The old one's a fine building.

The new one is horrifically banal...all the way down to the 80s style red windows. Really depressing

I walked past the old Rumpoles building yesterday and from what I could see demolition has started.

There is an application in for the demolition of Canton Police station and build of 17 flats over 2 to 4 storeys. An artists impression is here -

http://planning.cardiff.gov.uk/online-applications/files/B55CAEA22FCCE7206CF81E38797F7D1C/13_02071_DCO-Perspective_image29271170000.jpg-1477486.jpg

Looks ok. Shame they couldn't demolish the Iceland next to it at the same time.

There is an application for that patch of Wasteland next to the Cardiff City Stadium (by the Sand Martin), remember it was earmarked to be a hotel with ground floor units, potentially a restaurant etc.

Well the application is in, it's going to be...

A Lidl!

@Karl
looks decent that, I think it will improve the area somewhat. Canton is definitely going higher rise along Cowbridge Road.

@Murf
groan - what can you say. It is a retail park though and PMG will lease to whoever makes them money

The new factory building in the docks is now nearly completed. I understand it will be used for manufacture of steel products which is a welcome sign. I don't know who the manufacturer is. Judging from the size of the crane in front of the shed it could be fairly large or heavy things.

Anyone know what they are building on the land immediately adjacent to the red bridge down on Roath dock - the other side from the Norwegian Church. Doesn't look like anything big but just wondering.

I asked this question the other day (Roath dock thread iirc). I think it was said its going to be a car park for the doctor who expo

so quite a few buildings are nearing completion/started now.

we have got so far:

the admiral building
prospect place
primark store
media centre near the BBC studios
the gmb building
the old blind institute
car park near dr. who.
cardiff and vale college


while these are starting soon...

the pub site near the prison
atrium extension
student flats near barfly
habitat store being turned into two restaurants
liquid/life site

ones i think where something really needs to start and will make a dramatic change to Cardiff is at the:

rapport car park site.
around central station, especially looking forward to demolitions to start around there.
the site next to the chapel would be great to be developed.
the site across from the golden cross.

when will the york hotel be demolished and developed? taking ages for something to happen there.

sure I'm missing some others...

Me guess woyld be that some of the things on your about to start list will take longer than we think, or not at all. I dont think the barfly one will happen soon.

But you can add the Cardiff Met arts department to the nearly done list. And Cardiff uni business school. There is movement in the city.

Random news:

Kemi's Cafe in the Bay has closed! Apparently she is concentrating on the Pontcanna cafe instead. Craft in the Bay are looking for a new tenant...

A new eatery is opening called Munchesters in the former Malaysian cuisine outlet next to O'Neils pub ("St John's Church" one).

Italigo around the corner has closed down. Church St is looking a bit boarded up at the moment.

I'd have rathered the hotel/ground floor units option as well - if I recall the design was 5/6 storeys which would have created a decent bulk along that side of the road, whereas a superstore will be very low-rise.

Having said that, I think Lidl will do well there.

There's another supermarket no far down the road isn't there? Is it Asda. Never really sure about the idea of flats there. Football or any large crowd event can be a nuisance for residents. As for a hotel, again the stadium might have been a draw but it's pretty out of the way isn't it?

Anyone know what is going on the waste land at Callaghan square next to the Salvation army? There were people piling and testing the ground today.

I guess is relates to this:

"Having acquired a yet to be developed five acre parcel of land at the Callaghan Square office scheme from MEPC, the Welsh Government is expected to see construction start on a new 100,000 sq ft office scheme by the end of the year – with completion in late 2015 or early 2016. This will cost in the region of £15m."

From Wales online in June.

Fracking?

They are knocking down the terraced houses on Dumballs road opposite the station, is this a prelude to construction starting at Callaghan Square?

Are you sure they arent to keep the inmates from escaping?

Saw a drilling rig today on Callaghan Square working behind the remains of the terrace on Tresillian terrace/Dumballs Road. Haven't seen a planning app but with the demolition of the old houses and now this somethingmaybe going up soon. Anyone got any news.

Suppose it might just be an extension of the homeless shelter - what any good CBD should have.

