Cardiff Bay Police Station (which replaced Butetown Police Station) is the

South Wales Police South Wales Police ( cy, Heddlu De Cymru) is one of the four territorial police forces in Wales. It is headquartered in Bridgend. The force was formed as South Wales Constabulary on 1 June 1969, by the amalgamation of the former Glamorgan Cons ...

Eastern Division area headquarters and custody suite, located on James Street,

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, Wales.

Background

Butetown Police Station

Butetown Police Station (on the same site as the new headquarters) was built circa 1968 as a two-storey community police station for

Butetown Butetown (or ''The Docks'', cy, Tre-biwt) is a district and community in the south of the city of Cardiff, the capital of Wales. It was originally a model housing estate built in the early 19th century by the 2nd Marquess of Bute, for whose t ...

, Cardiff. It was a notable location for events surrounding the investigation, arrests, detention and questioning of the suspects following the

murder of Lynette White Lynette Deborah White (5 July 1967 – 14 February 1988) was murdered on 14 February 1988 in Cardiff, Wales. South Wales Police issued a Facial composite, photofit image of a bloodstained, white male seen in the vicinity at the time of the murd ...

in 1988, which led to the wrongful imprisonment of three Cardiff men. Butetown Police Station was demolished in November 2006 to make way for the new police headquarters.

Cardiff Bay Police Station

Plans were unveiled in 2002 for a replacement for South Wales Police's Eastern Division headquarters in Cardiff Bay. The existing facilities (including only eight police cells) at the division's headquarters in Cathays Park were outdated and unfit for purpose. In August 2006 the Design and Build contract was awarded to construction firm, Stradform, with architectural and engineering services provided by

Capita Symonds Capita Property and Infrastructure (previously Capita Symonds) is a UK multidisciplinary consultancy operating in the building design, civil engineering, environment, management and transport sectors, part of the Capita Group. They employ aroun ...

. The new police station opened in 2009, providing custody facilities for Cardiff and

Barry Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 19 ...

and divisional headquarters for South Wales Police. An 18m (60 feet) high sculpture of a lighthouse was erected in front of the main steps of the police station at a cost of £75,000, making it the most expensive piece of art paid for by any UK police force in the previous five years.

Facilities

The new police station has 60 custody cells spread across three wings, with access to natural daylight via solar tubes. There are also 11 interview rooms and state-of-the-art recording and security equipment.

References

External links

South Wales Police - Police Stations: Cardiff Bay
{{coord, 51.4648, -3.1703, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title 2009 establishments in Wales Police stations in Wales Buildings and structures in Cardiff Crime in Cardiff