Concerns raised over 'high-rise HMO' blocks

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.

- TED PESKETT

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.

Cardiff is following in the footsteps of other large cities in the UK, such as London and Manchester, which are already familiar with co-living schemes.

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, Councillor Ed Stubbs, a trustee at Cardiff Civic Society noted 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.