Your use of the word "apart" right at the beginning is likely to be a cause of confusion. Clearly, in this context, you mean it in the "as well as" sense, but I

Your use of the word "apart" right at the beginning is likely to be a cause of confusion. Clearly, in this context, you mean it in the "as well as" sense, but I initially read it in the "instead of" sense, and I think most other English-as-1st-language speakers would do the same. Qualifying it e.g. "quite apart from..." can avoid the misunderstanding.