School Update

Work is now well underway on the Rhyl New School. Willmott Dixon, the contractors of the new school, started on site in October 2014 and the last few weeks have seen the piling works progressing well, with over half of the 300 piles now in the ground. Work will take another two weeks. We would like to apologise to local residents for the noise and disruption that this work has caused.

The £25 million development will be located on the existing Rhyl High school’s playing fields, and will accommodate 1,200 pupils, as well as providing a base for 45 pupils from the nearby community special school, Ysgol Tir Morfa.

The project is being jointly funded on a 50% basis by Denbighshire County Council and the Welsh Government, through its 21st Century Schools and Education Capital Programme.

Official Turf Cutting Ceremony

Mrs C Edwards (Headteacher), Mr P Thomas (Assistant Headteacher)
with Adam C and  Ellie H at the ceremony

The sun came out yesterday ( Monday 10^th November) at the official turf cutting ceremony on the site of the new school development in Rhyl.

The £25 million development will be located on the existing Rhyl High school’s playing fields, and will accommodate 1,200 pupils, as well as providing a base for 45 pupils from the nearby community special school, Ysgol Tir Morfa.

The project is being jointly funded on a 50% basis by Denbighshire County Council and the Welsh Government, through its 21st Century Schools and Education Capital Programme.

Willmott Dixon, the contractors of the new school, started on site in October 2014 and the new school will be ready to open their doors to its students in early 2016. The demolition of the existing school buildings and the remaining external works to the sports/ play areas will commence once the school building is finished with completion set for the latter part of 2016.

Councillor Eryl Williams, Cabinet Lead Member for Education said “This is an exciting era in the history of the new school. Work has already commenced on site, but we wanted to mark this important milestone with an official turf cutting ceremony.

"The new school is great news for future generations of pupils, as well as the continued regeneration of Rhyl. The state of the art facilities that will be provided in the new school demonstrates the Council's continued commitment to providing the best possible start for our children and young people in modern surroundings".

Minister for Education and Skills, Huw Lewis said: “This significant investment in Rhyl High School is fantastic for future generations of pupils, staff and the wider community.

“Our 21st Century Schools programme is a real statement of our belief in our young people. We are committed to providing them with the best possible opportunities to access the most up-to-date facilities which, in turn, will help them to realise their full potential”.

Services at the leisure centre are not affected by the works and it is business as usual. All current access points to both the school and leisure centre will be maintained.

Press Release Update

13^th October 2014

 

Building work is set to begin this week on the Rhyl New School site. The £25m development will be located on the existing Rhyl High school’s playing fields, and will accommodate 1,200 pupils as well as providing a base for 45 pupils from the nearby community special school, Ysgol Tir Morfa. The project is being funded by Denbighshire County Council and the Welsh Government 21^st Century Schools and Education programme.

The new school will be ready to open their doors to its students in early 2016. The demolition of the existing school buildings and remaining external works to the sports/ play areas will commence on completion of the new school and is due to be completed in the latter part of 2016.

Councillor Eryl Williams, Lead member for Education said “It is really exciting to see this significant project starting on site, it is great news for the school and also the town of Rhyl and its continued regeneration. The state of the art facilities that will be provided in the new school demonstrates Denbighshire County Council’s continued commitment to invest in the counties schools.”  

In regards to services at the leisure centre access will not be affected and its business as usual. All current access points to both the school and leisure centre will be maintained.

 

Keep an eye on the Denbighshire website, the education blog, the schools website and a noticeboard at the leisure centre for updates on how the construction works are progressing over the next few months.

Progress Update 27th August 2014

Work is to begin on the initial site set up by the contractors over the next 2 weeks for the start of building works for the Rhyl New School. Contractors will be on site by the time pupils return to school in September. Access to the site will be via Tynewydd Road, therefore there maybe some disruption initially for local residents in the area, this will be managed by the contractor to be as minimal as possible.

In regards to services at the leisure centre access will not be affected and its business as usual. All current access points to both the school and leisure centre will be maintained.

Keep an eye on the Denbighshire website, the education blog, the schools website and a noticeboard at the leisure centre for updates on how the construction works are progressing over the next few months.
 

Progress Update 16th June 2014

Welsh Government Approval

• Business Case submitted to the Welsh Government Jan 2014
• Approval in principle received from the Welsh Government  April 2014
• Project Information proforma returned by DCC Programme Manager 2^nd May (This provides the information that will form part of  the contractual terms between WG and DCC)Further letter sent to WG 9^th June seeking clarification for this project in respect of their standard terms and conditions

Planning

• Planning permission granted 16^th April 2014
• There are several planning conditions that need to be discharged before the project commences on site and the project team is working on these now.

Public engagement

• Plans and partially staffed  display in the Rhyl Leisure Centre from 25^th March – 2^nd April. Feedback from those who attended was in the main positive.
• Plans on display in Rhyl Library from 2^nd – 10^th April
• Plans on display and staff presence at Rhyl High parents evenings  March – June 2014

Detailed design

• Detailed design is now complete in respect of the new school building; and the outline design of the PE and sports provision for the new school within the existing Leisure Centre has been completed.

Other project activities being undertaken

• Revision of the stakeholder list and communication plan for the construction phase of the project
• Preparation and review of the contract documents which will formalise the engagement of Willmott Dixon
• Discussion regarding use of  alternative pitches from the start of the construction phase  until the new grass pitches are established (probably July 2017)
• Discussions with Contractor and other public sector partners re the maximisation of the Community Benefits from the project

Programme

• Contractor to submit proposals based on detailed design on 27^th June  2014 (the  detail will be fed to the project team for assessment as it is ready, hence the 27^th June is the target date for all documents to be with DCC
• Project team to review and assess the proposals by 14^th July 2014
• DCC Cabinet paper to be submitted seeking the authorisation to award the contract 15^th July 2014
• Cabinet meeting – decision regarding  the contract award 29^th July 2014
• Contract Award – 8^th August 2014 (subject to the completion of the WG award of funding to enable the project to proceed). 
• Mobilisation to site – 8^th August 2014
• Start work- 21^st August 2014
• New School Opens – Spring term 2016
• Demolition of Existing School Building – Complete Summer 2016
• Handover of new school play fields – Summer 2017.

N.B Please note the preconstruction dates are within the detailed programme, but all other dates are provisional at this stage.