First-class improvements win school top award
YSGOL Pen Rhos primary school in Llanelli designed by HLM Architects, has won a top accolade at the Social Value for Future Generations Awards 2021.
The awards celebrate innovation, leadership and best practice of social value in Wales that also links with the Wellbeing and Future Generations Act.
The school won the Pioneering Equality Award and judged by an independent expert panel, the category celebrates businesses that take action to tackle the inequalities experienced by marginalised groups in Wales.
Entries were required to demonstrate how they had tackled poverty and socio-economic disadvantages, ensured appropriate employment opportunities were available, showed an understanding of and took steps to address the effects of inequalities in Wales, and demonstrated forward-thinking, while considering future trends that are likely to impact these inequalities.
Built on a contaminated brownfield site prone to vandalism and antisocial behaviour, the new-build primary school addresses the criteria – it has transformed and remodelled the external landscape of the former industrial land, once home to the Draka copper wire plant, to deliver a much-needed modern 21st Century early learning facility.
The new Flying Start nursery on the school site, delivered for Carmarthenshire Council, was designed to enable improved, inclusive educational delivery that provides a flexible and adaptable space to adjust to changes in the curriculum.
The school has greatly benefitted families in the local area, and these positive outcomes of the build have also extended to the wider local community.
Philip Watson, director and head of design at HLM Architects, said: “It’s fantastic to see this development recognised for the significant benefits it brings to the local area.
“The project team faced many challenges when developing this scheme, but they worked hard and used their expertise to overcome them, creating a school that gives local children and families access to early learning services that were previously lacking.
“As a team we’re very proud of how the scheme has regenerated the locality both socially and economically.”