The surrounding land was sold off for housing in the late 1990s following the death of the house's former owner William Nicholls, who now has a street on the estate named after him. There are no learning institutions in this suburb for secondary, tertiary or higher education students (other than for fee-payers at St John's College). Two secondary schools in the Rumney /Llanrumney area nearby, Eastern High www.easternhigh.cardiff.sch.uk and St Illtyd's High School (St. Illtyd's also admits non-Catholics) mop up most secondary school pupils, who are expected to travel by bus or car to these establishments from St Mellons (at their own expense). Proposals in former years for a secondary school in the Tesco/ Cath Cobb Woods area have been abandoned and strategically forgotten about. Tertiary education is handled nearby at the Cardiff and Vale College, Rumney or St David's Catholic College, Cyncoed (which also admits non-Catholics). Business park The St Mellons Business Park is a collection of large scale business parks located on low-lying land east of St Mellons considered to be Cardiff's green belt. It has a vast number of factories and office units which have been (or are still) occupied by such companies as Capita, Gilesports, TBI, and Lloyds TSB. A number of roads in and around the business parks are named after computer programming languages, namely Pascal, COBOL and Fortran. Conservation area Old St Mellons has been deemed an area of special architectural or historical interest and lies in a conservation area which Cardiff County Council first adopted in 1977. The area was reassessed and updated in July 2007 to cover a smaller land area. A number of Grade II listed buildings lie inside the boundary of the conservation area including the Bluebell and Coach House (previously named White Hart) public houses, St Johns College, and the two churches. The Fox and Hounds public house, though widely considered an important landmark, is only covered by a local listing. Coastal defences Much of the newer estates were built on the Wentloog Levels, areas of low-lying farmland which regularly became flooded until they were reclaimed from the sea during Roman times. A system of drainage reens and sluice gates together with a seawall which runs from the River Usk in the east to the Rhymney River in the west protect the area from the risk of coastal flooding as the land is still only a few metres above