Austin-Smith:Lord was appointed as Concept Architect and Design Team leader for the £23m, 1380 pupil, new build high school, teamed with Mott MacDonald, through the Buying Solutions Framework. The school was funded through the Welsh Government Tranche 3 – 21st Century Schools Programme. We worked closely with Cardiff Council and Church in Wales representatives in collaboration with the design team, achieving an integrated and high quality design proposal. The design has benefitted from workshops with Cardiff Council’s educational team, with representatives from the school and its Governors, and with Project Stakeholders including parents and teachers. Our appointment included RIBA Work Stages A-D subsequently extended to include Stage E. Following successful completion of this work, we were engaged in an ongoing client advisory role including assisting with furniture procurement. The project sought to establish a new build, 11–18 Community Focused High School reflecting Christian values of a Church in Wales High School, for young people and families in the areas currently served in Llandaff and Monmouth Dioceses. The combination of educational brief and site have produced the concept design with the potential to benefit both. The new school offers an opportunity to reinforce the natural landscape grain which existed historically on the Chapel Wood site. The new school acts as a hub between playing fields located to the south of the lower site and to the west, on the site of the existing Llanedeyrn High School. The combination of playing field and new school and the way they reinforce the grain of the natural edges to the site reconciles the school’s location within the limits of the Chapel Wood and Round Wood estates. Sustainability was a key driver in the design development, with zero carbon aspiration. The Scheme is designed to achieve BREEAM ‘excellent’, with EPC rating ‘A’. The solution has been to adopt the passive principles of environmental design. The Design Team’s strategy was to use orientation, natural ventilation and natural light as much as possible. The design serves to protect the learning cluster areas from the high levels of noise pollution from the A48 corridor running parallel to the site, whilst still maintaining an open and healthily ventilated and naturally lit space.?