‘Super’ work experience for students

Coleg y Cymoedd’s showcase £40m campus at Nantgarw has just missed out to London’s internationally acclaimed ‘Shard’ in the prestigious annual Constructing Excellence National Awards.

The ultra-modern campus at Nantgarw – which opened in September 2012 – lost out to the iconic Shard in the coveted ‘Project of the Year’ category at the awards which were announced during a glittering ceremony at the Tower Hotel in London.

The campus won its way through to the UK final by winning its category earlier this year in the annual awards organised by Constructing Excellence Wales.

Constructing Excellence Wales noted that the Nantgarw campus had been an exemplar in providing outstanding community benefits through an abundant supply of passion and commitment. One of the many aspects that stood out was the strategic use of the scheme as a learning facility for construction students who were encouraged to use it as work experience.

Throughout the year, regional Constructing Excellence Awards have taken place across the UK, with the national event recognising the overall winners from each category. The Nantgarw campus, won the Wales Project of the Year award in July. Now in its seventh year, the event was attended by over 450 built environment professionals from across the UK.

Constructing Excellence is the single UK-based organisation charged with driving the change agenda in construction. Existing to improve industry performance in order to produce a better built environment, they are a member-led organisation operating for the good of the industry and its stakeholders.

Judith Evans, Principal of Coleg y Cymoedd, said: “I am hugely proud of what has been achieved at Nantgarw – not only have we got a fantastic facility, we have become the largest provider of A-levels in Rhondda Cynon Taff, with 28 A-level options being delivered to 580 learners. Combined with our excellent vocational offer across all five campuses we are really making a difference to skills, education and training in Caerphilly and RCT.”

Karen Phillips, Deputy Principal and Project Director, said: “We had hoped we could repeat our success when we won the Wales Project of the Year in July but we were not too disappointed to miss out on the top spot to the massively high profile winning project – The Shard in London!”

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