Defence Online

Plans to build more than 100 luxury flats on the site of a former commercial development in Cardiff are set to be given the green light when they go before councillors.Developer Portabella, through agent CW Architects, has lodged plans for the Old Imperial Buildings in Butetown, south of Cardiff Central station, close to the Dumballs Road industrial area.A total of 102 one- and two-bedroom flats are proposed in an L-shaped block of between six and nine storeys. A unit suitable for retail, café/restaurant or other commercial uses would also be provided, together with 45 parking spaces.Most of the existing buildings will be demolished but two commercial units and a pair of Victorian villas will be retained.The application has been amended with an additional five apartments added to the original 97 proposed when the application was submitted. An additional ground floor commercial unit and an internal courtyard terrace have been omitted.The plans will be considered at a meeting of Cardiff City Council’s planning committee tomorrow (9 November 2016) with councillors recommended to grant planning consent.This is subject to a section 106 agreement that would secure financial contributions towards highways and the promotion of employment opportunities in the area.Elsewhere on the agenda for the meeting, plans from JR Smart to build 177 flats and three townhouses on the site of a former pub in the Atlantic Wharf area are also set to be approved.The wharf was formerly owned by the SA Brain brewery and pub group but closed its doors and was demolished earlier this year.In a third application set for examination, plans for almost 650 students in a new development on the site of part of Cardiff Royal Infirmary have been recommended for approval.The scheme, submitted by Barton Willmore on behalf of Graduation (Cardiff) Ltd, proposes a ten-storey building comprises about 220,000 sq ft of space.The former hospital buildings on the site were contracted between 1939 and 1940. The site has been vacant since 2014 when the hospital functions were relocated and it was put up for sale in May 2015.