The opening of Europe's biggest-ever urban regeneration scheme will not happen at least for six months. The 196m pounds barrage is a record breaking feat of engineering and social regeneration. The 1.1km dam is 11 times bigger than any such construction in the UK and outspans any in Europe except the flood defences in Holland. However, the 200 ha freshwater lake, far from being an enormous recreational folly, is the centre piece of the 2.3bn pounds Cardiff Bay regeneration project.