Former Pearl Assurance Building is a Grade II listed building in the Cardiff local planning authority area, Wales. First listed on 4 March 1988. Former office building. 10 related planning applications.
Former Pearl Assurance Building
- WRENN ID
- hallowed-crypt-ebony
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Cardiff
- Constituency
- Cardiff South and Penarth MP: Stephen Doughty (Lab)
- Country
- Wales
- Date first listed
- 4 March 1988
- Type
- Former office building
- Address
- Former Pearl Assurance Building, 29&30 High Street, Castle
- OS grid reference
- ST 181 764
- Coordinates
- 51.48087, -3.18056
- Source
- Cadw listing
Description
The Former Pearl Assurance Building is an exceptional four-storey structure featuring a classical facade with four windows, constructed from fine Portland stone ashlar on a reinforced concrete framework. The building has checked back angles and a plain parapet, with simple openings on the third floor above a main dentil cornice. It showcases stepped impost bands leading to a giant arch treatment on the principal floors, complemented by Ionic half-columns and stepped reveals. The facade includes marginal glazing and bronze infill panels, along with plate glass. A cornice crowns the polished granite surround of the ground floor, which has a modern shop front to the left and an original recessed office entrance to the right, featuring small-pane double wooden doors and panelled surrounds.
Although not accessible during the resurvey, it is reported to have a good openwell staircase with bronze balusters that incorporate an iron motif in the handrail.
Local climate
Former Pearl Assurance Building sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 1,080 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 86% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 87% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 22 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 77% of listed buildings. Of these, 8 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 10 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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