The shipping container proposal for the top end of Bute Street is interesting.
The south side of Callaghan Square and surrounding environs are a complete mess and have been for as long as I can remember. As an area, it's getting closer to the action, with the city centre slowly expanding southwards, but a game changing development (like an arena, a headquarters building or a large speculative office scheme) is needed to get things going.
To make this an attractive area, a major reconfiguration or the entire road system around Callagham Square, Bute Street and Lloyd George Avenue is required - making Callaghan Square into a genuine urban square (instead of a traffic island), getting rid of the roundabout, removing the railway embankment and rail bridge and re-configuring Lloyd George Avenue, so that it feels like a street (with development on both sides) instead of a duel carriageway. I understand that Cardiff Council has been seriously considering many of these changes for years. Hopefully, the metro (and a move to an on-street light railway between the Bay and town) will be the catylist for much of this to happen, over the next 5 years or so.
In the meantime, these shipping container homes could add a bit of interest and give the northern end of Bute Street a more contemporary feel. I wonder how permanent the development would be though and whether the site could eventually be combined with adjacent land (including the Salavation Army Building), for higher density commercial development, once there is some momentum on the southern side of Callaghan Square?