Hailing a new future for education
August 2016

A multi award-winning building dubbed “the future of further education” in Wales features glazed elements by Kawneer.

The new £45 million Cardiff and Vale College uses Kawneer’s zone-drained AA®100 and AA®110 curtain walling, with 50 and 65mm sightlines respectively, with AA®541 top-hung casement windows and mullion-drained AA®100 curtain walling as a bespoke atrium rooflight.

The 16,000m2 building in the city centre brings together many of the college’s activities onto a single campus and creates a real-life environment for skills training with open and welcoming faculty clusters set around a public route through the heart of the college.

Its distinctive wedge shape connects the interior spaces to south-facing terraces with views towards Cardiff Bay. The oversailing roof is angled to accommodate a 1,850m2 photovoltaic array, one of the largest in the UK, and The Classroom – a fine dining sky restaurant located under the northernmost tip with views across the city towards the Millennium Stadium.

Believed to have been the largest construction project in Cardiff at the time, the college was built on former industrial land south of the city’s central station by main contractor Willmott Dixon, with the Kawneer elements installed by approved specialist manufacturer and installer AB Glass.

Backed by a £20 million Welsh Government grant, it was formed after the merger of Barry College and Coleg Glan Hafren as part of the government’s bid to transform post-16 education and training in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan.

Cardiff and Vale College has won two awards to date – a RIBA Regional Award 2016 and a RICS Regional Award (Design through Innovation) 2016.

www.kawneer.co.uk