General Developments

You're right, it was announced some time ago but had gone quiet.

I'd forgotten about that one. It's hard to tell whether the design is any good from that one image. It certainly looks a lot better than the Holiday Inn Express though - which is far more deserving of the bulldozer treatment than the Wharf was.

Does anybody know whether there's been any progress on the Wharf site, by the way. I think that they got planning permission for the mixed use development that was proposed there, but it all seems to have gone very quiet.

Another development that's gone off the radar is the houses that were supposed to be being built to the north of the Wharf site.

What do people think of Atlantic Wharf as a whole? My personal opinion is that the scale of the dock is far to big and industrial to make it a particularly attractive area for housing and leisure. I'd love to see a major redevelopment in which the dock was broken up into two or three sections, traversed by roads and buildings that would effectively create three smaller docks on a much more human scale. I would also like to see some houseboats introduced, to make this a more interesting community to live in and visit. If the steelworks were to ever close then the Central Link Road could also be moved to the east of its current alignment allowing development along both sides of the dock, which would create a much more enclosed environment, which currently feels very exposed and windswept.

Contractors and marketing suite will be on site in July 2019, for completion in 2021 for the old Wharf site. This includes the houses up alongside the wharf itself.

Ah that's interesting. I hadn't realised the two schemes were linked, as I thought that the houses had been proposed quite a lot earlier than the Wharf redevelopment.

Any chance for a source of that information Lewisbeecham?

Been waiting for progress for ages...

What do people think of Atlantic Wharf as a whole? My personal opinion is that the scale of the dock is far to big and industrial to make it a particularly attractive area for housing and leisure. I'd love to see a major redevelopment in which the dock was broken up into two or three sections, traversed by roads and buildings that would effectively create three smaller docks on a much more human scale. I would also like to see some houseboats introduced, to make this a more interesting community to live in and visit. If the steelworks were to ever close then the Central Link Road could also be moved to the east of its current alignment allowing development along both sides of the dock, which would create a much more enclosed environment, which currently feels very exposed and windswept.

I agree with all of the above but some of the problems identified derive from the dock's development history.

Work began on site clearance back in the 1980s, way before the establishment of CBDC or any talk of impounding the bay. The intention was that it would be the first phase of a redevlopment plan which would gradually extend southwards from the city centre towards the waterfront. The model was very much 'Swansea Marina without the boats' - hence the retail and A3 units facing the dock which are now mainly used as offices.

When CBDC drew up theur masterplan they pretty much by-passed the East dock with the Red Dragon Centre and Lloyd George Avenue, "Cardiff's answer to the Ramblas" it was claimed, isolating Atlantic Wharf from other developments.

A lot of the buildings at the north end of the dock are pretty high quality and the apartments are spacious compared to what came along later, so it's an area that could be attractive with the kind of interventions HRK describes.

[quote

That comes from the sales office at Schooner Wharf (other side of Henke Court).

There's mention in the Observer of two new attractions opening in the Victorian section of Cardiff Castle. One is the previously mooted Doctor Who attraction. The other is something called "Black Tower Tales".

Only around half of the rooms in the Castle are currently open to visitors taking the guided tour. Presumably the new attractions will occupy some of the space that's been vacant since the WCMD moved out donkeys years ago.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/dec/08/time-lord-and-sherlock-holmes-perfect-team-for-tourism

There's mention in the Observer of two new attractions opening in the Victorian section of Cardiff Castle. One is the previously mooted Doctor Who attraction. The other is something called "Black Tower Tales".

Only around half of the rooms in the Castle are currently open to visitors taking the guided tour. Presumably the new attractions will occupy some of the space that's been vacant since the WCMD moved out donkeys years ago.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/dec/08/time-lord-and-sherlock-holmes-perfect-team-for-tourism

Both Sherlock and Dr Who are BBC Wales productions. I understand that the Doctor Who Experience didn't pull in enough visitors to make it financially viable but its still a shame that Cardiff is losing out on the interactive escape-room type things based on these shows to other cities. What is Bristol's relationship to Doctor Who for instance?

The BBC should allow its regional arms to be a bit more involved in commercial issues - BBC Worldwide doesn't care about regional or broader economics impacts in the same way the rest of the BBC is required to do nowadays.

There is an application in to demolish 1-6 Guildford Crescent (currently occupied by Madeira, Thai House and Gwdihw). Apparently there is a nationally renowned developer with a track record of high quality builds wanting to develop the site at least according to the guff on the covering letter of the planning app. I've heard through the grapevine that its student accommodation.

This application was behind Madeira opening on St Mary Street and the recent call to make this area a conservation area on the grounds that it contains the last of the terraced housing in the city centre. I think there is very little chance of that happening but it has to be said that this area has been an incubator for successful, local, independent businesses for many year and has a certain character (if you ignore the Ibis hotel - itself a replacement for Guidlford Crescent baths which would have been a fantastic facility in the city centre had it stayed).

This app will cause a lot of angst. My understanding is that Rapport own the site. They also own the surface car park across the road and the surface car park on Adam Street. From a development nerd point of view I wish they would develop/sell those sites first but I suspect that the return on the car park is too great to justify off loading it. They also have a track record of demolishing without developing (ie. the Vulcan).