Plans for new student accommodation block approved
Ted Peskett, local democracy reporter
A prominent building on one of Cardiff’s busiest roads will be demolished to make way for student flats.
Cardiff Council’s planning committee voted to approve the plans for the student accommodation on the site of Longcross Court, Newport Road, at a meeting on Thursday, September 5.
Longcross Court was built in the 1970s as an office block and used to house a number of businesses, like Channings, a Betfred betting shop and Adventure Rooms.
The new development will be 18 storeys at its highest point and include 706 private rooms, a cafe and 480sqm of office space.
Negative impact
One member of the city council’s planning committee, Cllr Jon Shimmin, said it was his view that the proposal would have a negative impact on the character of the area, adding that the main block of the development “doesn’t enhance” the site and that it “adds nothing to the skyline of Cardiff”.
However, other members like Cllr Sean Driscoll and Cllr Adrian Robson were more favourable, with the former calling the current Longcross Court building “abysmal”.
Cllr Driscoll said: “[It is] like Ayers Rock in the middle of Adamsdown.”
Both councillors did, however, say they had some concerns about pick up and drop off for students at the beginning and end of terms.
The developers will be required to submit a plan on how they will manage traffic at the end and start of term before any part of the building is occupied.
Other concerns that planning committee members had included an overall loss of office space and the quality of living for students after planning officers said that more than a quarter of the units fail to achieve adequate light.
Cllr Shimmin said: “I just think that having more than a quarter of the units fail to achieve adequate light levels, that is… unacceptable.
“This one room… will be the only bit they [students] can call their own in this big city.”
He went on to add: “Not being able to relax with adequate light coming in… I think that is unacceptable for their mental health.”
Council planning officers noted that the light levels in these spaces were regrettable, but added that this degree of impact was considered as part of the wider planning balance and potential benefits that the development will bring.
There will also be communal spaces on site, like a cinema, gym and rooftop garden, and committee members were told that a condition is in place to ensure that the development is only used for student accommodation and not more permanent accommodation.
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Firstly, Cardiff councillor’s grasp of geography might be called into question when they come out with statements about Longcross Court being in the ‘middle of Adamsdown’ when in reality the building is actually located in Plasnewydd, albeit right on the edge of the ward and situated on the boundary between Plasnewydd and Adamsdown, Newport Road. I don’t think anyone could claim that Longcross Court is in any way visually appealing, but the proposed replacement is even worse, and will do nothing to provide badly needed homes for local people. Anyone familiar with the area will be aware of the huge… Read more »
What are the odds that once built, unfortunately the “uptake will be low” and that there will be a need to submit an application for change of use to executive flats. Its cheaper to build student accommodation blocks, and then convert and sell on as expensive flats – and no need to pretend to include a percentage of affordable homes, all this equals much more profit……
I suspect that’s exactly what will happen, though it’s likely it will be rented out as ‘serviced accommodation’ as the standards it’s built to are lower than if they were to be built as residential properties.
Sadly, even when it’s a residental development Cardiff doesn’t have a good record when it comes to S 106 commitments as the developers usually plead poverty and that providing the S 106 stuff will cut too much into their profit margins… And sadly Cardiff Labour run council falls for it every time!
Ah yes, more student flats, that’s exactly what Cardiff needs… The city is already over-saturated with ‘student’ flats. Know why? Student flats, as non-permanent residences, are built to lower standards, for example the windows don’t have to be so large saving money on glass making them cheaper for developers to build and as a consequence often dingier inside for the residents. Additionally, these types of properties are exempt from many other costly building measures such as being subject to lower standards of fire protection and so on. The curious thing is, despite these developers claiming in the original planning applications… Read more »
Which developments have been permanently changed to residential use?
There’s an entire district of Cathays full of family homes used by students that could be family homes once more if there was more purpose built student accommodation.
The trouble is that the purpose built student accommodation is horrendously expensive in terms of rent. Cathays has always been studentville, so I doubt that it has much appeal to families. Besides, there will always be a large number of students who prefer living in a shared house. Most of the student accommodation is geared towards foreign students, but that’s a market in decline. As it is, the higher education sector is facing huge financial challenges due to things like Brexit, and it won’t be long before the student accommodation companies also feel the pinch.
Ridiculous. Does Cardiff need more student accommodation? Clearly not. Seems Cardiff council are intent on allowing the building of ‘fake’ accommodation on the cheap that will quickly become something else other than for students accommodation. Let the rip off continue.
One look at the Cardiff skyline and its obvious the council are building poor quality buildings that will quickly become tomorrow’s slums.
Just because something is high rise doesn’t mean it’s substandard, there is plenty of high rise that is excellent. However, in the case of much of the student accommodation blocks, they aren’t exactly built to the same standards as residential properties.