A new high-rise block of 401 student flats is opening this month in the centre of Cardiff. The 18-storey Vita student accommodation has been built on Park Place in the city centre, replacing an old law firm. But it wasn't always the plan for a high-rise to be built there.
Built across a 30,000 square foot site, the Vita student accommodation is the latest to open in Cardiff, welcoming its first students this month for the new academic year. It has its own gym, a coffee lounge, and a study area and, according to Vita's website, offers activities that range from personal trainer sessions and yoga classes to cocktail making and pop-up golf.
However, the towering high-rise was not always planned for the site, which was bought up by Select Property Group in a multi-million pound deal in 2017. The site on the corner of Park Place was previously home to a law firm and, initially, there were plans to convert it into an office development with huge windows and even a roof garden.
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Artists' impressions from planning documents show plans to construct an impressive-looking curved tower on the site. However, these plans were scrapped and replaced with those for the Vita tower block when Select Property Group bought up Bradley Court and the adjoining 11 Park Place five years ago.
The now sold-out Vita student block is the latest to open in Cardiff, with rooms priced from £180 per week. But it isn't the first time that proposals for major developments have been scrapped in favour of plans to build student accommodation. Zenith is another high-rise, housing some of Cardiff's student population.
The 26-floor, 675-bedroom building on Herbert Street in Atlantic Wharf features everything from a private gym and cinema to a sky bar and wellness treatment room. However, initial proposals for the site, which had been vacant for around 20 years, would have seen it transformed into a mixed-use development of offices and flats.
In 2019, the developers of the building - which has also been dubbed as "the ugliest in Cardiff" - successfully applied for permission from Cardiff council for a change of use to service apartments until the end of August 2020. Fusion Cardiff Capital Quarter LLP later asked for this to continue until the end of September 2021, citing the "coronavirus crisis" and its impact on the student accommodation sector.
Controversial plans to build more student accommodation on the site of a now demolished office block in Cathays were also approved last year, despite objections from local residents and councillors. While not on the same scale as the Vita or Zenith high-rises - the development is set to contain just 24 bedrooms - local councillors objected to the move stating that "further student accommodation is not required or warranted" in the area.
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