City Spires Set to Soar on Newports Skyline

City Spires Set to Soar on Newports Skyline

Plans have been submitted to Newport City Council for a 30 floor hotel and residential tower as part of a mixed use redevelopment of the city's Cambrian Shopping Centre. The site, within spitting distance of Newport railway station, is designated in the city's master plan as a suitable location for a tall landmark building.

Estimated at more than 90m in height, this tower will easily become the tallest building in Newport upon completion, utterly eclipsing the current tallest - the 16 floor, 53m high Chartist tower built in 1966.

City Spires main tower will comprise 23 floors of residential accommodation (203 one and two bedroom apartments) atop a 120 bedroom hotel spread across the bottom 7 floors. In addition, the development will include 8,547 sq. m. (92,000 sq. ft.) of retail and leisure accommodation, an 832 space multistorey car park and a separate 10 floor, 7,432 sq. m. (80,000 sq. ft.) office building.

Planning permission was originally granted to previous developers, Goldtique Investments for a mixed use scheme which included a 27 floor rotunda shaped tower designed by Holder Mathias Architects. Since acquiring the site for £10.5 million in February this year, Modus have been busy preparing the scheme we see today.

City Spires is the latest in a series of sizeable developments proposed for Newport in line with the master plan set out by Newport Unlimited, the city's urban regeneration company. These include a number of tall buildings such as the residential element of the planned Friar's Walk shopping centre which will rise to 17 floors in the form of a striking glass clad tower and George Wimpey�s riverfront housing development, City Reach which will rise to 14 floors at it's highest point.

Come 2010 Newport's skyline may well have changed beyond all recognition. Will this new city be able to shake off it's not so wonderful image and wow the hordes of people who'll be attending the Ryder Cup here in 2010? Or is it destined to always be upstaged by it's bigger and more established rivals? Things so far seem to be looking decidedly good, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

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