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Even more student flats on City Road

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daearegwr

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Even more student flats on City Road

PostWed Dec 07, 2016 11:44 am

Just come across a pre-app for quite a large student flat development at the top end of City Road (ironically enough, right next door to where the fire happened yesterday)
http://www.asbriplanning.co.uk/statutor ... d-cardiff/

Can't see them approving the height on some of those units, totally out of keeping with the surrounding

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Peiriannydd

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Re: Even more student flats on City Road

PostWed Dec 07, 2016 12:04 pm

When I heard the news of the fire I did wonder what development had been proposed. I know I'm cynical but it's based upon experience.

Personally I don't have a problem with it. There's a few mid-rise developments coming to City Road and to be honest, it's a road that needs some investment.

Jantra

Re: Even more student flats on City Road

PostWed Dec 07, 2016 12:23 pm

I think we need to accept that City Road, just like the western end of Adamsdown, is becoming part and parcel of the city centre and higher rise developments are going to happen along this route. It is a main student area after all.

I don't know of any other city centre like Cardiff where the centre quite often ends to abruptly and you are then met with terraced houses. in most other cities the high rises and office blocks reduce in size - a bit like Catherdral Road and Cowbridge Road East...
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daearegwr

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Re: Even more student flats on City Road

PostWed Dec 07, 2016 12:32 pm

Jantra wrote:I think we need to accept that City Road, just like the western end of Adamsdown, is becoming part and parcel of the city centre and higher rise developments are going to happen along this route. It is a main student area after all.

I don't know of any other city centre like Cardiff where the centre quite often ends to abruptly and you are then met with terraced houses. in most other cities the high rises and office blocks reduce in size - a bit like Catherdral Road and Cowbridge Road East...


I've got no issue with the development per se. The planned tall units at the bottom end of City Road work well, even if the design and material being used are cheap. Those units next to the Gaiety are looking pretty tired so ripe for re-development. I think some of the earlier concept designs shown in the design and access statement (page 17) would have worked really well. This final version like a bit like they are trying to cram as much as possible on site.
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Baysailor

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Re: Even more student flats on City Road

PostWed Dec 07, 2016 12:45 pm

The room layouts look fine. A mix of traditional hall style, shared kitchen units and self-contained flats. Glad to see some disabled rooms as well. Now if something could be done with the Gaiety beside it, get rid of the slum landlord estate agents and cheap furniture shops, the area might start to look like a regeneration zone.
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Karl

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Re: Even more student flats on City Road

PostWed Dec 07, 2016 1:24 pm

Utter gash. You just know the materials used will be cheap as hell. These DAS documents are utter crap as well. The architects all sound as though they are re-inventing the wheel and have been earnestly thinking about the project for months when we all know they are tasked with designing as cheap a building as possible with the best possible return for the client with the sole object of making it through planning. Holder Mathias are phoning this in. Utter utter shit.

This design breaks up the small red brick and bathstone trim terrace which is actually (taken as a whole) one of the more pleasant streetscapes in City Rd. The DAS laughably suggests that the tower element is like a church steeple and complements the streetscene. Get a grip you clowns. Have you looked at your own bloody drawings? The design doesn't even relate in any way to the buildings around or the general area in design or use of materials nor does it try.

There is nothing wrong with increasing height and density in an inner city area. But it has to be in context. There are no tall buildings near by (unlike the southern end of City Rd) and like it or not once you get off City Rd it's two storey residential. A tower of this size in this location would be oppressive.

City Rd could be a great road and very complimentary to the city centre offering but it needs careful handling otherwise it becomes a mess. And the interventions from the 60's and 70's on Cathedral Road are really bad precedents - what could have been one of the most complete Victorian throroughfares in Britain has been ballsed up towards the southern end by ill thought, badly designed buildings which are almost all now obsolete.
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RandomComment

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Re: Even more student flats on City Road

PostWed Dec 07, 2016 1:51 pm

Karl wrote:Utter gash. You just know the materials used will be cheap as hell. These DAS documents are utter crap as well. The architects all sound as though they are re-inventing the wheel and have been earnestly thinking about the project for months when we all know they are tasked with designing as cheap a building as possible with the best possible return for the client with the sole object of making it through planning. Holder Mathias are phoning this in. Utter utter shit.


I actually like some DASs but this one is a bit of a joke as you say. The mention of a "church steeple" and the featuring of design concepts that look nothing at all like the final product.

I actually like some of the earlier, lower (but chunkier) designs - especially those that used a mix of stone cladding and red-brick. Something which relates to its surroundings.

The ultimate proposal jars - in a bad way. Too tall, an odd "set back" for the tallest building (and hence a view of an ugly windowless facade as the rest of the development sticks out when approaching from the south). And materials that don't mesh but aren't high enough quality to properly contrast and create interest.

UGLY!
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Cen

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Re: Even more student flats on City Road

PostWed Dec 07, 2016 1:58 pm

It's using that bloody awful standing seam cladding, portacabin material yet again. We need to put a straight ban on this stuff! It's gradually creeping through the city!

Jantra

Re: Even more student flats on City Road

PostWed Dec 07, 2016 2:45 pm

@Karl
reading between the lines, are you for or against this proposal?
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jonbvn

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Re: Even more student flats on City Road

PostSun Dec 11, 2016 9:01 am

Having walked the length of City road several times recently, there is no avoiding the fact that it is a dump. Any change will be an improvement.

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