Creating a contemporary living space in the heart of Cardiff

Verse - City Centre Build-to-Rent

Crossmark, a private real estate company, wanted to develop a 16-storey, 150-apartment build-to-rent scheme with ground-floor retail amenities in the centre of Cardiff. They selected a terrace of 1990s office buildings to transform into the Verse scheme, which sits in a conservation area on a site that’s only slightly bigger than its footprint. Crossmark appointed us to help.

Our multidisciplinary team provided acquisition, planning submission, and detailed design work. After conducting site investigations establishing the viability of the site, we worked collaboratively with Rio Architects, planning consultants Avison Young, and heritage and ecology specialists, Environmental Dimension Partnership to support the planning submission. We advised on the planning submission and the subsequent design. Our services included civil and structural design, along with mechanical, electrical and plumbing, fire engineering design, and transport planning. We conducted studies—from acoustics and noise and air quality studies to sustainability and energy studies—and led the successful integration of sustainable drainage features into the development proposals.

Reflecting street level dynamics, the modern, multi-level design for the building steps down from 16 storeys to eight, then five. We used a reinforced concrete frame to achieve the architectural vision—the structural design accommodates multiple cladding types, mezzanine floors, inset floorplates, and green and blue roofs.

With this contemporary design, Crossmark has remade this former office site into a place residents can call home, in Cardiff’s city centre, where the arts, music, and culture thrive.