General Developments

I welcome the boom in student accommodation in Cardiff; we are only playing catch up to the other university cities.

I'd like to see some numbers to support the suggestion that there is "more than enough" student accommodation. Even the Wales Online quotes the Bruton Knowles "expert" as saying that at current building rates, supply won't outstrip demand for about five years. Students are not just first year undergraduates - postgraduate study is a major expansion area and is likely to remain so for some time.

Greater numbers of students living in purpose built accommodation would free up houses in Cathays and Roath; those trying to get on the property ladder will welcome having the option of city centre houses with gardens, rather than the compromise of either a house way out in the suburbs or a city centre apartment with no outdoor space. In the absence of meaningful large scale development in Cardiff (despite many plans, there are no large housing developments actually being built at present) this is a good use of resources.

This proposal (more student resi) seems to have slipped under the radar -

http://planning.cardiff.gov.uk/online-a ... APR_113709

Fitzalan Court - the 4/5 storey collection of office buildings in Newport Rd to be changed to student accommodation with a two storey, extension. Have a look at the plans - they are interesting shall we say. Quite surprised by this development - I didn't think that occupancy was that bad in these buildings.

I welcome the boom in student accommodation in Cardiff; we are only playing catch up to the other university cities.

I'd like to see some numbers to support the suggestion that there is "more than enough" student accommodation. Even the Wales Online quotes the Bruton Knowles "expert" as saying that at current building rates, supply won't outstrip demand for about five years. Students are not just first year undergraduates - postgraduate study is a major expansion area and is likely to remain so for some time.

Greater numbers of students living in purpose built accommodation would free up houses in Cathays and Roath; those trying to get on the property ladder will welcome having the option of city centre houses with gardens, rather than the compromise of either a house way out in the suburbs or a city centre apartment with no outdoor space. In the absence of meaningful large scale development in Cardiff (despite many plans, there are no large housing developments actually being built at present) this is a good use of resources.

It's a fair enough comment. I haven't got a bloody clue. There's one heck of a number of developments coming up and if there's demand I have no issue with it, to a casual observer it just seems like a large number of additional rooms. I guess if we really are playing catch-up then it isn't so much of an issue, particularly if today's student would prefer that type of accomodation. It would, I guess, also help the housing shortage in the city a little.

This proposal (more student resi) seems to have slipped under the radar -

http://planning.cardiff.gov.uk/online-a ... APR_113709

Fitzalan Court - the 4/5 storey collection of office buildings in Newport Rd to be changed to student accommodation with a two storey, extension. Have a look at the plans - they are interesting shall we say. Quite surprised by this development - I didn't think that occupancy was that bad in these buildings.

Cripes! Those are pretty nasty and dated buildings - but just dumping a couple of extra floors on top of them isn't going to improve things.

Occupancy in these buildings has really sufferd over the last few years as a few key tenants moved out.. e.g. KPMG down to Cardiff Bay. The office market report in the application shows them being just 30% occupied!

I actually quite like the final design (some of the original concepts were poor - I sometimes wonder if they include them just to make the final one look better!). I quite like the curves on the additional floors and the way it doesn't quite align with the existing building. It should also avoid the problems we've seen in the near area (at least if material quality is decent). Just down the road from this, Shand House, was really messed up by using different colour bricks for the extra floor. Not differnet enough to be a statement or design element. Just different enough to make the work look shoddy!

This proposal (more student resi) seems to have slipped under the radar -

http://planning.cardiff.gov.uk/online-a ... APR_113709

Fitzalan Court - the 4/5 storey collection of office buildings in Newport Rd to be changed to student accommodation with a two storey, extension. Have a look at the plans - they are interesting shall we say. Quite surprised by this development - I didn't think that occupancy was that bad in these buildings.

that is fucking hideous. who do they let design these extensions? If you want to see an extension done well look at the Atrium and not Shand House.

Why go out of your way to make it blindingly obvious that the extension in height was something that happened later? The sketches are in the D&S statement show some sort of uniformity to the cladding and exterior. So instead of something that increases the height whilst creating something that fits in with what is already there, they go for the most blatantly obvious pastiche of the aforementioned shand house. Hopefully the planners will kick this in to the long grass and make the developers think again.

on a side note, I do like the scale and massing that they are proposing and it shows that as a city we are seeing higher densities - certainly in the city centre

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but apparently the motorpoint arena now has a smaller live venue within it being called 'exit 7' (obviously it situated near that door) which can hold 180 people. Few gigs lined up.

They are building up earth the other side of the roundabout in the bay by Caspian point and Future Inns., looks like they are starting on the flyover. I was surprised at how tall the student building is on Windsor place as well, are there any renders of it?

Here is a link to the architects site -

http://www.stridetreglown.com/en/sector ... rdiff.html

Looks a bit mediocre in that render. The renders for the student housing at Howard Gardens (by the same architects) look really good (for student accommodation).

There also appears to be an application to 'screen opinion' for student accommodation on the parcel of land in Bridge Street between the Chapel restaurant and Charles St. Once upon a time it was to be a youth hostel but those plans never got off the ground.

Design wise it doesnt look much better than what was there, the red brick should fit in better though.