Response by The Cyfarthfa Foundation to the inquiry by Senedd Cymru’s Culture, Communications, Welsh Language and International Relations Committee on the subject of the National Contemporary Art Gallery for Wales.
August 2023
Table of Contents
3. The proposed model – Network + Anchor
4. Cyfarthfa – the anchor site
6. Regeneration and economic impact
Appendix B: The Cyfarthfa Foundation
Appendix C: Cyfarthfa Foundation staff
1. Summary
1.1 The Cyfarthfa Foundation – a registered charity - was created with a view to transforming a much-loved local museum and gallery into a national institution fully worthy of its history, heritage and art, and at a scale and quality that befits their significance. From the outset we have envisaged the imaginative integration of heritage and contemporary art in a way that responds both to a long tradition of innovation and the immense challenges of the 21st century.
1.2 The establishment of a National Contemporary Arts Gallery (NCAGW) has been a long-held aspiration in Wales, born of the continuing development of the country’s visual arts sector as well as evidence of public appetite. The vibrancy of galleries across Wales, the success of Welsh artists at the Venice Biennale and the public response to the international Artes Mundi biennial exhibition have in their different ways provided evidence of further potential.
1.3 The Foundation is proud to present its vision for a necessary central element of this proposition – an anchor site to be located at Cyfarthfa Castle and Park at Merthyr Tydfil. We do so in partnership with Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. We have also been assisted in this by expert input from specialists in the field - Cultural Associates Oxford – who have completed two extensive reports that have been submitted to the Welsh Government.
1.4 Our vision for an anchor site for this exciting new network is for a place:
- to present the best of contemporary art from Wales and elsewhere, whether within a gallery context or an open park
- to take a broad and inclusive view of contemporary art
- to give contemporary art historical context where appropriate
- to embrace both established and emerging artists
- to encourage the making of art - via artists residences, co-production and participatory opportunities
- to engage large and diverse audiences, across all ages, through community-based activity, learning and events.
1.5 Importantly, we wish to achieve these ends in a creative partnership with galleries across Wales as well as with the National Museum and the National Library. It should be a partnership that recognises not only the value of creative collaboration but also the autonomy of these galleries and institutions and the need often to serve audiences in different parts of Wales in distinct ways.
1.6 We contend that Cyfarthfa Castle and Park is the best and natural location for the NCAGW anchor site that the Programme for Government has in mind, for the following reasons:
§ It would be a major cultural investment in Merthyr Tydfil and the Heads of the Valleys area – an area that merits much greater investment in its cultural infrastructure.
§ It is notable that none of the other envisaged participating galleries is located in the Heads of the Valleys area, despite the central and iconic place of those valleys in the creation of the art of Wales and our national identity.
§ It would rescue a crucially important but threatened part of our history, giving Cyfarthfa Castle and Park a new lease of life, a national purpose and an international outlook.
§ It would build on an existing art collection that is both relevant and of high quality.
§ It would enable Cyfarthfa to position itself as a centre of innovative thinking, creative production and inventive educational development.
§ It would generate employment, social value and community renewal in a place of demonstrable need.
§ It would provide a bold working exemplar of the principles of the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act.
§ The Cyfarthfa Foundation already exists – a ready-made special purpose vehicle created specifically to undertake a challenge of this nature and scale.
1.7 The prospect of an anchor site for a National Gallery of Contemporary Art for Wales, sitting alongside a compelling museum of our industrial history, holds the potential for myriad creative synergies that will provide context and relevance for both the historical and contemporary aspects of its mission. These conjunctions should be a source of excitement for curators and public alike.
1.8 The necessary design and development timescales for the physical renewal of Cyfarthfa will allow ample time for the planning of organisational arrangements both at the centre and across the gallery network, as well as between both. We look forward to working with partners and with the recently appointed project planning team to make this a reality of which the whole of Wales can feel proud.
