The new BBC Cymru Wales Headquarters brings together a wide variety of studio, administration and support spaces in a single building, which is open to the city, highly flexible, energy efficient and provides a creative, collaborative and inspiring workplace for BBC staff. Located opposite Cardiff Central Station, the project is situated on the site of the former bus station to create a dynamic media quarter around Capital Square, which is planned as a major new public space for the city.
The building is designed to be open and welcoming – visitors can access the ground floor and look up through a full-height atrium into the working spaces above, as well as into a new café facing the square. The design also establishes a sense of openness and transparency between different departments to create new opportunities for collaboration and interaction. The heart of the headquarters is a 4,000-square-metre ‘hub’, which extends across three linked levels and incorporates studios, offices and production facilities. The scheme includes a sheltered garden on the roof of the hub, which is connected to a restaurant and provides a unique venue for filming, as well as a valuable social amenity for staff.
The project targets BREEAM ‘outstanding’ environmental accreditation with strategies such as chilled beams, locally sourced and recycled materials and an efficient envelope. Mechanical systems have been carefully integrated to create a highly flexible interior, which can anticipate and respond to changing technologies.
