Churchill Way Canal Feeder

The feeder is finally exposed!


https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/expo ... e-24955531

They seem to be leaving the concrete blocks where they intend to place the bridges. I'm not sure whether the blocks will form a part of the bridges or if they're just there as placeholders for the time being.

The plans look like two narrower bridges, guess that all the concrete blocks haven't been removed yet. There are 69 blocks to be lifted according to the story, a lot more than have been removed so far.

The plans look like two narrower bridges, guess that all the concrete blocks haven't been removed yet. There are 69 blocks to be lifted according to the story, a lot more than have been removed so far.

All the blocks have been removed now. There's a clear view of the feeder from the site gate at the Queen Street end.

https://twitter.com/andyivins/status/15 ... 9494138881

https://www.cardiffnewsroom.co.uk/relea ... 32672.html

Opening today according to this press release.

Not sure what I was expecting but the sides of the canal are very… industrial looking.

Going to do nothing to help investment in that side of town. If anything drive me away.

The planting looks utterly crap, reminds me of that terrible plant bed outside the Interchange building. Hopefully it's a seasonal thing and there's a lot more to go in next Spring.

The dirty sides of the canal wall look really bad too.

This is really underwhelming. Does anyone know what the full cost is? Im sure it was originally budgeted at £6M, but I've seen £13M quoted recently. I guess it is an improvement, and something really does need to be done around this end of town, but I think it's going to be extremely hard to demonstrate that this project offers value of money.

Not been in person yet, but judging by the photos I'm seeing online it looks a bit bland, cheap and cold, so yes maybe industrial is a good way of describing it. Maybe the metal, glas and stone together don't help that. Some better quality buildings around it might help, it just highlights how tired the Capitol shoppimg centre is. I hope the news coming soon for that will help this whole area.

It would ge good to know more about the next phase further down the feeder canal as well.

I'm a bit at loss here but aren't canals, by definition, industrial?

This is a working waterway, after all, not a decorative fountain or water feature. It's used to transfer millions of gallons of water from the Taff to the still-working dock system. They could hardly turn it into a series of bucolic duckponds!

I believe I'm right in saying that the next phases of the reopening will include a weir towards the southern end of Churchill Way designed to raise the water level closer to street level - hence the need for vertical concrete walls rather than soft landscaping.

Seems to have largely split opinion online. Have seen lots of positive and negative comments. I think it's a shame that they've only done this one section first, as it feels quite small and doesn't (yet) feel like the project has the required scale to be transformative for the area. That said, I think it's unfair to judge it as grey and cold when it has been launched during the greyest, coldest season, and any planted vegetation hasn't had the chance to establish yet.

My main concern will be on upkeep. Cardiff council seem to think that landmark projects can be abandoned once completed and don't allocate extra resources for upkeep. Central Square looks semi-knackered already and the amount of rubbish blowing around it is depressing. It's like they think the space itself will impress visitors, without considering what goes on within the space on a human scale. I fear the same may happen in the Canal Quarter.