Legal & General, in partnership with Rightacres Property Company, has officially handed over the new BBC Cymru Wales headquarters at Central Square, Cardiff to BBC Director General, Lord Hall.

The new building is adjacent to Cardiff Central train station and will be home to some 1200 staff once the 18-month fit-out process by Overbury and Sheppard and Robson has been completed. With ‘next generation’ web technology, the new broadcast centre is the centre-piece of the Central Square regeneration project and will be the first BBC facility in the UK to use live IP Technology.

Alan Bainbridge, BBC Director of Property, said: “To hand a building over of this scale and complexity exactly on time and budget is a real achievement. We signed the agreement for lease back in December 2014 and the predicted handover date was today – it has been a fantastic effort by all parties and we now look forward to completing the fit-out ready for occupation next year.”

Work on Central Square, a 1.5 million sq ft mixed use regeneration scheme, began in 2014 with One Central Square now fully occupied. Two Central Square is under construction and the whole building has been pre-let to Hugh James Solicitors and Cardiff University’s School of Journalism. It will be ready for occupation in September 2018.

Paul McCarthy, Chief Executive of Rightacres, said: “The completion of the BBC Cymru Wales headquarters is testament to the successful partnership between ourselves as developer, BBC Workplace, Cardiff Council and Legal & General. It marks an important milestone in the development of Central Square and has been a team effort from start
to finish.”

HM Revenue and Customs will move 4,000 staff from Llanishen to Central Square in 2020. With 266,000 sq ft, it is the largest office deal ever signed in Wales.

Legal & General provided funding, whilst Rightacres is the developer and Foster + Partners the architects.