...is churned up

Care to explain?

I think the reference is to perhaps work is fianlly starting and that the land is being dug up

....or perhaps The Scott leaving.....?

this is a job for the super sleuths

good guesses! Igloo look as though they've started work on site, pretty much all of it. I may be wrong but it also looks like some of the roads have been marked out

look what i found

apologies if its been posted before, looks lie the development is in five phases, starting with resi at the northern end near adventurers quay

Interesting, but I think that document pre-dates the latest planning app for the BBC studios.

From what I've heard it is the studios that will be built first, all being well starting in the coming months.

Yes, I believe the orange below shows the new phase 1, which is the BBC build:




This is what we end up with from the BBC, for those not in the know:

A bit of info on this, but nothing we dont already know:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/10402789.stm

A picture taken earlier today.

I trust that this is the BBC studio and not a another storage warenouse for ABP - the frame looks surprisingly similar!!!

I think they were always going to be shed like - just with a funky facade.

That's right. Just drama factories really.

Great to see it going up though. I think this will be the biggest step forward for the Bay since the WMC was constructed.

I can't wait to see this finished !

On the Cardiff website it says the tube is being stored else where to increase acess to Roath basin, the exhibition will be transfered to the millennium center. if money is available they will bring it back but i doubt it. Would be a shame to loose it, or part of it for good as it has been such a marker of the bays development. I can imagine the glass end being sawn off and placed on the waters edge still looking out over the bay (with a plaque).

I reckon it would make a great bar/restaurant. Maybe move it over to the Roath Basin side with views to the Inner Harbour. I'd go there for a pint and a packet of crisps.

It would be a shame to see it go. When I lived in Cardiff many years ago it used to be the place I went to find out what developments where happening in the bay. I used to drive my ex-wife nuts because I always insisted on going there every time we went for a walk down to the inner harbour.

I'll really miss the place as it represents the bay as much as any other building down there.

It's not entirely clear to me what is going to go there in its place (ie why it's actually being moved).

If it's to 'improve access' does that mean that the permanent bridge (when it is built and the current temporary(?)one is replaced) will be located nearer Roath Dock (ie across that stagnant algae filled patch of water which is immediately to the side of the Tube?).

Personally I think it looks crap and tacky, and I'm glad the Tourist Information Centre is going to the WMC.

That said, I appreciate the Tube is a part of the Bay's recent history, and isn't a bad little building really. Perhaps it could be placed somewhere and given to the universities to display artwork or something. A kind of free art gallery.

Tried to go to the tube last weekend with visiting friends, i wasnt sure if it would be closed but it was. I always enjoyed looing at the cardiff model, i hope it gets updated and displayed in the millenium centre, although does anyone have any idea where all that will go in there? i must also say the tube is looking rather old and in need of some repair work.

I think it's going to go in the unit where the SAAB car salesroom was!

Sniff,




Sob

YES a real pity I used to go there everytime I came to cardiff will be sadly missed

Quite the end of an era really, when you think it's seen the development of the Bay pretty much right from the start.

I'm surprised there hasn't been more publicity about this - it really is the "end of an era" so to speak. The model of the bay, the information about CBDC and about the regeneration are a really good introduction for visitors. And its become rather iconic in a understated way.

Its a shame.

Haven't be to the bay for a few weeks and look what they go and do!!!

I remember going to the visitors centre as a school trip when it first opened and the bay/docks was a verry diferent place.

It will be missed.

Gutted

It is very sad, but looking at its shell makes you wonder how great a building of larger size clad in glass would look (maybe with a forest inside!?).

The tube has been "moved" before. As I recall, when it first openened in about 1990(I think), it was positioned much closer to the Pier Head Building pretty much next to the entrance to the old East Dock.

I think the plan is to store it somewhere until an alternative use can be found. At least that's what I read. So not the end, just a new chapter.

Could they have removed it to make way for the "balloon"?

No it is for access to roath basin, anothing use could be to up end it and have another similar waterfall to that outside the millennium center!?

There's talk of S4C and the BBC working together more, and possibly moving into a 'single media centre'. Surely this would be roath basin?

Its mentioned in passing here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-11549189

although there was a more detailed story yesterday but i cant find it now.

hopefully it will mean a better standard of architecture and hopefully a stand out building

Latest pictures:

Am I correct to presume that the project in Roath Basin is safe from being mothballed as a result of a certain Australian-born American media magnates 'deal' with the UK Conservative party?

The BBC must be left reeling this morning.

This site has been renamed Porth Teigr. Do we need a new thread?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/cardiff/2010/nov/09/porth-teigr-bbc-development

Work started today apparently.

I don't understand. It's quite clearly "underway" and has been for some time judging by the pictures above.

Is this the start of a new phase of the wider development we don't know about or is it just the naming?

I'm not too keen on the name: Porth Teigr. Cardiff Bay has been known as "Tiger Bay" (although that moniker would apply to Butetown as opposed to the areas around the Roath Docks, I would think), but never Tiger's Gate, let alone the Welsh version. It seems like a contrived attempt to try to link the old Tiger Bay which was multicultural and English-speaking, with the new penchant for everything Cymraeg.

If you're going to reference the history do it properly (maybe some reference to old warehouses or companies based there, or the Butes). Or go with something mundane (Roath Basin, Waterside South). This Porth Teigr is just faddy.

Ieuan wyn Jones likes it though.

would have been welsh speaking a lot longer than any other language - and besides welsh was the first lanaguage in the docks up until the turn of the last century including ethinc immigrants.
nothing ewrong with a welsh name surely? or do we only refer to the history of the last 100 years or so?

An expletive filled rant:

I attended a presentation given by Vinci (to my fellow residents at Adventurers Quay) a couple of weeks ago and the bastards didn't stop moaning throughout the entire evening.It was embarrassing.

