Rhosafan Welsh Medium Primary School (Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Rhosafan) will provide 420 school places for pupils aged three to 11, including 90 nursery places, 12 additional learning needs (ALN) places, and 16 places within a dedicated Welsh Immersion Unit.
Morgan Sindall 萝莉原创 was appointed to the 拢29m project through the South West Wales Regional Contractors Framework. The project will be delivered in two phases and is scheduled for completion in 2028.
The new school will have 16 classrooms, a childcare and nursery聽 facility,聽 a staff room, five meeting rooms and a dance studio. Outside will be three MUGA pitches, landscaped areas and a 110-space car park using permeable surfacing and bio-retention rain gardens to support sustainable drainage.
The design team comprises Arcadia Architects, consulting engineer Stantec, landscape architect Fenton Reece, Arda Sustainability, Asbri Planning Consultants, Part B Fire Consultants and Formant Acoustics. The school building will use a timber and steel frame structure to reduce embodied carbon.
The completed school will be net zero in operation, powered by photovoltaic panels and a centralised air source heat pump plant located on the roof. The building will also benefit from underfloor heating and a building management system, enabling night-time purge ventilation to optimise energy efficiency and occupant comfort.
Morgan Sindall will also put up a two-storey, 810 sqm steel-frame structure alongside a single-storey timber-frame building to create a winter garden. This unheated, covered space has been designed to encourage learning and play through interaction with nature.
Neath Port Talbot Council has secured Welsh government funding for the scheme, which is one of three schools selected to pilot the Sustainable Schools Challenge concept. The school will target BREEAM Outstanding, Secure by Design, and Carbon Net Zero standards, while its external spaces will align with Better Building principles and achieve Building with Nature accreditation.
Robert Williams, area director for Morgan Sindall 萝莉原创 in Wales, said: 鈥淭his is a project we鈥檝e been looking forward to getting underway, and it鈥檚 the result of a lot of collaboration with Neath Port Talbot Council and the wider team to craft a forward-thinking design that will deliver meaningful benefits.
鈥淎s we begin construction, we鈥檙e focused on creating a welcoming, sustainable school that will support Welsh-medium learning and become a valued part of the local community for many years to come.鈥