ITV Cymru Wales to re-locate to Cardiff Bay

ITV Cymru Wales today announces plans to relocate its headquarters to a new modern facility in the heart of Cardiff Bay as part of its on-going commitment to public service broadcasting in Wales.

The new headquarters will be at 3 Assembly Square, next door to the Welsh Assembly building in Cardiff Bay. The expected completion date for the move from the current base at Culverhouse Cross, Cardiff, is June 2014.

Around 100 ITV staff will be relocating to the landmark building as a part of a major investment that will see the installation of the latest HD technology for broadcast and online production.

The new premises will house all of ITV Cymru Wales news, programmes and production facilities as part of a cutting edge, integrated design. This will include a bespoke HD studio, as well as editing and other production facilities.

The announcement is the culmination of an exhaustive, 12-month process that has looked at the suitability of locations across southeast Wales and Cardiff.

ITV will occupy the ground floor (around 11,000 square feet) of the building that is owned by Aviva Investors. It is estimated to take nine months to make the space available for television production.

Phil Henfrey, Head of News & Programmes at ITV Cymru Wales, said: This is a significant investment that will deliver considerable benefits for colleagues and for ITV viewers in Wales. It puts our journalists and production teams exactly where they should be: at the heart of things, rubbing shoulders with the key newsmakers and decision makers of Wales.

It will also be a great place to work. This is one of the landmark, modern buildings in Wales with brilliant transport links and fantastic facilities for colleagues on our doorstep.

He added: There's sure to be a little sadness at moving on from our current base at Culverhouse Cross. We've produced some memorable programmes from here - but there is no doubt that the building itself has seen better days.

At ITV we are all about looking forward. This move is a significant investment and demonstrates our long term commitment to public service broadcasting in Wales."

Michael Jermey, ITV Director of News and Current Affairs, said: With Ofcom supporting our regional news proposals, ITV Cymru Wales can look forward to a bright future well into the 2020s. The new state-of-the-art facilities will strengthen ITV's presence in Wales, while this considerable investment underlines ITV's faith in the team which produces award-winning journalism and programmes for Wales.

Matthew Leach at Aviva Investors said: We are delighted to have secured such a high profile letting for the entire ground floor of 3 Assembly Square. Securing a high calibre tenant such as ITV is a testament to the quality of the Grade A office building.

Note to Editors:

1. ITV (and previously HTV) has been located at the Culverhouse Cross site since 1984. In addition to being the base for its operations in Wales, ITV rents office space to around 30 tenant companies. All tenants were made aware of ITV's plans to move at some future stage when they took up occupancy and will be given at least six months notice of closure.

2. On July 21 Ofcom outlined its thinking on the future shape of regions and nations news on ITV in the next stage of renewal of ITV's licences for a further 10 years. The majority of ITVs proposals have been accepted in full. A new Wales licence has been created and viewers will continue to receive four hours of high quality Welsh national news plus 90-minutes of distinctive non-news programmes every week.

Ends

LINK:	http://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-releases/itv-cymru-wales-re-locat...
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