Economy and industry of Cardiff
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As the capital city of Wales, Cardiff is the main engine of growth in the Welsh economy and conveys economic, social and cultural benefits across the wider region.
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[edit] Economic Data
| Year | Regional GVA | Agriculture | Industry | Services |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 4,753 | 11 | 1,110 | 3,632 |
| 2000 | 6,584 | 10 | 1,302 | 5,277 |
| 2003 | 8,201 | 11 | 1,374 | 6,816 |
The economy of Cardiff and adjacent areas makes up nearly 20% of Welsh GDP and 40% of the city’s workforce are daily in-commuters from the surrounding south Wales area.[2][3]
Total employment in Cardiff rose from 149,000 in 1991 to 176,700 in 2005, and has been growing at around 2005 per annum in recent years, almost double the rate across Great Britain (1.3%).[4] In addition, an estimated 18,000 people are self-employed, taking the total workforce to around 194,000.[4] Following the decline of the city’s heavy industry in the latter part of the 20th century, the economy of Cardiff is now dominated by the service sector (see table of employment by industry below) with just 9% of employees – 15,650 individuals – engaged in manufacturing activities.[4]
Public administration, education and health is the largest sector in Cardiff, providing employment for 32% of the city’s workforce. Cardiff is the main financial and business services centre in Wales and as such, the sector provides employment for 20% of the city’s workforce. This sector, combined with the Public Administration, Education and Health sectors, have accounted for around 75% of Cardiff's economic growth since 1991.[4]
One in five employees (20.4%) in Cardiff are based in the distribution, hotels and restaurants sector, highlighting the growing retail and tourism industries in the city.[4] A major £675 million regeneration programme for Cardiff's St. David's Centre is currently underway which, when completed in 2009, will provide a total of 1,400,000 square feet (130,000 m²) of shopping space, making it one of the largest shopping centres in the United Kingdom.[5]
The city has an estimated unemployment rate of 3.0% - although this represents a slight increase from the 2.2% recorded in 2004, it still compares favourably with the Wales average of 5.2% and the United Kingdom average of 9.3%.[6]
In 2005, Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan had a GDP of £8.978 billion GBP. In the same year, Gross Value Added per head was £20,577, 115% of the UK average or 149% of the Welsh average.[7]
[edit] Industry
Since the 19th century, a number of differing industries have shaped the city, and continue to do so today.
[edit] Coal
What transformed Cardiff into a big city was the demand for coal required in making iron and later steel, brought to the sea by packhorse from Merthyr Tydfil. The Ironmasters, the proprietors of the smelters in Dowlais and Merthyr, wanted to reduce the cost of carrying iron by road to ships berthed in the estuary of the River Taff at Cardiff. They sought permission of Parliament to build a 25-mile (40 km) long canal from Merthyr (510 feet above sea-level) to the Taff Estuary at Cardiff.[8]
Work on building the Glamorganshire Canal began in 1790, took eight years and involved installing 50 locks.[8] The Cardiff Sea Lock, which enabled barges to unload iron into sea-going ships, was built at Harrowby Street (Harrowby - a Viking place-name - had been the original Norse trading post in Cardiff). Eventually the Taff Vale Railway replaced the canal barges and massive marshalling yards sprang up as new docks were developed in Cardiff - all prompted by the soaring world-wide demand for south Wales coal.
Cardiff's port, known as Tiger Bay, became the busiest port in the world and - for some time - the world's most important coal port.[9] In 1907, Cardiff's Coal Exchange was the first host to a business deal for a million pounds Sterling.[10]
[edit] Retail
Retail also plays a strong role in the city's employment, with it being listed as being the 6th best place to shop in the UK according to recent surveys.[11] The majority of Cardiff's shopping portfolio is in the city centre around Queen Street and St. Mary's Street. There are also numerous suburban retail parks serving the city.
