Welcome to the website for the proposed redevelopment of our site at Custom House Street, Cardiff
Our PAC statutory consultation ran from February 2025 to April 2025, with interested parties able to view the draft planning application documents for the site, and submit their feedback on our proposals.
We are now analysing feedback and updating our proposals where relevant. The PAC consultation report will be submitted alongside the planning application to Cardiff Council in Spring 2025.
There will also be an opportunity to comment on the application as part of the statutory consultation that Cardiff Council will conduct once the application seeking full planning permission has been submitted.
Webinar
We hosted a webinar on 22 January at 12.30pm, you can find a recording of the webinar below. Please note this session was delivered in English.
About
With a focus on delivering for our customers since 1791, the Watkin Jones Group (WJG) is the UK’s leading developer and manager of residential for rent homes. By spearheading this emerging sector, WJG is creating the future of living for a diverse and growing group of people who want flexibility, convenience, and a strong sense of community alongside the best location and value. Its purpose-built build to rent (BTR, multifamily), co-living and student homes are designed and built sustainably, and welcome people from all backgrounds to enjoy a great way of life, generating a positive impact for wider communities. Beyond residential for rent, its successful and well-established house building division has an increasing focus on the delivery of affordable and BTR single family homes.
With increasing pressure on many areas to speedily deliver new housing, WJG has an excellent track record of creating homes fast without compromising on quality. Over 95% of its projects are on site within six months of the grant of planning permission and its in-house construction capacity means that it can rapidly boost housing supply. Over the last 25 years WJG has delivered over 60,000 homes and has a significant pipeline. In Cardiff, WJG delivered the award-winning, mixed-use Bridge Street Exchange in 2018 comprising of 477 student homes, retail, and an alcohol treatment centre. WJG is currently delivering 718 rental homes (BTR) at Central Quay. WJG has delivered three co-living schemes to date – Zinc Works in Bristol, the Gorge in Exeter, and Ark in Wembley.
Today, WJG successfully works across every part of the UK focussing on centrally located, previously developed sites. WJG’s end-to-end delivery model means that it acquires, designs, and builds places, and typically remain within communities as on-site building managers. Fresh is its multi award-winning operator-arm, who are currently managing approaching 20,000 rental homes across the UK and Ireland, including the Gorge co-living in Exeter. Fresh achieves 95% customer satisfaction, and cares for our residents with a range of wellbeing and community building activities.
Our Proposals
The Custom House Street development will be a 33-storey building that will provide around 400 co-living studios and a semi-public ground floor (co-working, cafe) that will offer public access. This development will be an exciting regeneration of a brownfield site that has been vacant for a long time, replacing it with a high-quality building that provides a wayfinder between the city centre and Cardiff Bay.
Site Location
The site is sustainably located within the Central Business Area and just south of the main commercial focus of Cardiff city centre. The site benefits from being well located to public transport connections and to a vast range of facilities, that residents need to meet their everyday needs. The site is located approximately 300 metres east of Cardiff Central railway station and the Cardiff Bus Interchange.
Co-living Concept
Co-living is a housing concept relatively new to Cardiff (and Wales). It provides a flexible form of living arrangement that is particularly well suited to recent graduates and young professionals but also attracts a range of occupiers.
Co-living is a type of communal housing in which residents have private bedrooms and bathrooms but share other facilities required to meet everyday needs, such as communal kitchens and living spaces (‘sleep in the bedroom, live in the building’). Other shared facilities include recreational areas like gyms, gardens, and co-working spaces. The communal living arrangements, with regular social events, encourage social interaction and a community-oriented lifestyle while still providing privacy in the form of well-equipped individual bedrooms.
Project Timeline
Second half of 2024
Pre planning design phase
January 2025
Information events and feedback opportunities (non statutory)
February 2025
PAC (statutory consultation) opening for comments
March 2025
PAC (statutory consultation) closing for comments
Design updates from PAC consultation feedback
Spring 2025
Planning application submission
Join the Conversation
Have Your Say!
We would like to hear you views, please complete the short online survey below by 26 February 2025
SurveyWe will be hosting two online webinars, on Wednesday 22 January at 12.30- 1.15pm and 6.00-7.15pm, to talk through the proposals for the site and answer any questions you have. Please sign up for your preferred session here:
If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
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Contact Us
If you have any queries or suggestions, email us:
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