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Plans for a new high rise hotel owned by Premier Inn.

At this point I've lost track of all the towers planned for Cardiff. Must be well over 10 now.

It's UGLY! I'm usually pretty pro-development but this looks like a cheap monstrosity that will destroy the Customhouse.

It will destroy the Custom House? It's hardly thriving is it?

Amoore wrote:It will destroy the Custom House? It's hardly thriving is it?

I agree but the building could be more sensitively restored or extended and utilised. I'm also not a fan at all of the design of the proposed Premier Inn hotel. It looks cheap and doesn't present a nice facade on any side in my view:
- from Callghan Square, the combination of black and white panelling is yuck. I think it risks feeling a bit like a tall, dark version of 1 Capital Quarter - the worst of the recent office buildings in Cardiff.
- from the East down Customhouse Street the entrance (and awful yellow surround) looks nasty and will detract from the Customhouse
- from the North West the fenestration of the building looks inappropriate given the Customhouse.

Might the awful Grenfell Tower tragedy be a game-changer akin to Hillsborough when it comes to poor quality tall buildings? I'd certainly be thinking again about it whether the risk level is rational or not.

Frank wrote:Might the awful Grenfell Tower tragedy be a game-changer akin to Hillsborough when it comes to poor quality tall buildings? I'd certainly be thinking again about it whether the risk level is rational or not.

I'm sure the building code will be revised and fire safety substantially improved after Grenfell, but I doubt that will actually make Premier Inns look like decent architecture.

Lyndon wrote:

Frank wrote:Might the awful Grenfell Tower tragedy be a game-changer akin to Hillsborough when it comes to poor quality tall buildings? I'd certainly be thinking again about it whether the risk level is rational or not.

I'm sure the building code will be revised and fire safety substantially improved after Grenfell, but I doubt that will actually make Premier Inns look like decent architecture.

The issue is whether we are prepared to set serious about the quality of our buildings. It's absurd for politicians to bleat about poverty whilst happily presiding over an industry that largely specialises in building cheap tat.