I'm sure developers are used to this kind of feedback, but by Jesus, I'll be surprised if they bother to make the effort ever again following the whingeathon by (hmmm - exclusively) the OAP contingent from Adventurers Quay.

Traffic moans comprised 98% of the conversation on the evening. The NIMBY bastards just wouldn't let the topic drop.

Other areas of complaint included (and I'm not kidding):

I hope that there aren't going to be any restaurants or bars over there - the Noise, the Noise!!!

I hope that the area will not be publicly accessible - people will fall into the water. No comment!

I hope that the BBC will not be thinking of having studio tours - the Traffic, the Traffic !!!

I hope the BBC will not be night filming - tripple whammy- the Lights, the Noise, the TRAFFIC!!!

Why does the construction have to result in so much ground upheaval - the Dust, the Dust!!!

The design of the buildings (due later on)in front on the studios - the Wind, the Wind !!!

The height of any potential residential (not that any is currently planned) - the Shadows, the Shadows!!!

I swear that some of these people have never had to work one single f**king day of their lives.

There was no interest in the design quality issues nor that jobs may well be created along the way if a media hub develops.

From what I could see, it all centred around whether or not they will be inconvenienced by a few extra minutes wait when the retired darlings (with f**k all else to do rather than whinge), drive out of the gates on their way to the local Tesco.

These people have absolutely no idea that businesses are not queueing up to invest in Cardiff. That area has been derelict for over a decade, and the BBC are the only organisation who have shown any real interest in it.

And all they can do is whinge.

I think that the only suitable development over there for them would be a one storey high mortuary - no noise, no traffic, no lights - no signs of life. Even then they'd probably start up a campaign 'Not over my dead body'...

That was entertaining!

Comedy post of the week or should it be tragi-comic post of the week given that it so accurately reflects the mindset of a very vocal minority.

As for the name I don't like it but it would have been even worse if it was called Tiger Bay. Can you imagine the uproar from the professional moaners about misappropriating the name for some fancy-dan offices, insulting the memory of dockers and merchant seaman etc etc, yuppies taking over, I remember when you could walk across the dock on the tightly packed ships, etc etc ad nauseum.

I don't understand why it can't be called Roath Basin. Everyone knows where it is, it reflects the maritime tradition etc. Everyone will call it that anyway.

As for the scheme itself apparently there is likely to be planning permission for a 40,000 sq foot digital media centre soon with construction in about 2012 according to this -

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/business-in-wales/business-news/2010/11/10/igloo-s-cardiff-bay-scheme-to-leap-ahead-as-porth-teigr-91466-27630118/

Lots of good noises about the residential being aimed at owner-occupiers, socially responsible development etc. Not so good noises about the scheme taking 20 years to complete.

One thing that continues to puzzle me about the whole scheme is whether or not the BBC offices will be moving down or is the building currently being constructed just for studios?

Quality rant Wizard ! If I was the developer I wouldn't bother again. The bay is effectively city centre living and not some quiet flat at Ogmore-by-sea or Porthcawl for fuck's sake. The wrigglies need to bugger off and go live in the Vale or something.

The new name is stupid and I wonder what influence WAG has had in it. I have no problem in using a Welsh name, but it is a bloody stupid one that they've chosen.

More importantly though, it does sound like we'll be seeing new phases of development relatively soon with the 40,000 sq ft media centre and residential scheme and there does appear to be interest from a number of companies to relocate there.

I suppose I'm just a little jealous of Manchester's Media City but I'd love to see S4C and ITV Wales move down there together with BBC Wales moving their whole operation. That really would be something.

Great post Wizard.

I'm almost certain that the developers will take it as standard that you receive opposition to any development from some kind of vocal minority (old folk, socialists, vegans, welsh language enthusiasts, old school Butetown types, whatever) and I'm sure they aren't too concerned.

I hope you argued against them too. Evil persists when good men do nothing and all that..

I think the new name is a bit naff. Giving it a Welsh name doesn't symbolically throw open the doors to international companies does it. Nothing whatsoever wrong with Roath Basin.

This is what happens when you have Plaid Cymru in a coalition government really.

That part of the Bay is quiet and secluded. To suddenly have a media hub thust upon them on top of the working port, arterial route from the M4 and the city centre, massive industrial estate with steelworks (and soon a waste-to-energy incinerator), the largest arts centre in Wales, the seat of government for Wales, a key entertainment district and Capital Waterside is beyond the pale.

There's a perfectly good view of decayed industrial wasteland, a key part of South Wales and Cardiff's heritage, about to be ruined and for what? I blame the WAG and the trendy Pontcanna crachach personally.

I really am not opposed to the use of Welsh at all. I love that it boldly appears on the front of the Wales Millennium Centre, and I love the use of welsh language in and around Mermaid Quay.

As far as I'm concerned, the more people that speak Welsh the better.

However, I think it's unnessecary to use it all the time, and we need to recognise that we are also part of the UK (and europe, and the world) and while welsh helps with cultural identity and a sense of place, it can put people off.

I sometimes get asked from English people if you need to speak Welsh to work in the public sector in Wales. Yep, few people ask that question, but it goes to show that there is a fear, a trepidation and lack of awareness of Welsh.

I think when you are trying to attract businesses from around the UK, and europe it is important to stress that Cardiff is part of Britain too, and having a Welsh name that some companies might not be able to pronounce may put off some companies.

Would you rather invest in the

Prague Media Village?

or the

Mediaskova Willagosckva de Bratislava ovsky?

See my point? I think it's unecessary, when Roath Basin works fine.

Thats why I think this is classic Plaid Cymru. Always happy to tred water, with an inability to see the wood for the trees.