2. Cyfarthfa - the status quo
2.1 Cyfarthfa Castle was the home of the Crawshay family, famed Merthyr ironmasters. The family left the castle at the end of the 19th century and bequeathed it to the local authority. It then became both a museum and a school - the home of Cyfarthfa High School. The school left the building ten years ago, since when 85% of this Grade-1-listed building has lain empty with its condition deteriorating markedly.
2.2 It now houses a gallery that contains a significant collection of more than 300 works by, amongst others, William Armfield, Frank Brangwyn, Duncan Grant, Shani Rhys James, Alfred Janes, Heinz Koppel, Thomas Lawrence, Cedric Morris, George Murray, Winifred Nicholson, Ruskin Spear and Jack Butler Yeats, and as well as a collection of 19th century works, many of which record Merthyr’s industrial past.
2.3 Cyfarthfa Castle and its 160-acre park are owned by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council and are currently managed by the Merthyr Tydfil Leisure Trust. The Council, the Leisure Trust and the Cyfarthfa Foundation have agreed in principle to the eventual transfer of ownership and operation to the Foundation, subject to negotiation. Those negotiations are currently ongoing.
2.4 The Cyfarthfa Foundation is a company limited by guarantee and a registered charity. Its Board consists of 14 people with an exceptional range of experience relevant to projects of this magnitude, as well as deep community engagement. It currently has a staff of four led by the Chief Executive, Anna Baker – an architect who last year completed an award-winning lottery-funded heritage project in Bath.
2.5 The Foundation has been funded by an initial grant of £1.25m from the Welsh Government. It has received £429k funding via the UK Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund, and has also received promises of funding by some major charitable foundations.
2.6 Prior to the formation of the Foundation, and with input from the Design Commission for Wales, the Council provided £250,000 to commission a masterplan from an internationally-renowned team led by Ian Ritchie Architects. This was delivered prior to the formation of the Foundation itself. This set out a 20-year plan for the development of the park with a wide range of options that included “the imaginative integration of heritage and contemporary art.”
2.7 It said: “If such a centre were to be concerned only with Merthyr’s past it would be doing only half a job. For instance, taking the cue from Merthyr’s history of industrial innovation, provision could also be made for a gallery dedicated to changing exhibitions of 21st century innovation in art and industry that would help change perceptions of Merthyr and the Heads of the Valleys area and encourage economic development particularly in modern creative industries.”
3. The proposed model – Network + Anchor
3.1 The proposed distributed model for the NCAGW recognises the geography of Wales, the current wide distribution of galleries and their long track record of serving their communities and artists. It is a model that encourages diversity and celebrates locality. It should be valued and enhanced. However, if the ambition of this project is to bring a wholly new focus to contemporary art in Wales, such as will establish it more firmly in the public mind, as well as establishing Welsh practice internationally, a new institution with an unmistakable physical presence is necessary. That, we believe is the nature of the required anchor. Cyfarthfa can be that anchor.
3.2 An anchor site of scale - with a collaborative purpose written into its mission, and a collegiate approach embedded in its practice - should be an asset to the whole network. The innovative combination of multiple nodes of creativity with effective central capacity would be yet another way of placing Welsh institutional creativity on a global stage. The creation of a new central capacity is the sine qua non.
3.3 The space we envisage being available at Cyfarthfa will be substantial, enabling its development as a major museum and gallery. Its 160-acre park also has the potential to develop as a sculpture park. But far from competing with the existing gallery eco-system, a NCAGW anchor at Cyfarthfa would wish to support the network in many ways, aiming at mutual benefit for all participating organisations and their audiences.
3.4 This might be through:
§ Collaborative planning of multi-venue exhibitions
§ Collaborative fund-raising, allowing access to larger funds
§ Practical support with transport and installation
§ Provision of storage space
§ Support for marketing and communications
§ Providing a learning and research centre as a physical and virtual hub for the network
§ Showcasing the work of the individual galleries or groups of galleries nationally.
