Cardiff Civic Society has written to Cardiff Council raising concerns about its lack of planning guidance on co-living schemes
A Cardiff charity has raised concerns about the introduction of a new type of apartment block in the city made up of living spaces that will be the size of a garden shed. Cardiff Council’s planning committee approved plans last month for what will be the city’s first purpose built blocks of co-living apartments at the site of Asset House in Penarth Road.
At the time of the planning committee meeting, councillors praised the chosen location of the development and its use of brownfield land.
It also represents a moment where Cardiff is following in the footsteps of other large cities in the UK, like London and Manchester, which are already familiar with co-living schemes. Never miss a Cardiff story and sign up to our newsletter here.
However, Cardiff Civic Society and others have questioned what the approval of the homes, likened to ‘high rise HMOs’ could mean going forward.
In a letter to the council’s head of planning, Simon Gilbert, and the planning committee chair, Cllr Ed Stubbs, a trustee at Cardiff Civic Society noted that Cardiff didn’t have any planning guidance on standards for co-living apartments.
The apartments are a type of housing that combines private living space with communal areas.
They are not unlike studio apartments, but the private living spaces are usually smaller.
Cardiff Council already has planning guidance that states the minimum space standard for studio apartments is 30sqm.
Individual private living spaces in the co-living apartments approved for where Asset House currently stands will measure between 20.1sqm and 29.9sqm.
Standards adopted in London advocate for co-living units that are between 22sqm and 27sqm. Cardiff Council officers argued when the most recent apartment blocks were approved that the small living spaces of co-living developments were balanced by the amount of communal space that was on offer.
Once Asset House is demolished, the site will make way for two apartment blocks, one of which will be six storeys high and the other 13 storeys high.
Together, they will deliver 182 apartments.
There will also be commercial space on the ground floor of one block and internal amenity areas, like a communal plaza area, co-working rooms, a fitness room, cinema, games room, dining spaces, and roof gardens.
In total, there will be 838.8sqm of communal space.
However, Cardiff Civic Society claimed in its letter to the council that the development still fell below the London standard which it said didn’t include a number of communal areas that were in this total.
The letter goes on to add: “The Report [on Asset House] acknowledges that the design does not meet expected standards in areas such as daylight or overlooking, but it argues that it should still be approved.
“It is worrying that this is considered acceptable for a new purpose-built building.”
The Cardiff Civic Society trustee went on to say their main concern now was the precedent that this approval would set and how future plans for co-living apartments would be assessed.
A Cardiff Council spokesperson said: “Co-living is a new type of housing becoming more common in UK cities.
“It typically offers private rooms with shared communal spaces and is often aimed at young professionals looking for flexible, community-style living.
“While Cardiff does not yet have formal planning guidance specific to co-living, we are carefully reviewing each proposal to ensure high standards of design, amenity, sustainability, and quality of life.
“We’ve already approved some schemes and officers are carefully reviewing each application on its merits, considering emerging guidance and experience of other core cities and we are working on local guidance to support consistent, high-quality decisions going forward.
“The council remains committed to creating inclusive, sustainable, and well-designed places to live.”