Ysgol Bro Llifon

Ysgol Bro Llifon is a new area school in Gwynedd, located on the former Ysgol Groeslon school site in Groeslon village, approximately 5 miles south of Caernarfon. The 180 capacity school aims to provide modern facilities and quality learning environments for the children of the Groeslon, Carmel and Bronyfoel catchment areas. Located on the site of one of the existing schools, the brief required the removal of the existing poor quality prefabricated accommodation but the retention of the existing Victorian school building, which has been incorporated within the build.

The proposal made use of the original pitched roof building located centrally on the site and and extended this to create a new open ended, sheltered courtyard development wrapping around the existing site. The new school provides six classrooms along with a number of different teaching spaces, staff and administration areas, a large hall and central resource spaces which could be used by members of the community outside school hours.

The school has been sensitively designed to work within the surrounding context of the local vernacular by replicating the built form to create the feeling of a collection of white rendered, slate roofed traditional welsh cottages. These buildings are joined by a series of metal clad links which introduces an element of contemporary detailing. A range of colours are applied to the walls that face into the courtyard, introducing a sense of playfulness which contrasts with the outward facing traditional appearance, and providing a guide point to allow the children to relate to their own classroom.