Folks, I'm not at all convinced that they are knocking down all of the terraced houses on the corner of Callaghan Square.

It looks to me as if it's just the boarded up ones (about half the row) which are being demolished, but (and I may well be wrong...) the ones with curtains up and fresh bin bags outside are probably inhabited and very likely to remain.

Jantra - that open plan office conversion vision of yours is still a possibility....

It looks like one of the old shops/warehouses on City road is slowly being demolished (opposite Tescos). Any idea why/what will replace?

I have no idea but its long overdue! Whatever replaces it should have some ground floor activity. I really like City Road, there are some decent restaurants. Ideally I'd like to see something happen with the old cinema.

Guess what, a new tesco is opening on cathays terrace.

Isn't it the old petrol station? Dunno when Tesco will finally get the message that people are pretty ambivalent about them to put it kindly.

Yes they'll have some trade but I'm sure that a lot of their convenience stores don't make a lot of money. They're just after market share and bugger the profitabilty.

Simon, its exactly the opposite. Convenience is the fastest growing and one of the most profitable parts of the sector. This reflects the growth of inner urban populations and the decline in car ownership amongst this part of the population (recent years have seen both 0 and 2+ car households grow in number at the expense of 1-car households). And difficulties in finding sites for supermarkets in urban areas. The prices are generally pretty similar to the main Tesco stores, but they tend to stock different items - less 'Everyday value', more finest, convenience and other high-margin items.

Its not really a dash for market share.. its a dash for one of the few profitable directions for organic growth.

In answer to Simon - yes it is the old petrol station. It's at the library end of Cathays Terrace. I think there are two floors of flats above as well.

I don't know if this is old news or not, but there is a MGY 'under offer' sign on the wasteland which stands alongside Mount Stuart primary school.

 Here it is 


It's that undeveloped patch of land which has the very ugly concrete rendered building - apparently some sort of sub-station - alongside it. Quite an eyesore, to say the least, for any potential developer to build around.

New hostel given permission on westgate street. Building empty for eight years. Good stuff if it works out for them.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/former-office-transformed-five-star-hostel-6463873

CCS Lidl also given approval.

oh classy why not just stick a few pound lands there to sure it will enhance the area

Makes sense to have a Lidl rather than a Travel Tavern type place.

I'm looking forward to seeing this finished.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/local-news/former-cardiff-nightclub-square-turned-6470029

Unless I mis-read the article it doesn't say when they'll start on the conversion or when it is expected to open.

Anyone know ?

I don't know either Kyle, although I notice that the licensing conditions mean that the venue can only open until 11pm. Frankly, that's pathetic and will inevitably lead to a costly appeal at some stage. Just two doors up one outlet (I think it's called a:m now) proudly boasts that it opens until 6am. Previously the Square was open until at least 2am and although the licence may have lapsed or been granted before the Saturation Zone nonsense was introduced I would have thought that the type of outlet that is being proposed would not add to potential public order problems. If so why the draconian licensing conditions? My local pub in the middle of a suburban housing estate opens later every day of the week.

The same conditions apply to La Bodega in High Street. The common denominator between these two outlets is that they are aimed at an older, higher end clientele. I thought this was what we were trying to encourage to diversify the night time offering and encourage older people to see the city centre as an entertainment destination. I get the feeling the Council simply impose these type of conditions (no doubt aided and abetted by the SWP) as some sort of automatic reflex without actually considering what they are doing.

This is good news for the media sector in the city. 65 new jobs and a new organisation.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/business/business-news/american-entrepreneur-launch-amateur-sports-6477751

I would love for them to move down the bay, maybe in the Cardiff Waterside or Roath Basin developments.

It'll be interesting to see where they end up, but regardless it's good to see Cardiff has been selected over the likes of Manchester.

But Cardiff's only been selected because £500k of our money has been given to this business on a plate. Depressing really. When will people realise this sort of thing is ultimately impoverishing? You could get an ice cream seller to relocate to the South Pole if you paid it enough, but can anyone ever seriously think that distorting behaviour in that way is the way to create wealth?!

Didn't Admiral only come to Cardiff because of a similar deal? Was that a bad thing?