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

Butetown Butetown (or ''The Docks'', ) is a district and community (Wales), 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 John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marqu ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

. Formerly the home of

South Glamorgan County Council South Glamorgan County Council () 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 Wales was reorganised in 1 ...

, it is now the headquarters of

Cardiff Council Cardiff Council, formally the County Council of the City and County of Cardiff () is the governing body for Cardiff, one of the Administrative divisions of Wales, 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 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

, 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 Loca ...

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 South Glamorgan () is a preserved counties of Wales, preserved county of Wales. It was originally formed in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, as a county council area. It consisted of the county borough of Cardiff along with the south ...

, 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 Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff ( ; 27 March 191226 March 2005) was a British statesman and Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the L ...

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;

became the local authority in the area and took over County Hall. In September 2007, former Council chief executive Byron Davies unveiled plans for large efficiency improvements and additional funding, which could include selling County Hall, the Cardiff Heliport and up to 40% of Cardiff Bus. 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. In 2023, the council invited expressions of interest in a mixed-use development of in the Atlantic Wharf area, to sit alongside a proposed 17,000-seat arena. In October 2024, it was reported that the proposed new building would be one third of the size and located on land in front of the old offices which would not be demolished until the new headquarters was operational. The demolition work would create space for about five new plots of land which would be earmarked for social housing and private offices. In February 2025, it was reported that Goldbeck Construction would build the new headquarters.

Architecture and use

County Hall is generally three storeys in height, but rises to four and five storeys in places. Its distinctive shallow pitch roofs are of black slate. 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 building also houses the council's Camera Control Room, in which

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of closed-circuit television cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signa ...

is used 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 authorised method such as curbside collection or using an authorised rubbish dump. It is the illegal deposit of any waste onto ...

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

References

External links

Cardiff County CouncilCardiff County Hall website
{{Government buildings in Wales Buildings and structures in Cardiff Politics of Cardiff County halls in Wales South Glamorgan Government buildings completed in 1987 The Twentieth Century Society Risk List