HLM Architects’ Ysgol Pen Rhos primary school in Wales has been recognised by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Social Impact Awards, winning the Education and Project of the Year Awards.

Ysgol Pen Rhos primary school was announced as the winner of the regional Welsh awards via a digital ceremony, this week. Judged and voted on by an expert panel of RICS members and industry experts, the project has been selected for the significant value it has brought to the communities around it.

The primary school delivers a new, modern 21st century learning facility that has regenerated a derelict, once heavily industrial, highly contaminated brownfield site, prone to vandalism and anti-social behaviour. The design of the new school enables improved, inclusive educational delivery through flexible design adaptable to changes in the curriculum.

The judges said that Ysgol Pen Rhos represented an “exemplar approach” towards the development and delivery of education and life skills for learners, their families, and also the wider community. They added that the project had demonstrably delivered regeneration of a former industrial site, once plagued with anti-social behaviour in one of Wales’ most socioeconomically deprived areas.

Studio Director, Gareth Woodfin, said,

“Ysgol Pen Rhos has been a catalyst for regeneration and has become a real driver for economic benefit and change in the local area. It is now a thriving learning environment that can be shared with the community, improving wellbeing and inspiring the next generation of learners in one of Wales’s most socially and economically-deprived areas.”

Having won the regional award, the project will be entered into the national awards set to be announced on Thursday 24 September 2020.

In the RICS Social Impact Awards 2020, Scotland the University of Glasgow’s Campus Development was named the winner of the Education award with part of this development being the new James McCune Smith Learning Hub, designed by HLM Architects.