There are indeed plans for a coffee shop / mini shop (Tesco Express sort of thing) on the ground floor.

Re prices, I actually think they'll be put up for more than what I would expect in this climate. My block was the latest to be built, and each apartment sold since went for a fair bit more than what they were bought off Bellway for originally (2 beds with sea views_. Whilst I don't know what was paid, one recently went up for £235k, and was sold fairly quickly (the info isn't yet available on zoopla).

The sales office was due to open today, but has been delayed to Sat 6th April as they're still looking at prices.

there is an interesting render of Horizon in this weeks Penarth Times. sorry I can't find it online

mothballed?

I want the top floor! how many apartments is that I wonder? coupla lottery wins maybe. If not the whole floor I'd settle for the front right corner

Just as an update they are currently laying reinforcing rods on the floor now they seem to have finished the woodwork. Nothing much to photograph.

The top floor is 3 apartments. The top couple of floors have no balconies / outside space, and aren't 'penthouse style' as in they follow the same layout as the floors below. Plans are here: http://planning.cardiff.gov.uk/online-applications/files/29B735E6786B3890DF7B51B04B8CFE70/pdf/12_01384_DCI-6288115A21323590000.PDF-901373.pdf

The best floor would be the 14th floor, as it has the only apartment with a proper terrace. It is also positioned to get the sun in the living area. Plans are here: http://planning.cardiff.gov.uk/online-applications/files/5F6C7C7E00A2F4F8D1FF2B910D2280AB/pdf/12_01384_DCI-6288114A21323590000.PDF-901372.pdf

The lower floors have a standard design, similar to the upper floors, except with balconies. From experience of the apartments at Ferry Court, the apartments on the right would have the best views, however, these receive no sun at all. In winter you need the heating on constantly. I imagine it to be similar to this, except without the balcony accessible from the lounge http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-40545632.html

The apartment nearest the front on the right does have a balcony, and would get limited sun (due to the design of it being 'boxed in'). This is personal opinion, but, I wouldn't want people traipsing through my bedroom to get to the balcony. In terms of apartments with the best sunlight, this would be the 2 bed at the back left. This has the most open balcony design, the sun will be on this most of the day, however, it has the least water views. Plans are here: http://planning.cardiff.gov.uk/online-applications/files/C89C9F40D3597622B211AB88B48277E1/pdf/12_01384_DCI-6288102A21323590000.PDF-901370.pdf

I believe Ferry Court is very similar to Watermark in this respect, you can have the view, or you can have the sun (when it does shine that is).

FYI in terms of prices, I know the Watermark penthouse is up for over half a million, and the most expensive penthouse sold at Ferry Court a little while ago for just under $450k. A 2 bed in my block with a large terrace was on the market for £235k a little while ago and sold relatively quickly.

Hope that was of some interest

http://www.penarthtimes.co.uk/news/10320574.Tower_set_for_Penarth_Marina_skyline/?ref=mmsp

I do not believe the article is very accurate. It talks of the apartment tower at Ferry Court and then appears to get it confused with the Sports Village Scheme "Construction on the Cardiff Pointe scheme, making up more than 600 new homes including two apartment towers of 23 and 27 storeys which will cantilever out over the water, is due to begin pending an agreement over a section 106 deal".

The main focus of the article is Prospect Place, but it is not unreasonable to also mention the other schemes planned for the vicinity. It reads like an advertisement-feature. By giving an image that this will soon be a thriving waterside location, it makes the apartments that are actually being built seem more appealing.

Building update.

Since the crane was built the builders have been laying shuttering and reinforcing rods on the new floor to be. Now at last they are are pouring concrete !

Do we suspect they are just carrying on from where they left off a few years back, or have they needed to any extra work preparing the structure because there has been such a long pause in construction?

I'm no builder but it ocurred to me that as there are differences in the flats - more 2 bedroom ones for example - that the floor being built and the floors above might be a different layout than that originally. Could the new floor be load bearing?

It would seem they just 'carried on from where they left off' in 2008.

All they would of needed to do is break of a small amount of concrete that was exposed to the air and had begun to carbonate and clean the steelwork of any oxidisation (rust).

All exposed steelwork was coated then wrapped in plastic sheeting before being finally covered in a wooden 'shell' back in late 2008. Concrete too was painted with a 'sealant' but how long does that last??

I like it in this render, still no news on prices

The sales office opening was delayed to today, but it has been delayed again.

