Television production studio in Cardiff, Wales
BBC Roath Lock Studios
(Welsh:
Stiwdios BBC Porth y Rhath
) is a television production studio that houses
BBC
drama productions including
Doctor Who
,
Casualty
, and
Pobol y Cwm
.
[1]
The centre
topped out
on 20 February 2011 and filming for such productions commenced in autumn of the same year.
[2]
The facility is located on a development site known as Porth Teigr, which included a proposed 3,700-square-metre (40,000 sq ft) digital media centre, and between 2012 and 2017 hosted an interactive
Doctor Who
exhibition titled the Doctor Who Experience.
[3]
The facility has 500 to 600 people working on site.
[4]
Design
[
edit
]
The successful planning application sought permission for a 300-metre (980 ft) long, 20,000-square-metre (220,000 sq ft) building housing studios and offices with a distinctive facade and repeating motifs. It will also have a gothic-style entrance inspired by some of
William Burges
' designs at
Cardiff Castle
and
Castell Coch
. The planning application showed the building would face the National Assembly's
T? Hywel
building and the Atradius building across the water of Roath Basin.
[5]
FAT architecture
were appointed as architects and designed a bold facade in homage to the Cardiff architecture of
William Burges
and the local South Wales landscape.
[6]
Unusual requirements for the building included an exact replica, in design and orientation, of the
Bristol
studio's
Holby City
carpark and corridors wide enough for two
Daleks
to pass one another.
[6]
Construction
[
edit
]
The 16,300 square metres (175,000 sq ft) of studios were constructed and fitted out within 13 months, marking the quickest BBC build of its size ever.
[4]
[1]
The name of the drama village, Roath Lock, was announced at the topping out ceremony in January 2011.
[7]
A £2.5m bridge linking the drama village to Cardiff Bay was lifted into place. The bridge was manufactured in nearby
Newport
from where it was broken down into twelve pieces to allow transportation. The building branding was manufactured in Cardiff by a local company which also designed and implement the wayfinding signs
[8]
which was helped for a prestigious branding company
[9]
Production
[
edit
]
The development has brought under one roof the production of shows formerly filmed in
Cardiff
's
Broadcasting House
, at
Upper Boat Studios
near
Pontypridd
, and in
Bristol
.
[5]
Programmes confirmed to be filmed and produced at the studios include:
Other productions produced by Roath Lock, but not necessarily filmed at the studios include:
Merlin
,
Atlantis
,
Being Human
,
The Living and the Dead
,
Sherlock
,
War & Peace
,
The Game
,
The Passing Bells
,
The Green Hollow
,
A Poet in New York
,
and
To Walk Invisible
.
[1]
After the studios, offices and external filming lots were fully fitted out, filming for
Pobol y Cwm
and
Casualty
began in autumn 2011.
Doctor Who
moved into the 170,000 sq ft (15,800 sq m) site in 2012.
The Sarah Jane Adventures
was also scheduled to move to the facility in 2012, but future production of the series was cancelled in April 2011 due to the death of lead actress
Elisabeth Sladen
.
[13]
The village is part of the BBC's commitment to double television network production from Cardiff by 2016.
[10]
Surrounding development
[
edit
]
Roath Basin is the largest single remaining undeveloped site in Cardiff Bay. It consists of approximately 27 acres and has an outline planning permission for 1,000 new homes and 100,000 sq m of commercial floor space. Igloo Regeneration, which is an investment fund managed by Aviva Investments, was selected by the Assembly Government as the Development Partner for the project.
Investment of £8.5 million is needed to provide a road connection through the site providing both private and public transport from Pierhead Street through to the
Norwegian Church
, where a new bridge will need to be constructed over the existing lock-entrance to the dock.
The project comprises two distinct, but inter-dependent, components; the regeneration of the currently derelict, former dock side land at Roath Basin would be commenced by Assembly Government investment into the site infrastructure, and the BBC Drama Village, which would total some 170,000 sq ft (16,000 m
2
) of television studios and ancillary accommodation, as well as a new office building, which could be operated as a "Digital Media Centre" where a range of BBC supply-chain companies and existing Welsh-based Creative Industry Sector businesses would be able to be accommodated.
[14]
Transport links
[
edit
]
The Roath Lock Drama Village was served by the
Baycar
(Cardiff Bus number 6) service operated by
Cardiff Bus
, that ran every 10 minutes to Cardiff Bay and the
City Centre
.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
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