Plans for major city tourist attractions remain on track
Plans to bring two new major attractions to Cardiff Bay are still progressing, according to the developers behind the proposals.
Plans for an outdoor floating swimming pool and a 90m viewing platform were unveiled in December 2022.
Cardiff Council’s cabinet members gave their approval not long after to an in-principle agreement to dispose of land at Cardiff Bay to Nordic Urban and Skyview, who will deliver the swimming pool and viewing platform respectively.
A Nordic Urban spokesperson said it “very much intends for the development to go ahead”.
The Finland-based company has an outdoor swimming facility, similar to what it is proposing for Cardiff, in Helsinki.
Docks
The development, proposed for two of the Mount Stewart Graving Docks, would also include a sauna, restaurant, outdoor seating and multi-purpose spaces for events and wellness activities.
However, a planning application has not yet been submitted to Cardiff Council.
The Nordic Urban spokesperson added: “During the last year we have worked on the various necessary contracts and studied the preconditions for design further.
“This has taken us slightly longer than we anticipated, but has to be done before entering into the next phase of the project.”
Nordic Urban has proposed bringing similar facilities to other cities across the world, including New York, Stockholm and Oslo.
A Skyview spokesperson insisted the company’s Cardiff project is “still on” and that it has undertaken a pre-planning application.
Atlantic Wharf
The spokesperson added the company is now waiting for the remaining elements of the Atlantic Wharf development to fall into place.
Skyview’s 90m high balloon ride with a rotating viewing platform has been proposed for unused land close to the Red Dragon Centre.
Cardiff Council was given the go ahead by cabinet members in 2023 to sign an agreement with Live Nation to allow enabling works for a new arena planned for Cardiff Bay to commence.
Construction on the 15,000 capacity arena, which is part of a scheme to redevelop Atlantic Wharf, could begin in June 2024.
Skyview, like Nordic Urban, is yet to submit a full planning application.
The Skyview spokesperson added: “Hopefully, the project will move significantly forward in the very near future.”
The proposed viewing platform would give panoramic views of the city and the waterfront of up to 20 miles.
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One question, If a company from Finland built the Allas Sea Pool in Helsinki. Finland with a population of only 5.6 million population is proposing to build a centre for Wales. Why can’t Wales a country of 3.5 million afford to build its own centre in Cardiff Bay ? Is it because we consent to giving our tax to a neighbouring country (the UK) and they only return a small fraction of our real wealth ? We need to think of Wales as a pertental rich country, just like Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark as an independent country. This Labour… Read more »
There is certainly something very wrong if, as I read recently, Wales nets the Treasury £35 billion in taxes and yet draws down a mere £20 billion to finance the Welsh government’s budget. Where is the residual £15 billion spent? Naturally under the current arrangement Wales is responsible for a 5% share of the national debt, the cost of the armed forces etc, but I very much doubt that accounts for more than about half of that £15 billion figure, therefore leaving rather a lot unaccounted for.
So let’s just turn Wales into a playground for the Rich from abroad. This country really is done for thanks to Insanely rich who care little for the actual state of the country. To them, if they can’t make a buck from it, they’d abandon it as easy as they breath.
Yet more tourists for Cardiff!!! I despair.
Cardiff doesn’t have a decent public transport system or spare housing capacity to cope with yet more tourists. And what will Cardiff gain from this? A few low paid, crap jobs if it goes well.
The bus service is not that bad. And the wires are going up on the railways but slowly slowly. Cardiff Bus though profess a horror of ‘infrastructure’ meaning they can’t afford to wire the streets again so batteries it is.
It’s a knock-out!
For those interested in the Swansea Skyline project see what has just happened in Turkey…