking.”

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