noun: informal - brickworks€¦ · to rejuvenate a forgotten part of the city centre; to reflect...
Post on 09-Jul-2020
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Noun: informal
People generally don’t self-identify as bricksters.
Also see brickster(ism).
A buyer (possibly fi rst-time) who leads life in an unconventional
way (or conventional in an ironic way) following a stylish and
hip subculture, the latest trends in independent music, fashion,
political ideas and lifestyles.
Maybe knowingly or unknowingly possesses an inherent distaste for
anything normal, ironically rejecting the mainstream. Obscurity is
the currency; the less known about the apartments/development/area,
the more valuable it is. And it’s paramount to keep it this way.
It really isn’t for you!
As Europe’s youngest capital,
there’s a tangible sense of
momentum in Cardiff these days.
The city provides a welcoming
environment for independent and
creatively minded individuals
to flourish.
While the 1990s saw the
spectacular transformation
of its defunct docklands in
Cardiff Bay, the past few years
have seen major improvements
to the centre of the city with
a renewed focus on the city’s
southern side and the emergent
South Central district.
Think of New York City, you
think of its districts: The
Upper West Side, Lower East
Side, and TriBeCa - All
making up this world famous
metropolis, yet each having
its own separate identity.
Residents are stakeholders,
invested in their communities;
the districts’ names their
monikers.
The South Central area of
Cardiff city centre offers
so much opportunity from
a residential perspective.
As lifestyle becomes more
important and we struggle to
cope with the unrelenting
pressure on our roads, the
siting of new communities is
ever important for the future
sustainability of our city.
At Trade Street, South
Central, we have a location
served brilliantly by the rich
amenities of the city centre.
It’s a stone’s throw from
Cardiff’s principal transport
hubs and within walking
distance of Cardiff’s booming
commercial districts.
We’ve learned a thing or two
about creating communities.
It started with Sealock
Warehouse: An opportunity to
reinvigorate part of Cardiff
Bay’s architectural heritage
and to return a disused
warehouse building into homes
that people wanted to live in.
People are influenced by their
surroundings; where they live
is important.
We established that people
wanted buildings that reflected
their everyday life - buildings
didn’t do that. We have the
capability and the vision to
create a building to inspire a
community.
To rejuvenate a forgotten part
of the city centre; to reflect
its industrial heritage with
warehouse-inspired design.
So Brickworks was conceived.
A six-storey warehouse-style
brick building with a nine-
Amidst the increasing homogeny
of many city centres, Cardiff’s
culture of independent
businesses doing things a
little differently is cause for
celebration. As befits other
cool cities, there is a desire
to seek out the opportunities
to shake things up. To arrest
the monotony.
Why shouldn’t this appetite for
something with more soul extend
to housing? What if there
were an opportunity to create
something more interesting?
sixth floor is for the shared
enjoyment of all residents and
their guests.
40 parking spaces are provided
in the undercroft car park
together with significant cycle
storey addition comprising
100, one, two and three bed
apartments offering a wide
range of accommodation styles
including duplex layouts,
balconies and roof terraces.
A large roof terrace on the
parking and there are four
commercial premises on the
ground floor helping to deliver
a dynamic street-scene and
hopefully a platform for the
next generation of independent
disruptors.
With more parkland per head than any other UK city, the Welsh capital is a green city
offering great quality of life. It’s also one of the UK’s fastest growing cities -
these days there’s a tangible sense of trajectory and momentum in Cardiff.
Retaining more graduates and creatives than ever before, Cardiff is also nurturing
a growing tech start-up community, and is home to a robust TV and media sector as
well as several major financial services firms.
Central Cardiff features most big city brands but it’s the thriving
independent businesses and Victorian arcades that give the city character.
Individuals make a community, and it’s entrepreneurial Cardiffians like
those featured here who are following their passions and supporting
one another in making central Cardiff a better and more interesting
place to live.
Few things represent indie – or Cardiff cool -
like Spillers Records, which having been going
since 1894, prides itself on being the world’s
oldest record shop.
Owner Ashli Todd, whose dad bought the business
in the late 1970s, has worked here since
childhood and took over the business in 2010.
“It’s a responsibility and a motivator knowing
how fondly people think of Spillers,” says
Ashli. “The big buzz for me has always been
seeing somebody’s reaction to what they are
hearing in the shop, or getting to know a
customer well enough to recommend bands that
sometimes go on to become their favourite
artists. That is a privilege.”
