The Cardiff commercial property market received some good news last month with the announcement that the Admiral Group has received planning permission for a 200,000 sq ft office building on David Street car park in the city centre of Cardiff. Yet a number of people from the area remain unhappy with the final plans.
The car insurance company put the plans to Cardiff City Council earlier this year, with the council swiftly giving the commercial property plans the green light.
Cardiff based Admiral Group, which owns car insurance brands such as confused.com, elephant.co.uk and Diamond saw its annual turnover rise by 33 per cent in September 2010 and as a result felt the need to acquire new office headquarters. The organisation employs around 4000 people across South Wales and is the only Wales based company featured in the FTSE 100.
Planning consultancy firm Turley Associates submitted the plans for the grade A purpose built headquarters, on behalf of Admiral group, back in March. Dr Tom Rocke, Director in the Cardiff office of Turley Associates, said when the application was accepted: ‘The application was submitted in mid-March following detailed pre-application discussions with Cardiff Council, local stakeholders and members of the public, which have helped to shape the proposals.’
He continued: ‘We are absolutely delighted with this decision, and believe that it will provide a landmark building that will enhance the townscape of this part of Cardiff City Centre, as well as retaining and creating a very significant number of new jobs which will benefit the City as a whole.’
However, not everyone was happy that planning permission has been granted, and a number of Cardiff councilors labeled the design of the commercial property ‘underwhelming’ and citing it as a ‘missed opportunity’ to build something forward thinking on a prime plot of land. Gabalfa councilor, Cathy Pearcy, who voted against the application said: ‘I suppose Admiral are a very big employer and they are going to employ more people, but I am very unhappy that they want to build there.’
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