Porth Teigr (meaning: "Tiger Gate") is an area under development in the

docks The word dock () in American English refers to one or a group of human-made structures that are involved in the handling of boats or ships (usually on or near a shore). In British English, the term is not used the same way as in American Engli ...

area of

Cardiff Bay Cardiff Bay (; colloquially "The Bay") is an area and freshwater lake in Cardiff, Wales. The site of a former tidal bay and estuary, it is the river mouth of the River Taff and River Ely, Ely. The body of water was converted into a lake as part ...

, in the south of

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 ...

, Wales. Its development began in 2008. The multi-use area will host the

BBC drama village The BBC Drama Village is a television production facility run by the BBC. It is operated by their BBC Birmingham branch and based largely at the Selly Oak campus of the University of Birmingham in Birmingham, England. The centre consists of f ...

, with plans to link this to a new digital centre. The work will cover a large brownfield area.

Background

The venture was formed in 2005 between urban regeneration firm ''igloo'' and the

Welsh Government The Welsh Government ( ) is the Executive (government), executive arm of the Welsh devolution, devolved government of Wales. The government consists of Cabinet secretary, cabinet secretaries and Minister of State, ministers. It is led by the F ...

. The venture is responsible for developing 38 acres of land on the south side of Roath Basin in Cardiff Bay as an environmentally sustainable mixed use development including commercial, retail and residential space. The developer advertises Porth Teigr as one of the most significant waterfront developments in the UK and will transform the last major derelict site in the inner harbour area to create more than 1 million sq. ft. of commercial development space and over 1,000 new homes.igloo ''Porth Teigr, Cardiff''
/ref> The development was granted permission to go ahead in 2008, to become the centre point for creative industries in Wales. It was officially named Porth Teigr in November 2010, in homage to the famous Cardiff docklands area of

Tiger Bay Tiger Bay () was the local name for an area of Cardiff which covered Butetown and Cardiff Docks. Following the building of the Cardiff Barrage, which dams the tidal rivers, Ely and Taff, to create a body of water, it is referred to as Car ...

Developments

It is anticipated that the redeveloped site will ultimately provide opportunities for some 4,000 jobs. The redevelopment was anticipated to include some 200,000 sq.ft of leisure and retail space as well as a range of housing, including affordable units claimed to be amongst the first in the UK designed to give flexibility of spaces to enable adaptation for lifestyle changes. Two dry docks will be flooded to help give the site more than 1.6 miles of waterfront, much with views across Cardiff Bay.

BBC production studios

The centrepiece of the development is the new 170,000 sq foot drama production studio complex for the BBC at

Roath Lock BBC Roath Lock Studios is a television production studio in Cardiff, Wales. The facility houses BBC drama productions that include () ''Doctor Who'', ''Casualty'', and ''Pobol y Cwm''. The centre topped out on 20 February 2011 and filming for s ...

. Extensive infrastructure and public realm works including a new bridge linking the site to the remainder of the inner harbour were completed enabling access to the new BBC Roath Lock Studios. The studios were officially opened on 12 March 2012 and will be the home to several productions, including ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'' (until 2021), ''

Casualty Casualty may refer to: *Casualty (person), a person who is killed or rendered unfit for service in a war or natural disaster **Civilian casualty, a non-combatant killed or injured in warfare * The emergency department of a hospital, also known as ...

'', ''

Pobol y Cwm ''Pobol y Cwm'' (''People of the Valley''; ) is a Welsh-language soap opera produced by the BBC since October 1974. The longest-running television soap opera produced by the BBC, ''Pobol y Cwm'' was originally transmitted on BBC Cymru (now B ...

'' and '' Upstairs Downstairs''. Casualty started filming on site in September 2011.

Digital Media Centre

Plans were approved for the new Digital Media Centre (DMC) at Porth Teigr in April 2011, with a design reflecting the dock area's history using brick and timber. It was due to commence on site in November 2011 and be ready for occupation towards the end of 2012. The 40,000 sq ft building was to provide opportunities for small, high growth businesses and freelancers. The Digital Media Centre aimed to support the Creative Industries sector in Wales with the capacity to accommodate 400 people.

Doctor Who Centre

A 3000 sq metre building was constructed in Porth Teigr as the long-term home of the

Doctor Who Experience Since the first broadcast of the British science-fiction television serial ''Doctor Who'' in 1963, there have been a number of exhibitions of Theatrical property, props, costumes and Theatrical scenery, sets relating to the show throughout the ...

when it relocated from London's Olympia to Cardiff in 2012.

BBC Worldwide BBC Worldwide Ltd. was the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the BBC, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in January 1995. The company monetised BBC brands, selling BBC and other British programming for broadcas ...

had announced in September 2010 that it intended to relocate the attraction in Cardiff during 2012, the city of its filming and production, following consolidation of its previous Doctor Who exhibitions, including the closure of the former Doctor Who Exhibition in Cardiff's Red Dragon Centre in March 2011. The Doctor Who Experience closed in September 2017 after its 5-year lease had expired.

Housing

The developers intended Porth Teigr to be a mixed development, hoping to avoid creating an area that was desolate at certain times of day. In 2014 igloo employed local residential architect Chris Loyn, initially to work on a residential development of 120 owner-occupier homes. Outline planning consent had been granted for up to 1,100 homes.

References

External links

Porth Teigr official website
{{coord, 51.461561, -3.157959, display=title Redeveloped ports and waterfronts in Wales Redevelopment projects in Cardiff