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Re: 30-storey tower proposed for Capitol Centre

PostPosted: Thu Apr 05, 2018 5:52 pm
by Amoore
News imminent on this! Next few days I've been told.

Re: 30-storey tower proposed for Capitol Centre

PostPosted: Fri Apr 06, 2018 12:25 pm
by Amoore
While we wait with baited breath, some images I've discovered of the centre from the early days:

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I don't know whether it's just nostalgia, but as a child I remember there being far more of a buzz about the centre when it was like this. It felt more like a fully functioning shopping centre. When they refurbished, it never quite felt the same.

Re: 30-storey tower proposed for Capitol Centre

PostPosted: Fri Apr 06, 2018 12:44 pm
by Lewisbeecham
I don't think I ever saw it as that, ever. When did the refurbishment take place? I prefer the old look!

Re: 30-storey tower proposed for Capitol Centre

PostPosted: Fri Apr 06, 2018 1:55 pm
by Amoore
I think it was 1999. I have a vague memory of going with family in 1998 to visit Habitat, then discovering it had closed and was boarded up with H&M hoardings.

Re: 30-storey tower proposed for Capitol Centre

PostPosted: Fri Apr 06, 2018 2:07 pm
by daearegwr
I first visited Cardiff in around 1993-1994 and having seen these photos I do have a vague recollection of seeing the capitol as it was. Love the neon!

Re: 30-storey tower proposed for Capitol Centre

PostPosted: Fri Apr 06, 2018 2:47 pm
by Simon__200
Wasn't it 2003 that it was kitted out with the current livery?

Re: 30-storey tower proposed for Capitol Centre

PostPosted: Fri Apr 06, 2018 6:33 pm
by Amoore
It was definitely earlier than that, I think it was 1999/00. I think by 2003 the original design was back in fashion.

Re: 30-storey tower proposed for Capitol Centre

PostPosted: Fri Apr 06, 2018 6:58 pm
by oldishDevil
I believe the refurbishment took place around the time of the Rugby World Cup - November 1999

It may have changed again since then, but I don't think so.

Re: 30-storey tower proposed for Capitol Centre

PostPosted: Sat Apr 07, 2018 12:52 pm
by Simon__200
Amoore wrote:It was definitely earlier than that, I think it was 1999/00. I think by 2003 the original design was back in fashion.

I don't think so. The original iteration with the food mart only opened in 1990.

Later, I moved jobs to Brunel House and I remember a colleague and I taking a look at the work proceeding each lunchtime, with me bemoaning the blue, all-glass look seeming to look worse and more cheap-looking than the original. The large atrium where the food mart was, that was once circular having an impressive cathedral look and feel about it being completely spoiled with half of it now squared-off to house the H&M unit.

Edit : Ignore me. I've got my dates completely wrong. The new design was completed in November 1999 apparently.
https://web.archive.org/web/20090716004 ... i?id=2578_

Re: 30-storey tower proposed for Capitol Centre

PostPosted: Tue Apr 10, 2018 6:56 pm
by sebcity
Amoore wrote:News imminent on this! Next few days I've been told.


How are we defining few? :mrgreen: