Location
97 – 103 Newport Road, Cardiff
Project Overview
A residential redevelopment of a dilapidated former college building; 97-103 Newport Road is now comprised of 48 residential apartments with a mix of one and two-bedroom dwellings. The building is an L-shaped block providing active frontages onto both Newport Road and Wordsworth Avenue. The development is constructed to four-and-a-half storeys facing Newport Road; three-and-a-half storeys facing Wordsworth Avenue; and two-and-a-half storeys with limited views along the boundary with St Peter’s Primary School. Situated within walking distance of Cardiff City centre the site offered the opportunity to develop high quality apartments close to the centre.
Comprised of 26 one-bedroom apartments and 22 two-bedroom apartments the scheme also benefits from a generous communal garden and car park/courtyard space. The garden area is a low maintenance artificial grass, with slate boarders and an outdoor seated area. Access to the court yard is via an automated gate with fob access, a feature which helped the scheme achieve a Gold Award from the Secured by Design Initiative.
All apartments have gas central heating and hot water with the kitchens and bathrooms finished in a contemporary style. A sprinkler system which is fully compliant with the Welsh Government requirements for residential dwellings has been installed. The pump and tank are housed in a purpose built store room at the rear of the scheme.
Works commenced on site in the later part of 2016 with first occupation taking place in January 2018. Although the main frontage is located on Newport Road the scheme has officially been named Wordsworth Court due to the location of the main entrance off Wordsworth Avenue.
The project was delivered in collaboration with Cadwyn Housing Association with all the completed units being incorporated into Cadwyn’s social housing stock. On completion the project was commended by Cadwyn Housing for the quality of workmanship and the collaborative approach taken during construction.
Constructor’s Scheme Performance
The development was registered with the Considerate Constructor’s Scheme and scored “Beyond Compliance” at both site audits, the first visit scoring a minimum of “Very Good” in the five categories and the second scoring “Excellent” in all categories. Special mention was made for; maintaining a positive image of the site, respecting the community, the approach to environmental management, health and safety management and valuing the workforce.
Community Engagement Considerate
As part of Willis’s continued commitment to community engagement a prayer garden was constructed for the neighbouring St Peter’s Primary School. A photo of the completed garden can be found at the bottom of the page.
Whilst on site we worked alongside St Peter’s School to arrange the installation of a number of bird boxes around the outside of the school building.
