Cardiff Bay Barrage

Story

Cardiff Bay Barrage lies across the mouth of Cardiff Bay, Wales between Queen Alexandra Dock and Penarth Head. It was one of the largest civil engineering projects in Europe during construction in the 1990s.HistoryOriginThe origin of the scheme dates back to a visit by the Secretary of State for Wales Nicholas Edwards Conservative MP for Pembrokeshire to the largely-derelict Cardiff docklands in the early 1980s. An avid opera enthusiast, Edwards envisaged a scheme to revitalise the area incorporating new homes, shops, restaurants and, as a centrepiece, an opera house at the waterside. However the tidal nature of Cardiff Bay, exposing extensive mudflats save for two hours either side of high water, was seen as aesthetically unappealing.Edwards credited the solution to this perceived problem to a Welsh Office civil servant, Freddie Watson. Watson proposed building a barrage stretching across the mouth of Cardiff Bay from Cardiff Docks to Penarth, which would impound freshwater from the rivers Ely and Taff to create a large freshwater lake, thus providing permanent high water. By making the area more appealing, investment was to be attracted to the docklands.The barrage was consequently seen as central to the regeneration project. In 1987, prior to approval of the construction of the barrage, the Cardiff Bay Development Corporation was established to proceed with redeveloping the docklands, a sixth of the entire area of the city of Cardiff.