Islamic community centre to occupy large office in city business park.

Cardiff Council has approved plans to convert Unit 5 at St Mellons Business Park into an Islamic Educational and Welfare Centre offering community, educational and welfare services; the exterior will remain unchanged and opening hours are listed as 7am–12am.

Cardiff Council has approved plans to convert Unit 5 at St Mellons Business Park into an Islamic Educational and Welfare Centre (IEWC). The building is described as a two‑storey, headquarters‑style office with generous on‑site parking. The application says the centre would provide a broad range of community, educational, cultural, welfare and training functions. No external works were proposed, so the outside of the building will remain unchanged. Key details: - The approved proposal would establish an Islamic Educational and Welfare Centre at Unit 5, St Mellons Business Park. - Opening hours are listed in the application as 7am to 12am, intended to allow wide community use. - Internal uses described include a nursery, classrooms, multipurpose halls, a gym, youth and women’s programme spaces, and prayer spaces ancillary to education and welfare activities. - The centre’s stated objectives include community education, youth empowerment, intercultural engagement, lifelong learning, interfaith dialogue, programmes tackling Islamophobia, women's development initiatives, community wellbeing services, a foodbank and welfare support. - The property was on the market for two and a half years and had only four viewings reach a serious stage; the application described office use as no longer viable for that site. - A planning condition restricts the property’s use to community, educational, cultural, welfare, training, nursery/creche, gymnasium or health/medical purposes and prevents future use of the entire premises solely as a place of worship. Summary: The approved plans repurpose an underused out‑of‑town office into a multi‑purpose Islamic education and welfare centre intended to host a range of community services and programmes. The council’s approval includes a condition limiting future uses within the community and welfare class and preventing the whole building being used solely as a place of worship. Undetermined at this time.