Contact: Paul Tel: 0790 3366 024  Email: paulsims349@gmail.com

About The Developments Map
The purpose of this map is to show all ongoing developments in Cardiff city centre/Cardiff Bay, to provide a render of the finished development, the planning application and photographic development updates. Also proposed developments in the city centre of Cardiff. There are also links from existing structures and other sites of interest. The map is ever evolving and I intend it to be THE place on the internet with such information on Cardiff city developments and construction projects and all on one page!
Also on the map are all City Centre Hotels and major student accomodation residencies with links for students looking for rental accomodation. Cardiff now has many BTR co-living developments and the map shows all of them in city centre and Cardiff Bay area with link to websites for further information / to rent.

Manhattan we are not! but...
There's no denying that the Cardiff skyline has changed significantly over the last couple of decades and that trend continues with a fair number of high-rise developments planned or underway. This is my flickr album showing our evolving skyline. As a matter of interest my favourite view of our skyline is from Pembroke terrace on the Penarth headland up by St Augustines church (latest photos from here now in album following my visit on 19th Jan 2020). Whilst even I accept we will never have a skyline to rival bigger cities, our city centre is quite small and therefore even though the buildings we have and those in the pipeline are not very tall, the fact that they are contained in a compact area does make for an interesting skyline, so we haven't got Manhattan, canary Wharf or even Manchester looking nervously over their shoulders, but nevertheless we can still achieve a pretty impressive skyline for a smallish city.

NEWS : NEWS :: NEWS june 26
alas plenty of NO NEWS on all of the significant developments in the pipeline, no site activity at plot 5 (the biggy!) nor at Custom Street tower, John Street North or Friary house. there is piling activity at Harlech court, but it doesnt look like construction is all systems go? (apparently it is now officially under construction) So I'll be watching that space and updating my flickr album page for it regularly. Nothing of any particular interest happening at the huge embankment site or indeed at east bay close. In Penarth Road piling on the traders yard seems to be complete, but as with Harlech court it doesn't look like full on construction is iminent?

DEVELOPMENT:

Planning App - Approved

-

new Planning App

Plenty going on and if you are impatient like me then plenty not going on! It looks like work on new 6th form college at the end of Bute st is nearly complete and will be on course to welcome students in September 26, also student accomodation nearing completion at nearby pierhead st. so they'll have somewhere to sleep! the new campus has brought the fine old cory's building back to its original splendour, it was looking very grim before the 6th form college decided on it as the location of new campus. The new 16,500 arena is shaping up nicely and although a long way from completion, looking likely to achieve the 2028 opening, very excited to be getting this arena in Cardiff bringing thousands more visitors weekly to the city and perhaps specifically the bay area. New mermaid quay carpark now open and goldbeck seem to be close to completion of another multi storey carpark in what was the red dragon carpark. Work is likely to start in earnest soon on the tramline from south of central station, across callaghan sq, and down to cardiff bay station. this will be an impressive way for those folk going to the new arena to be zipped down the track and within very close proximity to destination, also will be great in general for visitors to cardiff bay, and of course people who work down there. so that's the main and substantial developments going on but...

what's not going on? quite a list.... and these are only my observations and of course plenty may be going on that I am unaware of. The real biggy is the 50 storey tower, plot 5 central square, our 1st actual skyscraper if built and it has planning approval, again only observation but nothing happening at site as of june 26. Then that plot opposite golden cross pub recently getting approval for 33storey tower 105.6 metres. no activity at site at all, but this was only recently approved so fingers crossed. Still in the area is the Harlech court tower 100metres on bute terrace. piling underway but whilst the site is reasonably busy, it just doesn't look like full on construction is underway. Then north john street where two towers, one of 28 storeys and the other 18 are proposed for more BTR apartments by Grainger PLC this scheme will also bring back to life the railway arches in the area, anyway as of june 26 zero activity on site. Moving North to the top of town a large student accomodation tower has approval to replace friary house - just across the road from capital tower, well it's been approved but the seemingly empty friary house and the derelict looking old night club on corner still standing, so a lot of demolishing needs to be done before this proceeds and last time I wandered by quite recently no demolition is underway. so these are some of the bigger developments it would be nice to see get underway, but plenty of smaller ones dotted around city centre that are not moving at any pace. Suffolk house still standing at Trade St. on penarth road soapy joes still soapy and the garage next to it still in business and yet approval for appartments at this location has been achieved, mind you the old SET building has been demolished and piling seemingly completed for appartments in this row. But a bit like Harlech court it just doesn't seem like full on construction underway. Also in town the old Howells building redevelopment seems to be moving at a snails pace - if at all. no signs of activity for new hotel above sainsbury at the end of queen st either. Anyway as I said earlier I'm pretty impatient with developments so perhaps many or all will be underway soon. I'll keep map updated to advise on any movements

If all the developments that have been approved or are awaiting approval were to proceed in 2026

Cardiff city centre/bay would just be one big building site! 0f course that won't happen. But what am I hoping gets underway in 2026? it's quite a list. Actually to begin, what is underway at this moment.

