CARDIFFWORKS News, views, and inspiring interviews

Eyes down for a full house at The DEPOT’s new site

Five years after it first opened as a temporary, eight-week pop-up, Cardiff’s biggest independent warehouse events venue has invested £300,000 into relocating to a new city-centre premise.

The DEPOT, who have established themselves as one of the biggest entertainment brands in the city, is now housed in the former Lyndons Scaffolding unit on Williams Way, Curran Embankment. The new site, which opened on 31 January, includes two permanent street food kitchens based inside 20ft shipping containers; as well as an outdoor garden, and three huge screens for cinema pop-ups, sports screenings and corporate events. Nick Saunders, founder of The DEPOT, says, “Despite starting life as a temporary pop-up, The DEPOT has grown to include a packed portfolio of annual events, established itself as a key part of Cardiff’s alternative

Nick founded The DEPOT in 2015

night-time economy, and attracted a tight-knit team of core staff.”

The move to the bigger site will create 10 new jobs, increasing the DEPOT’s team of permanent staff to 40, and will allow the venue to put on more live music and entertainment events, like their famous Bingo Lingo nights.

Laura Eastwood Chapter’s fundraising officer and Daniel Griffiths of Lloyds Bank with the new Chapter donation point

The arts centre Chapter has installed a contactless donations device at their gallery entrance, with the help of Lloyds bank. It now means visitors can tap their card to give £2, £5 or £10 to help support Chapter’s varied artistic programme including their all year round free exhibitions.

Elaina Johnson, director of external relations at Chapter, says, “Lloyds Bank has a long-standing relationship with Chapter and has provided much support over the years via direct sponsorship of the film programme, to funding which has benefited the Community Garden.

“We’re delighted that Lloyds is helping us once again, as we aim to raise the profile of Chapter as a charity and the need for us to raise income to support the exciting artistic programme that visitors see when they come into the building.” For more: www.chapter.org

TOP SCORE The Football Association of Wales (FAW) is developing a new state-of-the art training centre at the four-star Vale Resort in Hensol Park.

FAW will take over the 1,800 sq metre Vale Pavilion, which used to be home to the Cardiff Blues regional rugby franchise, to create a new centre of excellence which will include a fitness zone, medical rooms, changing facilities, player lounges, in addition to meeting rooms, by summer of this year. Stephen Leeke, managing director of the Vale Resort, says, “Ever since we opened, we have worked hard at creating a sporting centre of excellence with cutting-edge facilities that would suit professionals at the top of their game.

“Our hard work has paid off and we are now home to both Wales’ national football and rugby teams, as well as Cardiff City Football Club, while we are also first choice to many highprofile visiting teams.” For more: www.faw.cymru

Jonathan Ford, chief executive of the FAW and Stephen Leeke, managing director of the Vale Resort

TOP NOTE Welsh National Opera has announced that Yvette Vaughan Jones has been appointed as Chair of the board of directors. Yvette, who has extensive experience of working in the arts both in the UK and internationally, is the fi rst woman in the company’s history to hold the role of Chair of WNO. www.wno.org.uk 2020 VISION A sight loss charity, which marks its 155th anniversary this year and has changed its name from Cardiff Institute for the Blind to Sight Life, has appointed a new Chair, former journalist John Sanders.

John, who has experienced sight loss himself, says, “I intend to make sure that even more people benefi t from the life changing support Sight Life off ers, as developing sight loss can be a scary and lonely place.” www.sightlife.wales MORE PLEASE Oliver Morris has recently joined the Cardiff -based law fi rm Loosemores as a solicitor in the commercial property department. He says, “The fi rm has an excellent long-standing reputation in Cardiff for its wealth of expertise and for the high-quality service that it provides to its clients making it an attractive move for me at this stage in my career.” www.loosemores.co.uk

Senior partner Mark Loosemore (left) with Oliver Morris Ysgol Gymraeg Pwll Coch has a new specialist resource base

Ysgol Gymraeg Pwll Coch, the primary school in Leckwith, Cardiff , has recently opened a new specialist resource base. The new facility Yr Hafan off ers an inclusive learning environment for up to ten children with complex needs from across the city.

