Update on £60m new school in deprived area of Cardiff

The contract for a new £60m-plus school building in Cardiff has been awarded. Cardiff Council said the contractor chosen to carry out the main build of the new Willows High School had been awarded to Morgan Sindall Construction.

The school, currently in Willows Avenue in Tremorfa, will move to the new build premises 1km away on land formerly occupied by Splott Market at the bottom of Lewis Road. Work is expected to be complete in the 2026-27 academic year.

The new building, worth more than £60m, will include a sports hall, gym, drama studio and grass pitches which will be available for public use outside school hours. A council report earlier this year said the current building had reached the end of its life and showed that in 2017, it had a maintenance backlog of more than £3.8m. For the latest Welsh news delivered to your inbox sign up to our newsletter.

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The current Willows school was built 50 years ago but designed to only last for around half that time. Much of it has been in a poor state of repair for years.

Around 44% of the pupils are eligible for free school meals, which is well above the national average of 17%. Around 68% of pupils live in the 20% most deprived areas in Wales.

In the latest scheme delivered under Cardiff Council and Welsh Government’s Band B, Sustainable Communities for Learning programme, the existing crumbling school will relocate to the new premises which will have space for 900 pupils aged 11 to 16 as well as a 30-place special resource base for pupils with complex learning needs.

In May, Cardiff Council’s planning committee gave the go-head for the new school to be built on land off Lewis Road in Splott. Preparation for the work included removing what was described as “contaminated material following disturbance of ground” and demolition of existing buildings on Portmanmor Road and at Splott Market site.

Headteacher Chris Norman said: “All of us at Willows welcome this news and we look forward to working with Cardiff Council and Morgan Sindall to develop and deliver a school that will provide exceptional learning facilities for our pupils and greatly benefit the communities that we serve.”

The plan is for the new school to be completed in the 2026/27 academic year, Cardiff Council has said.

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