Tycoch Campus Updates
Below are all updates issued both about and in response to the recent fire at Tycoch campus.
Important info re: Tycoch Park and Ride service (Monday, 27 February 2017)
Please be aware that the Park & Ride service from Fforestfach to Tycoch campus will STOP on Friday 7 April. Additional parking spaces will become available at Tycoch over the coming weeks as a number of the temporary portacabins are removed from site.
Please can you ensure that you park in designated parking bays. Disabled bays can only be used when displaying an official blue disabled badge or a College disabled parking permit.
Important info re: Tycoch Park and Ride service (Friday, 17 February 2017)
Please be aware that the Fforestfach to Tycoch Park and Ride bus service will not run during half term.
The service will resume after half term, on Monday 27th February. Please see the updated timetable here.
Regards
ESTATES
Relocation of Tycoch reception (Thursday, 9 February 2017)
MESSAGE FROM MARK DUTHIE, ESTATES MANAGER
We are pleased that work on the front of Tycoch is starting and therefore we will be relocating Reception from the front of the Tycoch Campus to the old Faculty Office in the Engineering Block with effect from Monday 13 February.
Signs will be put up to direct the public. Parking will also be available for disabled badge holders and visitors outside the new Reception area.
For access to the Canteen, E Block and the Hall, please use the entrance near the lift located adjacent to Café Metro.
Toilet facilities at the front of Tycoch will be available in the following areas:
• Next to the Main Hall, which will be accessible from the entrance near the lift located adjacent to Café Metro;
• Near the ramp (A Floor Corridor) by the original front Reception area which will be accessible only from the A Floor corridor.
Also, the pathway between Hill House and Tycoch will be closed from Monday 13 February with work re-commencing on the roadway. A temporary path will be put in place with further details to follow.
Mark Duthie
Estates Manager
Park & Ride facility - message for Tycoch staff and students (Monday, 12 December 2016 15:00)
The Park & Ride facility for this term will be finishing on Friday 16 December with the last buses leaving the Tycoch Campus at 1.30pm to Fforestfach and at 1.40pm to Hendrefoilan.
From next term, due to the lack of take up with the Hendrefoilan Park & Ride service, this will be discontinued.
With regard to the Fforestfach Park & Ride, a new timetable is available for next term starting on Tuesday 3 January.
Please note the new times and we would encourage staff and students to use this facility.
Tycoch open evening 21 November (Friday, 18 November 2016 12:00)
The open evening at Tycoch planned for Monday 21 November is going ahead and will be hosted by the Sport Centre - apologies in advance but parking will be limited on site - please see map of the campus
General Tycoch update (Monday, 14 November 2016 10:00)
This week we have received a small number of queries from staff and students which relate to concerns in terms of the quality of the environment at the campus, insurance, students funding and the availability of parking.
Air Quality / Environment
We would like to reassure students and staff that the air quality within the Tycoch Campus has been tested by an external company, acting on behalf of the insurers, and deemed to be suitable for occupation.
The College has also appointed independent Environmental Consultants to monitor air quality in relation to the recovery and refurbishment works on an on-going basis. This includes proactively testing and sampling the air in accordance with statutory requirements and is monitored twice a week across six locations. The latest report issued 9th November confirmed that areas remain ‘safe for occupation’.
Whilst there is ongoing work removing equipment from C floor we will continue to use mechanical air filters and dehumidifiers across the College but this is a secondary precaution.
In addition, some staff have asked if there are any issues with regard to asbestos in the building and our Environmental Consultants have confirmed that there is no asbestos in the atmosphere and again the area is ‘safe for occupation’.
Insurance
We have received a number of enquiries with regard to claims for personal items lost in the fire. Staff are asked to make any claims against their own household / personal insurance for these items. If required, the College can provide a letter confirming that a fire did take place on the premises but we will be unable to confirm to insurers the details of any items that have been lost.
Park & Ride
There are many parking restrictions in the vicinity of the Campus where parking is not allowed so we would like to remind staff and students about the Park & Ride service at Hendrefoilan Student Village and Fforestfach.