3.5 These options need to be discussed across the network, as well as with the newly appointed central planning team, to arrive at the most effective collaborative structures while also preserving the capacity of individual galleries to pursue their distinct agendas and address their own audiences. The objective must be the creation of a supportive infrastructure that will allow the visual arts sector in Wales to develop its profile and audience.
Delivery of the brief
3.6 The brief for the NCAGW anticipated that this would be a joint venture or partnership between the galleries, Amgueddfa Cymru and National Library Wales as custodians of the national collection. The nature of this relationship will need to be carefully defined so that public access to the collections is maximised, while the national-collection holders are certain that their custodial responsibilities for safeguarding the collections are upheld. It will also be important that the galleries in the distributed network have a clear voice in determining which works are displayed at which venue.
3.7 There are several options for configuring these arrangements, but we would advocate the creation of a joint NCAGW commissioning group composed of representatives of the anchor site, the participating galleries, Amgueddfa Cymru and the National Library of Wales. The secretariat would be provided by the anchor site. We believe that this would keep overheads to a minimum while creating an effective collegiate structure. The accountability of the anchor site could be via Arts Council Wales or direct to the Welsh Government.
Timescales
3.8 Arguably, the embryo for the proposed system has been with us for many years. More recently, under the auspices of Amgueddfa Cymru, it has taken another step forward with the development of online resources that have made the national collection available to all. There is no need to put any brake on these incremental developments while new arrangements are agreed.
3.9 Although the physical development of the Cyfarthfa galleries will not be complete and open to the public for 5-7 years, it is likely that the Foundation will wish to appoint curatorial staff ahead of this in order to plan the content. There would, therefore, be nothing to prevent the development of agreed NCAGW commissioning structures even before the new galleries at Cyfarthfa are ready. An interim period could be used constructively to experiment and to build audiences in anticipation of Cyfarthfa’s opening.
4. Cyfarthfa – the anchor site
Location
4.1 Cyfarthfa’s location is superb. It sits at the junction of two major roads – the A470 and the A465 Heads of the Valleys road – providing fast access from all points of the compass, including the Cardiff, Newport and the west of England to the south, the Swansea city region to the West and the English Midlands to the east. In the next year the South Wales Metro will increase the speed and frequency of trains from Cardiff and other valley communities, and the dualling of the Heads of the Valleys road will near completion.
4.2 It can also take full advantage of its proximity to the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park, which is said to attract 4 million visitors per annum.
The Castle
4.3 Cyfarthfa is perfectly placed to deliver its art ambition. It encompasses a much-loved historic castle and a large surrounding park perfectly suited for the display of sculpture. Its existing galleries, in the castle’s finely decorated family rooms, house a fine collection of work by significant artists. It is an under-used treasure trove. The building also has numerous well-proportioned former school classrooms, now sadly unused, but ready to be developed as further beautiful galleries, learning spaces, studios and workshops.
4.4 Originally a private dwelling for the Crawshay family, the Castle now belongs to the people of Merthyr who have huge pride and affection for it. That said, it has not received the attention and investment that it deserves and is in a severe state of disrepair.
4.5 There is also a potential to create larger, more dramatic display spaces within and beyond the castle’s existing footprint through sensitive reconfiguration and additions. The scheme illustrated in this report includes additional buildings, designed so that Cyfarthfa can meet the Welsh government’s space requirements for a proposed anchor site for the National Gallery of Contemporary Art. This is intended only as an indication of the potential of Cyfarthfa.
4.6 In our approach to contemporary art our work will draw inspiration from that of the Dowlais educational settlement of 1928, whose work was further developed towards the end of the Second World War by artists such as Esther Grainger and Cedric Morris. The idea of a socially minded creative community is steeped in Merthyr Tydfil’s past.
Appendix A includes photographs of a number of excellent European galleries that combine old and new buildings to great effect.
