A £9.7m project transforming the historic Welsh School of Architecture building is on track to be completed in time fo the new academic year in September.
Based at Cardiff University’s Bute Building the project’s architect is the Cardiff office of BDP.
The refurbishment includes extensive renovation of the building’s interiors, the repair and upgrade to the roof and restoration of the original Assembly Hall at the centre of the Grade II listed building.
The main contractor is R&M Williams with Capita (project management), Gleeds (cost management), Aecom (structural and civil engineering) and CPWP (environmental).
Nick Durham, associate architect at BDP in Cardiff, himself a graduate and former tutor on the masters degree course at the Welsh School of Architecture, said: “At BDP, we believe passionately in supporting and inspiring the next generation of architects in Wales and in maintaining and re-purposing our historic buildings to ensure they remain a relevant part of our urban fabric. So, it’s a great honour to be carrying out the work on the Welsh School of Architecture, a place that is close to my heart.
“In response to some of the key challenges faced by the school over recent years we have maximised flexibility in our design approach to ensure spaces can be used in a multitude of different ways. For example, we’ve introduced a new hybrid studio space in the teaching area which allows individual and group tutorials to run concurrently thanks to the introduction of adaptable infrastructure and acoustic treatment to walls and ceilings.
“The key to our approach was developing a thorough understanding of how the original building was designed by Percy Thomas, and then introducing targeted interventions to optimise the use of natural ventilation and daylight, rather than adding more layers of technology that make the building complicated to operate and maintain.”