The new 6th form campus in Cardiff Bay will be completed and operational this year! surely this will inject life into the area at the end of Bute St. and the cory and merchant place buildings will be rejuvenated by their transformation. So that's 600 students on a daily basis occupying the buildings and many living in the area. This will be a great boost for historic lower Bute street
PLANNING APPLICATION :: WEBSITE

The student accommodation development at pierhead st will presumably be completed and occupied by sept this yr.
PLANNING APPLICATION :: WEBSITE

Whilst still in the area the other very significant development is our new 16,500 arena at Atlantic Wharf which will be very advanced by the end of 2026 - bringing it's own potential excitement to the area. Not sure if travelodge will have been demolished by the end of year but the new one behind arena will probably be topped out by dec26 also MSCP 900 space multi storey car park under construction in red dragon car park, this look like it could be completed by the end of 2026
PLANNING APPLICATION :: WEBSITE

MORE INFO

So generally in Cardiff Bay there's plenty going on! Although some projects have gone quiet or maybe are just no longer procceding ie Baltic House conversion to appartments with 6 storey extension, this was approved in april 24 but no sign of any work commencing on site?
PLANNING APPLICATION :: WEBSITE

also in the area the proposal of 58 residential units on wasteland off adelaide street/James St seems to have dissapeared?



Mermaid Quay is getting a New multi storey car park that should be open this summer. This is twice the size of the original car park with two more storeys and providing an additional 300 spaces
PLANNING APPLICATION :: WEBSITE

God knows where we are with the latest plans for the Sports Village, but perhaps in 2026 we'll hear of even more plans but with no actual work bringing those plans to fruition. Let's face it the number of visions for the Sports Village is off the clock... Mini Manhattan, Dubai style towers, Super casino, 7 star hotel, Ski Slope, Velodrome... apologies if I've missed any pie in the sky ISV Fantasy! But surely the area does have potential so just maybe in 2026 we'll see something get off the ground!?
From 2022! and no movement on any of this, but nevertheless: LATEST PLANS

Moving towards city centre... on the atlantic wharf side we have the proposed and approved student accom. development, The Wharf. This was approved nov. 25 no activity on site as of jan 26, but it's only been 2 months since approval so perhaps we'll see some activity soon/this year?
PLANNING APPLICATION :: ARCHITECT

On the other side of bute st/ Dumballs road we have the Embankment development with approval signed in 2023 21/00783/MJR. This is a significant development to the west of dumballs road. No construction is underway yet but the site is slowly being cleared. The laundry was demolished late 2025, this project will be phased so hopefully we'll learn something "concrete" pardon the pun about phase 1 before the end of 2026 
PLANNING APPLICATION :: WEBSITE  

Approaching the city centre the next development that has planning approval subject to completion of a section 106 agreement is Trade Street Gardens, that's 245 rental apartments, pretty much replacing sussex house. That's a 12 storey structure at it's tallest, an empty Sussex house is still standing at the site with no sign of any demolition? whether this development proceeds - who knows! But if it is going to be built then surely we'll see something happening on site during 2026

Just around the corner in Penarth Road is Fifty Five which was given approval in feb 26, so it's a 68 unit 8 storey co living development. So this coulfd be full steam ahead but as of the end of feb soapy joes is still soapy and various businesses in the other site unit still open.

PLANNING APP

Just Next door to fifty five is another proposed apartments development. over 12 storeys, at tallest, "Traders Yard" has had it's planning Application Approved. At this moment at the end of feb 26, asset house and its accompanying warehouse are being demolished, so the site will probably be cleared sometime in march, we'll then perhaps see contractor (I think maybe intelle) moving in and construction proceed.

PLANNING APP

MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS
Central Quay
Capital Quarter
Central Square
Canal Quarter

In my dreams!.. I would love to see a building of 150m (so it actually qualifies as a skyscraper!) constructed in the city centre with an observation platform or bar/restaurant at the top. A mixed use tower perhaps offices/apartment/hotel I'm sure would be a very welcome addition to our city centre. A centrepeice to the capital city of Wales skyline, a welcome message to visitors that we are a forward thinking city! The views on offer at this height would be superb in every direction - To the North... upto the Brecon Beacons, (ok it would have to be located so you can see up the Taff valley) to the South... views over Cardiff bay, the Bristol channel and over to South West England, and all above The castle, The Stadium, Civic centre, Bute Park and a decent number of high rise buildings to make the views more interesting when buildings lit at night! As a matter of interest I'm actually saving up for the construction of this development - reckon I can get it done for £100m so progress is slow, and to date I'm approx. £100m from breaking ground! Ok I did say in my dreams!!    :)

The Developments Map
The purpose of this map is to show all ongoing developments in Cardiff city centre/Cardiff Bay, to provide a render of the finished development, the planning application and photographic development updates. Also proposed development in the city centre of Cardiff. There are also links from existing structures and other sites of interest. The map is ever evolving and I intend it to be THE place on the internet with such information on Cardiff city developments and construction projects and all on one page!
Also on the map are all City Centre hotels and major student accomodation residencies with links for students looking for rental accomodation. Cardiff now has many BTR co-living developments and the map shows all o them in city centre and Cardiff Bay area with link to websites for further information / to rent.

Cardiff city centre/Cardiff Bay visitor map
I produce an a4 Cardiff visitor map, folded to DL size 450gsm card gloss laminated both sides - more info/purchase here