Flagship campus plans approved by Welsh Government

A flagship learning and leisure community campus for a north Powys town has taken a major step forward after county council plans were approved by the Welsh Government.

Powys County Council is planning to build a new £48m state-of-the-art replacement building for Machynlleth’s Ysgol Bro Hyddgen. The Welsh Government is providing over £31 million towards the project, under the 21^st Century Schools programme.

The council’s combined Strategic Outline Case (SOC) and Outline Business Case (OBC) have been approved by Education Minister, Kirsty Williams. The council will now progress to Full Business Case (FBC) stage of the project.

The brand new, purpose-built campus will include a 620 place all-through school with early years facilities along with leisure and library provision. It will also be designed to meet Passivhaus accreditation meaning it will have high energy efficiency standards, significantly reducing energy for heating and cooling, cutting the building’s CO2 emissions.

The facility will be located on the current secondary campus playing fields with the existing school building being demolished to accommodate the new community campus.

The plans for Ysgol Bro Hyddgen will help the council deliver its Strategy for Transforming Education in Powys, an ambitious 10-year strategy that was approved earlier this year (April).

Cllr Phyl Davies, Powys County Council’s Cabinet Member for Education and Property, said: “I’m delighted that the Welsh Government have approved our ambitious plans for Ysgol Bro Hyddgen.

“Not only will we be providing a truly community-focussed facility, Ysgol Bro Hyddgen will also be the first all-through Passivhaus school with a swimming pool and leisure facilities in Wales and in the UK.

“The Welsh Government’s approval will represent a huge investment in our school infrastructure.

“Providing high quality teaching and learning environments is one of the aims of our Vision 2025 and our plans for Ysgol Bro Hyddgen will help us deliver this vision.”

Kirsty Williams, the Education Minister, said: “This is an exciting project for Machynlleth and the surrounding area which will make a really positive difference to the local population.

“The new facility will incorporate school and childcare, spaces for use by the whole community and top-class leisure and library facilities for people of all ages.

“I’m very pleased to support these exciting plans, which will be at the heart of the community and act as a blueprint for projects across Wales in the future.”