Space
4.7 The Welsh Government’s brief for an anchor site suggests that 12,000 sqm. or more of space is desirable, with 7,500 sqm. regarded as essential. Within these figures it is suggested that two-thirds of this total space would be gallery space – i.e. between 5,000 and 8,000 sqm. Our consultants estimate that the existing castle’s c.6,200 sqm would provide c.3,000 sqm of exhibition space, with the remainder being provided by new galleries – tailored and flexible contemporary spaces that would befit the content and complement the existing castle.
4.8 For comparison purposes we note the footprint - footprint, not floor area – of two comparators alongside Cyfarthfa:
National Museum, Cardiff 7,700 m2
Cyfarthfa Castle 4,100 m2
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art 1,820 m2
4.9 Our consultant team, that included distinguished and experienced curators and museum consultants, developed a scalable strategy that can be flexed in response to the needs of the NCAGW partners. The strategy proposes a series of large ‘halls’ that can be connected or separated according to the needs of the museum and its temporary exhibition programme.
The park
4.10 Cyfarthfa Park is already a large 160-acre park, but our plan is to extend it across the valley to the 263-year-old Cyfarthfa furnaces the west side of the Taff and Taf Fechan rivers. This would create a park of 240 acres, becoming one of the great parks of Wales, cheek by jowl with the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park.
4.11 Our ambition for the landscape is that the change should be transformative, creating an accessible, inspiring, creative, educational, biodiverse and sustainable destination, embodying a profound sense of community and social narrative.
4.12 This existing asset, with its potential for dramatic enlargement, will greatly enhance the NCAGW concept, providing a fabulous backdrop for sculpture and other environmental interventions. The Foundation hopes to commission artists who can also engage people in the process of creating sculpture, as well as assisting emerging artists to develop their skills.
4.13 Cyfarthfa Park offers a ‘green stage’ for outdoor art displays in a variety of diverse landscape characters and habitats with stunning views and hidden natural gems to inspire and delight all visitors, including people who might not usually engage with art, such as dog walkers and runners or families out for some fresh air. Such changing displays of sculpture will attract regular public and social media attention and encourage repeat visits. There is also a great potential here for works that involve mass community participation in their creation.
4.14 Further, there is the opportunity to use the parkland for outdoor events that will encourage attendance all year around, for example winter light installations, open-air theatre, outdoor cinema, concerts and small festivals. This mixed-model of art and popular culture will mean that art works will come to life in new and exciting contexts and allow for greater revenue generation.
Facilities
4.15. The range of facilities available at the anchor site should be such as to allow and encourage the maximum attendance and fullest engagement, while also fostering research and artistic practice. The facilities would include:
§ Contemporary gallery spaces
§ Historic public rooms
§ Childrens’ galleries
§ Sculpture park plus outdoor and interactive art
§ Digital displays and interpretation
§ Learning and research centre
§ Space for artists residencies and visiting fellowships
§ Studios and workshops
§ Shop, café and kitchens
§ Events space
5. The digital dimension
5.1. No cultural or educational institution in the 21st can afford to neglect a digital dimension to its activities. It will constitute not only a dimension of its accessibility but also of its creativity. This must be a priority task not only for the NCGAW at Cyfarthfa, but also for the museum. They can enrich each other.
5.2 Cyfarthfa already has a significant contemporary art collection which is digitised and available for people to search and view on the Art UK platform. The NCAGW anchor site will therefore be able to build on Cyfarthfa’s existing inclusive working practices to ensure that access to its collection is democratised, enabling audiences to engage more deeply with the national collection of contemporary art through digital means from anywhere in the world.
5.3 In addition, it will draw on the best practice example of Casgliad y Werin Cymru – the People’s Collection Wales, creating a digital experience that could extend to training to local community groups and organisations on digitising content, and which could record people’s stories linking to the art collections.
