Central Square

The council should be asking serious questions. This is not just about the bus station. This is about the townscape of a dominant city centre site. "Do we really want this travesty towering over the charming buildings of St Mary Street?" should be the question of the day. Especially after the excellent "competition winning design" originally put forward. It's disgusting how they've taken both the council and the public for mugs. You'd think at this stage of their growth, Rightacres' main concern should be public image and prestige, not making a quick buck at the expense of their own portfolio.

It's quite telling that the only mention of this project on Foster + Partner's website features the old design!

The council should insist on the use of a finish similar to number 1 - this is a prime central location. If Right acres can't deliver then drop them and give it to someone who can.

Yeah its pretty disgraceful. The old design was brilliant, expecially with the glass canopy connecting the to the rail which made the design look more closed in and futuristic like something youd see in London. Now we have some sort of fucking square of metal dumped on the ground

And also, how is that bus station going to have enough capacity for all the bus routes that are going to use it? Cardiff's old bus sation had like 34 stands, no? 34 to 14... hmm..

Cardiff bus has about 45 routes (75% of which used the old station). On top of that theres probably another 20 routes which are less frequent that used the old bus station.

If we assume the about 75% the bus routes in the city use the station, and come every 20 mins.. 45 x 3 = 135

and the buses come this often from 9 - 5.. 135 x 8 = 1,080 buses a day. (9-5)

1080 / 14 = 77 buses using each space a day

77 / 8 = around 10 buses using each space each hour, thats a new bus coming in, every 6 minutes.

This bus station will be a nightmare, lol. Unless they put much less than half the bus services at the bus station. But what would be the point of a bus station that no buses would go to. I would seriously suggest to anyone who knows a member Cardiff's planning committee to reconsider this bus station. It needs at least double the spaces.

It looks like utter shit and I can't believe that Foster + Partners have their name anywhere near something as awful as that.

I don't want to go on and blame the architect's entirely for this, as they will be under a fair amount of instruction from their client (either ISG or Rightacres, depending on where they are with the scheme), particularly with regards to costs that impact on material choice. But, Fosters need to take a good long look at this and ask themselves what the hell they are doing.

I don't want to stir the nationalist pot here, but this is something that really really pisses. We had a Cardiff-based architectural practice packed with really promising, up-and-coming Welsh professionals (i.e. Rio Architects) do a cracking job on One Central Square. Now I understand they put in for the entire master plan of the site and had some good designs put forward, particularly for St David's House plot. Instead, the developers have gone with a "signature" London-based architect and they've produced utter shit and tried to batter back criticism with the strength of their reputation.

I'm not so parachial as to suggest that we shouldn't use internationally reknowned architects for landmark projects here in Cardiff, but if we do, get them to deliver! Otherwise, let's have our own people who live and work in Cardiff to develop the future of their city.

Completely agree. I can't believe somebody at F+P looked at this and thought "Yeah that works!". I hope they at least put in some harsh conditions of approval at the meeting. If they're going to keep this design then at least clad it in a better material. I wouldn't put that crap on my garden shed.

The planning committee meeting for the interchange building is underway for those who are interested:

https://cardiff.public-i.tv/core/portal ... ive/275227

Unbelievable! There are no carpark facilities provided for the residential and office areas of the interchange. It's only the BBC. And this is considered good as it's "sustainable"!

This looks like it will get approved purely through pressure to build a bus station. No talk of either the residential or office blocks. And it's bloody typical that two councillors had to abstain due to their relationships with Cardiff Bus!

I think most of them genuinely like it from the sounds of what they're saying.