To thousands of local music fans Spillers
represents a rite of passage, a gateway to
teenage musical discoveries in the pre-internet
age. Today it remains a mecca for music lovers
and vinyl junkies alike, located in the bustling
Morgan Quarter where it rubs shoulder with many
of the city’s other best independent shops.
“There’s definitely a feeling of being in it
together in Cardiff, and a willingness to
collaborate,” says Ashli. “Exciting things are
happening here.”
Paul Hayman, who founded Uncommon Ground
in nearby Royal Arcade with his brother
Ian certainly wouldn’t disagree. “These
are exciting times,” he echoes. “This end
of town can only improve with all the new
developments around the station. The way
Cardiff is growing is just fantastic.”
A speciality coffee house and roastery,
Uncommon Ground offers high-end coffee and
light bites that are a little different.
Very few places in Cardiff buy in green
beans and roast their own but it’s not
just this that sets Uncommon Ground apart,
believes Paul.
“As well as high quality coffees, we pride
ourselves on the speed of service and the
fact that we offer a different experience,”
he says. “Cardiff may be a saturated market
in terms of chains but there’s plenty of
room for independents offering a better
product.”
The darkened interior with vintage-
furnishing and relaxed vibe certainly
offers refuge from the bustle beyond its
doors, and stands in welcome contrast to
their national chain brethren.
Cardiff is well known for its
nightlife and culture, and
an unusual addition to both
categories was Wales’s first
theatre pub at Porter’s bar.
“We wanted to explode onto the
scene and do things with high
production values,” says Bizzy
Day, co-founder of The Other
Room Theatre.
It’s fair to say that TOR,
which Bizzy describes as
“probably Cardiff’s worst kept
secret”, has done just that,
leading to it been being named
Fringe Theatre of the Year
2016 at The Stage Awards for
its uncompromising and quality
output.
TOR themes its seasonal
programmes under an overarching
film noir-ish feel that
lends itself very well to
the aesthetic of Porter’s, a
popular independent bar owned
by two former – they would
laugh and tell you ‘failed’ –
actors.
“The plays we programme tend to
explore the grittier and darker
side of human nature, but it’s
always tempered with hope,”
says Bizzy.
Small but perfectly formed
(“If we put any more than five
people on our stage it gets
a bit overwhelming for the
audience!”), TOR, like Cardiff,
punches above its weight.
“This city is exciting,” says
Bizzy. “People who live in
Cardiff are so spoilt – there
is so much going on. I love
this city, and it constantly
surprises me. Cardiff remakes
itself. It’s doing that right
now in fact, and that’s really
exciting.”
“Cardiff as a city is really on
the up and is set to change a
lot in the coming years. It’s
a really nice size city centre
to walk around. Everything’s
very compact,” says Owen Morgan
co-founder of Bar 44 and new
restaurant Asador 44.
It’s 15 years since brothers
Owen and Tom first introduced
modern Spanish tapas, seldom
seen outside of London, to
their native Cowbridge. In
2015 they opened on Westgate
Street in Cardiff city centre,
in an area that has grown
into a cluster of vibrant
independents.
“Our passion for Spain, its
food and the conviviality of
the tapas scene has always
been the biggest inspiration
for us,” says Owen, who is
self-trained and for the first
ten years was the outfit’s
head chef, having gone to top
Spanish restaurants in London
to work for free to perfect
specialist skills.
“Everyday you live or die by
your product. You have to keep
striving to better yourself
everyday,” says Owen. “We don’t
ever ram it down their throats
but we’re always keen to talk
to customers about our produce
and our passion for our dishes
and why they’re special to us.”
Opening on Westgate Street was
a brave move that has paid off
and “kicked our business on”,
says Owen. “We experienced
60–70% growth from year one to
year two, which gave us the
confidence to do something very
different just 30 metres away.”
‘Something very different’ is
Asador 44, one of the most
exciting restaurant openings
in Cardiff of recent years,
bringing northern Spanish
charcoal-based cooking to the
Welsh capital.
Cardiff’s Victorian arcades are synonymous with
independent retail. If shopping for the home or
gifts in Cardiff pretty and cool Home By Kirsty
in Castle Arcade is a must.
The Kirsty in question, designer-maker Kirsty
Patrick, who is originally from Oxfordshire, and
who studied in Carmarthen before “failing to
make it back across the bridge” some 11 years
ago. After five years of saving and planning,
she finally realised her dream of opening a shop
in 2014.
