When you think Wales, you don’t necessarily think towering skyscrapers. But the land of sheep and rolling hills does have its fair share of high-rises. And it’s set to get one more, as plans for the country’s tallest building have just been given the green light.
The 35-storey tower block in the centre of Cardiff will be 113 metres high. The building will sit on Wood Street in the city centre, with neighbours including BBC Wales and HMRC’s offices.
Right now, the tallest tower in Wales is on Meridian Quay in Swansea, which clocks in at 107 metres. The Wood Street building is still no Shard, though – the London landmark is 310 metres tall.
The building will house 364 flats and right now, the ground floor is earmarked to be a commercial space with a cafe or restaurant. Plans for the building were unveiled back in 2021, but some have questioned its design, with one Cardiff councillor saying ‘it is basically a block and I just wondered if more thought could be given to the design’.
But Simon Gilbert, the council’s head of planning, argued that it ‘is quite graceful in terms of its slender nature on that gable end’.
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