Objections to plans for former railway offices

PLANS to convert a Grade II-listed building in Butetown, Cardiff, into office space with retail and live/work units look set to get the go-ahead, despite objections.

The plans for the site, on Bute Street, include the refurbishment of the former Bute Street station building, and the provision of a four-storey building to provide retail space (shop/food and drink), 10 live/work units, with 19 office rooms, and a concierge/reception room.

Full planning permission is being sought from applicant ABA Holdings Ltd as the proposal goes before Cardiff council’s planning committee today.

While the Grade II-listed building is listed as being of architectural and historic interest, there is little of its interior remaining. The building is described as “an exceptionally early surviving example of purpose built railway architecture in Wales”.

Bute Street station was originally built as offices for the Taff Vale Railway (TVR), and advised to have been first used in 1843.

A report, which is due to go before the planning committee, says: “The building has been vacant for many years, and has been subject to vandalism and occupation by squatters, the eastern façade has been subject to graffiti and tagging.

“The building has been vacant for a number of decades and although the previous owner did respond to requests to undertake essential repairs, the building remains in a boarded-up and dilapidated condition.”

It is recommended that planning permission is granted subject to conditions, despite objections from The Victorian Society and The Ancient Monuments Society.

In the council report, The Victorian Society said: “We object to the application, which would cause a high degree of harm to the building and its setting, and because the quality of the application falls well short of what is required given the Station’s II*-listing and the potential impact of the proposals.

“The Bute Road Station is one of the oldest and most significant railway structures in Wales. It is one the society has long been concerned about and only last year was included on our list of the 10 most endangered buildings in England and Wales.

“We object to the proposed extension on a number of grounds. Firstly, it is too tall. We object also to its architectural treatment, which is aesthetically jarring, disappointingly banal and fails to convey any sense of responsiveness or sensitivity to the listed building and its setting.

“What is proposed is little more than a relatively mundane commercial block crudely tacked on to one of Wales’ most important historic railway structures. In purely technical terms the application is unacceptably poor.”

In the report, The Ancient Monuments Society said it also objected.

“We accept that the ambition for the project is to provide a ‘contemporary take rather than a pastiche of the traditional form.’ This is an acceptable approach.

“What is proposed, however, is a rather generic building which looks rather incongruous and out of place in this location.”

A resident of Belmont Walk also objected on behalf of “a number of local residents”, saying the development did not benefit the community and residents, retail and office units are not ideal and will cause long-term issues, and that there was inadequate parking.