800-home Development Coming to Cardiff Bay

An artist's impression of the new project

Plans for a new 800-home waterfront community in Cardiff Bay were given the go-ahead earlier this year, with the construction work set to begin later this year.

While the city has seen many large scale development projects over the last several years, including the International Sports Village in the Bay and the St David's 2 shopping centre in the city centre, this £250 million project - named Cardiff Pointe, will be one of the biggest developments to the city in recent years.

The project, considered to be "the missing piece in the International Sports Village (ISV) jigsaw", is made up of four linked applications to build a total of 798 homes on vacant land off of Ferry Road, Watkiss Way and Empire Way. The building work will be done in six phases, with the earliest construction focusing on town houses and maisonettes.

The largest scheme is for 561 homes, including 392 apartments and 169 houses, on the peninsular of land between Cardiff Bay Yacht Club and the International Swimming Pool. Later phases will include 18 five-badroom waterside "executive" houses and two landmark towers which will cantilever over the water. At the foot of the towers will be shops and community facilities, with the local health board already indicating that it would interested in opening a "satellite surgery".

The second site, which is currently used as a temporary car park for the swimming pool, will see 79 homes built - including 43 apartments and 36 houses. The third application is for 63 apartments on land behind the Morrisons supermarket on Ferry Road, while the fourth is for 95 apartments on land off of Watkiss Way. These will be a mixture of private and social housing.

Committee chairman councillor Michael Michael said: "Overall I welcome this scheme - hopefully it's a sign that the city is moving forward."

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