Senedd - a photo on Flickriver

Senedd

The Senedd (Senate or Parliament), also known as the National Assembly building, houses the debating chamber and three committee rooms for the National Assembly for Wales in Cardiff. The 5,308 square metres (57,100 sq ft) Senedd building was opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 1 March 2006 and the total cost was £69.6 million, which included £49.7M in construction costs. The Senedd is part of the National Assembly estate that includes Tŷ Hywel and the Pierhead Building.

After two selection processes, the decision was taken that the debating chamber would be on a new site, called Site 1E, at Capital Waterside in Cardiff Bay. The Pritzker Prize-winning architect Richard Rogers won an international architectural design competition, managed by RIBA Competitions, to design the building. It was designed to be sustainable with use of renewable technologies and be energy efficient. The building was awarded an "Excellent" certification by the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM), the highest ever awarded in Wales, and was nominated for the 2006 Stirling Prize.

The Senedd was constructed in two phases, the first in 2001 and the second from August 2003 until it was handed over to the National Assembly in February 2006. Between phases, the National Assembly changed contractors and the project's management structure, but retained Rogers as the scheme architect. The building was nearly six times over budget and four years and 10 months late, compared to the original estimates of the project in 1997. Total costs rose due to unforeseen security measures after the 11 September attacks, and because the National Assembly did not have an independent cost appraisal of the project until December 2000, three years after the original estimate. Phase 2 costs rose by less than 6% over budget, and that phase was six months late, due to information and communication technology (ICT) problems.

The Senedd building is in the former Cardiff Docks, about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) south of Cardiff Castle. Cardiff Docks had been the largest coal-exporting port in the world, but by the 1980s with the decline of the south Wales coalfield, the area had gradually become derelict. By the 1990s the area was being transformed with the construction of the Cardiff Bay Barrage and had been renamed Cardiff Bay.

The building faces south west over Cardiff Bay, it has a glass façade around the entire building and is dominated by a steel roof and wood ceiling. It has three floors, the first and second floors are accessible to the public and the ground floor is a private area for officials. The building was designed to be as open and accessible as possible, the architects, the Richard Rogers Partnership (RRP) said "The building was not to be an insular, closed edifice. Rather it would be a transparent envelope, looking outwards to Cardiff Bay and beyond, making visible the inner workings of the Assembly and encouraging public participation in the democratic process."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senedd

Taken in: United Kingdom / Wales / Cardiff / Cardiff Bay (show map)

Taken on: January 16, 2015

Tags:

winter

January

Cardiff

Wales

Welsh National Assembly

welsh

national

assembly

Senedd

night

nocturnal

blue hour

light

street lamp

building

bench

rising blocker

blocker

sign

signpost

coast

urban

city

Cardiff Bay « less

Sets appears in: • Winter

Groups appears in: • Lovely City! • Buildings and Architecture more » • buildings old and new • Architectural Beauty ! • Britain at Night • 50 MILLION PHOTOS • Digital Capture! • 1 Quadrillion Pix « less

Camera: Nikon D3100, f/10.0, 1 sec, 18mm (=27mm), ISO 400 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D3100
Lens:	18.0-55.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
Aperture:	f/10.0
Exposure Time:	1
Focal Length:	18mm (35mm equivalent: 27mm)
ISO:	400
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	No Flash
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Manual
Light Source:	Cloudy
Gain Control:	Low gain up
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Elements 12.0 Windows
Show full info

Stats: 2,063 views / 1 comment

go back

Link to this photo view:
Link to this photo large view: