A little article in the echo today saying that Rightacres have sold Helmont house for £10m which will enable them to move forward with the construction of 130,000sq ft of grade a offices at the old glass needle site - up to 10 storeys high. Commencing early 2014 and completing summer 2015. Also a second phase hotel could follow. Can't find a link but maybe someone knows more on this story - or planning aps renders etc.....

(fair play to Jantra - i think it was, who predicted that rightacres get things done!!)

Good news. But isn't 2015 a little early for an opening date?

PS: Jantra, are you psychic?

I think it was Karl who originally said it, I think I just agreed with him. Not sure really as my memory is not great. What is disappointing is that we are going to get offices ever so slightly taller than what was there ten years ago. That's rubbish and an indictment of how poor our commercial property sector actually is.

Another downside is that rightacres commercial offices are usually anodyne moving towards bland and uninspiring. Whilst it is good to see this plot having something done to it, the fact it is rightacres doesn't fill me with confidence

If it is 130,000 square feet, however, its a decent size. That has got to be one of the largest speculative builds ever in Cardiff. Maybe even the largest (was the Lloyds 'Blackhorse' building spec or pre-let; ditto Brunel House?).

Can't find anything online either though.. the new website seems to miss half the stories from the paper. Maybe this is deliberate to encourage buying the hard copy (I understand that). But I wouldn't mind paying 20p to read it online (or 5p an article).

The new college on Dumballs Road is Rightacres and that looks pretty good. That's for a client of course - their spec builds are a bit bland.

but they are responsible for some absolute stinkers of buildings

Can someone tell me what rightacres have been responsible for? I genuinely don't know. I'd love to see great new builds popping up, but don't we also need to be realistic in this post-crash world?

Go on their website.

Off the top of my head some of Rightacres projects include Heywood House in Dumfries Place, Lloyds TSB and AA buildings in CS/Penarth Rd, the Arriva Trains building in Penarth Rd, Tesco in the Heath, some crap in Newport Rd whose name escapes me.....

"anonymous forum"

I don't know about banning M but you're walking on thin ice!!!

ps. Am I the only one that quite likes the Arriva trains building!!

Didnt know where to put this, so its here as it is kind of near Wood Street (couldnt find general developments thread).

The old post office is being put up for sale. It is currently empty. COuld bring some activity to round there:

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/business/commercial-property/former-cardiff-head-post-office-5376621

beautiful building

So let me get this straight... BT are paying £853,000 a year for an unoccupied building?

says it all about BT - the most useless company in the world at telecommunication and wasting money.

If you live in a block of flats or are in businees in Cardiff - look at Hyperoptic - they are offering speeds of up to 1gb symmetrical.

Who do you think, if anyone, would be interested?

Also, what happened with the propsoed hotel behind there?

And whilst on Wood Street - any news at all on developments? This Enterprise Zone seems to have done nothing of benefit...

That building would lend itself well to being a five star luxury hotel with top end restaurant and cocktail bar on the ground floor.

However, given its location and the current climate it will most likely be carved up and shared between Travelodge, Harvester and JD Wetherspoon

Have heard that the St David's House plot will not be redeveloped as part of the new CBD/enterprise zone scheme.

Instead, the landlord is looking at the possibility of internal and external refurbishments. It has recently taken on a few long leases on some of the office and retail space, including one to Tesco, who will occupy 4 of the ground floor retail units.

Although the building is a bit of an eyesore, I think it could be turned into a reasonable-looking building without spending a fortune and with a bit of TLC.

I actually quite like the middle section, although the east and west wings are, admittedly, absolute stinkers at the moment. Some new cladding and windows and some decent tenants on the ground floor (who look after their shop fronts) aren't going to be enough to blow the minds of visitors to the city, admittedly, but they could still make a big difference, I think.

I’ve been thinking about Central Square and St Davids house. Whilst at the station I’ve been day dreaming that Saint Davids House could be re-cladded to give it a more modern vibrant feel. I think if it was done with a view to longevity rather than modern passing fads in architecture it could hold up well for a few years yet. I also think that re-cladding northgate/southgate towers and putting a couple of variable height towers behind St Davids where Thompson House used to be would give a lot of variation in height if you factor in the BT tower. That would be a statement back drop as you exit the station. I’d also open out the square entirely having a minimalist bus station integrated into a totally knocked down and redeveloped Marland House thus allowing a huge open plaza to be created flanked on its left by the new rightacres development.

That’s my vision. Can’t see it happening though

Forgive me for being a tad anorak, but did you know that St Davids House was developed in two stages, the shops and floors 1 to 3 in the early sixties and at the end of the decade the last two floors were added. Closer inspection will reveal that the brickwork on the upper levels is a slightly different shade.

There I've said it.

Marriott/ikea hotels are still looking at cardiff, i'm quite certain it must be the planned phase 2 of the old glass needle site.

Or redevelop the existing marriot site??..

Ad also, a bit of the Union on Newport road treatment wouldn't hurt - that would improve the appearance of the building and square quite considerably.

Any news on Marland House? No point putting lipstick on a pig there...

The current Marriott is too difficult and expensive to develop, if its not refurbished within a few years then i can see it becoming a 3 star or budget hotel, with Marriott moving their brand somewhere else.

No news it seems whatsoever about this site!! and while I'm moaning, I'll chuck the plot of land where the echo used to be and callaghan square in as well. OK that it short and sweet or should I say bitter!! anyone 'in the know' on any of these non-projects? Go on even if you're making it up, so fed up with year after year of nothingness!! and walking past ever more depressing hoardings.

I'd be interested to know how you think banks magic money into existence?

Money - as a means of exchange - has allowed more complicated economic systems to develop. Without it we would still be bartering and living in mud huts

Lots of left wing bluster. Do you actually know what banks do? Do you know the difference between investment banking and commercial banking? Your post would suggest not. Perhaps you can explain how boe purchasing government credit has resulted in the gilt holders earning hundreds of millions as you have suggested? Whilst we are at it consider what happens when the Gilts mature and the government has to pay back its borrowing to its own central bank?

Banks bring those with money but don't need it now and those who have no money but a need for it now together. Banking is nothing more than that. To suggest they don't add value to an economy is ludicrous. Without banks businesses would not have access to capital and the economy would stall.

I can't be bothered going in to detail here but your post snacks of someone who follows left wing ideology without giving too much thought to reality. So my parting remark is that investments banks did not cause the crash, it was the retail banks and their profligate lending which lead to the housing bubble and the collapse of the mortgage market. Without the investment divisions generating the profits they did between 2008-2012, the recession and recovery would have been a whole lot worse as more bancassurers would have failed

PHEW!! have they gone

where were we.. anyone know anything about wood street? L & G?

You still have no idea what investment banks do. I've asked a very simple question and it would be useful to see if you know what it is you're talking about. Lets give an example...A pension fund holds gilts but wishes to make use of the liquidity premium available from a negative basis trade. Who do you think facilitates the swap purchasing the corporate credit and the CDS backing the credit? It's the investment houses. The pension funds get a better return which benefits their policyholders in better annuity yields and lower premiums.