The Park & Ride operates throughout the day and there is ample parking at both locations. Bus timetables are on display throughout the Tycoch Campus.
Park & Ride at Hendrefoilan Student Village is now open to both staff and students as a result of the University increasing the number of car parking places available to us.
EMAs / ALGs
All students at Tycoch will be counted as being ‘in’ for grants such as EMAs and ALGs during the week that the campus was closed.
Sports Centre Members (Tuesday, 8 November 2016 16:00)
Sports Centre Members can use the Fforestfach Park and Ride for free, as space at Tycoch Campus is very limited. You will need to show your membership card.
View the Park and Ride Timetable
General Student Bulletin Tycoch Campus (Friday, 4 November 2016 15:30)
The Tycoch Campus will be open for business on Monday 7th November (except for ILS and Health and Social Care students who have been issued with alternative information). The car park and the buildings will open from 8.00am.
Rooming
Areas of the College that will be inaccessible are the whole of C floor and the wings of A, B and D floors. New accommodation has been identified, either within the main building or within temporary portacabin rooms, for those classrooms that have been affected by the fire. Notices will be displayed throughout the building showing these changes. On Monday, College staff will be available to direct students to their new classrooms.
There are currently no library facilities, however we are reviewing a number of options to identify a suitable alternative location.
The Vanilla Pod will remain closed until it has been suitably refurbished.
Reception has now been relocated back to its original location at the front of the campus.
IT facilities will be restricted in the main block and within the temporary portacabin rooms. However, we are continually working to expand coverage. Consequently, this may result in some power outage throughout the day so please bear with us.
Course Work
With regard to any student work that may have been lost in the fire, students can be assured that we are already in discussions with the relevant examining bodies, to minimise the impact on our students.
Transport / Car Parking
Car parking will be very limited due to contractors vehicles and portacabins on site.
Car park spaces at Tycoch Campus will be on a first come first served basis and the car park will not be opened to staff and students until 8.00am to allow the safe arrival of contractor vehicles. A number of car parking spaces have been reserved for disabled staff and students.
Therefore if you normally come to College by car, could you look to make alternative arrangements. We already provide a Home to College transport service and First Cymru bus passes can bought from Student Services at the College.
Alternatively, we will be running a free Park and Ride Service for students from the Fforestfach Park & Ride site, the bus timetable can be found on the College website.
Please take advice from designated Marshals in the car parks who will direct you and your vehicles for your own safety.
Catering
Cafe Metro and the Deli on A Floor will be open as usual to provide food and drinks, however the Coffee Shop in the common room will be closed.
Health & Safety
A short Health & Safety briefing will be provided to all students on your return. It will give an overview of the events since the fire and detail Health & Safety procedures going forward, since some areas of the campus will be out of bounds as recovery work is undertaken and we would ask students to follow the instructions and guidance given by staff and not to enter those areas which are already marked as out of bounds.
Thank you for your patience over the last few days and we look forward to seeing you again from Monday.
Car Parking Arrangements for Students / Staff at Tycoch Campus (Friday, 4 November 2016 12:30)
Following the mobilisation of a large number of contractors, the College will re-open on Monday 7 November to students (except for ILS students who have been issued alternative information by letter.)
However, car parking will be restricted because we will continue to have a number of contractors' vehicles on site (i.e. the car park at the front of the College) and 10 temporary porta cabin buildings will be located on the car park adjacent to Cafe Metro to provide classrooms.
Car park spaces at Tycoch will be on a 'first come first served' basis and the car park will not be opened to staff and students until 8.00am to allow the safe arrival of contractor vehicles.
Therefore, if you normally come to College by car, could you please look to make alternative arrangements? We already provide a Home to College transport service and First Cymru bus passes can bought from Student Services at the College.
Alternatively, we will be running a free Park & Ride service for staff and students from the Fforestfach Park & Ride site.
The Fforestfach Park & Ride site will have 250 spaces available for STAFF and STUDENTS.
Directions - drive along Carmarthen Road and turn into Swansea West Business Park and take first left onto White City Road.
The car park will have security in place and staff and students will be required to show their identification.
