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Re: New tower of glass opposit the golden cross

PostPosted: Thu Mar 23, 2017 9:24 pm
by lees
Hi Peiriannydd

Any news for the tower opposite the golden cross?

Really looking forward to this one starting

Re: New tower of glass opposit the golden cross

PostPosted: Thu Mar 23, 2017 9:44 pm
by moyceyyy
lees wrote:Hi Peiriannydd

Any news for the tower opposite the golden cross?

Really looking forward to this one starting


Patience my friend. Due to the magnitude of this development it is bound to take a while to go through planning and other standings.

Re: New tower of glass opposit the golden cross

PostPosted: Sat Mar 25, 2017 6:41 pm
by Peiriannydd
lees wrote:Hi Peiriannydd

Any news for the tower opposite the golden cross?

Really looking forward to this one starting


Nothing to report back other than the design teams are mobilising againg.

Re: New tower of glass opposit the golden cross

PostPosted: Sun Mar 26, 2017 12:31 am
by lees
Many thanks for the up date

Re: New tower of glass opposit the golden cross

PostPosted: Fri Mar 31, 2017 3:36 pm
by paul cardiffwalesmap
Whilst getting a progress photo or two of the under construction tower at Bridge Street, got chatting to an employee of Watkin Jones (this chap didn't have a brush or shovel in his hand! he is pretty high up in the Watkin-Jones pecking order and therefore presumably very 'in the know'). I asked about the Custom House Street tower and was confidently informed that it was starting this year, but not looking like student accommodation - more like residential. This all sounded very positive to me - I wonder if this re-opens a possibility of some kind of restaurant on top like they've got in Swanseas Meridian Quay? Anyway regardless of that it's fantastic that this development is still alive and kicking! :)

Re: New tower of glass opposit the golden cross

PostPosted: Fri Mar 31, 2017 6:34 pm
by Peiriannydd
paul cardiffwalesmap wrote:Whilst getting a progress photo or two of the under construction tower at Bridge Street, got chatting to an employee of Watkin Jones (this chap didn't have a brush or shovel in his hand! he is pretty high up in the Watkin-Jones pecking order and therefore presumably very 'in the know'). I asked about the Custom House Street tower and was confidently informed that it was starting this year, but not looking like student accommodation - more like residential. This all sounded very positive to me - I wonder if this re-opens a possibility of some kind of restaurant on top like they've got in Swanseas Meridian Quay? Anyway regardless of that it's fantastic that this development is still alive and kicking! :)


July has been mentioned as a start date, but I think that's overly ambitious.

Re: New tower of glass opposit the golden cross

PostPosted: Thu Apr 13, 2017 9:54 pm
by moyceyyy
I went to see the site today.

I saw the comments about how small the plot was and how thin the tower would be and kept that in mind as I walked towards it.

I didnt actually realise how small the plot is! Its TINY! Like.. the size of the footprint of my house!

Re: New tower of glass opposit the golden cross

PostPosted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 12:15 pm
by Peiriannydd
moyceyyy wrote:I went to see the site today.

I saw the comments about how small the plot was and how thin the tower would be and kept that in mind as I walked towards it.

I didnt actually realise how small the plot is! Its TINY! Like.. the size of the footprint of my house!


It'll be around a 5.5:1 height to base ratio.

What doesn't help matters is the proximity of the railway (supported on an old crappy viaduct/embankment) at the rear of the site and massive gas pipes to the left-hand-side. Excavating for the pile cap and lift pits is going to be fun!

Re: New tower of glass opposit the golden cross

PostPosted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 1:11 pm
by paul cardiffwalesmap
moyceyyy wrote:I went to see the site today.

I saw the comments about how small the plot was and how thin the tower would be and kept that in mind as I walked towards it.

I didnt actually realise how small the plot is! Its TINY! Like.. the size of the footprint of my house!


The start of this thread was a bit of fun - I had joked on another thread that this miniscule peice of land would be great for a tall skinny tower. Nick (Socrates) took up the challenge with a fictitious tower on the land. Obviously the powers that be at Watkin-Jones must've been looking in also :lol: and are hopefully taking up the challenge for real! This will be a spectacular one to pull off - it will be a fair while before anything is built in Cardiff to top it!! (although hopefully not!). Can't wait for this one!

Re: New tower of glass opposit the golden cross

PostPosted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 1:57 pm
by Peiriannydd
paul cardiffwalesmap wrote:
moyceyyy wrote:I went to see the site today.

I saw the comments about how small the plot was and how thin the tower would be and kept that in mind as I walked towards it.

I didnt actually realise how small the plot is! Its TINY! Like.. the size of the footprint of my house!


The start of this thread was a bit of fun - I had joked on another thread that this miniscule peice of land would be great for a tall skinny tower. Nick (Socrates) took up the challenge with a fictitious tower on the land. Obviously the powers that be at Watkin-Jones must've been looking in also :lol: and are hopefully taking up the challenge for real! This will be a spectacular one to pull off - it will be a fair while before anything is built in Cardiff to top it!! (although hopefully not!). Can't wait for this one!


I think that I've commented before that the original proposals were for something around 18-20 storeys high. The push to go taller was both was brought about by both economics and the council wanting something taller. I believe that their view was that if you were going to go tall, then go tall!

It's interesting, most local authorities have some sort of planning guidance on tall buildings. From memory, Cardiff's talks about the effect of new builds on existing clusters. It talks about the idea of introducing a dominant structure to an existing cluster. This seems to me that you have a policy which will constantly drive new builds upwards. It's possible that the proposed tower's for the Brains site is following this philosophy. That and they may want to make a statement.