Cardiff and Vale college students help with Grange Pavilion renovations

Cardiff and Vale College students have been working hard on renovations at the Grange Pavilion in preparation for the grand opening on 18th June.

Working in partnership with Cardiff University's Community Gateway, Grange Pavilion Project and Grangetown Community Action, Cardiff and Vale College students have been busy painting and decorating the interior and exterior of the Grange Pavilion in preparation for it's launch as a temporary community hub at the Grangetown Festival.

The Cardiff Council owned former bowls pavilion has been vacant since 2014 and has been taken on by Cardiff University on a 12-month temporary license to support community partners Grange Pavilion Project and Grangetown Community Action in developing a proposal for a Community Asset Transfer.

The building has been undergoing minor improvements to spruce it up for the temporary license period, with support from N&M Construction, Dan Benham Architect and Cardiff and Vale College students, who have been hard at work on the refurbishment as part of their studies. IKEA Cardiff has also showed great interest in the community hub and supported the initiative by donating a brand new kitchen.

John Ennis from Cardiff and Vale College (CAVC) said his students saw the pavilion as a great opportunity: “CAVC is passionate about engaging with and developing community links and this project was an ideal opportunity, the work at the Pavilion offers our learners valuable on the job training and opportunities to develop real life skills that could help them get into paid work, in the main the learners have some fun whilst developing their skills and confidence in working as a team or individually.”

The temporary new look Pavilion will be launched at the Grangetown Festival, but the team have bigger ideas for the future of the building and former bowls green.  On the 18^th of June, Welsh School of Architecture students will be exhibiting some of the ideas for what could happen on the site.

Mhairi McVicar, Academic Lead of Community Gateway, said: “The idea of bringing the pavilion back to life came from people within the community who wanted a central space accessible to all:

“It’s fantastic to see this come to fruition. It will be a real asset for Grangetown but in many ways the work is just starting. The next steps are to hear everybody’s ideas about how to make best use of the building in the long term, and how to support a Community Asset Transfer bid.”

The official launch is planned for Saturday 18th June from 1pm, everyone is welcome to come along and see the new hub and make suggestions or discuss ideas with the team as well as joining in with all the activities happening at the festival.

For more information about Community Gateway please contact: communitygateway@cardiff.ac.uk