Architects Foster and Partners is set to win a design contract for a new £150m Cardiff city-centre complex which will incorporate a modern bus station and transport interchange.
The city council revealed that the global firm have been chosen as 'preferred designers' for the project which is due for completion in 2018.
Cabinet member for transport, planning and sustainability, Cllr Ramesh Patel, said: 'The interchange will no longer be a parking area for buses, as it is now. It will be run efficiently, befitting a growing European capital city. We want to make public transport more attractive.'
The bus station, on the site of a former NCP car park, will be sited in a new public city square and built around an enclosed public concourse, with 'airport-style' lounge areas.
It will have dynamic bus stand allocation, supported by real-time information displays for passengers, and link into protected walkways giving direct access to Cardiff Central railway station, a cycle hub, taxis and retailing.
It will cater for increased number of bus journeys resulting from the current development and transport plans for a city that is growing faster than any other in the UK outside London.
Other major elements to the scheme include a 200-bed hotel and 18,580m2 of offices.
