Plans approved for new Cardiff and Vale College Barry Waterfront Campus

Cardiff and Vale College’s plans for a new state-of-the-art campus at Barry Waterfront have been given the go ahead.

The Vale of Glamorgan Council planning committee approved CAVC’s plans for a 6,000sqm campus near Hood Road which will cater for up to 1,000 full time and part time learners  and nearly 80 staff with the campus offering courses for all ages, throughout the week including evenings and Saturdays, and all year round.

As well as classrooms, plans include active street frontages with a Hair and Beauty Salon and a Bistro/Restaurant that will be open to the public and run by students.  There will also be an external garden terrace, classrooms and IT rooms, a covered external dining area and a courtyard with a grass lawn and seating areas.

College learners will be involved in a project to design public art that will be incorporated into the structure of the new campus. As a prominent Net Zero development in the Barry Waterfront’s Innovation Quarter, the new campus is expected to become a truly sustainable learning environment that will bring substantial community benefits and become a long-term asset for the development of the Innovation Quarter.

The project is being delivered through the Welsh Government’s Sustainable Communities for Learning Programme. Subject to Welsh Government approval of the College’s Full Business Case, construction work is expected to begin on the Waterfront site in the New Year.

Barry Waterfront Campus is then planned to open towards the end of 2026.

Cardiff and Vale College Group Chief Executive Mike James said:

“We are delighted that the Vale of Glamorgan has approved of this investment in education and training in the region.

“It is with real pleasure that I can say that we are delivering on our commitment to provide first-class teaching and learning environments for learners and the community in the Vale of Glamorgan. We will continue to work closely with the Welsh Government, Vale of Glamorgan Council and Welsh Education Partnership Company to ensure this project will be the success that I know it will.”

Cllr Lis Burnett, Leader of the Vale of Glamorgan Council, said:

“This is wonderful news for the Vale of Glamorgan. The proposed multi-million-pound Waterfront campus will be a landmark development for the town. It will bring modern, state of the art education facilities for learners across the Vale.

“I am very proud of our ongoing collaboration as public sector partners with Cardiff and Vale College and the Welsh Government in helping the college progress the delivery of this exciting new educational scheme. 

“The new campus will redevelop a vacant brown field site close to the town centre and offer much needed new education and vocational training opportunities in an environmentally sustainable building.

“Once completed the new campus will serve as an excellent example of how education can be a major driver for local regeneration and placemaking.”

The CAVC Waterfront Campus forms part of a wider £100m scheme to replace the College’s existing Barry Campus on Colcot Road, which is showing its age. It is hoped that the planning application for the 13,000sqm Advanced Technology Campus at a site near Cardiff Airport will be considered by the Vale of Glamorgan Council later this month.