BBC Cymru Wales New Broadcasting House (), previously known as the BBC Cymru Wales Headquarters building, is the headquarters of BBC Cymru Wales in

Central Square, Cardiff Central Square ( cy, Sgwâr Canolog) is a large public space in Cardiff, Wales, adjacent to Cardiff Central railway station and included Cardiff Central bus station between 1954 and 2015. It was redeveloped and extended in the late 2010s and earl ...

. It operates many of its broadcasting services (radio and TV) from there using IP-based studios. It also serves as a base for

S4C S4C (, ''Sianel Pedwar Cymru'', meaning ''Channel Four Wales'') is a Welsh language free-to-air public broadcast television channel. Launched on 1 November 1982, it was the first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking ...

. The £120 million building replaced the BBC Cymru Wales Broadcasting House in Llandaff, when 1,000 production and support staff began moving into the new facility in October 2019. The building is officially located at 3 Central Square, but has also been referred to as BBC New Broadcasting House.

Operation

The building's first live transmission was made on 14 July 2020 by

continuity announcer In broadcasting, continuity or presentation (or station break in the U.S. and Canada) is announcements, messages and graphics played by the broadcaster between specific programmes. It typically includes programme schedules, announcement of the ...

Tim Cooper on

BBC Two Wales BBC Two Wales is the national variation of BBC Two for BBC Cymru Wales. It is broadcast from BBC Cymru Wales New Broadcasting House, Central Square in Cardiff with live continuity provided by a team of announcer/directors. The channel opts out f ...

. Continuity announcer Leanne Thomas introduced the Six O'clock news on

BBC One Wales BBC One Wales is a Welsh television channel owned and operated by BBC Cymru Wales. It is the Welsh variation of the UK-wide BBC One and is broadcast from Central Square in Cardiff. BBC One Wales broadcasts around three hours of non-news program ...

for the first time on 15 July. This was followed by the first radio broadcasts - by

BBC Radio Cymru 2 BBC Radio Cymru is a Welsh language radio network owned and operated by BBC Cymru Wales, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts on two stations across Wales on FM, DAB, digital TV and online. The main network broadcasts for hours a day from ...

host Daniel Glyn on 25 July and BBC Radio Wales host

Owen Money Owen Money MBE (born Lynn Mittell, 16 May 1947) is a Welsh musician, actor, comedian, and radio presenter. He was born in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. In the 2007 New Year Honours, Money was made an MBE for services to entertainment in Wales. The Bysta ...

on 31 July. TV news programmes including ''

Wales Today ''BBC Wales Today'' is the BBC's national television news programme for Wales, broadcast on BBC One Wales from the headquarters of BBC Cymru Wales in Central Square, Cardiff. According to the BBC, it is the world's longest-running television new ...

'' for BBC One Wales and ''

Newyddion ''Newyddion S4C'' (''S4C News'') is a Welsh-language news programme consisting of Welsh, UK, and international news, produced daily by BBC Cymru Wales and broadcast on S4C. Overview The main evening programme (branded ) is broadcast each wee ...

'' for

transferred from Llandaff to Central Square in September 2020, with viewers seeing the building's roof garden in a live broadcast by reporter Alex Jennings on an afternoon broadcast of ''Wales Today''. On 27 January 2021, S4C moved its TV and online operations from Parc Tŷ Glas, in Llanishen, Cardiff to Central Square from where the channel now broadcasts. Under a partnership agreement, BBC Wales provides S4C's playout and other technology services. The building has achieved the BREEAM "Outstanding" rating, which was first introduced in August 2008 to recognise a new standard of sustainability for exemplary buildings. The building will also be the first BBC building to use live IP (internet protocol) technology, it also has

augmented reality Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience that combines the real world and computer-generated content. The content can span multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory. AR can be de ...

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), educ ...

and robotic cameras.

Design and construction

Construction started in December 2015 on the site of the former Cardiff Central bus station. The building is half the size of the former Broadcasting House in Llandaff. The BBC received the keys to the building in April 2018, after which the headquarters was fitted out with new technology before staff moved in, around October 2019. The building has been designed by

Foster + Partners Foster + Partners is a British architectural, engineering, and integrated design practice founded in 1967 as Foster Associates by Norman Foster. It is the largest architectural firm in the UK with over 1,500 employees in 13 studios worldwide. ...

, with the interior design by Overbury and

Sheppard Robson Sheppard Robson (previously Richard Sheppard, Robson & Partners ) is a British architecture firm, founded in 1938 by Sir Richard Herbert Sheppard, with offices in London, Manchester, and Glasgow]. It was particularly influential in the 1950s– ...

. There will be four floors providing office, studio and production space. There will be desk space for 750 staff, on the basis that not all the 1,200 staff will be on site at the same time. The internal size of Central Square over several floors is , making it nearly 1.5 times the area of the

Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm y Mileniwm), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Principality) for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it is the home of the Wales national rug ...

pitch. It is envisaged that an estimated 50,000 people will visit the new building every year. The BBC agreed a 20-year lease on the building at an annual rent of around £25 per square foot per annum with Rightacres Property Company, the developer of the Central Square.

Notes

External links

*
BBC Cymru Wales Headquarters on the Foster + Partners website

centralsquarecardiff.co.uk
{{Authority control BBC offices, studios and buildings Television in Wales Buildings and structures in Cardiff BBC Cymru Wales Office buildings in Cardiff Foster and Partners buildings

Operation

Design and construction

See also

Notes

External links