Students visit site of £22m new campus
COLLEGE students from the Cynon Valley have visited the site where the new £22m Coleg y Cymoedd Aberdare campus is being built.
Construction got underway on the state-ofthe-art new building during March, when Wales’ First Minister Carwyn Jones visited the Robertstown site.
The building – jointly funded by Coleg y Cymoedd and the Welsh Government – will replace the college’s existing Cwmdare campus from September 2017.
And it was all hands on deck at the site when local students visited with college principal Judith Evans recently, as students explored the layout of the new facility and helped construction company Kier mark the outline of where the new building will stand.
From plumbing construction to and busi- ness administration and computing, the learners from the current Aberdare campus were able to see first-hand where their specific course will be taught in the new building.
Ms Evans said: “This exercise was extremely valuable for our learners as it means they are involved right from the start of the construction process, and the ability for learners from all different courses to get on site and see where their new campus will sit is testament to our close working relationship with Kier.
“It’s so exciting to see the construction team make headway on the new campus, helping in our mission to make excellence in education and skills development a reality for all learners in the communities we serve.”
Rhys Harding and Matthew Bullock, who are both studying towards their level 3 diploma in IT, helped mark out the building.
Rhys, 20, from Mountain Ash, said: “We’ve been able to see the designs before, but it’s great to get an idea of how the new campus will look.
“Being close to the train station will also make it much easier for people to get here.”
Matthew, also aged 20 and from Mountain Ash, said: “The campus is a definitely a draw – I’ve already had friends tell me that having a new campus here in the town is one of the reasons they’re planning to come to the college next year.”
Jason Taylor, operations director at Kier, added: “This is the first real milestone for the project and we were delighted to welcome staff and learners on-site.”