Swansea Council and Freedom Leisure
Cefn Hengoed Community Hub and Leisure Centre
Value: £8.1m
The Brief
Cefn Hengoed Leisure Centre has been developed into one of Swansea’s outstanding leisure facilities. It showcases a stunning 60m x 40m Sports Barn with 3G training pitch and the latest gym and studio provisions. It is a truly inclusive community facility being used extensively by Cefn Hengoed School and the wider community.
The project was initiated in 2015, with a national report from the All Wales Collaboration Group and Sports Wales, which identified Swansea as the most under-resourced county in Wales in terms of artificial pitches – in fact there were none in the area.
In the same period Swansea Council were also striving to improve facilities for the wider community of Cefn Hengoed, with proposed significant improvements to Cefn Hengoed School and the Community Leisure Centre to widen pupil and community engagement in both sports and the community activities.
The synergy of the project goals brought the two concepts together into a single project brief with a common focus.
Clarkson Alliance were appointed to deliver this ambitious project that brought together sport, education and community engagement on the single site.
To drive the project forward, Clarkson Alliance supported Swansea Council as they sought to utilise funding streams from the many interested parties including Swansea Council themselves, the Welsh Government, the Government’s Football Foundation, the Swansea City Foundation, Sport Wales, and our close partners, Freedom Leisure.
Through extensive stakeholder engagement, the project brief developed to provide increased community engagement resources, major refurbishment and redevelopment of the leisure centre, significant school improvements, all alongside provision of the feature sports barn for the whole community benefit.
Adding to the challenges of an expanding project brief were the additional issues of a significant mine workings remediations package of works, an occupied and fully functioning school and then the fact that the delivery programme encompassed the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.
The expanded scope, with the site and programme challenges, grew the budget from c£2.25m through to £8.1m. Throughout, Swansea Council and the stakeholders remained focused on delivery of huge benefits to the school and local community.
Project Delivery
Clarkson Alliance were appointed by Swansea Council for Project Management, Cost Management and for Design Services to deliver the project through RIBA Stages 1-7.
Clarkson Alliance worked closely throughout RIBA Stages 1-4 with the client and stakeholders to develop a detailed brief and managed the consultant team to deliver a design to satisfy the challenges of the site, the brief, the funders, and the programme. Thorough cost management and reporting were key to budget setting and funding applications and involved several rounds of value engineering to ensure the best financial solution for project.
Key to delivery of the project was management of the mine remediation and contamination works which commenced with extensive survey and monitoring works and resulted in £1.2m of drilling and grouting to stabilize the site ahead of the construction works.
Clarkson Alliance undertook a detailed competitive tender process, alongside Swansea Council’s Procurement Department, to procure a local contractor from the SWW Construction framework on an NEC3 Option A Contract.
Vital to the process, ahead of Contract Execution, was management of detailed meetings and reviews of the construction programme. Phasing ensured all the complexities of the project were understood and risks duly reflected in the delivery programme. These included taking account of occupied school premises, site remediation, contamination, demolitions, refit works, new sports barn construction and SUDS drainage installation.
Throughout RIBA Stages 5-6 Clarkson Alliance worked closely with the contractor and consultants to manage design approvals and site information requests. This enabled sequential handover of multiple phases of works in the occupied premises, and finally culminated in the erection of the sports barn.
Clarkson Alliance reported regularly throughout the project to the stakeholder Project Board for direction and approvals as required. Detailed and accurate cost reporting was essential to this process to ensure timely financial decisions could be made with full understanding of financial risks.
The delivery stage of the project brought together skills from many sectors of the construction industry to deliver:
- Sports Barn – New build
- 60m x 40m fabric covered framed structure
- Reception entrance with WC facilities
- 3G surface -football and rugby training – FA & RFU compliant
- Leisure Centre redevelopment: demolitions, refit and extension works
- Reception area
- Cafe & seating
- State-of-the-art gym
- Studio space
- Modern changing facilities
- DDA compliant external access ramps
- The school improvement works: refurbishment, re-roofing, cladding, windows
- Communal areas,
- Dedicated community engagement area
- new library,
- SEN facilities,
- family interaction areas for the school.
- Changing rooms
- External Pitch – civils works
- tarmac hard court and fencing
- Car Park – civils works
- 60 spaces
- Accessible parking spaces
- EV charging points
- SUDS drainage – civils works
The Outcome
This project, which started as a small refit, progressed into an ambitious multi-million-pound investment project over a 6-year period. It has truly achieved its combined aims of providing excellent modern facilities for the local community and of significantly improving school facilities for staff and pupils alike.
The imposing 60m x 40m sports barn is the only such facility in the area and provides year-round training pitches for local grassroots community rugby and football clubs, as well as being available to the school for delivery of their sports curriculum.
The uptake on Leisure Centre gym usage and sports barn booking demonstrates the demand from the local area and the level of enthusiasm for the project.
Clarkson Alliance are proud to have been instrumental in delivering this successful project and are pleased to receive positive reports from stakeholders and users alike.
