First slates laid at Wales Millennium Centre
Traditional stonemasons and craftsmen from specialist contractors GH James CYF, Gwynedd, arrived in Cardiff Bay in November to start work on cutting and laying the slate for the front wall of the Wales Millennium Centre.
The wall uses reclaimed slate with a range of colours and variety of grains laid in the tradition of Welsh dry stone walls to create a truly distinctive and unmistakably Welsh effect.
Slate is applied as facing masonry over a variety of structural substratas and, although in the style of dry stone walling, is, in fact, mortared in. In total, 1,000 tonnes of slate will be used covering an area of 2,500m2. The building is due to open in November 2004.
Wales Millennium Centre chairman Sir David Rowe-Beddoe said as the first slates were laid: "A building of such national significance as the Wales Millennium Centre must say something about the state of the Nation, the culture in which it exists and about our hopes for the future.
"The intention is that people will feel some resonance with the architecture. They will be in no doubt that it is addressing them directly: it is about them."The design of the building is inspired by the environment and by the cultural and social traditions of Wales. It evokes the layered strata of sea cliffs, the multi-colored slate of North Wales, the texture and color of steel and the simple beauty of Welsh hardwoods.
It is already being hailed as an architectural icon and a building which will stand alongside some of the most culturally resonant arts venues in Europe.
The landscape of North Wales has been transformed for all time by the production of slate. The millions of tonnes of spoil evoke the toil of quarry workers - men, women and children - going back to the 19th century.
The external walls of Wales Millennium Centre, which is a Millennium Commission-funded project, make use of material recovered from the tips and waste from current production at Bethesda, Blaenau Ffestiniog and Machynlleth quarries in North West Wales.
Main contractors on the project are Sir Robert McAlpine and the architects are Percy Thomas, Cardiff.
Funding has included a grant of £37million from the Welsh Assembly Government, a £30.7million Lottery grant from the Millennium Commission and a £9.8million grant from the Arts Council of Wales\' Capital Lottery Fund. It will be a major concert and social center.