CardiffWalesMap

RandomComment wrote:

HalRobsonKanu wrote:HI there. Long time reader, first time poster here.

Slightly off topic from Maindy Road, but Cardiff University are also planning a major development on Park Place, the Centre for Student Life, which will effectively form a new entrance to the Student Union building. The building is scheduled for completion in 2019 and it looks as though a planning application will be submitted soon.

Further details here:
http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/__data/assets/ ... boards.pdf

I'm not sure I like this actually - the image on slide 4 is a little bland in my view. OK, it hides the ugly Student Union. But I quite like the redbrick building housing Costa and Subway - which the report deems of "little value - and I think this would benefit from either being more interestingly modern to properly contrast with the older buildings nearby.. or more in keeping with their style. At the moment, its just a rather bland modern building which neither contrasts nor complements.

I quite like it! The red building is fine but I'm not sure it's really valuable. I like the pillars and hiding the SU from the Civic Centre can only be good. I'd wondered before if they might ever build a new Union but perhaps it's pretty functional.

I've seen some of the plans for the next phase of the development - they were on a presentation I was at, so don't have a link unfortunately.

Anyway, the guy speaking said they hoped to have planning approval for the next phase to be granted in November, with work commencing in January, which consists of:

- 2 new buildings
- pedestrian/cycle bridge over the railway
- a public square

The building fronting Maindy Road (between CUBRIC and Maindy Lane) looks really impressive! Also quite a dense development - the buildings closest to the railway line all look like they'll be 2-3 floors taller than the Hadyn Ellis Building.

Said they hoped to be complete by Winter 2018. I'm sure somebody will be able to find some renders on the planning portal?

Here it is I think:

http://planning.cardiff.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=_CARDIFF_DCAPR_116900

They might need to crack on with the new developments. According to the Times University Guide Cardiff has plummeted and is now below Swansea!

Uni league tables are 10 a penny. World rankings puts CU at 182. The proverbial country mile ahead of anyone else in Wales. But, you are right CU need to crack on & get their Marketing bods working, they do great stuff but it barely causes a ripple.

As a recent graduate of Swansea University, I can tell you how meaningless that is. Swansea University is run by greedy businessmen with litte to no care for the students. The only reason it ranks highly in student satisfaction is because they wave £5 vouchers in front of students' faces to persuade them to write nice comments. In reality, with the Bay Campus especially, students are far from happy. There is still no dedicated shuttle between campuses or even accommodations, forcing students to pay £330 for a bus pass to use one bus service run by the cowboys that are First Bus. Cardiff University is miles ahead!

That's interesting Cen. CU strenuously avoid any kind of interference with student surveys. Certainly when I worked in HE there was a growing relationship between CU & Bristol, as evidenced by the GW4 group that includes Bath & Exeter as well. HE is at a crossroads in Wales but I think it's still the case that Swansea sees itself as a Welsh Uni whereas Cardiff sees itself as a European Uni (Brexit notwithstanding). The one to watch is Cardiff Met, they seem to be really focused at the moment.

Image if this forum was about Newport and a £300m new investment was announced, it would be top billing.
Here in Cardiff we have gotten a bit complacent, with all the UK investment post Brexit.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-37956318

Looks great. My only concern would be who is paying for it? As I've mentioned elsewhere Cardiff gets very little in the way of endowments.

Let's just hope we're not the university equivalent of Leeds United and Northern Rock.