Architect calls for ‘Berlin Wall’ to be torn down

Dec 27 2010 by Clare Hutchinson, South Wales Echo

A WALL stretching 1km along a city street has been dubbed Cardiff’s own Berlin Wall by a top architect.

Jonathan Adams slammed the wall, which runs the length of Bute Street, for dividing the city in two.

And community leaders backed his call to tear it down.

Mr Adams said: “Where else would you find a kilometre-long wall, where you can’t get from one side to the other, in the middle of a city?

“I can think of a few historical examples – Berlin being one of them.

“You can think of a city as being a bit like an organism. To make it work you need movement in all directions.

“But there is a gap between the Bay and the city centre which cannot be developed because its lifeblood is cut off.

“The wall makes it impossible to move east to west across a whole kilometre stretch right in the centre of the city. Where else would this happen?”

Mr Adams designed the Wales Millennium Centre – one of the UK’s most recognisable buildings.

He said getting rid of the wall, which also runs alongside the railway line from Queen Street station to Cardiff Bay, would revitalise a whole swathe of the city from Splott to Grangetown, making it more attractive to potential developers.

He added: “Of course you would have to consider relocating people, which is never a popular policy, but that is the way cities like Cardiff have been developed since the year dot.”

Butetown councillor Delme Greening said taking away the wall and accompanying railway line would help bring people living in Cardiff Bay and Butetown together.

He said: “I think it would revitalise the whole area and put an end to the segregation between the two different sides.

“Obviously there would have to be safeguards to make sure people’s homes are protected, but I’m sure the people of Butetown who have stood by and watched this wonderful development taking place all around them would welcome some for themselves.”

Council leader Rodney Berman said regeneration projects already under way in Butetown – including a £13m redevelopment scheme in Loudoun Square – were tackling the “perceived problem” of underdevelopment in Butetown.

He added: “My view is that getting significant investment into this traditional community area, such as the terrific new energy-efficient housing the council built in Angelina Street, is a better way forward.”

A spokesman for Network Rail, which owns the wall, said: “We welcome any aspirations held by the council to improve road access in the area and work with them to examine the feasibility of the idea. The wall serves as a critical support system for the embankment and an alternative structural support will be needed if the wall is removed.”

Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2010/12/27/architect-calls-for-berlin-wall-to-be-torn-down-91466-27888280/#ixzz19KXra4QU