5.4 Within the museum we would also intend to make the fullest use of state of art digital techniques in Cyfarthfa’s story-telling.
6. Regeneration and economic impact
6.1 Cyfarthfa offers a substantial regeneration opportunity. By developing an organisation rooted in the community and yet achieving a position in a much higher league of tourist attractions, it will spearhead social and economic regeneration in and around Merthyr Tydfil and support an engaging programme that raises aspiration, enhances health and wellbeing, supports skills development and creates employment.
6.2 The need is considerable. A study completed just before the Covid lockdown placed Merthyr Tydfil – for all its potential – at the wrong end of UK economic leagues tables:
- 375th out of 379 localities in the UK’s competitiveness index
- 3rd lowest in Wales
- 2nd lowest in the Cardiff Capital Region
- GVA per head of £15,420 – 17th amongst the 22 Welsh local authorities.
6.3 Other research has shown that 8 out of the 36 Lower Layer Super Output Areas (LSOAs) in the borough are among the 30% most deprived in Wales. Despite unflattering measures of poverty and morbidity 85% of those who responded to our survey took pride in living and working in Merthyr Tydfil, demonstrating that there is huge desire for people to feel part of a local community and share a sense of place.
6.4 It is reasonable to assume that locating a major attraction such as the NCAGW at Cyfarthfa will, with appropriate marketing and imminent road and rail improvements, increase visitor numbers and encourage further development of new hotel accommodation, thus giving yet further encouragement to tourism in the area. Precise forecasts will depend on the scale and timing of investment, although we would expect a completed NCAGW anchor site to generate not less than 300,000 visitors per annum in the early stages, rising to 500,000 within 10 years.
6.5 We were asked to consider whether the failure of the Centre for Visual Arts (CVA) in Cardiff more than 20 years ago holds any lessons for the proposed NCAGW. In our view the proposed NCAGW is a very different proposition. The CVA was a stand-alone venture, whereas an anchor site for the NCAGW at Cyfarthfa, would start with the advantages of
i) the existing substantial footfall at Cyfarthfa Park,
ii) Cyfarthfa’s well-developed education/schools programme,
iii) the co-location of a museum and contemporary art gallery that will ensure wider market penetration
iv) the support of a chain of well-established galleries across Wales and
v) the strength of Amgueddfa Cymru and National Library collections.
6.6 The Economic Impact Study prepared during the Cyfarthfa masterplan exercise recommended that the mapping of socio-economic change – its monitoring and evaluation - should become a centrepiece of the of the Cyfarthfa Plan. This is an approach that we wish to explore with the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales.
7. Policy alignment
7.1 Regeneration in the 21st century cannot confine itself to simple quantitative goals. We have stressed from the outset our wish to align our work with the principles of the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act. In fact, we wish to embed every one of its dimensions within our purposes: health, equality, cohesive communities, culture, the Welsh language and global responsibility.
7.2 It is worth commenting on the last of these. In all of the above dimensions our primary focus will be on addressing the concerns of communities in Wales, but in addressing the global dimension we will make a concerted effort to connect with similar institutions both within the UK and beyond our shores.
7.3 As with contemporary art – witness the Artes Mundi scheme - we cannot be properly globally responsible unless we are open to influences from across the globe in our work. We will, therefore, aim actively to grow our international connections, partnering with galleries across the world, and inviting international creatives and thinkers to spend time here. We aspire to be a home of cutting-edge production and thought-provoking ideas.
8. Conclusion
8.1 We believe that the creation of a National Contemporary Art Gallery for Wales is overdue. It would fill a gap in the Welsh cultural landscape and offer opportunities for both local and international engagement, to the benefit of artists and the public alike.
8.2 The designation of Cyfarthfa as the anchor site for the NCAGW would ensure the creation of a dedicated team, in a worthy physical space and setting, working in partnership with galleries across Wales, and focussed on a common interest. It is this scale of presence – powerfully apparent to the audience, credible to artists, curators and academia alike, and visible to the world – that will give our contemporary art, a fresh momentum, a higher profile and a secure place in the Welsh cultural firmament.
