Cardiff Bay settled in neighbourhoods close to the docks, known as Tiger Bay, and communities from up to 45 different nationalities, including Norwegian, Somali, Yemeni, Spanish, Italian, Caribbean and Irish helped create the unique multicultural character of the area. After the Second World War most of the industry closed down and became derelict. But, in 1999, new life was injected into the area by the building of the Cardiff Bay Barrage, one of the most controversial building projects of the day but also one of the most successful. The Cardiff Bay Development Corporation (CBDC) was created in 1987 to stimulate the redevelopment
Cardiff Bay Barrage the scheme. In the event, no such event took place. On 1 March 2000, the day scheduled for the ceremony, the National Assembly of Wales announced that there would be no special ceremony held to mark the project. In place of an official Royal inauguration of this massive civil engineering scheme, the largest of its kind in Europe, a modest ceremony was arranged by Cardiff Bay Development Corporation at which a former Lord Mayor of Cardiff, Councillor Ricky Ormonde (who had served as Lord Mayor in 1994) officiated along with Alun Michael Labour and Co-operative MP for Cardiff South and