New ‘creative centre’ plans for capital

Kieran Molloy Local Democracy Reporter

Plans have been put in place to turn the ground floor of a Cardiff office block into a ‘creative centre’.

Ardour Academy Ltd is a non-profit organisation which offers “mind, body and soul” activities and workshops at The Globe Centre in Cardiff.

It has lodged an application with Cardiff Council to relocate to the ground floor of 29 Windsor Place, near the city centre.

The applicant said that this relocation “presents a valuable opportunity” to offer its “valuable services in a more central location”.

Planning documents read that the new site is the “optimum size for the company to operate, generating further employment in the city centre”.

At the current location, the company’s services and workshops include sign language, drawing and craft, dancing, yoga, and serving drinks to customers who attend these activities.”

It also offers “online and in-person counselling sessions and courses on stress management, well-being and conflict management”.

The new site, 29 Windsor Place, is a mid-terraced, three-storey period building which has been comprehensively refurbished.

According to the application, “the ground floor of the site… has been underutilised since the Covid-19 Pandemic and is not fulfilling its potential for employment generation.”

It is also a grade II listed building, however the development is limited to a “material change of use only” with no internal or external changes proposed.

If approved, the development is to generate seven jobs (three directors and four volunteers) plus an additional 10 part-time subcontractors.

The application reads: “In the evenings and weekends, the services include a regular timetable of dance classes, yoga, drawing and crafts and private room hire.”

It continues: “The site is located in a non-residential area with the surrounding units typically open between 8am and 6pm and closed at the weekends.

“The nearest residential properties are located at Windsor House Student Accommodation, approximately 75m south of the site.

“The proposed development would therefore have no unacceptable impact on sensitive receptors in terms of noise generation.”