The Cyfarthfa Foundation / August 2023
Appendix A: Six examples of museums in UK and Europe (NB, do not publish; images subject to copyright)
Some but not all of the developments listed below may be on a different scale to the Cyfarthfa project, but they embody principles that can hold good for it.
a. The Whitworth, Manchester
This
museum is dedicated to the concept of the “Useful Museum
promoting art as a tool for impacting on the world around
us”. The redbrick frontage is complemented by brand new
galleries at the rear.
b. The Kunstmuseum, Moritzburg Castle, Halle, Germany
This museum was created by the adaptation of an archbishop’s residence, dating back to the Middle Ages, into an art museum.
c. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
The Rijksmuseum was built in 1885. Its restoration and renovation were completed in 2012 based on a design by Spanish architects Antonio Cruz and Antonio Ortiz.
d. The Depot, Rotterdam
Set in a park, this is the world’s first publicly accessible art storage facility. The public can wander through six floors of art works, guided by an app. They can also watch art professionals at work.
e. MAS, Museum an der Strom, Antwerp
The MAS at Antwerp is a pioneering museum, notable for its publicly accessible storage systems and commitment to informing the public using new media and immersive presentations.
f. Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Netherlands
Progressive museum seen as one of the leading centres of rethinking public engagement, with special programmes using a variety of multi-sensory tools for use by blind and partially sighted visitors and the deaf and hard of hearing, as well as people suffering from Alzheimers and aphasia. It also runs groups programmes that try to link topical issues of the day with art objects. Below is a Dutch signing choir performing with the museum choir.
Appendix B: The Cyfarthfa Foundation
The Cyfarthfa Foundation is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee.
Its trustees are:
Dr Carol Bell
Carol Bell, originally from Felindre, Swansea, is an experienced industrialist, financier and charity trustee.
She is a board member of the Development Bank of Wales, council member of Research England, Vice President of National Museum Wales, Vice Chair of the Wales Millennium Centre and the first female board member of the Football Association of Wales. Carol currently serves on three public company boards: Bonheur (Norwegian renewable energy), Tharisa (platinum miner in South Africa) and the BlackRock Energy and Resources Income Trust.
In 2019, she was one of the founders of Chapter Zero, part of the World Economic Forum’s Climate Governance Initiative, which helps non-executive directors to integrate climate risk into strategy and investment plans. Her academic interests, based at UCL, include the development of metal smelting and trade in metals in prehistory. She chairs the British School at Athens and is Treasurer of the Institute for Archaeo-metallurgical Studies. She lives in London and Cardiff.
Geraint Talfan Davies (Chair)
Geraint Talfan Davies is a writer and broadcaster who has had a long involvement with public policy and the arts in Wales. He is the instigator of the current project to develop Cyfarthfa Castle and Park at Merthyr Tydfil. His career has spanned newspapers and broadcasting in both ITV and the BBC. A former Controller of BBC Wales and a past Chairman of Welsh National Opera, the Arts Council of Wales, and Cardiff Bay Arts Trust, he is the also the co-founder of the Institute of Welsh Affairs. He is a non-executive director of Severn Screen Ltd. and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).
Rowland Davies (Vice-Chair)
Rowland Davies is a solicitor and the former head of the real estate practice of Geldards LLP where he specialised in major long-term projects for the public, private and third sectors. At Geldards he led the team that assembled the land for the Millennium Stadium, and has acted on various Cardiff Bay developments. He also represented the local authority in the Coed Darcy Urban Village development at Swansea as well as the acquisition and development of MoD St Athan. He now works as a consultant for Geldards overseeing the Plasdŵr Garden City development and is also Head of Strategic Land for the Marcol Estate.
