Robertson Property has radically altered the look of an events venue it is building in Cardiff Bay, originally designed by HOK, due to spiraling material costs.
Architects practicing Populous, who designed the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Cardiff Principality Stadium, have replaced HOK’s bold charcoal post in 2022 with a smaller, rectangular and lighter-coloured design inspired by the mountains of Wales, as reported. Construction news‘title of sister Architects‘ Magazine.
Cardiff Council’s planning committee approved the new design, for Robertson, US ticket operator Live Nation and sports and entertainment investor Oak View Group, on October 19, subject to conditions and a Section 106 legal agreement.
The 10 councilors of the commission voted unanimously in favor of the plan, without any abstentions.
The changes include reducing the height, width and length of the arena by 6.5, 9.53 and 14 meters respectively, reducing the venue’s capacity from 17,000 to 15,348.
The new design also features a lighter color palette designed to be more sympathetic to the surrounding buildings (including the Wales Millennium Centre), with a bronze-coloured aluminum facade and light gold soffit.
New architectural details include a blow to the south facade of the arena and an increase in glass in its east- and west-facing elevations to create two arches in each (14 and 8 meters high), which are ‘will illuminate for events.
The new pavilion will be located 4 meters south of the originally proposed position, on part of the existing Cardiff County Hall car park at Atlantic Wharf within the Cardiff Bay area, which has been undergoing regeneration for over of 30 years
According to Wales Online, inflation had pushed the construction cost of the original design closer to £180 million to £280 million.
A design and access statement submitted for the new design in July said: “The proposed changes to the arena have arisen as a result of the overall economic environment and associated increased material costs since the plan was consented “.
He said a “comprehensive review” of the proposals with the client led to the revision of the project to achieve “greater cost certainty”.
Cardiff’s planning committee said the venue has “lost capacity but gained versatility in what can be offered”, with new flexible seating or a standing track in the centre.
A new 180-room Travelodge hotel proposed to sit next to the arena and replace an existing Travelodge at the site has also been changed as part of the new designs, again to reduce material costs.
A planning application for the original HOK design was submitted in January 2022 and was granted full planning permission by Cardiff Council in February 2023.
The new rink is part of a 13.5-hectare mixed-use masterplan for Cardiff Bay, which was approved alongside the original arena design in February.
The masterplan for the area between the historic Atlantic Wharf to the east and the Wales Millennium Center and Mermaid Quay to the south envisages providing 890 homes (20 per cent affordable), 1,090 hotel beds, 19,500 sq m of occupation, 27,500 square meters. meters of leisure space and 12,310 square meters of commercial space.
Populous is teaming up with Arup, WSP engineers, HOK Architects and consultancy Turner & Townsend on the arena, all of whom are involved in the wider masterplanning project.
AJ Populous and Arup were contacted, but both declined to comment.
