Plans for a £100m sports and retail development in Cardiff are out of the starting blocks after proposals were submitted for the proposed athletics stadium.
Architect Holder Mathias has lodged a detailed planning application for the athletics stadium on behalf of Cardiff City FC and Cardiff council.
The 2,500-seat athletics stadium at Leckwith Road will replace an existing athletics stadium that will be demolished to make way for the mixed-use scheme.
The scheme will also comprise a stadium for Cardiff City FC, 400,000 sq ft (37,160 sq m) of retail and some housing.
Peter Gamble, managing director of Holder Mathias Architects, said: “It would be easy just to see this as the first phase of the football stadium plans, but it is more than that.
“This is a very important project for Cardiff, and it will be a major boost to the quality and range of sports facilities that Cardiff council is providing for the community.”
Construction work is expected to start later this summer with completion in spring next year.
Last November, Cardiff City owner Sam Hammam and Cardiff council signed heads of terms for a 30,000-seat soccer stadium to be financed by retail development.
Hammam intends to increase the size of the stadium from 30,000 seats to 60,000 if Cardiff City wins promotion to the Premiership.
However, last month Welsh Rugby Union chief executive and Millennium Stadium boss David Moffett urged Cardiff City FC to use the capital’s 72,000-seat Millennium Stadium as its home.
Moffett said that the city, with a population of 290,000, is not big enough to support both the Millennium Stadium and the proposed soccer stadium.
References: EGi News 19/06/03