Rowland is a former Trustee of Ty Hafan children’s hospice and the Artes Mundi International Art Prize, and currently Vice-Chair of the Contemporary Art Society for Wales, a Trustee of the Cardiff Blues Regional Benevolent Trust, and a Trustee of the Plasdŵr Community Fund.
Geoff Hunt
Geoff Hunt is the Chief Operating Officer for Arup in the UK - a multidisciplinary engineering, planning and management consultancy - and in this role has full operational responsibility for 6,000 staff in six countries. As a corporate director in the private and charitable sectors he has a keen interest in business planning and governance both at organisational and project level. He is a chartered civil and structural engineer and has spent his career in civil and structural engineering as a contractor, designer and business leader. He retains an interest in historic buildings and civil engineering. Geoff is a graduate of Swansea University and lives in Porthcawl. He is a previous board member and Chairman of Groundwork Wales.
Sir Simon Jenkins
Sir Simon Jenkins is a journalist, author and broadcaster and has served as the Chairman of the National Trust and, previously, as Deputy Chairman of English Heritage. He was political editor of The Economist for five years, and went on to be editor of The Times and the Evening Standard. He now writes twice weekly for the Guardian and regularly for the Evening Standard.
He has been a board member of British Rail, London Transport, Faber and Faber and the Pevsner book trust, and a Trustee of the Millennium Commission, the Museum of London, Somerset House, the South Bank Centre, Save Britain’s Heritage, the Thirties Society, and the RIBA drawings collection.
He has written books on churches, houses, London and Welsh architecture, as well as on politics and a Short History of England. His next book is on station architecture. He was knighted in 2004 and is a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and the Royal Society of Literature. He lives in London and Wales.
Ewan Jones
Ewan is a Welsh architect, born in Newport and raised in Porthcawl, where many of his family still live. He is a Partner at Grimshaw, an international architectural practice with studios in Europe, Australia and USA, and designers of the Eden Project.
Working on complex projects, in public and private sectors, Ewan is an experienced designer and director. His architecture carefully integrates engineering and construction, all contributing to each other’s success. Leading teams with a flair for creative attention to detail, the results are distinctive, award-winning structures across a range of scales and sectors.
Ewan has worked with the Design Commission for Wales since 2005, including a ten-year term as a board member. He continues to chair design reviews for the Commission and assists with advice to clients and government.
Hanif Kara
Prof. Hanif Kara is co-Founder and Design Director of AKT II, a design-led structural and civil engineering firm in London. With his creative lead the practice is associated with many innovative construction projects at different scales, winning over 350 design awards, including the RIBA Stirling Prize on three occasions, as well as the RIBA Lubetkin Prize for the UK Pavilion at Shanghai Expo in 2010.
Hanif has gained international standing in the built environment, through practice, pioneering research and education in interdisciplinary design. A tireless passion for a ‘design-led’ approach has allowed him to work on numerous exemplar and pioneering projects at the forefront of many challenges facing the built environment in the past two decades, including the climate crisis.
He is also Professor in Practice of Architectural Technology at Harvard Graduate School of Design and advisor to the Aga Khan Development Network. He is also a member of the UK Government National Infrastructure Commission Design Group.
Helen Protheroe
Helen Protheroe is Executive Director Global Partnerships and Philanthropy at The Allen Institute in Seattle and a member of the Allen’s C Suite. Her focus is on building the Allen Institute’s global community and extending its impact in understanding life and transforming human health. Prior to this appointment she had been Director of Development and Alumni Relations at The Royal College of Art and a member of the college’s leadership team. Born in Merthyr Tydfil, Helen has also undertaken executive roles for Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, LAMDA, the Wales Millennium Centre, The Homeless World Cup (Wales), Royal Opera House and the Design Museum. She is a board member of The Royal College of Arts USA (RCA USA) and of the Aspen Institute UK.
