The forest of cranes and what’s going on
If you look around the centre of Cardiff these days, it’s not long before your eyes are met by the sight of a forest of tall cranes towering up into the sky.
Each of these pinnacles of steel represents a hive of construction activity as the reconstruction of the city centre carries on rapidly apace.
From a distance it’s not always immediately obvious just what work is going on underneath each crane.
But up close it becomes apparent that a transformation is going on that will change the look of Cardiff for decades to come.
2 CENTRAL SQUARE
In front of Central Station the latest buildings in the Central Square development are nearing completion.
No 2 Central Square, designed by Rio Architects, should receive its tenants – law firm Hugh James and the Cardiff School of Journalism, Media & Cultural Studies – in the summer.
The 135,000 sq ft office building will be the second in the development to receive tenants, after the award-winning No 1.
The new £120m BBC Cymru Wales headquarters next door is due to be handed over to the broadcaster this spring, but it will be another 18 months before it is occupied after an intensive technology-driven fit-out.
BBC Wales has yet to finalise its staff migration programme but it will see the first staff, most likely in nonnews administration roles, moving into the building in autumn 2019.
The plan is to have all staff in the building in the first quarter of 2020.
NEW HMRC OFFICE
Three huge cranes have now risen over the long-vacant plot of land where Media Wales’ offices once stood. They are starting work on what will be the new 12-storey headquarters for the HMRC in Wales.
The 270,000 sq ft 6 Central Square, designed by world-leading architectural firm Gensler, is the latest stage in the Central Square regeneration scheme that also encompasses 1 and 2 Central Square and the new BBC Cymru Wales headquarters.
The HMRC is relocating its main tax office in Wales, with 3,000 staff, from Llanishen to the new building, beginning in 2020.
The new building will also become the new home for the Wales Office, which will relocate its team of around 25 from its current offices in Cardiff Bay.
While other public sector tenants have yet be to confirmed, the Department for Work & Pensions is also expected to join HMRC staff.
The building, which is due for completion in December 2019, will also have space for other UK Government departments and organisations, such as Innovate UK, to use.
CAPITAL QUARTER
A forest of cranes is also towering over the Capital Quarter development off Tyndall Street, which developer JR Smart has been slowly building on since acquiring the site before the financial crisis in 2008.
The latest phases are No 3 Capital Quarter, extending to 75.000 sq ft, which is due to be completed in the spring, and the 100,000 sq ft No 4 Capital Quarter, which should be finished later in the year.
The new headquarters office buildings, complete with central atrium features, are the latest office scheme to be developed on a speculative basis by the family-owned development company in recent years.
And a 25-storey student housing block is also under construction on the site.
JR Smart hopes to build further buildings in the area, including a 27-storey hotel.
BRIDGE STREET
Also nearing completion is a 24-storey student block facing Bridge Street and Charles Street.
The building was designed by Rio Architects for developer Watkin Jones, and is due to be completed in August ahead of the new academic year.
It will encompass 463 bed spaces, including 121 studio bedrooms and 72 cluster flats – a number of single bedrooms each with a study area and shower/toilet but shared living space.
There will also be a roof garden for students.