Transforming a derelict shopping centre into an eye-catching mixed-used development

Llys Cadwyn - Engineering Services

The home of the former Taff Vale Shopping Centre precinct occupied a strategically important location in Pontypridd’s town centre. Here, the Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council saw opportunity. They recognised the importance of delivering a gateway project that would stimulate economic growth for the region.

In collaboration with the Council, architect Darnton B3, contractor Wilmott Dixon, and project manager Rhomco, we delivered full multidisciplinary engineering design services for the mixed-use scheme. We also helped deliver a new footbridge linking the development to Ynysangharad War Memorial Park.

The site presented a number of challenges for our civil, structural, and geo-environmental engineers including its position, many former uses, and neighbouring sites. To deal with material left on site from demolition of the previous building, we developed an enabling works package to completely reprocess and reuse this material during construction, avoiding sending it to a landfill.

The proposed development had to incorporate and respect a number of existing features on site including the existing retaining walls, bridge abutment, and flood defence wall. We developed a series of structural investigations to assess the construction, condition, and function of the existing walls.

Digital tools played a crucial role as well. Our team used building information modelling (BIM) to generate data about the building’s maintainable assets. We held workshops with the Council and relevant constituents throughout the project about integrating this data with their adopted facilities management platform.

Today, Llys Cadwyn offers three parallel buildings, ranging from two to five stories, and includes a new headquarters for Transport for Wales. The development provides a community hub and office space for over 1,000 people. Llys Cadwyn breathes life into the river’s edge by creating public realm spaces and connecting both sides of the river with the striking new footbridge.