They were assisted by year 10 pupils at Bishop of Llandaff Church in Wales School who designed the zone, including choosing the plants, flowers and trees to be planted within it. The wildlife zone is part of the legacy that Willmott Dixon leaves at the school after building the Marion Centre on site.

The £4.8m Marion Centre is a new facility for pupils on the autistic spectrum and replaces the temporary buildings where the centre is currently housed. The new 40,000 sq ft, two-storey building will accommodate up to 42 pupils from Year 7 to 13 and is set to open in September 2012.

The quarter acre wildlife zone was developed on an area now occupied by the new storm-water soak-away settlement pond. The design prepared by science pupils included wild flowers, cherry trees, elders and great willow trees, all bought by Willmott Dixon. The pupils also built bird boxes in design and technology sessions before helping the Willmott Dixon team install them in the zone.

Neal Stephens, managing director of Willmott Dixon in Wales, said: “The wildlife zone has been a fantastic learning project for us and the pupils. The whole team was impressed at the amount of work and level of detail put into the designs by the pupils and the final result has transformed an area of school that has remained unused. The Marion Centre is being constructed alongside the school and the zone was just one way we kept pupils engaged and up to date about the development. Alongside all of our projects, we aim to deliver lasting local benefits to the community and we were happy to invest the resource into creating this wildlife zone.”