Scotland and Wales to open arts centres

Wales and Scotland can both look forward to major new arts centres, following separate proposals unveiled last week.

Cardiff Bay is to get a Millennium Centre on the site of the proposed Zaha Hadid-designed opera house, following the award of 27m of Lottery cash by the Millennium Commission.

The development will provide a theatre, exhibition space and an Imax cinema.

Welsh architectural practice Percy Thomas Partnership has been appointed to develop the centre. A spokesman for the practice says extra recruitment at its London office is planned to deal with the project. Interior designers may be among those recruited, but bringing in an interior design consultancy has not been ruled out.

In Scotland, Pawson Williams Architects has been appointed to design the Mercat Arts Centre in Dingwall, north of Inverness.

The 3.5m centre will include a 200-seat performance space, a library and an art gallery. Pawson Williams is commissioned to develop interiors as well as the exterior of the building.