Capital’s bus station set to clear latest hurdle
APLAN that would finally see a new bus station built in Cardiff city centre looks set to clear its latest hurdle within days.
A joint venture between Cardiff council, the Welsh Government and developer Rightacres aims to make the long-delayed scheme a reality.
Work on site could start within three months.
Now, further details of the proposals – which would also involve modernising Cardiff Central Railway Station – have been released in a council report.
After years of hold-ups, the latest designs show the space above the bus station in the heart of the capital will be a combination of offices, flats and car parking spaces.
The design, by Foster+Partners is a combination of previously released designs.
Elements of the original curved design have returned after being removed in an earlier design.
A canopy linking it with the railway station has also returned.
The internal sizes of each aspect are similar to those which have received planning approval but the design is significantly different.
The development will be known as Metro Central and will now not only see the development of the bus station, but is based around the aim of also modernisation of Cardiff Central Railway Station.
The council has had to turn to a new layout for the development, and also a new funding model.
According to the council, it means it can recover the money it has spent so far without providing further money to ensure a bus station is built.
The amounts spent are confidential.
The developer, Rightacres, had previously said it may have to change the private flats and/or office space into student flats in order to fill them.
But this latest report, published yesterday, says the developer is seeking an office tenant, and there will also be 400 residential units which are not student accommodation.
A new planning application will need to be submitted as the design has changed again.
It is expected the new planning application will be submitted in February and be completed by April.
The report says the ground floor will stay as previously approved by planning committee, so work can start as soon as legal agreements are reached in the first three months of 2018.
Construction is expected to last two years and the first works on site will be piling and ground works, which a spokesman said would take place “early in the new year”.
The report reveals that the council, Welsh Government and Rightacres have employed advisors to prepare a document about how central station should advance.
Separate reports need to be submitted to each government, requesting funding. Councillors will discuss the report at a meeting of the cabinet on Wednesday.