Ticket sales climb at castle |
Within Cardiff Castle's fortified walls is history spanning nearly 2000 years. Situated at the very heart of the capital city and right alongside the city's shopping centre, the castle is one of Wales's foremost visitor attractions. When Cardiff Council decided to build a new interpretation centre inside the castle grounds it became necessary to build a visitor reception pavilion immediately outside the walls while the work was in progress. Vital to this project was that the building should be visually in-keeping with the castle's ancient walls and subject to the regulations that apply to a high profile listed building and scheduled ancient monument.
Neath Abbey based Wernick Buildings was commissioned to supply the pavilion and a 112 square metre, five bay, Rapidplan™ modular building was clad in a black, louvered, timber façade and finished with a white sun canopy, following a conceptual design provided by the Welsh School of Architecture.
The pavilion houses the reception area for all visitors to the castle, plus a retail area and ticket office facility. Visitor tickets for the castle grounds and guided tours, as well all the many special events held at the castle are also sold from here.
"There has been a very positive response to the pavilion", said Ruth Nicholls, the administration manager for the castle. "Its position alongside the main gate on Castle Street has done a lot to raise awareness of the ground's attractions and special events, particularly amongst local people. This may well have contributed to the increase in our sales figures this year".
Cardiff Castle's new reception pavilion.
