The Welsh Development Agency is planning a 50-acre extension to the Cardiff Bay scheme that could add 1.2m sq ft of office space to the area over the next 20 years.
The mixed-use scheme will centre on a prime site south of the city’s Roath Basin, which the WDA bought from Associated British Ports for £10m in 2002.
The WDA proposals include 1.2m sq ft of offices to be built in four phases from 2006. It also plans 120,000 sq ft of shops, hotel and leisure space, 1,000 waterfront apartments and 3,000 parking spaces.
The brownfield site is one of the few remaining plots of land that has not been redeveloped as part of the 500-acre Cardiff Bay scheme, which has been built over the past 20 years.
Phase one of the extension – involving 375,000 sq ft of offices, 800 homes and 50,000 sq ft of leisure – is planned for completion in 2011.
The scheme proposes flooding the Bute Dry Dock so that boats can reach the adjoining Roath Basin. A new spine road will also be built that would extend to the Cardiff side of the £200m Cardiff Bay barrage.
The regeneration agency is waiting to hear whether the National Assembly for Wales will call in the planning application.
Cardiff council supports the scheme and says it intends to grant planning permission unless the assembly intervenes.
