Tŷ Pont Haearn is a tall residential building in Cardiff

Cardiff

Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...

, Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

. The 21-storey building comprises 17 floors of 144 student flats on top of a four storey public car park. Tŷ Pont Haearn is the joint-fifth tallest building in Cardiff.

Construction

The building was proposed in 2003. Construction began in 2004 and was completed in September 2005.

Site

The site was formerly a cold storage facility demolished into the basement of the building and capped as a surface car park, which meant Carillion had to undertake extensive groundworks prior to construction. The project was rendered more complex by its restricted
city-centre location on a triangular site, with two sides bound by live railways, and very narrow access via Pellett Street.

Structure design

The building has a piled structure and was constructed using traditional building techniques. UNITE sometimes uses modular construction methods on their projects, but this was unsuitable here due to the tight site constraints. The high-rise building has a repetitive design which meant the team became increasingly efficient at the process as the project progressed.

Drywall

During construction, subcontractor Baris installed 50,000 m2 of Knauf plasterboard and systems throughout. Up to 90% of the available wall space throughout Tŷ Pont Haearn has been fitted with 12.5 mm and 15 mm Soundshield fixed to 70mm ‘C’-Studs and high performance Twin Frame Partitions to enhance sound reduction values. 12.5 mm Moistureshield is in place throughout all the wet areas of the building, providing protection in internal areas of high humidity, with Shaftwall used for the stairwells and lift shafts.

Completion

On-time delivery of the project was achieved allowing the client to move in the students in time for the new academic year as planned. Handover took place on a Friday night and the students began moving in on Saturday, two days earlier than the scheduled Monday move-in date.

Accommodation

Owned by Liberty Living, Tŷ Pont Haern accommodates 643 students in 144 flats, each with a communal kitchen. The bedrooms are situated in apartments or clusters of three, four, five or six beds and there are also several slightly larger premium bedrooms. 629 students are housed in single study bedrooms and 14 in studio apartments. All rooms include an en-suite shower, toilet and washbasin plus data points for high-speed Internet access. All study bedrooms share a fully fitted kitchen and living area.

Tŷ Pont Haearn is staffed with an on-site management and maintenance team, with 24-hour security including a CCTV system monitoring the site, electronic entry systems to access the residence plus a manned reception area 24-hours a day. The residence also provides wheelchair access, a communal living area with Internet access and vending machine, an on-site laundry facility and bike storage.

Location

Tŷ Pont Haearn is in close proximity to higher educational establishments including Cardiff University

Cardiff University

Cardiff University is a leading research university located in the Cathays Park area of Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. It received its Royal charter in 1883 and is a member of the Russell Group of Universities. The university is consistently recognised as providing high quality research-based...

 and Cardiff Metropolitan University. Located on Pellet Street in the heart of the city centre, the residence is close to Cardiff Central railway station

Cardiff Central railway station

Cardiff Central railway station is a major railway station on the South Wales Main Line in Cardiff, Wales.It is the largest and busiest station in Wales and one of the major stations of the British rail network, the tenth busiest station in the United Kingdom outside of London , based on 2007/08...

. and Cardiff International Arena

Cardiff International Arena

The Cardiff International Arena was opened on 10 September 1993, by Shirley Bassey, in front of 5,500 fans. On 1 March 2011, the Cardiff International Arena was officially renamed Motorpoint Arena Cardiff, after the car sales company with a branch in Newport bought the naming rights to the Cardiff...

. The residence is accessible from Junction 29 (Cardiff South) of the M4 motorway

M4 motorway

The M4 motorway links London with South Wales. It is part of the unsigned European route E30. Other major places directly accessible from M4 junctions are Reading, Swindon, Bristol, Newport, Cardiff and Swansea...

.

Tŷ Pont Haearn is the most popular halls of residence for Atrium students due to its location directly opposite the Atrium building. 350 bedrooms are specifically reserved for Atrium Students, and 179 for UWIC students

External links

• Wales Online article: Sky-high living for city's students