Former brewery and Royal Mail depot to become sports centre

Kieran Molloy, Local Democracy Reporter

Buildings described as “impossible to let” are set to be transformed into a new gym and padel centre after plans were given the go-ahead.

The former Brains Brewery and Royal Mail depot at Parc Ty Glas in Llanishen, Cardiff, will be converted into a sports facility featuring seven padel courts and an 11,000 sq ft gym.

Cardiff-based property investment firm Avalon Glen has been granted permission by the city council for the redevelopment, which will also retain space for smaller businesses.

Planning documents read: “The proposals will represent an increase in the visual quality of the built environment in this location and arrest visual decay by repurposing and reinventing buildings in a more visually pleasing manner.”

According to the planning officer’s report the “proposed provisions” for the site includes an 11,000sq ft gym, reception, small-scale cafe and other associated facilities, four indoor padel courts and three outside courts.

The padel courts are set to go up at Parc Ty Glas in Llanishen between Ty Glas Avenue and Earlswood Road.

Padel is a racket sport that blends elements of both squash and tennis. It’s usually played in doubles on an enclosed court with players using solid rackets and lower-pressure balls. Scoring is the same as tennis.

The court is similar too with it being divided in the middle by a net and containing service boxes. However a padel court is smaller than a tennis court.

Office block

The new scheme in Llanishen also proposes to demolish the front office block at the site as well as part of the existing warehouse.

Planning documents state: “The proposal retains a good core of employer uses on this tired, outdated employment site.

“The current facility is impossible to let in its current state and the owner is hereby making a considerable investment to change its prospects by sustainable use of the buildings in a new way and adding a modicum of ‘other’ uses.”

A commercial aspect will be retained for the site with smaller business spaces being available. The number of parking spaces for the sports aspect of the site will remain the same but will be “more efficiently laid out” and contain more disabled spaces.

According to the application, the development will bring a “breadth of jobs that the current warehouse does not”.

It continues: “The creation of smaller business units rather than one large one sits well with Cardiff’s excellent ‘high growth of firms’ ethos and allows for places for start-ups to thrive and grow.”

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