Cllr. Lisa Mytton
Lisa Mytton a former Leader of Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council and former Cabinet Member for Learning. She has been the elected member for the Vaynor ward since 2008. In 2012-13 she became the youngest ever Mayor of Merthyr Tydfil. She has worked for more than 20 years in post-16 education, dealing mainly with apprenticeships, and more recently as an Estyn Peer Inspector. She is a governor of Cyfarthfa Park Primary School and has also represented Merthyr Tydfil on the Welsh Joint Education Committee and the Welsh Local Government Association.
Dr. Marion Loeffler
Marion Loeffler is an historian and broadcaster and Reader in Welsh History at Cardiff University specialising in the industrial and cultural history of modern Wales in its European, empire and global contexts. She is also a member of the Women’s Archive Wales Committee and Assistant Editor of the Dictionary of Welsh Biography.
Originally from Berlin and an alumna of Humboldt University, she speaks Welsh fluently, has presented television documentaries on historical themes for S4C and Germany’s ORB, and regularly contributes to Radio Cymru and Radio Wales.
Robert Rummey
Robert Rummey is an architect and landscape architect with expertise in re- purposing historic assets for regeneration, tourism, educational and environmental benefit. His practice is currently applying this approach to three castles in the UK and one in Italy, as well as at Bletchley Park, balancing historic exactitude with the need for visitor revenue. The practice has also designed a 120-hectare park at Betteshanger Colliery in Kent and other land-based regeneration, development and recreational initiatives.
Cllr. Geraint Thomas
Geraint Thomas is Leader of Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council and former Member for Regeneration, Transformation and Commercialisation. He has been an Independent Councillor for the Cyfarthfa ward since 2017. He was educated at Cyfarthfa High School and Merthyr College and worked in the family’s coal mining business before establishing a recycling business providing safe surfaces for children’s play areas.
Sara Turnbull
Sara Turnbull is a chartered environmentalist, social entrepreneur and an award winning leader in sustainability and social value. She has more than 22 years of experience of leading and shaping social enterprises, charities and other organisations committed to creating a more sustainable world. She has worked internationally in community engagement and regeneration, often mentoring social and green start-up businesses.
Sara lives in Swansea and is a non-executive director of the Swansea-based Coastal Housing Group - that has 6,000 homes in south Wales - Chair of the Creative Workspace Resilience Fund for the Greater London Authority, a member of the Sustainable Development Board of Transport for London and a non-executive director of the Covent Garden Market Authority. She also led on the development of social sustainability policies for Foster + Partners. She is the Founder and Director of Workwild and Better Off Edits, and was the Founding Chief Executive of the Creative Land Trust, as well as a former Vice Chair of the European Sustainable Development Council of the Urban Land Institute.
Sarah Hopkins
Sarah Hopkins is Headteacher at Bishop Hedley Catholic High School, Merthyr Tydfil – a school that serves the wider Heads of the Valleys area. Sarah graduated in Religious Studies at Cardiff University and worked in the NHS before moving into teaching. She has taught in Cardiff and Merthyr and was appointed Assistant Head at Bishop Hedley School in 2012, Deputy Head in 2017 and Head in 2018. Sarah has led the school’s improvement journey and has represented the education sector on many boards including Qualifications Wales and Welsh Government and local authority panels.
Appendix C: Cyfarthfa Foundation staff
Anna Baker, Chief Executive, The Cyfarthfa Foundation
Anna Baker is an architect and project manager. Before joining the Cyfarthfa Foundation she had completed a £9m scheme to restore the UK’s oldest open-air public swimming pool – the Cleveland Pools in Bath which was built in 1815. Anna, who is from Glasgow, studied architecture at Dundee University and London’s South Bank University. She has also managed major store development projects for Harrods in London, the building and installation of an interactive pavilion for Samsung in Monaco, and the building of a large movable sculpture – the Mobile Orchard – intended to raise awareness of environmental issues and to act as the centrepiece of the City of London Festival.