McAlpine completes Capita's new home for BBC Wales orchestra

Sir Robert McAlpine has finished construction of a new home for BBC National Orchestra of Wales, designed by the Cardiff office of Capita Architecture.

The purpose-built venue at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff has been named BBC Hoddinott Hall, after Welsh composer Alun Hoddinott, who died in March.

Following structural completion and acoustic testing, the building will now be fitted out internally before the orchestra moves in at the end of the year. It will open to the public in January with two weeks of celebratory opening events.

The venue features a performance hall seating 350 and a state-of-the-art recording studio as well as office and rehearsal facilities.

Present at the official handover of the keys to Hoddinott Hall were controller of BBC Wales, Menna Richards, chief executive of the Wales Millennium Centre, Judith Isherwood, and orchestra leader of BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Lesley Hatfield, as well as Sir Robert McAlpine project manager Harvey Beddow and Capita Architecture's Tim Green and Jonathan Adams.

Rob Firth, head of Capita Architecture, which is part of the Capita Symonds group, said: “We've designed the new building and auditorium to complement and enhance the existing building and performance spaces at the original WMC while creating a bespoke venue specifically for the orchestra and chorus. We've also taken great care to ensure that precise details, such as the hall's acoustics, are of an international standard.”

McAlpine's Beddow said: “It has been a technically challenging contract in terms of providing the structural and acoustic elements but none the less rewarding in meeting these exacting requirements.”