Welsh Government takes responsibility for former Who site
IT’S one of the biggest development sites in Wales and includes the former Doctor Who Experience attraction in Cardiff Bay.
And now the Welsh Government has taken over responsibility for drawing up new plans for the huge Porth Teigr regeneration site in Cardiff Bay.
Porth Teigr was a joint venture between the Welsh Government, which owns the freehold to the 38-acre site, and Igloo Regeneration.
Igloo Regeneration had outline planning consent for up to 2.2 million sq ft of mixed-use development at the peninsula site.
This included plans for 1,000 new homes and one million sq ft of commercial space.
It had successfully developed the first phase of Porth Teigr with the 170,000 sq ft Roath Lock Studios for BBC Wales, where Doctor Who, Casualty and Pobol y Cwm are filmed, as well as the Gloworks office scheme, which is focused on the creative industries.
However, the Welsh Government and Igloo recently agreed not to renew their developer/landlord agreement.
They will provide development options to the Welsh Government for the waterfront site.
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “We can confirm we have taken the decision to manage the Porth Teigr site inhouse and have exercised a pre-agreed right to take back the site.
“The site is now with our marketing agents.”
While the freehold is owned by the Welsh Government, Cardiff Council provided subsidy support to BBC Worldwide to operate the Doctor Who Experience attraction, which opened in July 2012.
However, following disappointing visitor numbers, the decision was taken to close the attraction in September last year.
Cardiff Council has a lease agreement for the attraction with BBC Worldwide.
The local authority said there was currently no update on what is planned for the temporary building.
However, in September it said it was in discussions to sell the building, which could potentially be dismantled to make way for new development as part of wider plans for Porth Teigr.