The County Hall ( cy, Neuadd y Sir) is a municipal building located beside the disused Bute East Dock in the Atlantic Wharf area of

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 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 ...

. Formerly the home of

South Glamorgan County Council South Glamorgan County Council ( cy, Cyngor Sir De Morgannwg) was the local government authority that administered the county of South Glamorgan, Wales from its creation in 1974 until its abolition in 1996. History Local government in England and ...

, it is now the headquarters of

Cardiff Council Cardiff Council, formally the County Council of the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Cyngor Sir Dinas a Sir Caerdydd) is the governing body for Cardiff, one of the Principal Areas of Wales. The principal area and its council were established ...

History

Design and construction

Following the implementation of the Local Government Act 1972, which broke up

Glamorgan County Council Glamorgan County Council was established in 1889 together with the administrative county of Glamorganshire under the Local Government Act 1888. The first elections to the council were held in January 1889. The council was abolished under the Local ...

and established

, the new county council was initially headquartered in a building on Newport Road, Cardiff. After finding this arrangement inadequate for their needs, the new county leaders decided to procure a purpose-built county hall: the site they selected was derelict land on the west side of Bute East Dock. The building was designed by J. R. C. Bethell, the County Architect for

South Glamorgan , Government= South Glamorgan County Council , Status= Non-metropolitan county (1974–1996) Preserved county (1996–) , Start= 1974 , End= 1996 , Arms= , HQ= ...

, and built between 1986 and 1987. This was at a time when the surrounding area consisted mainly of post-industrial dereliction. Hence the construction of the new building has been described in ''Buildings of Wales: Glamorgan'' as a "remarkable gesture of faith ythe South Glamorgan County Council". It is seen as representative of a new form of civic building that does not dominate its surroundings by its size, or formal language, to the extent that it could "even ea deliberate abregation of the arrogant assertiveness of the late C19, expressed across the water". It was officially opened by Lord Callaghan in October 1988.

Development

On 1 April 1996, under the

Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 (c. 19) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which amended the Local Government Act 1972 to create the current local government structure in Wales of 22 unitary authority areas, referred to as ...

, South Glamorgan County Council was broken up and

became the local authority in the area and took over County Hall. In September 2007, former Council chief executive Byron Davies unveiled plans aimed at large efficiency improvements and bringing in additional funding, which could include selling County Hall, the Cardiff Heliport and up to 40% of

Cardiff Bus Cardiff Bus ( cy, Bws Caerdydd) is the dominant operator of bus services in Cardiff, Wales and the surrounding area, including Barry and Penarth. The company is wholly owned by Cardiff Council and is one of the few municipal bus companies to ...

. In 2013 the potential sale and demolition of County Hall was again raised, as part of Cardiff Council's plans to reduce their property commitments. It was suggested an indoor arena and convention centre could be built on the site.

Architecture

County Hall is generally three storeys in height, but rises to four and five storeys in places. The distinctive shallow pitch roofs are of black slate. In plan the building is formed around a central courtyard. It is the main headquarters of

and is home to many of the council's departments. Internally, the principal rooms are the council chamber and committee rooms. The

Camera Control Room is also located at County Hall, where operators use CCTV to monitor locations across the city in an attempt to stop

fly-tipping Illegal dumping, also called fly dumping or fly tipping ( UK), is the dumping of waste illegally instead of using an authorized method such as curbside collection or using an authorized rubbish dump. It is the illegal deposit of any waste onto l ...

and other criminal activity. County Hall is also marketed as a venue for conferences, weddings and other events. It boasts an in-house catering team, a large bar for refreshments and function suites to accommodate up to 300 people.

References

External links

Cardiff County CouncilCardiff County Hall website
{{Politics and Government in Cardiff Buildings and structures in Cardiff Politics of Cardiff County halls in Wales South Glamorgan Government buildings completed in 1987