The National Assembly for Wales has given a £104m arts venue in Cardiff Bay the go-ahead.

The Wales Millennium Centre will be built on Cardiff Bay waterfront and include a 1,900-seat music theatre, studio and dance theatres and a virtual arts centre to broadcast performances digitally around the world. The main concourse will also feature shops, cafés, bars and restaurants.

The slate and glass structure, designed by architects Percy Thomas, will be home to the Welsh National Opera, and six other cultural groups from Wales. These include youth organisation Urdd Gobaith Cymru and the Welsh national literature promotion agency Academi.

Chairman of Wales Millennium Centre, Sir David Rowe-Beddoe, said: 'This venue will stand alongside the world's most celebrated cultural centres, and be a magnet for people from all walks of life.'

The National Assembly has invested £37m in the project. Additional financial backing came from the Millennium Commission and Arts Council for Wales Lottery Fund, Wales Tourist Board and the Welsh Development Agency. The centre will form the centrepiece of Cardiff's bid to become 2008 European Capital City of Culture.

Contractors Sir Robert McAlpine will start work on the venue early next month, with opening expected by the end of 2004.