Patience...it'll give you a little longer to save up

You may be saving a little longer than planned. They intend to market 1 beds from £149k. Prices will go up to £250/260k approx.

I thought you might enjoy a beautiful dawn over Cardiff Bay

You are a very talented photographer, sir!

Very nice. "Red sky in the morning, shepherds warning," though.

The earlier photo was worse from a red sky point of view!

Nice to see the 'mill pond' effect too. Not often 'available'.

A Friday update: the new floor concrete construction appears to be completed and now they are starting to lay the infrastructure to support the next floor.

Friday update: the 8th storey is now pretty well ready for concrete to be poured. the original shuttering for the floor below has been removed. I see a sign offering flats for £711 per month has been put up. And visitors have been visiting the selling office.

Thanks for the update Baywatcher! I actually had to count the floors to make certain that it had grown.

How many floors is it going to be?

You never cease to amaze me!

I'm going to take that as a compliment.

I believe the final height will be 18 storeys. So 10 to go!!

In terms of height the highest height of the crane hook is 67.5 metres so it will be something below that

One of my friends recently took this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcwilliams88/8605905475/in/photostream

Which is quite good at putting the height in perspective.

Cool pic

Just for fun I thought I would show some idea of how tall it should be based on the floors so far.

Thanks for that. Useful 'view'.

Pity the prat in the car in the pic doesn't drive on the tarmac 'road' instead of the 'bricked' footpath!

So will all these appartments be sold?

T block is only 76 apartments out of approx. 200 to be built on the site. No plans as of yet to complete the remaining 2 blocks. I'll try and get a photo of the site model if I can at some point.

Nice editing Baywatcher! You clearly have quite a lot of skill with photoshop, something I'm jealous of!

I've just been to visit the sales office.

Cheapest 1 bed £164k. Prices increase £2k per floor. 3 have been sold with more being reserved.

There's obviously money out there, as I know the service charge budget for the block isn't being set until Tuesday. I know of some apartments on site where the service charge is over £4k a year.

I'm going to go and look at my dictionary now as I seem to have misunderstood the word recession!

Friday update. They have now nearly finished the pillars on the 8th floor with the final concrete being poured so next week they start on the next and that's half way (I think)!

Thanks ^^

The brochure is out, 1 beds from £149,000.

Brochure - http://www.bellway.co.uk/Publish/DevelopmentBrochure/edeed5d2-5b2b-43fc-a5ba-00c17b9e8d17/HorizonProspectPlaceBrochure.pdf

Type 2 from £201k
Type 3 from £211k
Type 4 from £156k (1 bed)
Type 5 from £156k (1 bed)
Type 6 from £186k

Floors 5, 6,7 and 8 currently on sale. Prices above are for floor 5, and increase at £2k per floor.

Bank holiday update: The eighth floor is nearly ready for concreting

This webpage from Bellway is interesting!

http://www.bellway.co.uk/new-homes/wales/horizon-@-prospect-place

as aesthetically pleasing as those renders/photos are, i often wonder why the developers put the double beds in a broom cupboard for these marketing brochures

They are having an open say this Sunday to showcase the show apartment with "calipso" music, as much as i like the sounds of the Caribbean i cant understand how they relate to this part of the world?

Anyone planning on going along for research?

If the BBQ they're having is research, then yes!

It's not quite "calypso" but it's pretty close. I give you the late, great Victor Parker.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM2bDaeMuJ0

- not the Belway knew that!

We all see tower cranes, and the one at prospect place is a prime example, as a barometer of the local economy. So I thought this FT article was interesting:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/dafd13d4-b3fc-11e2-b5a5-00144feabdc0.html

The embedded graph is interesting and all I can say is thank the Lord we are not in N. Ireland! But where in Wales are the rest of the Tower Cranes or is the total for Wales all in Cardiff.

Wait, there's more to Wales than Cardiff? I thought that the country started and ended with the city!

I don't imagine that there is much in terms of development outside of Cardiff, but one Jack I met told me how Swansea was "Ranked up alongside New York, London, and Tokyo as one of the world's financial centres." Now, I've been to London, New York, and Tokyo, and I can tell you for certain, that Swansea is nothing like anything of them. It's more like Downtown Mogadishu, or Mordor.

As for Northern Ireland, I think the reason that it ranks so low is because of the terrorism. It has gotten better, but it still happens, and investors won't build something if they think it might be blown up within a couple of months, though Belfast has seen quite a lot of regeneration and development.