“Being in the city centre and in the arcades
among other independent businesses has been
really important,” she says. “When you first
start you need the support of other businesses
so that really helped.”
When you step into the shop, Kirsty’s background
in visual merchandising is immediately
apparent. Her covetable products are beautifully
presented, including her own handmade lighting
range, which she has been making since 2007.
“It’s good that the independents in Cardiff are
sticking together and have a ‘We can do it’
attitude,” she says.
Her own can-do attitude has seen her launch the
Get Lost In CDF map featuring the city centre’s
indie businesses “to get people out there and
exploring the city”.
shared values and a passion for
food. When a pitch came up in
Cardiff Market in 2016, they
decided to go into business
together.
As part of Owen’s desire to
make cheese more appealing to
a younger audience, Cheese
Pantry does street food pop-
ups and collaborations, such as
a series of popular cheese and
beer nights at Small Bar.
Owen, who moved to Cardiff just
four years ago, says: “I’ll
always remember my friend’s
mum, who lived here, telling
me: ‘Cardiff is small enough to
be intimate, large enough to be
mischievous.’”
“The market is full of
characters, and they’re so
lovely and welcoming. There’s a
buzz in the place. The banter
between them all is amazing -
it’s all about the chat,” says
Owen Wyn Davies, co-founder of
Cheese Pantry, which opened in
late 2016 in Cardiff Market
and whose customers include
prestigious James Sommerin’s
restaurant and local pizza
heroes Dusty Knuckle.
Symbolic of a rise in demand
for quality food – “Provenance
and quality is key. We know the
producers and how our cheeses
are made” - Cheese Pantry began
after Owen formed a friendship
with Mel Boothman and Jo Makein
of Penylan Pantry based on
Not far away another set of
siblings are providing a new and
exciting co-working and cultural
space in a disused factory. Mums
Julia Harris and Sarah Valentin
have been working together
for ten years but started The
Sustainable Studio in mid-2016
after three months slog to make
it a vibrant and comfortable
co-working space with studios
and workshops for 15 makers and
businesses, and community use.
“We’ve worked with young people
when they were 11 and we’re
now seeing them at university
studying topics we introduced
them to. It’s a privilege to
be a part of others’ journeys,”
says Sarah, who works with
students from Cardiff Met,
University of South Wales, and
nearby Cardiff And Vale College.
Having run a successful crowd
funder in 2017, The Sustainable
Studio transformed the factory’s
top floor into one of the
hottest creative spaces in town,
and was used as gallery space
for Diffusion, the international
photography festival.
The sisters are as passionate
about their hometown as they
are about community involvement
and helping others fulfil their
potential.
“Cardiff is finding its
identity. We are putting
ourselves out there, and that’s
really exciting. There’s
increasingly a sense of self-
belief,” says Julia. “We all
say that Cardiff’s like a
village. Its size and intimacy
can be a real strength – it
is accessible, it is flat for
cycling, and we have beautiful
parks in the heart of the city.”
Portabella is an independent
local property company about to
embark on its most ambitious
project to date, and looking
to regenerate a forgotten part
of town with a new residential
development that reflects the
influences of the area and
complements the remnants of
Cardiff’s industrial heritage.
Drawing inspiration from
London’s East End revival,
we wanted the opportunity to
create a new micro-community
reflecting Cardiff’s vibrancy.
In homage to this different
way of doing things we wanted
to make a short film showing
the story of some of our
city’s most interesting folks
shaking things up; going about
their independent business and
championing one another.
Alongside local company Fizzi
events, we asked Cardiff’s own
On Par Productions to come
up with an idea for a film
celebrating indie businesses.
The film’s called ‘This Is
Us’ and you can find a link
on the Brickworks website
brickworkscardiff.co.uk
Think industrial-warehouse communal areas,
exposed brick walls and concrete floors;
commercial units on the ground floor housing
independent businesses and a sixth floor
communal roof terrace.
A hop, skip or jump to Cardiff central train
station and an opportunity to live in Cardiff
city centre’s most exciting regeneration area.
This is a magazine put together to showcase Cardiff’s indie people doing interesting
things. It’s also a little preview of Cardiff’s emerging South Central district and
Brickworks, the new place there to live.
We’re not ready to talk about the apartments just yet and they’re probably not for you
anyway but you could head over to the website brickworkscardiff.co.uk and register.
You know, just in case.
design: blindspotdesign.co.uk
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