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Proposed BBC Drama Village at Media Capital, Roath Basin

The Deputy First Minister agreed to: vary terms of an existing development agreement between the Welsh Ministers and Igloo Regeneration; enter into an agreement for a 25 year lease with Igloo Regeneration for Media Capital project comprising of a Drama Village of approx 170,000 sq ft and a Digital Media Centre of approx 32,000 sq ft at £2.11m per annum; enter into an agreement for a 20 year lease with BBC to grant them an under lease of the Drama Village at an initial rental of £1.35m per annum.

Date of decision / Dyddiad y penderfyniad:

14 December 2009

Statement of information / Datganiad gwybodaeth:

Roath Basin is the largest single remaining undeveloped site in Cardiff Bay. It comprises of approximately 27 acres and has the benefit of 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 through an open European Procurement Process by the Assembly Government as the Development Partner for the project.

To facilitate any development at Roath Basin, investment of some £8.5 million will be 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. Associated with these road works will be the need to provide utilities, as well as the remediation of a small area of contaminated land.

During 2009, the BBC announced that it would be moving the production of the long-running drama "Casualty" to Wales. To deliver this, BBC Wales developed proposals to bring together all of the existing BBC drama productions based in Wales into a single new Drama Village. Following a detailed search of Cardiff and the surrounding area, the BBC selected the Assembly Government owned site at Roath Basin as its preferred location for this new facility.

The project therefore comprises two distinct, but inter-dependent, components. Firstly, the regeneration of the currently derelict, former dock side land at Roath Basin would be commenced by Assembly Government investment into the site infrastructure. In the current economic climate and specifically the depressed state of the property markets in Cardiff, the private sector is unable to generate sufficient value to invest in the infrastructure. The project therefore represents a clear opportunity to move forward the regeneration of this site.

The second element of the project would comprise the BBC Drama Village, which would total some 170,000 sq ft of television studios and ancillary accommodation, as well as a new office building, which could be operated as a "Digital Media Centre" where a wide range of BBC supply-chain companies and existing Welsh-based Creative Industry Sector businesses would be able to be accommodated. Proposed operational criteria for this building are being developed and will be informed by the outcome of the current review of Creative Industries in Wales commissioned by the Deputy First Minister and the Minister for Heritage from Professor Ian Hargreaves.