St Teilo's School, Cardiff

Cardiff City Council appointed Willmott Dixon to build this new 1,440-pupil, 11-18 year high school, which covers some 12,660m2.

The project also included external works, playing fields, drainage, incoming service mains, and the demolition of the existing adjacent Llanedeyrn High School.

Sustainability

The scheme incorporates a passive design approach including natural daylight and ventilation. This helped the project achieve a BREEAM rating of Excellent and an Energy Performance Certificate A rating.

Additional energy credits were achieved through the use of renewable technologies including a large array of photovoltaic panels located on the school roof and biomass boiler which will meet the school's heating demands.

“I have been exceptionally pleased with Willmott Dixon’s performance during this project. I am particularly grateful to the site team that has always gone the ‘extra mile’ to ensure project success.”

Ian Loynd. Deputy Headteacher, St Teilo's

Other sustainability features included:

• Lighting controls which are sympathetic to the audio visual requirements of teaching, while minimising energy use.
• Selection of materials with low environmental impact.
• Over 19% of all materials used recycled, as measured by the WRAP toolkit.
• Over 95% of all construction waste from landfill.

The design also aims to protect the learning areas from the high levels of noise pollution from the A48 corridor running parallel to the site.

Community

The construction project has provided in excess of 10,000 local labour hours for unemployed people. Four previously unemployed labourers secured full employment following the experience gained with Willmott Dixon.