Central Square

I'm not that surprised they made the office space 'less rounded' - much easier to furnish and make full use of space, and so more attractive to occupiers, and so higher amount per square foot. Its not that it looks short and squat. An extra floor or two wouldn't go amiss.

Its the interaction between the residential section and the rest of the development I don't like. It is raised above the podium, which could look good if done properly but not if it shares the podium with a building that isn't raised. And there is that big flat expense of 2-storey podium which just looks ugly. Maybe, just maybe it would work if they were to grass over this area and have it as sort of (low level) sky garden. But its probably too shadowed for that by the various taller buildings around it.

I think alternatively they just need to plonk a few more floors there and either try to sell a few more flats, or spread the existing ones out more (so fewer floors, undulating height etc).

Marland House on steroids??

The design is apparently subject to a "4-week consolation phase". Now I don't know what this means exactly, but it seems like the perfect time to raise any objections. I just don't understand where this new design change came from. They must have paid F+P hundreds of thousands for all that promotional/design work, to then just plonk a sub-par tower block there and make everything square. Anyone could have designed this. I'm hoping this gets reversed but it looks too far down the line now.

It's called "Value Engineering", a process whereby anything expense (and usually aesthetically pleasing) is chopped out of the scheme to save money.

I don't think the design is terrible, but it's not what I'd expect from someone like Foster + Partners. That said, I think they're overrated.

ok, so im in a minority of one here but i like it. but then i do prefer the boxy American scraper than the quirky london variety

Actually, this is exactly what they're building in London at the moment and i welcome it. It wont date anywhere near as bad.

ok, so im in a minority of one here but i like it. but then i do prefer the boxy American scraper than the quirky london variety

Not in the minority. I quite like it. Still has canopy option but as things progress the plans for Central will naturally evolve and should ensure it being fairly future proofed.

I quite like it too and am expecting the F&P credentials to shine through in the points of detail including the materials. My guess is the flat podium between the two blocks is the top floor of the car park they're referring to. Incidentally, looks like we can mainly expect buses that are doing long journeys to use the bus station - hence the airport concourse style facilities which wouldn't really be needed for infra-city journeys. You'd hope that 14 stands will be enough for those hornets - we'll see.

What a shock! pretty different from original vision, I was very impressed/excited by original design and seeing this leaves me somewhat deflated. That said, if materials are good and the whole central square area is generally kept clean, well lit and safe, then we can still look forward to this area looking very good and pretty impressive for visitors (as long as they don't see how much better it was going to look!)

I'm not sure about the knee jerk reaction either. Central Square is being built from scratch. I think it will stand the test of time better if the buildings are good quality and compliment each other. Materials, including public realm, are key. I think rather than having a number of statement buildings all vying for attention (maybe a criticism of the inner harbour...) it would be better if the sum of this scheme is greater than its individual parts.

I'm a bit worried about the removal of the canopy though. Does this mean that the overhaul of the station is being binned/modified? There has been a bit in the papers recently about local politicians exhorting Network Rail to treat Cardiff as a major hub and to put their hands in their pockets.

Also has the rumour that Rightacres have purchased the Brains brewery site mean affected this scheme? Have they gone through a value engineering process to finance that purchase?