Former home of BBCWales is put up for sale

A NONDESCRIPT Cardiff building which harbours a wealth of Welsh broadcast and news history is up for sale.

Despite displaying a sign for a music school, the landmark in the Adamsdown area was one for the first locations for BBC Wales.

And the historic property is looking for a new owner, with an asking price of nearly £1m.

In 1959 the broadcasting corporation was delayed in building its HQ, now based in Llandaff, so had to set up a temporary home in the residential road in the Welsh capital.

The building went on to play host to the fledgling BBC Wales television service, as well as broadcasting programmes such as The District Nurse and the news. It was home to Wales Today during the Aberfan disaster.

In a BBC article about the corporation’s history in Wales, employees who worked in the building at the time shared their memories.

Dewi Griffiths, who joined as a technical assistant in 1954, wrote: “I directed television sports programmes from both Broadway and Stacey Road – designed to accommodate news while a proper studio was being built.”

Tim Ricketts wrote on the BBC page: “Many a famous programme passed through Stacey Road – most notably The District Nurse, with Nerys Hughes. I mixed two series of that in Stacey, and the producer was Julia Smith, whom I remember telling me that whilst in Wales she’d had an idea for a soap set in London that she hoped would run for a while. EastEnders had been born.” Now the property is on the market. Umbrella Homes is offering the property for sale with an asking price of £950,000.

The site is detached and is described as having “huge potential for someone looking to convert into apartments/hotel” subject to planning permission.