Student Accommodation

There's so many student accommodation developments underway now I think they deserve their own thread.

The demolition of the former UWIC campus at Howard Gardens has gone in for planning along with it's replacement by 20000m2 of student accommodation (with retail on the ground floor).

Demolition of Windsor House has started on Dumfries Place - over 300 rooms are going here in a six/seven storey building.

Northgate house is almost finished opposite the castle.

And there's proposed accommodation at Capital Quarter and Central Square. Any more?

Potentially the tallest of the lot at Central Square

I don't know what the projected student numbers for the various Cardiff Unis are but I do hope these developments will free up some of the inner city terraced housing for young owner-occupiers. It would be nice to see areas like Cathays becoming mixed communities rather than being totaly dominated by student housing.

Wouldn't hold your breath. If the prices of Student Castle and the one in the old institute for the blind are anything to go by they'll be empty follies.

Wouldn't hold your breath. If the prices of Student Castle and the one in the old institute for the blind are anything to go by they'll be empty follies.

I can't vouch for how empty they are or not (I've seen plenty of students going in and out of the student castle) but they are going to be rather different places to say Talybont or University Hall as they seem to be aiming for the Chinese (and foreign in general) student market. 2nd and 3rd year students in particular who don't fancy the hassle of dealing with landlord where they aren't familiar with the rules and regulations.

Anyone know how much growth there has been and is projected for student numbers across the various universities in the city ? There seems to be a big number of these developments on the cards in terms of room numbers.

Anyone know how much growth there has been and is projected for student numbers across the various universities in the city ? There seems to be a big number of these developments on the cards in terms of room numbers.

Don't know, but I think the regulations have changed and are now that if entry requirements are sufficiently high you can take any number of students. That'll certainly increase numbers at Cardiff Uni, and USW seem keen to increase their offerings in Cardiff.

There's also new student accommodation going up on Park Place, on the corner of St. Andrews Place next to the former NatWest bank building.

Summit House in Windsor Place was also recently converted into student accommodation. Also the Cardiff Uni hall at the rear of Talybont (next to the McDonalds in Gablafa) has recently been completed.

Having just gone past Student Castle I've really come to dislike it. I wish they had followed the design of the new fire station - dark brick, grey panelling and strong vertical fenestration and instead of having two separate buildings it would have been better to have linked them so that it filled the corner of Adam St and Windsor Rd. It would have looked much better.

On a general note I don't think these new student towers will have much of an effect on Cathays. When you look at the planning apps most of them for Cathays are for rear dormers and two storey extensions which you know are being built to accommodate another 3 or 4 bedrooms. I think Cathays will always be really popular with students due to the proximity to the Uni and unpopular with families for the exact same reason.

I think it will have an effect on places like Roath/Whitchurch Rd (is that Heath or Gabalfa - I can never tell) which were student heavy but now seem to be much more 'normal'. I always use the Claude as a barometer. At the moment it's very much a 'Cardiff' boozer, full of 'characters' and with an undercurrent of truculence which I quite like and which typifies almost all 'proper' Cardiff pubs. Not so long ago it was very much a student hang out.

I think that probably reflects the way that Roath has gone over the last couple of years - and most of the 'newcomers' to the area are post university. Roath is actually shaping up to be quite a decent 'secondary centre' - a lot of restaurants to suit all pockets, shisha joints, lots of independent shops from high end in Wellfield Rd to Polski Sleps and Continental greengrocers, a mixture of pubs/bars from the old school to the hipsterish to yummy mummy hang outs to student dives and just about the right amount of gentrification. I'd rate it better than Canton/Pontcanna.

Karl - I think two words also sum up what has happened to that bit of Roath: catchment area. The area around the Claude is Cardiff High and Marlborough Rd Primary catchment area (I think they are amongst the most oversubscribed schools in Cardiff).

A lot of the big town houses have been converted into flats and I imagine some parents who want to get their kids into those schools being quite prepared to get a flat instead a 3-bed semi/terrrace.

Interesting article, not surprising really though..

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales ... 20-8469367