From Uncertainty to Completion: Two Years On At Fairwater Community Campus

This month marks an important milestone for CMB and an opportunity to reflect on just how much has been achieved at Fairwater Community Campus over the past two years.

When ISG entered administration in September 2024, the project faced a period of significant uncertainty. The buildings were not yet watertight with winter approaching, 80% of the construction works remained to be carried out, a significant amount of plant and materials were due to be delivered, and there was no immediate route forward. Over 300 construction workers and their employers faced an uncertain future – many of them local supply chain companies.

At the time, CMB Managing Director Steve Borley was receiving calls from concerned directors of companies involved in the project who encouraged CMB to engage with the Council in an interim capacity due to our experience of acting as Principal Contractor. In response, Steve spoke with Cardiff Council and offered our support, alongside that of the entire supply chain and former ISG employees. The proposal was that BESL (CMB’s parent company) would step in and progress the project in line with the original programme whilst the Council and its advisers looked at a long-term solution.

What followed was an exceptional collective effort from Cardiff Council, the design and project teams, the supply chain and wider stakeholders to regain momentum, safeguard hundreds of jobs across the supply chain and ensure a hugely important project for the local community was seen through to completion and delivered on time.

The significance of that achievement was considerable. Organisations, local businesses and individuals across the project came together, took responsibility and found a way forward. It required resilience, trust and an enormous amount of hard work from everyone involved, and it paid off – with every original completion target achieved and the time lost during the uncertainty recovered.

The collective effort was ultimately rewarded with an award-winning project that the city, the schools and everyone involved can be proud of. What initially began as a short-term safeguarding exercise for our company developed into a fully collaborative two-year construction project, successfully delivered under the BESL banner.

Two years later, the result of the hard work can be seen every day. Cantonian, Riverbank, Woodlands and the Wellbeing building are now complete, with around 1,700 pupils and more than 300 members of staff learning and working across the campus.

As BESL’s role as Principal Contractor now draws to a close, we’re incredibly proud of the part we have played and grateful to everyone who has contributed along the way – from those involved from the earliest stages to those who stepped in at critical moments. Reflecting on the final handover, Steve commented: “In my 50+ years in the industry, I have never witnessed such a calm and stress-free handover of a project, particularly just two years after the demise of the original Principal Contractor. That is a remarkable testament to everyone involved.”

With September marking exactly two years since the project faced such uncertainty, where it stands today feels all the more meaningful. A significant journey, an exceptional collective effort in the face of adversity, and something everyone involved can look back on with immense pride.