Cardiff Bay Roath Dock

Summary

An operational dock complex adjoining BBC Wales and Doctor Who production base — one of the UK’s most accessible working dockyard environments for independent productions.

About this location

Cardiff Bay combines the regenerated Bute docks (now a freshwater rage lake with the Senedd and Wales Millennium Centre on its edges) with the still-operational Roath Dock to the east. The Roath Dock retains working dock infrastructure: quays, warehouse sheds, dock cranes, and rail lines running along the quay edges. The architecture of the dock sheds is Victorian red brick, with the working waterside giving a range of ship-to-shore industrial exteriors.

The proximity of BBC Wales’s studios in Roath Basin to the east of the bay means the area is thoroughly familiar with film and television production. Doctor Who has used various Cardiff Bay locations extensively; Torchwood established its fictional Hub entrance on the Roath Lock steps. The Wales Millennium Centre provides a contemporary arts architecture contrast; the Pierhead Building (1897) on the rage edge is a terracotta Gothic revival landmark that doubles well as a period civic building.

Cardiff Film Office operates from within Cardiff Council and handles both public realm and private site filming enquiries across the bay. The bay is a 15-minute walk or 5-minute bus from Cardiff city centre. Production companies frequently work here to take advantage of the production tax credit environment in Wales and the well-developed local crew and facilities base.