Based in the heart of the school, the classroom includes a host of specialist facilities such as outdoor learning, kitchen area, changing room and a quiet learning space. Headteacher Chris Newcombe says, “I am very proud to see that our pupils are thriving due to our outstanding pupil focussed provision which focusses on wellbeing, life skills, learning experiences and opportunities.” For more: www.ysgolpwllcoch.co.uk

Velindre University NHS Trust has signed up to the TUC charter to help reassure employees

Velindre University NHS Trust in Nantgarw has signed up to TUC Dying to Work charter. The Charter is part of the TUC’s wider Dying to Work campaign, which aims to give employees with terminal illnesses more choice in how to spend their fi nal months and off ers peace of mind around job security. Steve Ham, chief executive of the Velindre University NHS Trust, says, “Here

at Velindre we understand the importance of respecting and enabling a dignifi ed end of life. Caring is one of our organisations core values and we take pride in our compassionate approach to supporting patients and managing our people. We are grateful to the TUC for their work in this area and are proud signatories of the Charter.” For more: www.velindre-tr.wales.nhs.uk

Tell us your Cardiffi an credentials… I am Cardiff born and bred. I grew up in Lisvane but have lived in Pontcanna for nearly 20 years.

What jobs were you doing before becoming a head auctioneer at Seel & Co? I originally started my career in hospitality, I have worked in and around property for the last 20 years or so, mostly for myself. And before Seel & Co, I worked for Jeff rey Ross estate agents as a senior valuer.

Tell us a little about Seel & Co – when was it established and what is its background? The company was established in 1898 by the former managing director Tony Seel’s great grandfather. Ross Hooper-Nash bought the company last year but many of the Seel family are still involved.

How might you describe your key clientele? Our clientele is hugely varied from experienced auction buyers, sellers and agents, to fi rst time buyers and investors looking for a quick and easy purchase or sale.

Who else is on the Seel & Co auction team? Paul White is the other valuer out on the road, as well as myself, often specialising in land and local authority disposals. In the offi ce Eleanor Byrne is the auctions operations manager and has recently celebrated 20 years at Seel & Co. She is supported by Leanna Lock who is the auctions administrator. We are a small and close-knit team who certainly thrive on the busiest periods around the auction days.

What sort of reaction do you get when you tell people what you do? One funny perception is that I talk very quickly while running through the bids at auction. This does happen at the livestock auctions, particularly in the US, but not in property auctions. Generally though people are starting to understand this a little more and TV programmes like Homes Under The Hammer have helped.

Are there other misconceptions about property auctions? The common ones are that you only sell houses that need work, are investments, or that they are forced sales. While we do sell this type of property, we do also sell homes which are ready to move in to for families and fi rst-time buyers. Any type of property can be sold at auction, often achieving higher prices than would have been achieved through a more traditional agent as there is often completion in the room.

Can you share examples of recently auctioned properties? To demonstrate the range we get, there was a development site in Pontcanna, which we sold for a Welsh auction house record of £1.6 million, a detached family home in the Vale of Glamorgan, and for a few thousand pounds, some plots of land in the Valleys.

What’s the most memorable property you’ve auctioned? For me personally, probably the vacant plot of land on Caroline Street in Cardiff , which most

of us have probably walked past thousands of time without noticing it was there. Another one was a fi re damaged property in North Cornelly, Bridgend, which had a guide price of just £1. It eventually sold for £65,000.

Ever made a mistake during an auction? I started an auction last year without my gavel which is a pretty important piece of equipment for an auctioneer. I managed to scramble around in my bag and fi nd it but not an ideal start.

How do you keep your own nerve during an auction? By selling the fi rst lot! The fi rst sale going through tends to settle my nerves and the whole thing tends to go quick quickly then and I settle in to enjoying the evening.

Have you ever had anyone change their mind after an auction? I am sure this happens to some people in their own minds, but once the gavel has gone down they have fully committed to the purchase. This is the beauty of auctions – you achieve a sale immediately and usually complete the sale within 28 days of the auction.

What advice would you give to someone considering selling their property at auction? The only question they need to ask themselves is whether they want to sell their property quickly.

Is modern technology altering the auctioning process at all? We are already starting to modernise the auction experience at Seel & co with a move to the Ricoh suite at Cardiff City stadium. This has allowed us to bring in more technology already using the screens to show our available lots and also our VR tours. This is just the start though and we would like to incorporate more of this in the future, we are currently looking into online bidding as an option for example.

For more: Seel & Co, The Crown House, Wyndham Crescent, Canton, Cardiff CF11 9UH; www.seelandco.com