New student accommodation gets go-ehead

CARDIFF Council has given the final permissions for a development of 711 student apartments at Cardiff Bay in Atlantic Wharf.

The new building, at East Bay Close, will also have an on-site gym, cinema room, communal meeting room and sports facilities.

Last week Cardiff Council gave the final sign-off for the development which means it can now go ahead.

Developer JEDS Investments now has five years to begin work on the new building in Atlantic Wharf.

It comes at a time when student accommodation in Cardiff is growing rapidly, with 1,756 bed spaces being added this year to the 12,000 which already exist in the city.

There are several other multi-million pound schemes for new student accommodation being planned for Cardiff, including four massive towers, one 32 storeys tall, on the corner of Newport Road and Fitzalan Place, and a £75m, 644-bed project on the former West Wing of Cardiff Royal Infirmary.

Cardiff University is also planning to develop more student accommodation at its Talybont site.

The university guarantees places to all first year undergraduates and international postgraduates and accommodated all students who applied for a room in 2017/18.

A university spokesman said: “This type of development is a matter for private providers but we’re certainly aware of an increase in the provision and range of private accommodation for students in Cardiff in recent years.

“Meanwhile our focus remains on continuing to improve the accommodation that we directly provide to our students. In a sector where expectations are changing, partly because of the amount of private accommodation now available, it is vital that we maintain the very highest standards.”

The Atlantic Wharf development, on the site of a former Evans Halshaw garage, would be in an “H-shaped” block and be split between studio and cluster rooms.

There will be just 32 spaces for cars at the scheme, with 240 spaces for bikes.

KDP Architects, on behalf of the developer, said in the planning application: “We believe the proposed high quality development will be a positive addition to the local area and community.

“We feel the proposal represents a viable opportunity to develop a vacant site for a suitable use for its City Centre prominent location.”