Bouygues UK has been chosen by Cardiff and Vale College (CAVC) to build the Barry Waterfront Campus and the Advanced Technology Centre in Glamorgan, South Wales.

The Barry Waterfront Campus (BWC), is to be built on a brownfield site and will be a further education centre and vocational college employing innovative educational practices accommodating up to 900 students, offering a wide range of courses, including art and design, personal care, hospitality and catering, and hairdressing and beauty therapy. The building will include a health and beauty salon and a restaurant. These businesses will be run by the students themselves, allowing them to put their skills into practice while providing services that will be of use to local residents.

Philippe Bernard, CEO of Bouygues UK, said: “This project symbolises our commitment to creating buildings that are useful to society, innovative and sustainable. Our support for Cardiff and Vale College in the development of these two new campuses is part of our tangible contribution to the training of tomorrow’s talent and to the ecological transition of the education sector.”

The Advanced Technology Centre (ATC), which will be located at Cardiff Airport, will focus on key growth areas, including AI, composites, rapid prototyping, advanced design, electronics and net zero carbon technologies. It will have capacity for some 2,000 students. In addition to flexible classrooms and workshops, the building will include a higher education business centre, an advanced composites manufacturing facility, labs for leading-edge robotics and mechatronics, and a “green skills house” to train students in installing renewable technologies.

The two facilities, which will welcome their first students in 2027, will be built under the Mutual Investment Model (MIM) programme.