Work Commences on £20 million Tŷ Menai Transformation
Grŵp Llandrillo Menai has appointed North-Wales based Read Construction to carry out the works on the new Coleg Menai Bangor Campus, which will be situated on Parc Menai in Bangor, with teaching at the campus due to take place from September 2024.
The project, backed with £14 million from the Welsh Government’s Sustainable Communities for Learning Programme, will relocate Coleg Menai’s current provision from the Ffriddoedd Road and Friars site.
The new Bangor campus - which will be within very close proximity to the long-established Art department already situated on Parc Menai - will be the new home for ten vocational areas:
Hair and Beauty, Hospitality and Catering, Business, Travel and Tourism, Performing Arts, Music, Media (TV and Games Development), Access to Higher Education, Adult Community Learning, and English for Speakers Other Languages.
Included within the facility will be cutting-edge, industry-level facilities, ranging from a professional training kitchen, an Apple Mac suite, and a modern LibraryPlus space.
Hair & beauty salons and nail bars run by learners will be open to the public, as well as a 180-seat performance studio which will be utilised by the Performing Arts department for theatre performance and live shows. Members of the public will also be able to dine in the on-site training restaurant during the week.
Learners and staff will also benefit from a large, open-plan refectory and coffee bar, and there will be a large Learner Services presence offering careers guidance, confidential support and wellbeing activities to students.
The exciting development will also be certified Net-Zero Carbon and BREEAM excellent, through the installation of solar panels, air source heat pumps and LED lighting.
Grŵp Llandrillo Menai is also working with the Welsh Government’s Active Travel department to develop sustainable transport links to the site, through the creation of cycle routes.
Dafydd Evans, Chief Executive of Grŵp Llandrillo Menai, said,
“This new exciting campus serves as an innovative opportunity to have cross-departmental teaching, which will enhance the learner experience. We also hope that the facility will strengthen links with industry partners, through utilising the space to hold masterclasses and showcases”.
He added,
“We would like to thank the Welsh Government for their continued support and for the generous funding package we have received for this project”.
Aled Jones-Griffith, Principal of Coleg Menai and Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor, said,
“With the hope that the work will be completed by around Easter 2024, I’m looking forward to giving current and prospective students the opportunity to walk around the new campus ahead of the campus opening the following September”
“We are already working with schools in the area as part of the 14-19 provision, and we are eager to develop that partnership even further - now we have modern facilities across all sites”.
Alex Read, Director of Read Construction, said,
“We are proud to be working with Grŵp Llandrillo Menai to deliver their latest net zero scheme at Tŷ Menai. As a proud North Wales based company, we are committed to reinvesting the Welsh pound through the engagement of local companies, and employment of local people on this prestigious scheme.”