I'm increasingly thinking the pierhead street site might be used for the Arena/Conference centre that Cardiff Council want to build - if that still goes ahead - and if its big enough (I've looked, and it might be a bit tight).

Why? Because it looks like they've lost the Callaghan Square site with the WG building more offices on the south side of the square. Phase I could commence relatively shortly, although that could then lead to a bit of a glut on the market (given Capital Square 1, Capital Square 2, Capital Quarter 1 and Capital Quarter 2 - too many Capitals!) unless we do get a couple of Barclays, HSCB or PwC to committ to the city.

And the more I think about it, it could actually work fairly decently if they get public transport to the bay working correctly. In the short term they could put on a more frequent and longer train service on event nights. Together with the Bay Car this would provide quite a lot of capacity. You've also got large car parks at Cardiff Waterside and at Atlantic Wharf (which remains under-utilised). And in the medium-to-longer term you've got the proposed tram-train (which such a scheme might help facilitate).

Having the conference centre near the bay would surely give a good impression of the city - at least in the summer. There would be quite a lot of restaurants nearby (Mermaid Quay) And it would provide a boost to getting more hotels down the bay. I recall 2 hotels were planned as part of the Igloo scheme but its gone quiet - this could give them some leisure and conference customers too. And could see a hotel in the old Merchant Place scheme too.

The entrance for the Arena would have to be as far as possible from Celestia - close to the car park pedestrian entrance, say. And I'd probably make the Pierhead Street and Bute Place roads narrower to accomodate a bit extra space for the building, and to allow wider pavements. But it looks like a possible plan to me.