4 December 2009

Budding engineers and architects from a Llantwit Fardre school paid an exciting visit to the Church Village Bypass project to view the massive construction work currently being undertaken.

A group of 30 children from Year 6 of Maesybryn Primary School in Crown Hill visited the Church Village Bypass Visitors centre in Cross Inn to learn more about the scheme that is being built close to their classrooms.

Rhondda Cynon Taf Council's contractors for the £90million scheme welcomed the children for the visit that was jointly coordinated with engineers Capita Glamorgan and the Education Business Partnership.

The Council's Cabinet Member for Transport and Customer Care Cllr Andrew Morgan explained: "This was one of a total of 10 visits planned for local schools who are undertaking a Church Village Bypass-related project as part of their curriculum.

"During their visit they certainly had an ideal opportunity to learn more about the complexities of developing what is the largest highways scheme currently being undertaken by any local authority in the UK.

"This was an ideal opportunity for them to see the tremendous amount of work already completed and the remaining developments yet to come before Autumn 2010."

The Maesybryn pupils chose to review the different occupational roles involved in undertaking a major construction project and interviewed a Quantity Surveyor, a Designer, an Engineer, a Business Manager and a Plant Operator.

They also received a presentation on site safety and witnessed a display by the plant operator in the car park of the site offices in Cross Inn. Before leaving, all the pupils were able to wear safety clothing and were taken to Tonteg to view the construction works on Power Station Hill.
 
Brian Greaves, Community Relations Manager for Costain, said: "The visit was a great success and we have provided some material and background information for the children to continue with their project back at school.

"The construction team is very conscious the project provides a considerable learning opportunity for many educational groups in the community and we are doing our best to maximise the opportunity for schools and colleges to visit the project."
 
Philip Monk, a teacher at Maesybryn Primary School, added: "The children really enjoyed the visit and like with many learning experiences great benefit was gained by the opportunity to interview at first hand key workers, to see a JCB operator demonstrating the use of the machine and actually visiting a key section of the construction.

"The children have been given a good start with some really good material and I am looking forward to seeing the project progress in the classroom over the next few weeks."

Ends