New Cardiff Needle Plans

The troubled Cardiff Needle scheme has been resubmitted to the council planning department with a revised application.

Developer Urban Solutions were originally planning to get the scheme underway in April or May 2007 after previous delays to the site but this date also slipped after ground-work began and a major fibre-optic cable was found on the site, a remnant of the media centre that previously occupied it.

Now following this delay, the building will be redesigned and changed from a wholly residential scheme to one that is partially hotel on the lower section of the tower with 114 apartments in the upper floors. There will also be a further 106 apartments in an adjoining lower-rise block.

The change at this late stage from entirely residential to a mixed use scheme with substantial hotel space not only shows that the developer have had a number of inquiries from companies but they are confident of filling the space and getting a greater return than the sale of apartments would net them. It's a formula that has worked well ever since Beetham pioneered it with their Manchester and Birmingham towers.

If built the Glass Needle will be the tallest building in Cardiff at almost 108 metres to the tip of the structure trumping the existing 80 metre tall Capital Tower. Urban Solutions now hope to start in 2008 but we've heard that before...