Cardiff retail sector is dominated by three main shopping arcades located in the city centre; St. David's Centre, Queens Arcade and the Capitol Centre. The current expansion of St. David's Centre as part of the St. David's 2 project is allowing a huge piece of land between The Hayes and Charles Street to be demolished and redeveloped, bringing around 200 shops, flats and a John Lewis department store to the city. This will more than double the available floor space, making it one of the largest shopping centres in the United Kingdom. As well as these modern shopping arcades, the city is still home to many Victorian shopping arcades, such as High Street Arcade, Castle Arcade, Wyndham Arcade, Royal Arcade and Morgan Arcade.
There are two main shopping streets in the city centre. Queen Street is home to the main chain stores such as Topshop, Topman, Boots, Gap, Dorothy Perkins, Primark, and Zara to name a few. The second main street, St. Mary Street, is home to Wales' oldest and largest department store, Howells. It is also home to smaller independent stores, but is mainly a beverage only high street. Also of note is The Hayes, home to Spillers Records, which was established in 1894 and is officially recognised as the world's oldest record shop.[12] The city is also host to S A Brain, a brewery with premises in Cardiff since 1882. The current brewery is located next to Central Station.
Cardiff has a number of markets: these include the vast Victorian indoor Cardiff Market, Splott Market, a newly-established Riverside Community Market (which specialises in locally-produced organic produce), and a smaller 'fruit & veg' style St. David's Market on Barrack Lane which will be improved with the coming of St. David's 2.
Several out-of-town retail parks also exist, in locations such as Newport Road, Culverhouse Cross, Cardiff Gate and Cardiff Bay.
There have been a number of issues relating to city centre shopping, most recently the cost of parking in the city centre and the experimental banning of private cars on St. Mary's Street. Both have been heavily criticised by some sectors of the media, public and retailers.[13][14]
[edit] Finance
Today, Cardiff is the principal finance and business services centre in Wales, and as such there is a strong representation of finance and business services in the local economy. In December 2003, 33,850 individuals were employed in the sector - higher than the proportion across both Wales (9.6%) and Great Britain (15.4%)[obsolete fact]. The city was recently placed seventh overall in the top 50 European cities in the fDI 2008 Cities of the Future list published by the Foreign Direct Invester (FDI) magazine, and also ranked seventh in terms of attracting foreign investment.[15]
Legal & General, Admiral Insurance, HBOS, Zurich, ING Direct, The AA, Principality Building Society, 118118, British Gas, Brains, SWALEC Energy and BT (based in Stadium House) all operate large contact centres in the city, many based in Cardiff's office towers such as Capital Tower and Brunel House. Other major employers include NHS Wales and the National Assembly for Wales.
[edit] Media
Cardiff is home to the Welsh media and the UK's largest film, TV & multimedia sector outside London with BBC Wales, S4C and ITV Wales all having studios in the city.[16] Employment in the sector has grown significantly in recent years, and currently provides employment for 2.1% of the city's workforce - higher than the level across Wales (1.1%) and marginally lower than that across Great Britain as a whole (2.2%).[16] Xfm, Red Dragon FM, Real Radio, BBC Radio Wales and Radio Cymru all have their main studios in Cardiff.
[edit] Tourism
| Attraction | No of Visitors |
|---|---|
| St Fagans National History Museum | 588,560 |
| National Museum | 291,050 |
| Cardiff Cathedral | 275,000 |
| Wales Millenium Centre | 244,139 |
| Cardiff Castle | 231,489 |
| Techniquest | 182,034 |
Cardiff is the one of the most popular tourist destination cities in the United Kingdom, with one survey recording just under 12 million visitors in 2006.[18] Cardiff's top attraction is the St Fagans National History Museum, which in 2006 recorded almost 600,000 visitors, ahead of the National Museum, the Wales Millenium Centre and Cardiff Castle.[17] In addition, Cardiff's status as the location of the Millenium Stadium means that the city receives influxes of anything up to 100,000 visitors during major sporting events such as Six Nations rugby matches.
