Hotel in Cardiff Bay will be Wales' tallest building

The 32-storey hotel will include apartments and a spa

Plans have been unveiled for a five star hotel in Cardiff which it is claimed will be Wales' tallest building at 127m (417ft).

Work is due to start on the 32-storey Wyndham Cardiff towards the end of the year and it is likely to open by 2013.

The £60m hotel in Cardiff Bay will also feature apartments.

It comes as assembly government planning inspectors voiced concern over council plans to build thousands of new flats in Cardiff over 10 years.

On the new hotel development, Wyndham Hotel Group and Bayscape Ltd said the plans also included 35 serviced apartments on the top floors of the tower and 100 "residential units".

The developers say they are "demonstrably different to anything that can currently be found in Cardiff Bay".

There will also be a spa, conference facilities, bars and restaurants.

Some 200 permanent jobs are expected to be created.

The hotel, which the developers say will be the tallest hotel tower in the UK, will be built on the international sports village site and connects to the 350-berth Cardiff Marina.

Wyndham Cardiff will eclipse the 28-storey Meridian Quay development in Swansea Marina.

Drew McDonald, director of Bayscape Ltd, said: "The people of Cardiff are rightly proud of their city. It's a dynamic, vibrant place with a real buzz about it.

"We are thrilled to be bringing a Wyndham hotel to the city and can't wait to bring this iconic building to life."

Cardiff council leader Rodney Berman said the hotel would be "another landmark for Cardiff and a striking addition to Cardiff's international sports village".

A separate plan to build a 33-storey residential development in Cardiff Bay, which would have been the highest building in Wales, was scrapped last year.

Market conditions were blamed at the time for the Bay Pointe plan being abandoned.

BBC Wales current affairs programme Week In Week Out broadcast on Tuesday will say Cardiff council's own officials are recommending the withdrawal of a key planning document following concern over plans to build thousand of flats on brownfield sites in the next 10 years.

'Causing uncertainty'

Assembly government planning inspectors, academics, businesses and local residents have questioned the wisdom and feasibility of the projected brownfield developments.

It follows the credit crunch and increasing demands for family homes rather than flats.

At a recent meeting, assembly government inspectors told Cardiff councillors they did not think the strategy of building flats on brownfield sites would work.

Council leader Mr Berman has accused assembly government officials of causing uncertainty, with elected council members unsure whether to tear up the Local Development Plan (LDP) and start all over again.

The LDP is a major document providing the framework for Cardiff's housing, jobs and quality of life for the next 15 years and has already taken four years to draw up.

Mr Berman said: "We've had a very strong hint from the inspectors that they think [the LDP] is unsound in many aspects, but they won't give a definitive view until they've heard all the evidence, so we're really caught in a difficult position here.

"Do we go back to the drawing board and start again? It's not an easy choice."

Resident Neil Sinclair, who has lived in the area all his life, told the programme: "There are far too many flats, and there's no need for flats… local people would like to have houses to raise a family in."

Week In Week Out: Starbucks and Stadiums, is on Tuesday, 23 March on BBC One Wales, 22.35 GMT.

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