Tetra Tech has secured outline consent from Cardiff Council to redevelop the historic Gaeity Cinema site in Cardiff into a major student accommodation scheme.
On behalf of Bonnes Mares Ltd, Tetra Tech provided broad expertise in delivering consent for a six-storey, 114-bed student block over a mix of ground floor commercial uses. The site includes generous on-site amenity space for future occupiers, refuse and cycle storage space.
Located in the City Road District Centre, the cinema has long lain vacant. Numerous efforts to reuse the site over the years had failed, causing the existing building to fall into disrepair. The new scheme will work to undo the consequent and detrimental impact to social interaction.
We provided the following services to the scheme:
- Planning
- Architecture
- Landscape
- Transport
- Heritage
- Ecology
- Geo-environment
- NALO (Noise Air Lighting Odour)
Negotiations with Cardiff Council’s officers helped shape the design of the redevelopment. The consented scheme will help meet local student accommodation demands, with Cardiff student enrolment numbers continuing to grow. It will also alleviate local housing pressures via conveniently located and competitively priced accommodation, increase the vitality and viability of City Road Centre through active commercial frontage at street level.
The construction and operation period will create new local employment opportunities.
Rob Mitchell, Associate at Tetra Tech, said: “This was a real team effort for Tetra Tech. It’s a redevelopment scheme that secures the future of what unfortunately became an eyesore. For too long, the site has lain deteriorating. This scheme makes great new use of the site and will contribute to a healthier local student housing market, providing greater choice to local students, who have long been an under-catered sector of Cardiff’s community.”
Tom Poulton, Head of Property, Bonnes Mares Ltd., said: “We’re really pleased. The scheme will breathe life back into the former Gaeity site and help contribute to the local economy and the vitality of City Road. With planning now secured we look forward to choosing a development partner who share our aspirations for the site.