There are a large number of hotels within the city, most notably the five-star Hilton hotel in the city centre, and St David's Hotel & Spa located in Cardiff Bay. Hotels operated by Copthorne and Marriott are also located in Cardiff, along with numerous smaller hotels, bed and breakfasts and hostels. These are mainly located on St Mary's Street, Newport Road and the Taff Embankment opposite the Millenium Stadium. In total, the city's hotels have almost 9,000 available bed spaces.[18]
[edit] Property & development
Cardiff is currently enjoying several regeneration projects like the £270 million[19] International Sports Village in Cardiff Bay which will play a part in London 2012 Olympics. It features the only olympic-standard swimming pool in Wales, the Cardiff International Swimming Pool, which opened on 12 January 2008.
The Tiger Bay area also housed one of the UK's earliest immigrant communities. After a long period of neglect as Cardiff Bay, it is now being regenerated as a popular area for arts, entertainment and nightlife. Much of the growth has been thanks to the building of the Cardiff Barrage.
Two large international business parks are planned for the north of Cardiff, the largest being at Thornhill which may include the building of a new junction on the M4 motorway, the other being at junction 33.[20]
The average house price in Cardiff is £181,226, which represents a drop of -0.5% since last year.[21] Cardiff has a strong rental market, particularly in the city centre and Cardiff Bay where house rentals are almost double the national average and the number of total transactions exceeds the total number of properties.[22]
[edit] References
- ^ Regional Gross Value Added (PDF). Retrieved on 2008-01-05.
- ^ Clifton-Fearnside, Alex; Adam Douglas (2002-05-14). Sub-regional and local area gross domestic product. Office of National Statistics. Retrieved on 2008-04-18.
- ^ Statistics on Commuting in Wales. Statistics for Wales (2007-12-05). Retrieved on 2008-04-18.
- ^ a b c d e Labour Market:An overview of Cardiff Empoyment and the local economy. Cardiff County Council (2004-04-09). Retrieved on 2008-04-19.
- ^ St Davids 2 and Cardiff. Retrieved on 2008-01-03.
- ^ Unemployment in Cardiff. Cardiff County Council (2007-03-15). Retrieved on 2008-04-19.
- ^ http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/gva1207.pdf
- ^ a b The Glamorganshire Canal. Retrieved on 2008-04-19.
- ^ Cardiff - Coal and Shipping Metropolis of the World. National Museum of Wales. Retrieved on 2008-04-19.
- ^ Why Did Cardiff Grow?. Glamorgan record Office. Retrieved on 2008-04-19.
- ^ Glasgow named top for shops at Christmas (2007-12-06). Retrieved on 2007-12-27.
- ^ "World's oldest record shop in the death grip of a developer", The Times, 2006-12-01. Retrieved on 2008-03-04. "The owners of Spillers Records, recognised by Guinness World Records as the oldest such emporium on Earth, say that it will close unless a buyer is found."
- ^ "Union enters city parking debate", BBC News, 2007-09-12. Retrieved on 2007-12-27.
- ^ Nifield, Philip. "Road plan could be one way to disaster", South Wales Echo, 2007-11-14.
- ^ European Cities & Regions of the Future 2008/09 (PDF) (2008-02-01). Retrieved on 2008-03-25.
- ^ a b The Film, TV and Multimedia Sector in Cardiff (PDF). Economic Development Division, Cardiff County Council (2003-12-01). Retrieved on 2008-01-17.
- ^ a b Visits to tourist attractions 2006. Visit Wales. Retrieved on 2008-05-06.
- ^ a b Cardiff Essential Facts - Tourism (PDF). Cardiff County Council (2007-05-01). Retrieved on 2008-03-25.
- ^ Cardiff - Home, Cardiff International Sports Village
- ^ Cardiff park could bring 8,000 new jobs. News Wales (2006-11-01). Retrieved on 2008-05-06.
- ^ UK House Prices. BBC News (2008-02-21). Retrieved on 2008-05-06.
- ^ CF10 (Cardiff) Property Market Info. mouseprice.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-06.
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