A former bookies in Cardiff city centre is to be converted into a new co-working space and aparthotel. The unit on St Mary Street was formerly home to William Hill bookmakers, with upstairs office space occupied by charity Change Grow Live, but it has lain vacant for a few years.
The city centre site is now set to be transformed after planning permission to turn it into a new living and working space was granted by Cardiff council. An application was submitted to the council in November 2021 by Bristol-based Higgihaus Ltd, an investment company specialising in "reimagining and refurbishing" empty buildings and turning them into shared homes, serviced accommodation and boutique hotels.
The development will see the ground and lower ground floors of the former bookmakers converted into a co-working space. Meanwhile, the office accommodation and roof space on the upper floors will be transformed into a small 'aparthotel', made up of 16 loft apartments.
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The application also states that a new shopfront and mansard roof will be installed, while storage space for 11 bicycles is also included in the development. Get the latest news from across Cardiff sent straight to your inbox by signing up to our newsletters.
The loft apartments are described in the plans submitted by Higgihaus as a "flexible home-office gym hybrid" that "provides everything a guest needs to live well, work efficiently and stay in shape". The application adds: "Designed for extended stays for up to two guests, [the loft apartment] is a serviced micro-apartment that cleverly delivers the functionality of a living room, full kitchen, dining room, bedroom, bathroom, office, and home gym from a small space."
The ground floor co-working centre - referred to by the company as a 'higgihub' - will allow guests to book meeting rooms, hot desk and grab a drink and bite to eat at the self-service kitchen. Designs included in the plans show artificial foliage throughout the quirky, colourful interior and on the exterior of the new site, with an exposed brick design planned for the office space and a colour scheme of blue, orange and white for the new shop front.
Referring to the five-floor building on the bustling street, those behind the plans said: "57-59 St Mary Street, Cardiff is a beautiful old building in the centre of the city, a mere stone’s throw from Central Station. Located right where the action is, guests will find a good slug of the best restaurants, bars, pubs & coffee-shops right on the doorstep.
"For many years [the site] has been a betting shop whose customers can now be more economically serviced online. The new and exciting use envisaged will provide a much-needed amenity for the benefit of residents and visitors to the city, as well as deliver greater economic benefit to the community where it is located."
Founded just three years ago, Higgihaus, based in Clifton in Bristol, aims to "make a profound contribution to the world becoming a better, more positive and happier place" through the "design and delivery of amazing living and working spaces". They have already transformed buildings in Bristol and Swansea, which you can read more about here.
The company is made up of three parts: co-living, co-working and aparthotels. It aims to "breathe new life" into old properties and convert them into living accommodation and workspaces, in hope of reinventing HMOs.
Their description reads: "Our stock-in-trade is the reimagining and refurbishment of existing buildings. Buildings that have seen better days and are in desperate need of a new purpose better suited to the world as it is, rather than the world as it was. They are usually empty, generally tired and, more often than not, uninhabitable. They are always worth reinventing.
"We are co-living pioneers in the process of reinventing the much-maligned (and often deservedly so) House of Multiple Occupation (HMO). Our design-led, community-centric, art-filled co-living units are helping to redefine shared living in an urban setting for today’s young professional. We are breathing new life into grand old period properties that would otherwise have been destined for subdivision. Young professionals are now able to live closer to the city centre in a location, and at a standard of specification, that they might not otherwise have been able to afford.
It adds: "We are reimagining and repurposing retail premises on the high street to provide fully equipped and centrally located ‘desk rental’ and ancillary services for the erstwhile commuter unable, or unwilling, to ‘work-from-home’. Our design-led co-working units facilitate the essential separation of work and home, enable social interaction with others of a like-mind and transform travel to the office into an opportunity for exercise. At the same time, our higgihubs bring life back to the high street and create a legitimate, economic and sustainable use for marginal retail space at risk of succumbing to the juggernaut that is online shopping.
"We are unlocking redundant, or under-utilised office accommodation over retail premises by converting it into living accommodation targeted at a mix of short, medium and long-term stays. Our creative use of space and transformable or multi-purpose furniture and fittings is enabling smaller units to function as if they were much larger. Smaller living units provide for more efficient use of the building and the ability to accommodate more higgihaus guests comfortably from the same footprint."
