The huge housing developments reshaping capital
The expansion of Wales’ capital was officially launched in 2016 when Cardiff Council allocated eight sites around the city for the development of new homes. Ruth Mosalski and Joanne Ridout examine the current state of play with the Cardiff’s new suburbs..
TWO years after the a massive explansion of Cardiff was revealed, the development work on Cardiff ’s new suburbs that has started as a result is already infuriating many.
From people frustrated by builders’ HGVs using their residential streets, to a family turfed off the land they’ve farmed for 50 years, there are many who think it was a mistake.
Yet with house prices in the city growing, up 4.6% to £204,962 according to the ONS, and the city’s population expected to continue to grow from 354,300 (in 2014) to 444,700 over the next 25 years, according to the Welsh Government, there is a growing need for more housing.
And our survey of the state of the developments around Cardiff suggests that if people think the building work is bad now, they are going to get a shock – as it is only just beginning.
Cardiff Council estimates it is building only half as many homes as it had expected to at this stage – and there are huge swathes where the building work has yet to start.
PLASDWR – NORTHWEST CARDIFF
Two years ago, it was just development site C on the council’s Local Development Plan – a new suburb set to fill the gap between Radyr, Pentrebane and St Fagans.
Today, we know that it’s going to be a £2bn “Garden City” of 7,000 homes. It covers 900 acres of land. The masterplan that has been released shows the layout of the huge development, which is expected to be built over 20 years.
Work has already started in several small plots around the edge of the scheme – and it is probably the most advanced of the development sites around Cardiff.
However, the work has barely begun.
There are some areas where the council has agreed the plans with the developers.
There are two other sites next to Llandaff where a planning application is in progress.
The chances are that if you were looking at one of the off-plan or newly built homes, you might not necessarily know they were part of a massive new suburb of Cardiff. Two plots have yet to start work at all.
PARC PLYMOUTH
House building sites along the the A4119, between Creigiau and Radyr make up part of the 16-acre area plot which is being marketed by Redrow as “Parc Plymouth”. It will ultimately have 630 homes.
It is north of Llantrisant Road and will, when it is finished, directly join onto Radyr.
The first 126 homes are already on sale with four- and five-bedroom houses on the market for £435,000 and upwards. Redrow has an interactive map of the plots that are available and coming soon.
CAE ST FAGANS
Cae St Fagans is a smaller section of the Plasdwr development made up of 290 homes further south, with the first residents already moving in.
It is next to Pentrebane and threeand four-bedroom homes are on sale for £283,996.
RHIWLAS
In July, it was announced that Bellway are the second residential developer to provide homes as part of Plasdwr.
This company’s development is called Rhiwlas, and will consist of up to 120 homes located to the north of Llantrisant Road. Building has yet to commence on this site.
Bellway describes Rhiwlas as a development of two-, three- and four-bedroom properties which will appeal to first-time buyers, families and professionals travelling into Cardiff, situated around four miles away.
NORTH-EAST CARDIFF
Two years ago, it was confirmed that the farmland between Lisvane and Pontprennau, notoriously sold by the Welsh Government in 2012 for a fraction of its value today, would
become home to 4,500 new homes.
On the city-wide masterplan, it is known as development site F.
We now know that the site is largely going to be divided up between two developers, Redrow and Taylor Wimpey.
The smaller area will be developed into a site called Churchlands by Redrow.
More than half of the area, on the eastern site neighbouring Pontprennau will be developed into a 2,500home area by Taylor Wimpey which has not been given a name yet.
Last month, it revealed outline plans set to go out to consultation which include new schools, shops and a community centre.
Taylor Wimpey has launched a consultation on its draft masterplan for a new community for north-east Cardiff.
The timescale for Taylor Wimpey’s portion of the development is to submit planning applications in December 2018 with a target on site building date of spring/summer 2020.
The only plots that it has received planning applications for are within the Churchlands development being led by Redrow.
There are no outstanding planning applications in the system for further development at the moment.
Redrow say there will be four phases of construction for Churchlands and they are in phase one at the moment.
Plot one, the first phase of housing in Churchlands is called ‘Plas Ty Draw’. It is next to Lisvane and was officially launched earlier in September. On Redrow’s website, it says prices are still to be confirmed.
The company states that the first seven plots released have already been reserved during their ‘Early Bird’ reservation phase by customers who attended a pre-launch event in June of this year.
In total, there will be 39 plots of three- and four-bedroom homes, with the showhomes due to open in January 2019.