We will monitor the car parking position and the timing of the Park & Ride bus timetable over the coming days and amend if appropriate. We will, of course, communicate any changes well in advance. Thanks for bearing with us during this challenging time.
The bus timetable for the Fforestfach Park and Ride site is shown here.
Full time applications for 2017/18 (Thursday, 3 November 2016 14:00)
We are now able to receive FT applications for 17/18, to apply please click on the link below:
http://gateway.gowercollegeswansea.ac.uk/ft/ftcheckout.aspx
If you are a pupil in a school within the City and County of Swansea then please apply via UCAS progress - this site is live and applications can be accessed by the college Admissions Team.
Any queries please contact Admissions (Tycoch: 284179 / Gorseinon: 890750).
Tycoch Campus Update (Monday, 31 October 2016 14:30)
Since last Friday's fire, we have continued to make very good progress in terms of restoring many classrooms and services.
However, with the sheer volume of work ongoing including scaffolding the damaged wing, installing temporary porta cabins and the removal and replacement of damaged equipment we are mindful of the impact / health and safety risk of having 2000 additional students on the campus.
Therefore, in the circumstances, we have decided to close the whole of the Tycoch campus for the rest of the week this includes the Broadway Centre and the Sport Centre.
Students are asked to return on Monday 7th November.
Arrangements will be put in place to ensure that all students are able to catch up on any work lost.
Staff update from Mark Jones, Principal (Sunday, 30 October 2016 11:45)
For those staff arriving for the 10 o'clock meeting on Monday morning, I regret that you will not be able to access any building on the Tycoch campus at the current time, and would ask you to make your way to the Hall and do not try to enter any buildings including e.g. Broadway, Sports Centre and Engineering. There are currently a huge amount of "services" working across the campus not just cleaning but getting all of our services up and running asap - and I don't want this to be compromised in any way.
We're currently estimating that there are approx 20 classrooms that are unusable (mainly on B and D floor "wings" and C floor) but there are also approx 18 rooms on the top of D Floor that need intensive cleaning - and getting as many of these as possible, up and running asap is our first priority.
At the same time we have identified 20 rooms across the campus (including the previously vacated area at the front of the campus) that are already being turned into classrooms and we have also ordered a sufficient number of portocabins to ensure that we have 1 replacement room for each one temporarily or permanently lost.
However there is still a lot of work to do and we will not know until Monday whether all of this is achievable by Wednesday. We will make a decision on Monday afternoon and ensure that this is communicated to all.
In addition if you haven't seen Richard's email, staff can access email from any Internet connected computer by accessing https://email.gowercollegeswansea.ac.uk
Finally can I thank all of those staff who have been in work throughout the weekend. The progress that has been made is nothing short of incredible but clearly there is still a lot of work still to do, and clearly we will need all staffs' support to get the college back up and running as quickly as possible.
Update from Gower College Swansea re: Tycoch campus (Saturday, 29 October 2016 14:10)
An initial assessment shows that the fire started in the library on C floor, resulting in significant damage. However, yesterday afternoon the college was given the news from its structural engineers that the building has remained structurally sound. This enabled us to start pulling together a Recovery Team.
At 8am this morning (Saturday), the college's Emergency Response Team met with contractors to start clean up operations on floors A, B, and D and all staircases and corridors. The IT team is also working to get services up and running as soon as possible.
The college is continuing to work with multi agencies including the fire service, police and insurers.
Statement from Gower College Swansea (Friday, 28 October 2016 10:00)
The fire at our Tycoch campus is now under control and we can confirm there are no casualties.
The fire has mainly affected the third and fourth floor wing, however there is water damage to some other areas of the building.
We would like to sincerely thank the emergency services for their response and assistance.
The Tycoch campus will remain closed to students on Monday 31 October and Tuesday 1 November while we assess the situation.
This includes the Sport Centre and Broadway.
However, students who have GCSE examinations scheduled for Tuesday 1 November should attend as planned - these exams will be held at our Hill House campus.
Tycoch-based staff are to attend a briefing in the main hall at Tycoch at 10am on Monday. Please wear casual clothes.
This will be a strictly staff-only briefing.