Roath Lock
| Roath Lock | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| General information | |
| Address | Porth Teigr Way, Cardiff Bay, CF10 4GA |
| Town or city | Cardiff, Wales |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Opened | September 2011 |
| Owner | BBC Cymru Wales |
Roath Lock is a television production studio that house BBC drama productions including Doctor Who (and its spin-off Class), Casualty and Pobol y Cwm. The centre topped out on 20 February 2011 and filming for such productions commenced in autumn of the same year.
The facility is located on a development site known as Porth Teigr, which includes a proposed 3,700-square-metre (40,000 sq ft) digital media centre and an interactive exhibition titled Doctor Who Experience. The facility has 500 to 600 people working on site.
The successful planning application sought permission for a 300-metre (980 ft) long, 20,000-square-metre (220,000 sq ft) building housing studios and offices with a distinctive façade and repeating motifs. It will also have a gothic-style entrance inspired by some of William Burges’ designs at Cardiff Castle and Castell Coch. The planning application showed the building would face the National Assembly’s Tŷ Hywel building and the Atradius building across the water of Roath Basin.
The 16,300 square metres (175,000 sq ft) of studios were constructed and fitted out within 13 months, marking the quickest BBC build of its size ever.
A £2.5m bridge linking the drama village to Cardiff Bay has been lifted into place. The bridge was manufactured in nearby Newport from where it was broken down into 12 pieces to allow transportation to Cardiff Bay.
The development has brought under one roof the production of shows formerly filmed in Cardiff's Broadcasting House, at Upper Boat Studios near Pontypridd, and in Bristol.
Programmes confirmed to be produced at the studios include:
After the studios, offices and external filming lots were fully fitted out, filming for Pobol y Cwm and Casualty began in autumn 2011. Doctor Who moved into the 170,000 sq ft (15,800 sq m) site in 2012. The Sarah Jane Adventures was also scheduled to move to the facility in 2012, but future production of the series was halted in April 2011 due to the death of lead actress Elisabeth Sladen and will no longer continue. The village is part of the BBC's commitment to double television network production from Cardiff by 2016.
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